Kobe Bryant, year 2, 1997-98 season
Charlotte Hornets- 1997-98 season.
The need for a center was the most pressing concern for the Charlotte Hornets coming into the 1997-98 season. Ewing had dominated during the first round loss to the Knicks the previous season.
The Hornets would find their center after trading away popular shooting guard Dell Curry, and tough but undersized Anthony Mason to the Atlanta Hawks for Dikembe Mutombo. With Glen Rice and what the Hornets expected would be an improved Kobe Bryant, the Hornets believed that Mutombo's supreme defensive prowess (having averaged 3.6 blocks per game the previous season) would be able to turn back the likes of Ewing and Oakley and also keep the big centers honest on defense as well (Mutombo averaged about 14 points a game in his prime, which is actually quite good). The Hornets would select Maurice Taylor with the 18th pick (In OTL he went 12th I think to the CLippers) to make up for their loss of Mason. More importantly, but at the time all but ignored by sports reporters, the Hornets would also sign PF Kurt Thomas, whom Hornets scouts had observed that while having limited playing time in Miami had shown to be a tough, rebounding power forward who could go up against the likes of Oakley and the other rough power forwards of the Eastern conference. Other additions included David Wesley from the Celtics, who would form a platoon with Bogues at the PG spot, along with signing Bobby Phils at the 2 guard spot.
AFter the blockbuster summer, some sports analysts were predicting that the Hornets would reach the 2nd seed in the East behind the Bulls.
At first, coach Cowens intended to use Phils at the 2 Guard spot, yet Phils (conveniently) pulled his hamstring in the final preseason game forcing Cowens to start Bryant. The Hornets started the year according to expectations, going 37-14 by the time the All Star Break hit. Bryant, now the starting 2 guard for the Hornets would average 19.5 points per game in the first half of the season, earning him a spot on the All Star team backing up Michael Jordan, with many pundits anoiting Bryant the Air Apparent. He would also earn himself a nickname during the season, in which during an NBC Game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum, Bryant would explode for a career high 37 points in a thrilling 112-109 victory for the Hornets in which Laker Center Shaquille O'Neal (in truth, the Lakers probably still could have acquired Shaq assuming that the LAkers could have traded Divac for somebody else other than Bryant and with strong players like Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel among others they still would have been near the top of Western Conference for the rest of the late 90s) would dub Bryant the 'Black Tornado'. That came when Bryant drove to the hoop past backup point guard Derek Fisher (lol... sorry Fish

) and performed a one handed reverse dunk in the face of Elden Campbell which stunned the crowd and caused Hornets radio broadcaster Matt Pinto to jump out of his booth. An exasperated Del Harris would later comment that 'we threw 2-3 guys on him. I even thought of coming on to the court to draw a foul on him, but we couldn't stop him...'. LA Times reporter Bill Plaskhe would run an article the following day detailing that the Lakers were close to securing Bryant for Vlade Divac the previous summer, which did little to improve the mood of Laker fans.
Also joining the Bryant on the All Star team was small forward Glen Rice, who while not receiving the same attention as the young high school phenom was quietly putting up another solid season, leading the team in scoring with 23.4 points a game. Mutombo was proving to be the defensive anchor the team had lacked, while Kurt Thomas provided strength and rebounding at the PF spot. Of all the Hornets of those late 90 teams, Thomas proved to be the Hornet that Kobe appreciated most, and later on would rail at Hornets mangement for having traded him away. Muggsy Bougues, the 5-3 inch starting point guard, continued to provide intelligence and peskiness.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, Mutombo would suffer a knee injury in mid February, forcing him to miss the rest of the regular season. Without their anchor in the middle, the Hornets would have a rather pedestrian 2nd half of the season, and now defenses were keying in more and more on Bryant, which saw his scoring average dip to 15.2 points a game after the break. Still, that was good enough for a 3rd spot in the East behind the Bulls and the Heat, setting up a 1st round matchup with the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks would take the 1st game of the series, behind a strong performance by former Hornet crowd favorite Dell Curry, who still felt slighted that he'd been shunted aside in favorite of the uber-talented but arrogant Bryant, torching the Hornets for 26 points including 5-8 beyond the arc. Bryant had a dissappointing game 1, going 6-19 for 15 points, including 3 key late turnovers and heaving up an airball 3 with time winding down and an irate Glen Rice wide open in the corner. Bryant had been increasingly been criticized for his overconfidence and abandoning the team game. During that first game, Bryant would find himself wanting to go straight at Curry to prove a point, and the veteran guard would often bait Bryant into bad shots and turnover. Rice, in particular, would also grow frustrated at his lack of touches.
