Kobe Bryant Wins Title While Trying to Rewrite Perception

The NBA season has ended.

Game Seven between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers will leave a lasting impact on the legacy of Kobe Bryant after 48 minutes.

For Kobe Bryant, it is a chance to let his NBA career stands on its own. Throughout his career, his name has been synonymous with winning, but it has had its loop holes. Before last night he had four championships in 14 years, but three of them were with Shaquille O’Neal as the unquestioned leader.

After O’Neal was traded to Miami in the summer of 2004, Kobe Bryant took the reigns as the “man”, but had his struggles. He missed the playoffs in 2005 and got knocked out of in the first round of the playoffs in 2006 and 2007 by the Phoenix Suns.

In 2006, Bryant and the Lakers took a 3-1 lead in the series, but lost in seven games, including a 31-point loss in Game Seven where Bryant’s performance was “questionable” considering he was building a reputation as the best closer in the game.

During this stretch, Bryant had the offensive freedom to take all of the shots, command the offense & in turn feel what Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett (at the time) and countless other superstars who were all alone on the quest for a championship felt for the majority of their careers.

On the Court from 2005-2007, he averaged 31.7 points on 44 percent shooting, but his team record was abysmal compared to his previous standards of 50 wins plus. Through those three seasons, L.A. averaged just over 40 wins a season (34, 45, and 42 respectively.) This a far cry from an average of 57 wins in seven full seasons (31 wins in the 50 game season of 1999)

From his actions off the court, one could say it was not for him. After blasting his front office for not trading youngster Andrew Bynum for Hall of Famer Jason Kidd and demanding a trade in the summer of 2007 he had to reassess his career.

Carryi...

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