The stage is set. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs. In this decade, The Lakers and the Spurs have won 6 of the last 8 NBA championships! The Lakers started off the Decade winning the first 3, with the Spurs winning 3 out of the last 5. The Lakers started off the decade dominating the Spurs, then the Spurs followed it up by dominating the Lakers the next 5 seasons.

The Spurs team is basically the same, Tim Duncan in the Paint, Greg Popovich on the sidelines, and a bunch of solid veteran role players around him. Not much has changed. Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker, you get the picture. The Lakers however are a little bit different. Only Bryant and Fisher are the same, while all other players are completely new faces since the Lakers and the Spurs played in the playoffs last.

This time, it’s on Kobe!
This time Kobe Bryant is the leader. The “go to” guy. Before it was Shaquille O’neal. Last time the Lakers had mostly other veterans on the team. This time it’s a young team that has never been this far in the playoffs before. No Shaq, Just Kobe and the guys this time around.

Kobe’s Time To Shine
What better possible scenario than this for Kobe Bryant, to make yet another imprint on the history of the game. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs, with their Hall of Fame center Tim Duncan, pesky/dirty defensive guru Bruce Bowen, and guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli to name a few. If Kobe can help this team get past the defending champs, it would be the next hurdle towards winning that first championship without a guy named Shaq on his squad.