The critics now say you have failed to deliver, that you overdid the passing thing in the first half and you therefore didn't have a proper shooting rhythm when it came to what Magic Johnson used to refer to as "Winnin' Time." That's not a good time to be Kobe Bryant.
Meanwhile, there's the comparison that never goes away.
You may be good, kid, but you're no Michael.
Can Kobe ever win?
"It's not fair," contends Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "I said before the series started I've never seen a guy this talented get criticized as much as he does. It's completely unfair."
Bryant is 29, a veteran of 12 NBA seasons. He entered into our national athletic consciousness as an 18-year-old who was bold enough to submit his name into the NBA draft directly out of Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore. His father Joe, nicknamed "Jellybean," was a talented if somewhat scatterbrained 6-foot-9-inch forward who played eight years in the NBA before spending a number of years in Italy, where son Kobe, perhaps the first superstar American athlete ever named for a cut of beef, spent his formative years.
At 6-6 and 205 pounds he has the kind of mid-sized physique that enables him to do most anything he wishes on the basketball court. He can rain threes. He can post up. And though the mid-range game is said to be disappearing in general terms, Bryant owns a magnificent one.
He is a superb driver who earned double-digit free throw attempts 31 times during the 2007-08 regular season. He is a great passer when the mood strikes. It's either Kobe or Paul Pierce as the best rebounding 2-guard in the league, and, finally, he is an annual member of the All-Defensive team.
He is, yes, the best individual player in the game, the one with the broadest range of A-level skills.
He is also the 2007-08 Most Valuable Player.
So what's the problem?
Truth be told, there are many.
