A Split Second Caps Bryant's Finest Hour
May 1, 2006

This is the first playoff series where he's not trying to be Michael Jordan, and what happens?

Kobe Bryant is Michael Jordan.

These were the first pressure moments where he wasn't trying to be bigger than the Lakers, and guess what.

Kobe Bryant was a giant.

In Sunday's breathless late afternoon, after making two shots in two final ticks when it was too close to breathe and too loud to think, Bryant praised his young team for maturing.

But it's not them. It's him.

He's the one who has grown up.

He's the one who has finally realized the stardom buried in selflessness, the thrill hidden in teamwork, the love found in leadership.

In Sunday's final moments against the Phoenix Suns, he amazingly did not try to steal the show, and guess what.

Kobe Bryant stole the game.

He stole it twice.

He stole it with the flair of a Robert Horry and the drama of a Derek Fisher, not combined, but separately.

He repeated two lifetime Laker memories in a span of one second.

Think about that.

He made the tying shot with 0.7 of a second remaining in regulation, a dizzy, driving baseline runner.

"He just threw it up in the air," said stunned Sun Steve Nash.

He then made the game-winning shot with 0.2 of a second left in overtime, a fall-away 17-footer with two guys in his face.

"I've never seen anything in my life like that," said stunned Sun Eddie House.

Those chilled by the roaring Staples Center crowd have surely never heard anything like that.

Those shaken by the pounding Staples Center seats have surely never felt anything like that.