(For my sins) I was watching Colin Cowherd today and he said something which I thought was quite insightful (unusual for Cowherd, but I digress). He said that there were a lot of people who thought it was ridiculous when Kobe went for 60 in his last game by taking 50 shots. He , on the other hand, thought it was very appropriate because that's who Kobe was. He would put up tremendous numbers often by monopolizing usage, sometimes for the good of the team, sometimes not. It was a great way for him to end his career because it just typified the man - a tremendous scorer who for all his greatness and for all his flaws was just out and out fun to watch.
Moving on to more recent goings on in the NBA, he mentioned Russell Westbrook and his record breaking performance last night. Russ, he said, is a tremendous athlete, one of the best who has ever played basketball. He appears to be a great teammate, and day after day he leaves everything out there on the court BUT he said, he makes the dumbest of decisions. Last night typified everything Russ is. Down by 1, five seconds to go, Russ, after being brilliant for the entire game, driving towards the basket to try and make a layup or get fouled to win SUDDENLY STOPS, PULLS UP, AND ATTEMPTS A THREE. No, no, no, no, Russ, no, what are you thinking. A career 31% three point shooter pulls up for a three with time expiring - and of course he missed.
There you have it, Russ in a nutshell the fantastic and the flawed. I've already commented once this week how much I love watching the Wizards. It's all about Russ. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him. Its athletes like him (and Kobe) that make people like me love sports.