Fortunately for the Hornets, Dikembe Mutombo would return for the 2nd game of the series, and his defense would prove to be a catalyst, plus his presence would help settle the differences between Bryant and the rest of the Team. Coach Cowens would also help to somewhat tame personal Bryant's vendetta against Curry. Bryant would have a better game in Game 2, scoring 19 points on a more efficient 7-15 but Glen Rice would be the story in that game going for 29 points in a Hornets rout. The following 2 games would also feature Hornet victories with Mutombo being the catalyst and Rice being the 1st option on the team, while Bryant would see his playing time reduced somewhat, scoring 13 and 9 points respectively in those final two games.
That would set up a highly anticipated 2nd round matchup with the New York Knicks. Before the series, Cowens would desperately preach to Bryant not to get caught up in playing at the Garden and trying to take every shot. Bryant, who throughout his career would always play the best at the Garden, would shine. In Game 1, Glen Rice would get into early foul trouble, shifting the focus of the offense on Bryant. Bryant would score 32 points on 12-19 shooting, and once again capturing raving headlines and the attention of talk show hosts and MJ comparisons, while backup forward Maurice Taylor also had a solid game along with a resurgent Glen Rice in the 2nd half. Mutombo's defense on Ewing would also prove a deciding factor, as Ewing was now 35 years old with knees that were increasingly deteriorating, and Mutombo having been named defensive player of the year.
Game 2 however would see a strong performance from Larry Johnson and John Starks, leading the Knicks to a 10 point victory. Bryant would also have a decent game, with 20 points, but Glen Rice was cold, shooting 5-17 for only 12 points.
Yet the Hornets were in an optimistic mood having gained a split at the Garden. Game 3 featured a total team effort in front of the ruckus crowd in Charlotte, winning by 18 points and Game 4 was a similar situation, with the Hornets winning by 10 with Bryant scoring 19 and 21 points in each of those games.
The Knicks were up against the wall, while the Hornets were living high. Yet the Knicks would prove to be unflappable at the Garden. Game 5 would be Bryants worst game of the series, scoring a meager 9 points on 2-9 shooting. His every miss would be received with increasingly hysterical cheers from the Knicks fans, chafing at all the attention the arrogant drama queen received during the All Star Game in MSG. Yet things would really get ugly with 6:24 left in the 4th and the Hornets down by 19, in which Mutombo sent Chris Childs to the floor and proceeded to give Childs his signiatrue finger wag, in which Childs took exception and attempted to throw a punch. Mutombo would respond by putting Childs in a headlock in which the Congo native would punch twice in the head Nolan Ryan style to Robin Ventura before Larry Johnson rushed in headfirst to literally headbut Mutombo in the back. 5-3 inch Point Guard Muggsy Bogues then came into the picture, and would also be suspended for the next game, after Bogues, like a rabid Chihuahua, ducked to the ground and clamped himself around the leg of Larry Johnson and was seemed to appear to be attemting to bite Johnson's thigh in the process. Kurt Thomas would also be thrown out along with Charles Oakley after the two grappled each other by the neck during the scrum. A brief shoving match also began to take place between Bryant and John Starks, with the latter having attempted to intimidate the teenager throughout the game and both were hit with technicals as the refs intervened. Spike Lee would also be tossed from the Garden after the fight had spread to the stands and was seen engaging in a shouting match with backup center Matt Geiger. NY Knick Broadcaster Mike Breen would later comment that 'it was like watching a train wreck, and you just can't keep your eyes away out of some masochistic fascination'.
