Kobe and Shaq: The Saga Continues

Can you imagine if the best center and the best guard in the NBA were to be paired on the same team? Can you imagine how much better they could make each other as athletes?

Well it has happened. Magic and Kareem put every distraction, controversy, and disagreement aside when they walked on the court. For the two them and their great cast of characters, Showtime was “winning time,” not “ego time” or “whining time.”

PAUL BENSON

Mission Viejo

*

I find the whole Kobe-Shaq issue very disheartening. I like the acrobatic skills that Kobe Bryant displays, but I attend the game because of the joy of heading home after a Laker victory. There seems to be this feeling that some of the Laker games last season were boring, that all we saw was Shaq dunking on an opponent. My question is, how boring was that parade downtown last June?

If you want exciting basketball, watch the Clippers. They fly, they swoon, they dunk with amazing skill. They also lose.

CRAIG KWASNIEWSKI

Santa Monica

*

Perhaps Shaq and Kobe could get counseling on how to coexist from their more mature peers, Lamar and Darius.

JOHN RANDOLPH ROGERS

Inglewood

*

Phil Jackson has done it again. By orchestrating this feud between Shaq and Kobe he has successfully removed the focus and pressure off Isaiah Rider. Isaiah responded with a solid game and has become the voice of reason for the Lakers.

Grow up, you two. You know you’re acting childish when you make Isaiah look mature.

SCOT K. VORSE

Los Angeles

*

As a Laker fan, I think it is good for Kobe and Shaq to air their differences. The alternative is to let their dispute quietly fester and eat away at the team. What is important is for both to realize that they have things to learn. Kobe needs to learn there are four other players on the court and it takes all five to win. Shaq needs to learn that his inability to make free throws compromises his effectiveness.

If Shaq and Kobe do not work out their differences, the Lakers will never bring home another banner.

KEVIN HOOD

Los Osos

*

Until Kobe Bryant has eight championship rings as either player or coach, he should just keep quiet and follow instructions.

CLIFTON E. BARNETT

Los Angeles

*

Dear Shaq,

I hear 25.9 points a game is not enough of a role in the offense for you. I hear you think you’d be better off somewhere else, even though your owner went out and got you the coach you wanted, the best in the business. I hear you’re unhappy because you have the best finisher in basketball at shooting guard, someone who can be counted on in the fourth quarter when you cannot be. Come home, Shaq, I’ve got a boot to give you.

Love, Sarge.

MICHAEL GASTON

Orange

*

In the last two games of the NBA finals, arguably the two most important games of the year, Kobe Bryant missed 35 shots. (That’s not a misprint, he went 12 for 47.) Probably no other player in finals history missed that many in consecutive games. The Lakers prevailed because they played as a team and were led by Shaq.

If Bryant had been the Lakers’ first option, does anyone think they’d be the champs today?

BEN OSTROW

Van Nuys

*

If Phil Jackson insists that Kobe and Shaq not talk to reporters about any unhappiness they may have coexisting, does that constitute Zensorship?

TOM SCARPELLI

Northridge