Mamba Magic

Here is the link to my Lakers Nation recap of the Lakers-Warriors game. Also this paragraph from ESPN's Lakers blog is amazing:

Kobe Bryant displayed his full repertoire of celebratory actions in the fourth quarter.

There was the Dikembe Mutombo finger wave with 3:10 remaining when he drove into the lane, absorbed the contact from Andris Biedrins and still made the layup, sending him to the line for an and-one and Biedrins out of the game with six fouls.

There was the lower jaw jut, dubbed simply "The Kobe Face" that he displayed several times after canning a couple jumpers with the defender glued to him.

And there was the arms spread out in full Michael Jordan "Wings" fashion after he hit his dagger of a pull-up 3-pointer with 43.9 seconds left that doubled the Lakers late lead from three to six. (Usually when Bryant spreads his arms out like that he'll go into airplane mode, but Wednesday he just settled for taxiing.)

"You have a responsibility to your team to try to come through in those situations and make the right play," Bryant said. "Tonight, I did that."

Said Lakers coach Phil Jackson: "He's been waiting to have that kind of game. We haven't had many finishes like that for a while and that's what he loves to do."


I definitely remember seeing all three of those things, including throwing his fists straight up in the air (which maybe was the beginning of the Wings thing haha), but I didn't think about it til this guy wrote it. So soooo awesome!!!