ESPN - Sefolosha Makes Kobe Work

Sounds like a good contract extension


Oklahoma City's 2-2 start isn't all that shocking. A lot of people kind of suspected that would happen.

But what's a little surprising is who the team's unquestioned MVP is. Kevin Durant? Jeff Green? Russell Westbrook? New addition James Harden? Nope, no, no and negative.

The answer? Thabo Sefolosha.

You look at Tuesday night's box score and you see Kobe Bryant's 31 points on 9-for-22 shooting in 46 minutes and you assume Kobe just had a slightly off night while getting what he always gets. But if you watched, you saw an absolute defensive gem from Sefolosha. He frustrated Kobe in a way that very few have. He blocked shots. He stripped him multiple times (four steals). He took Kobe out of key possessions. He frustrated him and had Kobe begging for a call nearly every time down the floor. It was just about as good as you can do against Bryant.

Heck, with the game tied at 90 and seconds remaining, the ball was in Bryant's hands in a place he drools over -- on the wing with a single man on him. And what happened? Kobe ended up launching a fadeaway 25-foot airball. Why? Because Sefolosha pressured Kobe and never even let him take the shot he wanted.

Now, some will point out that Kobe had the flu and was under the weather and that's what kept The Mamba off his game. While that may be true to a degree, it really was a sore throat and it's not like Kobe was just missing open shots. The reality was, he couldn't get open shots. Everything was contested. Everything was challenged. I swear Sefolosha had a hand in Kobe's face during his free throws. It was that suffocating.

And on top of all that, Sefolosha hit two monster 3-pointers that tied the game late in the fourth for OKC. He's not just a one-end-wonder.

In the end, the Lakers got the overtime win and Thunder fans went home disappointed. But it's pretty clear that the contract extension given to Sefolosha last week was a bigger victory for OKC. If the Thunder can get to the place so many think they can, one piece of a championship puzzle is now accounted for: the star stopper.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-091103

I was bummed when we dropped Desmond Mason for Thabo but he has won me over. The guy is a gamer.

Sef is basically a younger version of Dez. From a business standpoint, it was the right move.

Agreed, but lets hope Thabo doesn't develop some crazy hitch in his shot like Dez did when he was playing for the Hornets. (anyone else remember that, it was the ugliest thing i have ever seen)

Yeah, it was freaking bizarre. Thabo is a much better shooter than Mason ever was though, so I'm not really worried about him.