Jerry West on KG v. Kobe

Tip of the cap to Michael for reminding me of this piece from the Globe The man who brought Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers recently called the high-scoring, high-maintenance guard the best player in the NBA. West made his preference clear with all due respect to the Celtics' Kevin Garnett , though the Hollywood logic behind his choice likely will spark some debate. 

"Garnett is very good, but if he had the pressure on him to score like Kobe does every night, there's a difference," West said. "Kevin is going to be a great, great player every night in all facets of the game. 

But the other one has a little bit different kind of cachet to him." While Garnett is a "tremendously good basketball player," West said Bryant brings a degree of excitement "like going to an action movie instead of seeing a great film. 

Kevin Garnett would be in a great film and Kobe Bryant would be the action-hero figure. He's going to supply the jumps off the tops of bridges, dunks, going through 10 people, driving to make a layup.

 "Kevin Garnett is just going to be the steady, steady, steady guy there every night. But I think from an all-around standpoint, Kobe is the best." "I love Kevin Garnett as a player. As you move along in your life, you learn to appreciate different things. I saw the incredible skill of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I saw incredible skill in Magic Johnson. 

But Magic Johnson was the action hero, and Abdul-Jabbar was your serious actor. Boston's never had a player like Bryant. West acknowledged the impact Garnett has made with the Celtics and commented that he is happy for them.

 But do the Celtics have what it takes to win a championship? "I wouldn't even want to venture into that," said West. "One injury to the best of teams [changes the odds]. I don't care who it is. You take the best player off the best team and they can forget about it." --- Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. 

Your beloved purple was supposedly deeper, more talented, and better coached than Da Green, and yet they still lost 6 of 8 games this year (if you read any Bob Ryan, then you'll also agree that the purple should have lost all eight). Worse, in two games, your team quit trying before the game was over.

That's right, your team quit competing despite the fact that they are paid millions to do so, not to mention that they are professional athletes and ought to have some individual pride. Shameful and shameless. 12/30/2007 Game at Staples Purple Quits Trying With 7 Minutes Left in 4th 6/19/2008 NBA Finals Game 6 Purple Quits Trying at Half