The Mamba strikes in London when it counted

[Dee83]

It was so damn cool seeing Kobe hush many of his critics and totally taking over in the 2nd half of the first round of Olympic tournament play. AUS hit 2 straight 3's in the beginning of the 3rd quarter to cut it to a 6pt US lead then Kobe just went off for 20 pts in the 2nd half alone going 6 for 10 from 3 point land.

Carmel Anthony on KB "I kind of knew what button to push with him. I was talking to him at halftime and in the third quarter and I guess I pushed the button. He woke up and to see that, I've been on the other side of the ball and had that situation before,"

Kevin Durant "Somebody made him mad. I could see it in his eyes, I wanted him to kind of turn it on and that's what he did. You see it all the time, but that was the first time we've seen it here. He got so upset and when he does that he's in another world."

[Levity]

Dear world,
Please piss the hell out of the black mamba this season.

Sincerely,
Laker Nation

[Sofa King]

This ones for doormatt

[LocLaker]

yep kobe went SS DBZ style.

[Bandwagon1]

Beautiful for the critics to be silent.

[Desiderium]

almost made up for his 0/4, 2 turnover first half

[AcecardZ]

So nice to see Kobe have a good half of basketball... he gave the fans and the haters quite a show for a few minutes.

[seoulman]

Kobe shows he still has that assassin mentality. It's awesome to watch.

Now we know there will still be some Kobe haters [cough, cough], I mean critics who will say something lame to shoot down Kobe. They'll say stupid things like, "oh, why does Kobe have to be mad to do something" or another. I don't know. All I know is that every Kobe hater I know would be jumping for joy if he somehow got traded to their team.

[Slava]

I don't think its an indicator of anything just like his poor performances prior to this, we know how he can get insanely streaky when he starts hitting a couple of shots consecutively.

[Gek]

I agree with Slava. His role is not even close to being similar to a role that he will ever have as a Laker (or better or worse). My gut says that Kobe will come into the season poised, ready to win by doing what the team needs (unless that's just dumping the ball to Bynum). I don't believe his efficiency will increase much FG% wise, but I am optimistic that he has been working on 3's.

[Matt6288]

What he does in the olympics doesn't make a difference to what he'll do next season, he's going to do what he always does (kick ass) the only difference will be a higher FG% due to Mr.Nash

Kobe has more rings than anyone in the league right now so the haters can suck it

[Cool_Dude]

This ones for doormatt

Super Saiyan Kobe!

[Tee212]

kb power level : 9 billion shiversss.........UNNNNREALLLL said durant.

[Sedale Threatt]

I don't think its an indicator of anything just like his poor performances prior to this, we know how he can get insanely streaky when he starts hitting a couple of shots consecutively.

That's exactly it. He's got to be one of the two or three best streak shooters in basketball history. It's hard to describe just how poorly he was playing in the first half yesterday. Horrendous. Then he gets on a roll and puts up 20 points in a 20-minute half.

Fun to watch in the moment, especially when you know he's taking a 3 10 seconds before he shoots it. But those huge swings are why I've had so much trouble fully getting into the Kobe Bryant Experience over the years. The peaks are incredible, but the valleys are so hard to take.

[Sedale Threatt]

Not to start anything, but from an aesthetic standpoint, I thought James was much better and much more enjoyable to watch. That's what Magic Johnson used to do on a nightly basis, which is why he remains my all-time favorite player. Total all-around dominance, with scoring taking a back seat to facilitation.

[Kalidogg24]

[DEEP3CL]

Like I said his previous play was nothing to get worried about, and this game is nothing to get too excited about. Being real it's not like everybody on that team exploded out the gates. CP, Melo, D-Will and the rest sucked early on. Then at one point they all had good games.