Dream Matchup of Kobe-LeBron Fading As Deeper Teams Rise

DENVER -- For all the weird smack-talking from those Nike puppets, all the relentless marketing pushes by a sports-drink firm that suggests Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are on "a collision course," guess what? They might be headed for a Porsche-Hummer crash instead, which would be a colossal waste of ad-world brainpower and, when you consider the megastars excluded, our great entertainment loss in June.

No one is pondering a Denver vs. Orlando matchup, least of all ABC, which would watch in horror as a compelling postseason marked by fat cable ratings suddenly fades to black in the NBA Finals. "I'm sure the world does want Cleveland and the Lakers, the best two players in the world and the chance to see them in a seven-game series," said Nuggets star Chauncey Billups. "But I don't want to see it. And I'm trying my best to make sure it doesn't happen."

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If Kobe and LeBron are the stars of the big show, they also share the same dilemma: They don't have enough help around them, unlike a team such as the Nuggets, who flashed the requisite skill, depth, energy and rebounding aggression to thrive Monday night even when their own star, Carmel-O Anthony, extended his rut to three full quarters and 11 minutes of a fourth without a basket -- an 0-for-14 vapor zone that finally ended just before halftime of Game 4. To be fair, he was dehydrated, fighting a stomach virus and playing on a sprained ankle.

"When I left my house, I felt fine. When I got here, for some reason, my stomach didn't feel good," Anthony said. "I had to get a couple of IVs, and then I wound up twisting my ankle."

Knowing how Bryant has battled through sick games -- and, of course, the incomparable Michael Jordan -- we might not want to give Anthony his own TV puppet just yet. To be a playoff legend, you don't interrupt an amazing run of five straight 30-point blitzes by stumbling for a game and a half in the biggest series of your career. Fortunately for him on his 3-of-16 night, he was bailed out by a steely coach-in-sneakers named Billups, a sizzling shooter in JR (Swish) Smith, a tattooed crowd magnet like the wing-flapping Chris (Birdman) Andersen, the mean Kenyon Martin, the serviceable Dahntay Jones and an increasingly valuable reserve in Linas Kleiza. The Nuggets were in control throughout and won 120-101, tying the Western Conference finals at 2-2 and leaving a lasting image of an exhausted Bryant resting on the Lakers bench, his head wrapped in a towel just two days after taking two IVs.

Needing seven games to vanquish inferior Houston is taking its toll on Bryant, who looks around and sees only Pau Gasol contributing regularly on a team that looks incapable of winning an NBA championship. Andrew Bynum showed up offensively in Game 4, but will he the next game? "It was a three-man show, and that wasn't enough," Nuggets coach George Karl said. Kobe seemed prepared to one-up James in the hottest national sports debate going -- who's better? -- when he gutted out a spectacular performance in Game 3. But too many of his teammates are playing close to dead, prompting the same doubts that have dogged the Lakers through the postseason: Why don't they show up for every game? Why is the collective effort so sporadic?


Or is it maybe a case of the Lakers simply not being that good?

"They just kicked our ass. It's not like we turned it on, turned it off. They whooped us," said Bryant, who scored 34 points in 41 minutes. "They whooped us on the glass, whooped us on loose balls. There was no [on-off] switch for us. They played harder. They played better.

"You've got to push through [the fatigue]. We have young guys who are tired. Maybe they're thinking, 'I don't have to go get this loose ball,' as opposed to taking every possession as if that's the last one."

Phil Jackson, meanwhile, chose the approach he has taken since his early spring times with the dynasty Bulls. When his team is struggling in a series, blame the officials. True, as Charles Barkley and many analysts have emphasized, the refs have stunk throughout the playoffs. But poor calls are not why the Lakers lost, contrary to Jackson's belief that they ignored dirty play by Jones, the Denver defender who has been wearing out Bryant.

"Basketball is a game where the aggressor gets the advantage," said the Lakers coach and worldly philosopher. "Tonight, we didn't know what a foul was or wasn't. At the start of the game, you had guy knocked around, and we thought they were gonna let these things go without being called. At the end, fouls were called all over the place. That's not how we want to play. When we're always on our heels, we're suddenly not the aggressors anymore."

Then he focused on a fourth-quarter situation, with the outcome all but decided, when Lakers reserve Luke Walton was whistled for a technical foul after complaining about his sixth personal foul. "Luke got hit in the throat by Nene with an elbow, and the ref gave him a technical, and then subsequently [the Nuggets] were given three consecutive fouls," Jackson said. "That's the kind of disparity we don't like. We want it to be fair and evenly played. There was unacceptable defense by Jones, tripping guys, playing unsportsmanlike basketball. And it's not the first time it has happened in this series. It happened in two other games."

Indeed, as Bryant was running downcourt, Jones did get a foot in the way and sent him flying to the floor. "Kobe [bleeps]! Kobe [bleeps]!" chanted the fans, who have despised Bryant since a 2004 Colorado rape case that was dismissed. Was it intentional?

"No, I just fell on my face. A klutz," said Bryant, oozing sarcasm.

Sure you want to tick off Bryant with a potential three games left?

"I don't see why not. He's another basketball player," Anthony said. "If Kobe gets mad, he gets mad."

Thing is, the Nuggets can get away with such talk because they are the better team. Whether they win the series is another story, because they're still capable of the dunderhead decisions and late-game collapses that cost them two games. "We feel like we're one of the best teams," Anthony said, "but we've got to prove that." Karl could only play dumb when it was mentioned Billups stole a fourth-quarter inbounds pass. In Denver's two losses, of course, the Nuggets had inbounds passes stolen by Trevor Ariza, with Lamar Odom guarding the passer.

"Ohhhhh ... I gotcha," Karl said. "I'd forgotten about that."

Can the Nuggets win the series? They will if Smith keeps hitting three-pointers and scores 24 points in 28 minutes. And they will if they keep winning the rebounding game by a whopping 58-40, with Andersen coming off the bench for 14 boards and two blocks and literally flapping his arms after a big early block. Birdman has a colorful history -- he lived in a children's home for three years when abandoned by both parents, and he has overcame an NBA drug suspension to become a Denver cult hero. The Nuggets have fun players who excite the crowd, but no one jazzes the fans more than Birdman. An older lady runs around the Pepsi Center in a Birdman jersey and his trademark Mohawk-like hair, and when the arena video board aired the shot, the crowd went nuts. Even Smith, after a late barrage of three-pointers, started flapping his arms.

"The rebounding excites me because that's what we're gonna have to do at Staples," said Karl, referring to Game 5 on Wednesday night in Los Angeles and a possible Game 7 at Staples Center on Sunday.

And Smith? Despite the shooting effort, Karl was ready to strangle him after he picked up a late technical foul for arguing a call. "I was yelling at him, not being nice," Karl said. "That's who he is. The technicals -- those are the things we have to grow up on and get by. His talent is obvious. He's very flamboyant and explosive, and when he makes the threes, we're a very explosive team."

So just as it's LeBron against Orlando and the world in the Eastern Conference finals -- did Mo Williams really guarantee the Cavs would win the series when he's shooting 32 percent? -- it's Kobe against Denver and the world out West.

"It's time for us to go home and take care of business," Bryant said.

I have my doubts about that. You, too?