Kobe=Clutch

Late Tuesday night after I got home from work, I got to watch a really good NBA game between the Lakers and Raptors (thank you NBA Network). Toronto held the lead for much of the game, until the fourth quarter when the Lakers woke up. L.A. had lost three straight coming into the game and it was obvious watching this game that Kobe Bryant wasn't happy with how his team has been playing as of late. He decided to take matters into his own hands, hitting the game-winning shot with two guys in his face with 1.9 seconds left (read ESPN's game recap here). 
Kobe has hit this same game-winning shot probably 100 times during his brilliant career (full disclosure: I am a Kobe fan and supporter and always have been). But as soon as he touched the ball on this last play, you just knew the shot was going in. Didn't matter that he was falling back. Didn't matter if there were two people in his face. It was going in. 
"That's my responsibility here, to close things out," he said after the game. 
Kobe is clutch. When the game's on the line, he's an assassin, a killer. Ice in his veins. All those wonderful cliches. But they are all true. He has that nasty streak that all the clutch players in NBA history have had (Jordan and Bird are the first two that come to mind). Also, after the game, when asked about taking away any positives from the win, Kobe said "This thing tonight was garbage." Any positives, Kobe? "None," he replied.
That is cold stuff. But Kobe knows that the ship still isn't righted if you need an off-balance buzzer beater to beat the Raptors, at home no less. After he hit the shot, he didn't dance around the arena, he didn't pretend to take pictures with his teammates (like a certain player from a certain town in Northeast Ohio). He just walked off the court. Cold, calculating.
Look, I love LeBron James and he is the best all-around player in the league, hands down. But when the game is on the line, I will take Kobe every time. Every time. I know LBJ has hit game-winning shots in his career. Several actually. But Kobe has that real nasty edge, that assassin mentality that LeBron doesn't seem to have, at compared to Kobe's. Maybe as LeBron continues to develop, he will acquire that attribute. In fact I guarantee he will. But until then, Kobe is the King of Clutch. And I was very glad I got to watch the latest example on Tuesday night.

* Photo courtesy of Getty Images