FROM ORLANDO, FLA. — Kobe or not Kobe . . .
I've covered Kobe Bryant for 13 years and I may have used that line for 10 of them. I only hope I thought it up -- or, actually, adapted it from "Hamlet" -- as opposed to copping it from someone who got it from "Hamlet."
With Kobe, that always was the question, too, and it hasn't been answered to this day:
Is this his time, and if it isn't, will it ever come?
Actually, it came in Game 3 of the Lakers-Magic NBA Finals, like a bolt of lightning . . . and went away before anyone knew what happened.
If Michael Jordan was the best ever, it was because of his consistency at a level no one had ever reached. Bryant goes to Jordan's level all the time -- and beyond, where no one ever went before -- between dips.
If Jordan was a straight line across the top of the graph, Bryant is a wavy line, with the highs going off the chart, as in Tuesday's first quarter, in one of the great 12-minute bursts anyone has ever played.
In numbers, it was 17 points with three assists, making seven of 10 shots.
In person, it was awesome.
"The greatest first quarter I ever saw," ABC's Jeff Van Gundy called it Wednesday.
"That shot he made in front of the Laker bench," a four-point play after making a three-pointer as Mickael Pietrus, whom he faked in the air, fell into him, "that might have been the third hardest shot he hit in the quarter. For anyone else, it might be the best shot of their career," Van Gundy said.
He continued: "That pass he made to Pau Gasol," after going up to take a 20-footer and spotting Gasol open," to change what he's doing at the last moment? He made it look easy, but it's not."
Showing what brilliance gets you if you lose, the reaction Bryant got afterward was:
Aren't you supposed to be the game's best closer?
Actually, he is, but he flamed out after that first quarter Tuesday.
Having seen more faces of Kobe than we can count, here's yet another: Kobe closing in on the most important achievement of his career.
Tuesday's game was his career in a nutshell: a performance so brilliant it gives off sparks, but counts for nothing until he wins a title without Shaquille O'Neal.
Since that's all that's at stake now, it shouldn't be a surprise if Bryant, who was poised when he was in his playpen, changed in Games 2 and 3.
