Thoughts on the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers will probably beat Denver but you have to believe that the Nuggets are the last team Kobe wanted to see. First there is his uncomfortably public adultery trial which left him with some not so fond memories of Colorado hotels.

And then there is the menacing specter of Kobe' greatest on court collapse, Chauncey Billups. Losing the 2004 finals broke up the three time champion Lakers and caused coach Phil Jackson to retire and write a book about how selfish Kobe is. If there is one thing the Houston series proved its that Bryant still has that self-destructing tendency to play the hero, refusing to pass to his teammates so that he can take ill-advised 18 footers. These low percentage shots are what gives a super star-less team like Houston the chance to drag Kobe to seven full games. The Nuggets have two superstars in Billups and Carmelo Anthony and if they can seduce Kobe into “get mine” mode there is a real chance they'll steal the series.

I am being pretty mean to Kobe (and he was good in the Lakers' Game 1 victory: 40 points, 4 assists, clutch free throws).

But here's why I'm down on Kobe: It's the Spike Lee  just-released Kobe documentary, which should have been called “Kobe Doin' PR Work.” In it, Kobe hugs his kids, Kobe jokes with his teammates, Kobe cares about the fans. What's off putting about this isn't that he's creating a persona for himself (the much loved Lebron has a thicker air of a focus group celebrity than Kobe), but No. 24's public persona is so incongruous with what we see of him on the court.

Has anyone who watches Kobe play on non-documentary recorded days actually seen Kobe joke with Pau Gasol? Why does a player who cares so much about pleasing fans routinely check out of big games (see the 2006 first round against the Suns, Game 6 of last years finals) and lose big games by soothing his own ego (see the 2004 finals). Kobe is the center of his own Kobe shaped universe and fans are insulted by his audacity in believing he can do such a half-ass job to hoodwink us into thinking otherwise.