Big dunk, Pau. It may just be time for Denver to pack it in for the day....
-sw
They certainly are beginning to fold their clothes, SW ... and they better make a move soon ... on both ends!
All the talk in our "Around the NBA" section all year about how this Denver team doesn't have it together mentally? It's starting to show once more (AI gone)...
-sw
Yup ... they certainly seemed "out-of-sync" in this one. Kobe was baiting K-Mart big-time, and AI let the whole thing get the best of him ... a bit out of character for him, at least in this type of game. He's shown a lot more maturity of late, at least I've thought so. I'm sure the 'Melo stuff has had it's effect, as well ... a shame a player of his ability can't reserve his bad habits for the off-season, at least.
I think he let a lot of good people down ... not the least of which was this team. I know there are many here who disagree, but I love to watch AI, and he's been one of my favorite "non-Celtics" since very early in his career. I personally have always hoped good things for him, and he seems to always come up short. It's a shame he's got to carry this yoke for 'Melo ... he deserves better.
Bahku, you touch on an interesting point here. I've gone through an interesting odyssey with AI myself -- I was definitely on the "detractor" end of the spectrum with him early in his career, but I've gained a lot more respect for him over the years. For all his flaws and past mistakes -- and there have been many -- I'm a believer that this guy has done a better job than most of growing up in a lot of ways, and for all his on-court selfishness over the years, it's nearly impossible not to appreciate the beating this guy has taken on a night-in, night-out basis over his career. His durability, his toughness, his ability as a scorer...there's a lot to be admired there. That said, I'm not claiming he has turned into some sort of a saint, and I'm not excusing some of the past issues (the "practice" spiel, the gunplay, the rapping fiasco), but I've come to see him in a much better light than I once did.
Ultimately, I think he's one of the best examples for us observers that it's important to remember the grey area in life -- not everything is absolutes. Not everyone is a hero or a villain -- in fact, almost everyone isn't definitively one of those things. That's because they -- and we -- are all
human. AI has done some pretty reprehensible stuff, and he has also done much that is quite respectable as well. Sometimes -- most of the time, in fact -- many of us (self certainly included) could do a better job of accepting that we can't simply cast these guys into one of the two 'extreme' molds but that we'd be far better off accepting that there are ups and downs to every one of us to ever walk the planet. That isn't to say that you won't hear me unilaterally slam or praise many other athletes in the future (it's something I'm still working on), but the grey area is something that AI in particular has helped me appreciate.
Sorry for the mini-discourse, but thanks for giving me the forum for it, Bahku.
-sw