The Mecca of Basketball

I clicked on ESPN early Tuesday morning to see Kobe dropped 61 at Madison Square Garden.

"He is so Jordan like it's eerie," I thought.

Jordan was always known to step up his game at MSG, the world's most famous arena, the place he calls "the mecca of basketball", and Kobe is similarly following suit.

Later in the day, I went to DaHoops NBA Cafe in Causeway Bay. Great place. At first I thought it was just a gimmick, regular upstair mini cafe with mediocre food. But nope. The owner actually is a diehard NBA fan, and DUDE WAS A CHEF IN CANADA--meaning the food is actually good. The burgers and fries are king.

My favorite part though, is all the food and drinks are named after NBA players. Now to casual fans, it may seem a tad silly. To non-fans, downright ridiculous maybe. But to a NBA geek like me, I had a grin on my face just looking at the menu and seeing that the orange/pineapple smoothy was named Danny Granger.

Nachos were Steve Nashchoes. It was great.

Anyway, I've gotten off topic. To get back on track--I was at NBA Cafe watching the replay of the Lakers Knicks game and Kobe's brilliant offensive performance. There was one move where he pumped Wilson Chandler then spun around and did a floating jumper. It was sweet. It was money.

However, everytime Kobe blows up like this, the media--in an attempt to put on hype--will overplay it and casual fans will suck it all up.

The angle media is using now is Kobe is the new king of NY because his 61 topped Jordan's 55 as the highest point total vs the Knicks at MSG.

I would like to put perspective on this and bring it down to earth.

Jordan dropped 55 as a 34 year old (technically, 34 is ancient by NBA standards, check out how bad most players start to decline by 32) against Jeff Van Gundy's Knicks. JVG teams are always known for tough defense.

Actually a few years before, Jordan dropped 50+ in the playoffs against Pat Riley's Knicks. And those Knicks teams were some of the roughest teams to ever play basketball.

These Knicks Kobe dropped 61 on? THey coached my Mike D'Antoni--aka the man who doesn't believe in defense and wants his team to shoot the ball in 7 seconds or less.

My point is, 50+ against Pat Riley's Knicks is more impressive than 61 against D'Antoni's Knicks.

Really. Them Knicks team would pound on you, just like the 80s Pistons. Scoring 50 against the 80s Pistons and 90s Knicks is equivalent to dropping, say 75 on a Mike D'Antoni team.