Will you quit fawning already, there’s a GAME going on.

I found myself saying this out loud during game 3 on more than one occasion.

Look. Kobe Bryant is an amazing basketball player. His fakes are so devastating that the player on the receiving end usually runs the risk of hurting himself. Kobe can make all players look away from the hoop...except the guy who catches the alley-oop. He can poke the ball into the basket from any angle of any hanging jumper. What he does is so maddeningly precise that it takes a minute for it to even sink in.

Top 10 of all time? Yeah, there’s space for him there.

But that doesn’t mean you should praise the guy sanctimoniously every second of every game. You shouldn’t put up graphics of him clutching the Trophy. You shouldn’t clog the screen with him so it looks like the finals are a foregone conclusion or he’s the only one on the court worth talking about. You WAIT until his team wins the series before you do that stuff.

I respect Kobe’s game. But despite his amazing accomplishments (81 points in one game!), he doesn’t hold my interest. Because in the end...Kobe really isn’t that interesting.

I want to know more about Hedo Turkoglu, a 6′10 guy who can play forward, point guard, and shooting guard, and can still drive the ball like a freight train. I want to know more about Pau Gasol, a wild-haired Spaniard who I can imagine beating a team of 10 single handed in the streets of his native Barcelona. I want to be able to watch a play without hearing the name Kobe Bryant.

Go Hedo.