By the sounds and cheers coming from the crowd, if someone was just listening to the game. they'd think the Lakers were playing the Brooklyn Nets in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant was showered with MVP chants as he led his team to victory and took matters into his own hands as the Lakers defeated the Nets 92-83.
Had the Lakers lost, the most talked about play would have been Bryant's dunk late in the fourth quarter to give L.A. a two point, 82-80, lead. Brook Lopez played a hell of a game, but Bryant proved to be the ultimate contender in this matchup.
Before moving further, here's the ridiculous dunk over Kris Humphries and Gerald Wallace, which could easily be considered the dunk of the year.
Boom! That was such a powerful dunk for the 34-year-old Bryant who can still blow by defenders and finish strong at the hoop.
The one curious thing, were there really that many Laker fans in Brooklyn or were Nets fans just in complete awe and excited that a living legend performed this stunt as they were watching live?
Throughout the night, fans kept cheering "MVP!" and when Bryant went to the line, the chants grew stronger.
Now, the Lakers will have to begin winning if Bryant is going to get that award, but we've seen him totally transform his game these past few weeks. He's mostly known for being a deadly shooter and wanting to finish every possession with a shot. That has changed in the past few games.
Obviously, people making these aren't the most creative people in the world, but that was the reputation Bryant has built while playing in the NBA all these years. Who else but Bryant can drop 81 in a game?
Recently, Bryant began passing the ball more. Yesterday he only had four assists, but went through a stretch where he was averaging 13 assists per game.
On Tuesday night, the dunk was absolutely ridiculous. Nets fans might have been upset that their team lost, Humphries might have realized that this was his biggest moment in the NBA after getting posterized by the legend and Lopez had his performance trumped by the Lakers win.
Lopez was in route to be the game's MVP. He scored 12 points by himself in the fourth quarter as he finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.
However, two of Bryant's points were enough to steal the show and help the Lakers steal another victory from the Nets.
If Bryant wants to win the MVP, he'll have to worry about the guy on the other New York team, Carmelo Anthony, who is simply tearing it up and has his Knicks in championship form.
Next up for the Lakers, they will take their game to Boston where they will battle their rival Celtics on Thursday afternoon. Let's see if Bryant can do anything spectacular again.
