After averaging over 33 points, 8.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game, Kobe Bryant was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the week ending March 10.
Bryant led his Los Angeles Lakers into the eighth and final playoffs spot by orchestrating three Lakers wins in four games.
Even the Lakers' lone loss last week featured an injured Bryant shaking off an elbow knock in Oklahoma City to score 30 points.
Following the loss, however, Kobe performed the miraculous acts that make Los Angeles scream hysterically.
On the second night of a back-to-back, he led a preposterous 25-point comeback that involved erasing an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter. In New Orleans, Bryant dropped 18 points and handed off four assists in the fourth quarter, as the Lakers constructed a 33-9 finish to the game.
Unbelievably, he topped that performance the very next game against the Toronto Raptors.
In the fourth quarter against the Raptors, Bryant scored 15 points and dished two assists as he went into complete Mamba mode. In a game in which the Lakers had trailed the entire second half, Bryant hit three incredibly difficult 3-pointers to take the game into overtime.
Bryant's greatness was impossible to ignore.
In the overtime, Bryant went one-on-five and slammed the game-winning dunk.
Following the game, the NBA released a video titled: "The Greatness of Kobe Bryant."
In both heroic comebacks, Bryant scored at least 40 points and passed at least 12 assists. He became the first player since Jerry West to do that in back-to-back games.
On Sunday, his team did not need another 40-12 game, so Bryant settled for a modest 19 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals. Most players would dream of having just one game like that in a season, but for No. 24, he’s just playing on another planet where that was, arguably, his least impressive game of the week.
If one wanted to have the argument, it is worth keeping in mind that his 30 points in Oklahoma City came on one arm. Even with an elbow injury, "Vino" shot 58.8 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three point land in the award-winning week.
Shockingly, this was only his second player of the week award this season, but "Vino" continues to get better by the day. As such, no one should be shocked if Bryant doubles his Player of the Week trophy haul before the season is over.