Game 6 would see a highly charged atmosphere at Charlotte. In Charlotte, Larry Johnson would become particularly reviled, considering that Johnson was a former Hornet and would seemingly make a point to deliver his hardest fouls against the Hornets Golden child, Bryant. Various fans in the arena would be seen with anti-Johnson slogans throughout the series, in particular one of Bogues biting Johnson. and without Mutombo and Kurt Thomas the Hornets would lose the game rather handily, setting up a highly anticipated Game 7. Bryant had a very good game with 24 points, as would Rice, but with nobody in the Middle the front line of the Knicks dominated.
Bryant would have a decent Game 7, scoring 20 points on 7-17 shooting, but Glen Rice scored in a big way, going for 30. Another fight would nearly erupt in that game, in which Coach Van Gundy would send in little used backup John Wallace to attempt to get in a fight with Glen Rice, but the referees restored order before things could get ugly again. This time, the Hornets would gain a dramatic victory, in which Bryant would hit a key 3 pointer to put the Hornets up 5 with 1:21 in the fourth, followed by a key Mutombo block, sending the Hornets the other way in which Bryant led the break and passed it off to a streaking Kurt Thomas, who would jam it plus the foul, sending the Hornets into the ECF.
There was now talk about the Hornets being a legitimate NBA title contender, as fans throughout the Southeast began to flock to the bandwagon. Sports talk folks were now describing the Hornets as the team to eclipse the Bulls.
Yet Michael Jordan would have none of that. Jordan would score 34 and 36 points in each of the first two games, schooling Bryant time after time, while Pippen shut down Glen Rice, and each of the games would be a blowout. Bryant to his credit, would not back down, but unfortunately for the team would often be goaded into one and one matchups against his idol, in which he scored 24 in the opener but only 13 in Game 2.
The Hornets would come back to win Game 3, and Bryant, to his credit would respond with 22 points, as did Rice. Game 4 was another close game, with Bryant once again rising to the challenge, yet Jordan would break the hearts of the Hornets fans when he came off a Rodman screen drove to the basket and scored a twisting runner off the glass over the outstretched arms of Dikembe Mutombo to put the Bulls ahead by 2 with 2.4 seconds to go. The Hornets would have one more play, yet Glen Rice would bobble the ball on the inbounds pass and with Pippen pressuring would throw up a desperate 3 point shot which barely hit the side of the board as time expired.
Game 5 was only a formality, as the Bulls, powered by a 30 point effort by Toni Kukoc, along with the usual strong game of Jordan and Pippen would win by 25 points and send them back to the NBA finals. Bryant would play to the very end though, putting up 26 points but 14 of them after the game was far out of reach. The Bulls would go on to win the title over the Sonics, giving Jordan 6, yet once again it had been a step forward for the Hornets and for Bryant.
However, with the 1999 season came the lockout...
(anyhow, tell me what you think of what I have so far...)
(Note: Kobe is averaging about 3 more points a game in the 97-98 season than he did in OTL, because of lack of competition at shooting guard, no Shaq that would absorb 24 shots per game and relating to that Dave Cowens' patterns on emphasizing a perimeter oriented offense as Mutombo is a defensive oriented center. Plus, with the Hornets lack of a great market there would be a corresponding need for ownership to emphasize to Cowens to feature Bryant more as his starpower would create that much more of a difference.)
(Below, Kobe Bryant, AKA the 'Black Tornado' calm and collected after hitting a 3 pointer in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals against the Knicks to put the Hornets up by 5 with 1:21 left in the game)