Kobe isn’t the Kobe he used to be. There were a few years he belonged in the same conversation as MJ. Never as good, but at least it could be argued. Not anymore. He can’t just press the button anymore. Fifteen years and probably more than 1,200 games have taken their toll. Same 15 years for Fisher. He isn’t as good as he once was, and he was never great. Gasol is great on his good nights. They don’t happen that often. He is never Dirk Nowitski. Same with Artest. He’s played 10 years. Parts wear out. Specially when you’re carrying around close to 270 lbs. Even on defense. Bynum will be a great player if he improves as much over the next three as he has over the last three. But today, he’s average and inconsistent. Odom is a flake. I suspect he will always be a flake. On a good night, he can do a lot of the things that Nowitski does almost every night. But Odom NEVER has good nights. He has good quarters. The rest of their bench sucks.
Pretty average team got beat by a good team. Better starters, better bench.
