L.A. Mystery

It's the moment I will always remember. Michael Jordan in a heap on the floor, ball in one hand, head tucked into his body, the image of No. 23 pulsating as he cried on Father's Day celebrating an NBA Finals Championship and mourning the loss of his dad at the same time.

The reason that particular image sticks in my head over the millions of images I have witnessed over the years is because in that instant you saw what made Jordan — Jordan.

After a year and a half off, Jordan led the Bulls to a record-setting season and the NBA championship. And no one doubted he would do it.

Unless you lived in Seattle.

Jordan had the unequaled ability to will his team and himself to win when it was needed. He did it with talent, competitive fire, but most importantly, heart.

It seems Kobe Bryant is still trying to learn the right combination.

In these Finals, it has become clear that all the comparisons need to stop. It's true Kobe is just 29-years-old, and possibly has six or seven more years of great basketball left in his body, but Bryant has yet to figure out the one thing Jordan deciphered in his first trip to the Finals: when you'll do everything to win, sometimes it means not doing everything.

Jordan learned that through Phil Jackson. He knew to get over that mountain top, he needed to trust his teammates. Maybe that's why in his first Finals, Jordan averaged 30 points and 11 assists.

This was before rule changes made great perimeter players almost unstoppable.

Even with 11 assists per game, however, there was no doubt Jordan would take the last shot and make it. With the game on the line, Jordan constantly came through. Can we the same thing for Kobe?

No.

Kobe isn't even the best player in this series. That honor goes to Paul Pierce.

Save for Game 3, Pierce has been the player who looks like the MVP. Pierce looks like the baller who will go down as one of the best ever. As Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have been inconsistent, Pierce has put the Celtics on his back and led them to a 3-2 lead as they head back to Boston.

In Game 5, Bryant and Pierce had one common goal. Win.

In Game 5, both took different approaches.

Kobe came out the way everyone expected. He scored 15 points in the first quarter as the Lakers enjoyed a 17-point lead. Every time he took a shot, "money" is what I said to myself.

Then, for an unexplained reason, he disappeared.

Then, for an unexplained reason, he deferred to Pau Gasol. Maybe it was strategy. Maybe, Kobe realized Kevin Garnett was in foul trouble and kept feeding the big man to either get easy points in the paint or get Garnett out of the game. To me, it seemed for the first time Kobe had lost the Black Mamba-esque demeanor that had made him the best player in the game today.

Some might say he was being a team player feeding the hot hand and keeping the Lakers in front. I would say, if that were the case, he went about it the wrong way. The best player in the game doesn't stand at the top of the key throw the ball down low and watch him do all the work. The best player in the game creates. The best player in the game draws double teams. The best player in the game doesn't get stopped, he merely can be contained.

In this series, the Celtics have neutralized him. For the first time in his career. And what a time for it to occur. This was never more apparent than Game 4 and Game 5. In Game 4, Bryant played probably the worst postseason game of his career. Can you imagine any other top-20 player besides Karl Malone throwing up a stinker with that much on the line? Especially a player who is considered the best in the game? He allowed the Celtics to come back from a 24-point deficit. That is not the sign of a champion.

Then in Game 5, Bryant scored 10 points in the final three quarters.

Pierce, on the other hand, has been the heart and soul of the Celtics in these playoffs. In the Finals, Pierce is the best player on the court. I could reel off the statistics, I could reel off the series record, but anyone with an objective pair of eyes could see who was outplaying who in this series.

With all of that being said, there can't be a confident soul in the Boston Celtics bandwa- I mean Celtics clubhouse. At any time, the Mamba can strike with deadly precision. And with his reputation on the line as the game's best and facing the greatest task in NBA Finals history, is there anyone you would rather have on your team than Bryant, despite his most recent history?

When the greatest players have their backs against the wall, that's when we find out the truth.

In the case, however, "The Truth" resides in Boston.