NBA stage

As an NBA fanatic, I have been chasing the matches this season and couldn’t hide my surprise to some of the great players, James Harden, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook who definitely deserve to be the MVP this year.  This season, fans have a chance to witness the legendary Kobe Bryant reached the glorious milestone in his career when he surpassed Michael Jordan, standing in the third position as the all-time most field goal points made player in the NBA history. Unfortunately, suffering from a shoulder injury, the black mamba is out for the rest of the games. Kobe only made an appearance in less than 20 games this season which couldn’t help the Lakers to save a spot in the playoff, leaving the Lakers fans a rather disappointing year.

There are a lot of things to learn from all these exhilarating games, especially how people behave under the spotlight of the media’s magnifying glass while they are on the peak of their career. 

I came across two very interesting vids this week which kept me thinking how honest these people were even though they knew that all their little acts were recorded by cameras!

The first clip: In one of the night shows (Jimmy Kimmel's show), while the host showed Kobe a short clip of the celebration in a postgame interview of the Lakers’ players after their long needed win to the Boston Celtics, Kobe was asked if the team would celebrate the same way if he was present in the game. In reply, Kobe was unamused and unimpressed, not responding to the question.  

I believe that one win doesn’t mean a lot but the interesting thing to me is, Kobe is the one who commented other people taking too serious of themselves most of the time. Obviously, he and his team members don’t click - not a good sign for the whole team. Maybe what the young players needed at that time was a celebration to loosen up a bit after a long losing streak. So why hate it?

The second clip: This is a match between the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavalier on 2 March. There was a rivalry between LeBron James and Patrick Beverley, and another one between James Harden and LeBron James. No one knows who was right and who was wrong in each occasion but the reaction I saw on people’s faces and their responses suggest something much deeper.  Maybe LeBron really thinks that he's the King in the Basketball court, whereas Patrick Beverley and LeBron James have some history and James Harden’s reflexive action shows that he couldn’t hide his disgust. 

It seems like the more attention you receive, the more easily you will go out of control.  I guess there’s no real gentleman on the NBA stage.  It also shows that Poverty or Adversity won’t be the best mean to test a person, but Power is a more efficacious bait to lure people from unveiling the true self.