KOBE4MVP

Lifetime achievement award? Stop it. Kobe is playing the team ball of his life at both ends for a squad everyone in the West deeply fears. He’s also playing in an individual stratosphere only LeBron can touch. And Kobe’s done it all while playing through a hand injury that still requires surgery, while Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined to miss more than 60 games. Add it all up and the game’s best player has had the best season, too.