The LA Lakers No24 drew a full house to the O2 Arena but injury meant he could only play for only six minutes
Tube strikes and traffic jams be damned, Kobe Bryant was coming to London's O2 Arena. Not just one of him, in fact, but thousands, in all shapes and sizes. Tall Kobes, short Kobes, skinny Kobes, fat Kobes, female Kobes and Kobes of all different ethnicities. Some who live just down the road and others who had travelled from the other side of the globe. All meandering up the walkway that leads to the Arena's entrance, stopping to take the odd photograph or gawp at an oversized picture of... Kobe.
This is the fourth consecutive year in which the NBA has hosted a pre-season game in London, but the first in which it has brought its biggest star along for the ride. High profile players have featured ? from Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and a Boston Celtics team gearing up for a championship run in 2007 to Great Britain's own Luol Deng this time last year ? but not the one Britain really wanted to see. "Kobe is, like, the David Beckham of basketball," offered one starry-eyed teen as he queued for the shirt that would transform him, too, into No24.
Except that unlike Becks, Kobe is still at the top of his game. Last year he averaged 29.2 points through the play-offs as he led the Lakers to a second consecutive title and the fifth of his career. He was the top scorer in all but one of seven games against Boston during their finals series. He also happens to earn more than Beckham too, not that there is any animosity over such matters. The pair are close enough that one of Beckham's Milan shirts takes pride of place in Bryant's locker at the Lakers' Staples Center home.
Bryant, of course, was never going to be in championship-winning form for this, the Lakers' first pre-season game, and in the end was restricted to just over six minutes on the court as he sought to protect both a knee that is recovering from summer surgery and a fractured finger that he chose not to have operated on. A sensible decision, perhaps, though still a slightly disappointing one for an audience who did not see him find the basket in that spell.
There could have been some reaction if he had. The crowds at these games in London have always arrived with an enthusiasm verging on boisterousness and this was no different. Cheerleaders were cheered, players roared at and two fans jeered mercilessly after they failed to identify the Neighbours theme tune when summoned to the floor for a time-out challenge.
Nevertheless, there was no disguising the fact that the greatest volume all evening had been achieved when Kobe emerged on to the floor. When he rose for a jump shot two minutes into the contest, hundreds more Kobes rose with him only to crash back to their seats as the ball clanged away off the rim. He would miss two further shots, both from three-point range, before departing.
The notion that he could be back in London soon had already been shot down in a pre-game press conference held by the NBA commissioner, David Stern, and the AEG CEO Tim Leiweke. AEG has close ties with the Lakers, running the Staples Center, while Leiweke is on the team's board of directors, but when asked if LA could become regulars at the O2 (also run by AEG), his response was immediate: "Not gonna happen" as long as Phil Jackson remains coach. Stern was more circumspect, insisting variety would keep things fresh.
There was mercifully little discussion in the same conference of whether the NBA could ever establish a franchise in these parts. The question was raised, but only briefly. It has been posed so often as to become tedious. The response was the same as ever; Stern suggesting the most realistic scenario would see several teams formed at once in Europe to create a new conference before adding that nothing was likely to happen on this front for at least a decade.
The fans were far more concerned with the here and now. The first chants of "We Want Kobe" began late in the third-quarter and there were further appeals throughout the final period. Before the end there was even a smattering of boos. On the bench Bryant grinned, but even with his team trailing, Jackson was unmoved. He is paid to win championships, not pre-season games, and he will need a healthy Bryant if he is to secure a third of those in a row.
And so the Timberwolves won, 111-92, leaving the would-be Kobes in the stands to swallow their disappointment and pack off home. Many will be back for the two regular season games between the New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors in March, though it is worth noting that while tickets sold out for tonight's game in "literally a day", according to Leiweke, there is still some availability for those two. A meaningful game, it seems, is less important to fans than a meaningful player.
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