Howard's Time To Shine

Thought of the day: Now that Team USA is out of the World Baseball Classic, who is the underdog to win the tournament? 

If you're a basketball fan, you know about who Kobe Bryant is. Kobe is the shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and is, in my opinion, the second best player in history, after Michael Jordan of course. He has over 31,000 career points, 5 NBA Finals Championships, 2 Olympic Gold Medals, and an MVP to his credit and at the age of 34 he looks to retire within the next 2 to 3 years. He has led the Lakers from being the joke of the NBA this season even with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, to becoming a playoff contender by averaging 27.5 points per game. 

On Wednesday night, the Lakers had a tough road game against the Atlanta Hawks. It was down to the wire and in the final seconds of the game, Kobe went up to shoot a fade away jumper only to to trip and fall to the ground by Hawks guard Dahntay Jones. Not only did the Lakers lose the game because Kobe didn't make the shot, but they lost Kobe as well. Bryant, suffered a severe left ankle sprain and was ruled out "indefinitely." After reviewing the play multiple times, I honestly believe that Jones tripped Kobe on purpose, and got extremely lucky not getting called for a foul. This is a video of the play and as you can see, Jones goes somewhat underneath Kobe while he shoots to trip him on his decent downward. 

Now, while the injury is a huge loss, the Lakers can rebound from his injury in the same way they will have to do as soon as he retires. One of the main focal points as to why center, Dwight Howard was brought in from Orlando was to start preparing to construct a team around Dwight for after Kobe left the game. With the help of legendary point guard Steve Nash, (In my opinion one of the greatest shooters ever.) Dwight Howard can lead the Lakers into the playoffs without Kobe with his strength in the paint and pure athleticism  Howard chose to go to te Lakers, and with that he has the pressure to be as great as some of the previous great Laker big men. He has to fill in the shoes of Wilt Chamberlin, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, and Shaquille O'Neal and while that is a lot of responsibility, if Howard plays like a leader in the games that Kobe is gone, the Lakers have the potential to make the playoffs and possibly even make a run for the championship. 

This injury to Kobe is Dwight's opportunity to show the city of Los Angeles that he can lead a "Kobe-less" Laker squad in the future. He has the ability to do so, and I feel like he will harness the chance that he has and become the new face of the team for years to come. If he doesn't, and the Lakers start to lose once again, I expect Dwight to leave the Lakers in the off season and dominate with a smaller market team. 

Questions or comments?
Tweet me: @NeilShelat6
Email me: nshelat6@gmail.com