Credit to V.A.
Kobe Bryant knows the one opponent he can't conquer is time. His 61-point outburst Monday night at Madison Square Garden was as much about maintaining a grasp on the present and fighting off a suddenly cloudy future as it was about recording his name in the arena's history books for posterity.
One second can change a season. One season can alter a career. You could see that recognition on Bryant's face Saturday night in Memphis, an expression of disgust that by falling into Andrew Bynum's knee, he had done significant damage to his center and torpedoed the Lakers' chances of winning a championship this season.
Bryant needs another championship to eradicate the last remaining question in his career -- whether he can lead a team to a title as the primary player. If this season passes without a Lakers victory in the Finals, it will have been seven years since Bryant rolled down Figueroa Street in a championship parade. And Bryant will be 31 by the time next season starts. He'll be young enough to maintain his high level of play, a standard most can't even approach. But this season might be as good as it gets for Kobe's title hopes -- there's no guarantee the Lakers' situation will improve in future seasons.
Adding Bynum to the team that came within two games of winning the championship last season might have been enough to bridge the gap. It sure appeared that way Christmas Day, when the Lakers beat the Celtics in their first crack at them with both Bynum and Pau Gasol. Last month, the Lakers dominated the Cavaliers inside, albeit with the Cavs missing Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Orlando is the one Eastern Conference contender the Lakers haven't been able to solve, although with the way Bynum had been playing recently, it's hard to imagine Dwight Howard would outrebound him 20-3 again, as he did when the Lakers last played the Magic on Jan. 16.
The Western Conference doesn't appear to be as formidable as it was last season. The Spurs are around, as always, but the Lakers have beaten them five out of seven times (four of the victories without Bynum) going back to last season's Western Conference finals. The Jazz, the Lakers' opponents in the 2008 conference semifinals, have been injury-plagued throughout the season and might miss the playoffs. New Orleans hasn't recaptured the magic from last season. Who knows where Houston and Tracy McGrady will be come playoff time? Most of the Trail Blazers will be making their maiden voyages to the playoffs.
It's easy to envision the Lakers returning to the NBA Finals without Bynum if they have to. From there, it's hard to imagine them hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy without their toughest interior defender.
The Lakers are placing an estimate of eight to 12 weeks on Bynum's return. Of course, that's what they said last season when Bynum dislocated his left kneecap, and he never returned to the lineup. It became a touchy subject, as the Lakers' desires clashed with Bynum's persistent pain and his doctor's recommendations. His return was delayed and delayed until he finally had surgery in the middle of the playoffs and ended the speculation entirely.
This is a different knee, and an MCL tear is a more conventional injury. The Lakers don't believe he will need surgery. They think he can be back in time to help the team. At the moment, there are no trade plans in the works. If anything, they now are less likely to move Lamar Odom.
If this is how the Lakers are going to roll, Bryant seemed to suggest Monday night that it's enough. They still start with the best player in the sport. For one night in New York, he did all he could to keep the season from slipping away, scoring almost half his team's points during his 36-plus minutes on the court.
It was reminiscent of the game after Bynum went down last season. Bryant scored 48 points in overtime in Seattle the next night, including the final six points of the game. It was a significant moment for the franchise. Remember, this was coming off his summer of discontent, and for most of the first half of the season, Bryant had seemed coldly indifferent to the Lakers' surprisingly strong start and Bynum's noticeable improvement, as if each victory and each basket Bynum scored made it harder for Bryant to justify a trade. By taking over the game, which easily could have gone down as a throwaway loss on the second side of a back-to-back in the middle of the season, Bryant announced he had a vested interest in the team's fate. In a television interview afterward, Bryant proclaimed the Lakers were a championship-caliber team with Bynum in the lineup.
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