The Biggest Game of His Career?

Going into tonight’s Game 5, all eyes are going to be on Kobe. How is he going to react with his back up against the wall? How is he going to perform in what is arguably the biggest game of his career? Although it was made clear in the first half of Game 4 that the Lakers are at their best when Kobe is distributing and creating looks for others — “facilitating” as he likes to put it — will he forget about that and have the Secretariat blinders on, only having eyes for the basket? Or after Phil Jackson pumped up KG’s comments that implied the Lakers suffered when they stopped playing “team ball,” will Kobe pull one of his stunts where he becomes passive on purpose? Don’t act like Kobe’s not above doing something like that in the playoffs. Remember Game 7 of the Suns/Lakers series in ‘06, when he scored 1 point in the second half and took only three shots … On the Celtics side, they’ve got Paul Pierce knee and ankle injuries, Rajon Rondo’s ankle is still an issue, and Doc Rivers said the other day that Kendrick Perkins is 50-50 to play with his shoulder injury. There’s no doubt Pierce will push through whatever is bothering him and get his 20 points. If Rondo and Perkins are benched or limited, guys like Eddie House, Leon Powe and P.J. Brown need to step up … Who would you pick for the U.S. national team roster in this year’s Olympics? We do know Carmelo Anthony is a lock for Team USA, as Jerry Colangelo confirmed it with the Rocky Mountain News. However, he admitted ‘Melo has a lot to prove. “In the last year, I thought he took a half step back,” Colangelo said. “I have no idea why, but obviously I’ve read the reports about how he might be traded and about some of the little things that have gone on. But there’s a lot of stuff I’m not a party to. But we need to establish Carmelo as the same guy that we had the last two summers. I want to put his last NBA season behind him.” Carmelo’s response: “I don’t feel like I took a half-step back on the court. Maybe off the court. I’m excited about representing my country, my team, my family, and my fans in this year’s Olympics. I’ve been waiting on this opportunity for four years. Mr. Colangelo, you have nothing to be worried about because I’m ready.” While Colangelo was talking to the Denver paper, did they ask him why he’s still snubbing Allen Iverson? We still haven’t heard a good reason for why he’s not involved in this whole process, especially considering he originally said he wants to play … And what about Dwyane Wade’s status? “He’s come back a long way,” said Colangelo, who recently watched Wade work out in Chicago. “I saw explosiveness. Tim Grover (MJ’s former trainer who’s working with Flash) said he’s about 8 or 9 now on a scale of 1 to 10 and should be much further along by July 20.” Wade has got to be in, unless he suffers a major setback in his rehab or he ultimately decides he’d rather sit this one out and be ready for the ‘08-09 NBA season … And over in Utah, Carlos Boozer said he’s pretty sure he and Deron Williams are gonna make the U.S. squad. We wouldn’t be so confident. There’s a very good chance D-Will gets left behind in favor of Jason Kidd (undefeated in international play and one of Colangelo’s favorites), Chris Paul (a no-brainer) and Chauncey Billups (might get veteran consideration over the younger Williams). Boozer, meanwhile, has that stench of a pretty awful postseason still on him, he already has bigs like Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Amare standing in the way (and ‘Melo is basically a PF on the international level). And it doesn’t help Boozer’s case that the last time we saw him on Team USA was during the disastrous ‘04 Olympics … We’re out like Booz in Beijing …