The Ottoman Empire
One night after his back locked up in San Antonio and forced him to sit out the fourth quarter of a big game — which, knowing the man, means it had to have been debilitating pain — Kobe Bryant was in Dallas on Wednesday trying to give it a go against another West contender. For the first half of Lakers/Mavs, Kobe was obviously hurting, gingerly running around like late-model Patrick Ewing and serving as not much more than a decoy. In the second half he was moving a little better, but in true dramatic fashion, saved his best for last: Tied up with 42 seconds left after Dirk Nowitzki (30 pts, 16 rebs) hit a three, Kobe got a clear-out on Josh Howard, milked the clock, took him to the right elbow and dropped a pull-up jumper for the go-ahead bucket. Read More »
-->