Without exception, every NBA championship team has been led to glory by a superstar — from Joe Fulks to the latest edition of Boston's Big Three. While the highly anticipated Kobe-LeBron confrontation didn't come to pass, with the extraordinary skills of Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant on display over the course of the next few days/weeks, this tradition will necessarily be perpetuated.
To be sure, this isn't the LeBron-Kobe matchup so many anticipated. While those superstars have obvious similarities, these two are very different.
Howard's advantage is that he's always in the proximity of the hoop and can therefore score on putbacks and drop-off dimes without having specific plays run for him. At the same time, Howard's primary disadvantages are that the ball has to come to him in half-court sets, and that defensive shortcomings on the part of his teammates will force him to deal with hard-driving, quicker players looking to attack his body — and the fouls that inevitably result.
Kobe's main advantages are that he can go get the ball and that he can literally score from anywhere in the attack zone.
What we really have here is a very good big man who's well on the road to greatness, and an already great mid-sized player who is absolutely the best in the game. Or, a budding superstar as opposed to a championship-tested and infinitely versatile super-duper-star.
In any case, batten down the hatches, load up on your favorite beverages and snack foods, and enjoy this incredibly intriguing battle of titans.
Even if it isn't the one we thought we'd get when the postseason started.
