From the peoples Republic of Kobestan

So Kobe got 17 points on 5/7 shooting, 5 boards and 11 assists, and he did play well.

However... my man Steve Nash has been doing this all season, and Kobe's box score is an average game for Steve.

All I can say to Lakers fans is welcome to the beautiful game. This is how basketball is supposed to be played, and even if you ignored Nash, the fact that you are all praising Kobe for playing like Steve is enough vindication for me.

But before we start the MVP coronation, lets just stop for a second, and take in a big breath of hot steaming perspective, shall we? That means you Friedman. Dude, you've got to stop with the "objective observers..." schtick. When future basketball historians look back on this era, one of the things they will see is that a short Canadian point guard would overcome the prejudices of the modern NBA to usher in a whole new generation of playmakers, and revolutionize the game by ending the dark ages of shooting guard/small forward oriented isolation offense, in favor of a true team concept. They'll see a man, who was probably the best combination of passer and shooter to ever play and the best off-hand passer ever, and a true unyielding warrior, eschew his own individual stats in return for running the most powerful and efficient team offense 7 years in a row.

For want of a better analogy, Steve Nash might end up being Dr J to Chris Pauls or Brandon Roys or Deron Williams' Michael Jordan. I think all three of those players have a chance to be better than Steve.

They'll also see that the era's best player was a quiet power forward from the Virgin Islands, who did nothing but efficiently and inexorably build a championship winning dynasty in a small market in the middle of Texas.

Those same historians will look back at Kobe as a player with few mechanical flaws in his game, but huge mental flaws. They'll see a player who was overhyped from day one, a poor judgment selfish ballhog, a man whose pathological need for individual approbation prevented him from acknowledging the importance of other, greater players, and lead him to quit on his team in the 7th game of a playoff series. If Kobe gets his act together, and for the first time we're seeing signs he might, history might be kinder.

But lets have a little more perspective here: if Kobe played in Sacramento, he'd be Mitch Richmond, and we wouldn't be having this discussion. And Friedman, trust me on this, in 20 years no one outside of LA and over the age of 16 will wonder why Kobe didn't win the MVP.