As I was watching Kobe Bryant go off for 49 points in the Lakers/Nuggets game last night, I found it odd to see him run around pulling his jersey forward, displaying the Laker logo. Wasn’t it just last summer that he was throwing Andrew Bynum and Mitch Kupchak under the bus? Wasn’t it just last November that he was sulking around the court, still trying to force a trade? Now that his team is winning, he’s completely happy with the Lakers, which is fine, but that wasn’t the reason he was so angry in the first place (or so he said). Last summer, he was all pissed off when an unnamed source in the front office blamed him for forcing Shaq out of town. Has anyone apologized for those comments? Not to our knowledge, but that’s nothing that a few wins can’t fix. Now that I think about it, he and the Lakers deserve each other – a front-running player playing in front of a bunch of front-running fans.

The first round of the Western Conference playoffs were promising, but thus far, they haven’t been all that exciting. Aside from the Suns/Spurs double-overtime thriller, the average margin of victory in the other seven games in the West has been 12.3 points, and none of those games were closer than six points. Moreover, all four series are at 2-0.

That said, there is plenty of potential going forward. The Suns, Nuggets and Mavericks are all heading home for must-win Game 3’s. The ESPN Friday night doubleheader (Hornets/Mavs, Suns/Spurs) could set up important Sunday games in those series.