Kobe wants a fifth ring, and standing in his way are the bullies from Boston. If all goes according to script, Kobe will get his ring, and for good measure, exact a measure of revenge against the Celtics.
It took Kobe Bryant all of three minutes and three hand-in-the-face dagger jumpers to once again reaffirm his status as the game’s premier closer, and in those three scintillating minutes, Bryant delivered a third consecutive Western Conference championship to his Lakers, sealed a date with the Boston Celtics, and served notice to everyone that he so badly wants a fifth ring.
Yes, No. 24 wants another ring, but there’s one more thing Kobe wants that he hasn’t and probably will not admit publicly: revenge.
Publicly, Kobe has said all the right things. He claims he just wants to win another championship, and that it just so happens that the Boston Celtics are in his way. He insists he’s not out for vengeance, that he’s not seeking revenge for the utter humiliation these Celtics inflicted on his Lakers two years ago on this very same stage.
Those who believe this have little to no knowledge of what makes Kobe the game’s best player. Yes, he has otherworldly talent, jaw-dropping skills, and awe-inspiring mental toughness, but what makes Kobe the alpha male of alpha males is his competitiveness. He is the ultimate competitor, forever driven by a constant, insatiable desire to win, to excel, to be great. Competitors like Kobe don’t take losing very well, and they sure don’t take humiliating losses very well either.
These Celtics beat and embarrassed Kobe and his Lakers in 2008. There was the dominant Game 2 at the Garden. Then there was The Comeback in Game 4 at Staples. And of course, there was the title-clinching Game 6 back at the Garden, a game that the Celtics so thoroughly dominated that Kobe and his Lakers looked like bumbling amateurs.
Games 4 and 6, in particular, scarred Kobe. Those two games, whether No. 24 will admit it publicly or not, opened deep, painful wounds. Kobe was near helpless as the Lakers choked away a 24-point lead in Game 4, and he was hapless and helpless in Game 6 as the Celtics pounded the Lakers to submission and into oblivion. Near the end of Game 6, Kobe sat on the Lakers bench for what seemed like eternity. He was dejected and frustrated, and adding insult to injury, he had to endure all the mocking and jeering, all the “Beat L.A!” and “Kobe Sucks!” chants. He watched Gino dance blissfully on the Jumbotron, then saw Tony Allen slam home a showboat alley-oop. He watched pure joy and mayhem unfold as confetti rained down on the Garden parquet.
That series haunted Kobe in the summer of 2008 and throughout the 2008–2009 season. It loomed over him like a dark cloud, a painful reminder that he really isn’t on the same gravita as Michael Jordan. Yet it fuelled Kobe. It drove him to the point that every game took on life-or-death proportions. The end result was a more driven, more determined Kobe, a Kobe that wanted to win more than anyone else on the league. He was seeking redemption, and by the end of last season, he got it by winning his fourth championship at the expense of the Orlando Magic.
Still, the vestiges of the epic 2008 meltdown still haunt Kobe today. This is a man who doesn’t exactly take losing well, and to a man, you can bet that Kobe took that ’08 loss to heart. And no, he sure as hell did not take it very well. That’s not Kobe being juvenile, self-indulgent, or bitter; that’s just Kobe being the ultimate competitor that he is.
Sure, he won his fourth ring last season, but it wasn’t against the Celtics, the team that tormented them just a season earlier. Kobe and his Lakers beat a young upstart Orlando Magic team, not those bullies from Boston. Privately, Kobe wanted the Celtics last season so he could find retribution from what happened in ’08.
Now, Kobe has his wish. He’ll get a shot at a fifth ring beginning Friday, and along with it, another shot at these Celtics. For Kobe, this series will be personal. It will be a settling of scores, a long-sought-after shot at revenge and a chance to exorcise the demons of ’08. This is bad news for these Celtics. A driven, determined Kobe Bryant is bad enough, but a Kobe Bryant out for blood is downright scary.
Publicly, Kobe will insist that all he cares about now is winning his fifth ring. Words, though, can be utterly meaningless, so don’t buy that. Kobe Bryant is as competitive as they come, and he’s absolutely dying to destroy these Boston Celtics.
Yes, he wants a ring, but he also wants retribution. And he wants it real bad.
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