Originally posted on 09/28/2020:

I don't think Kobe cares who wins. That angle is being weighted too much by a lot of posters here. It's not like he's going to rise from the dead if the Lakers secure a championship.

The Lakers haven't faced anyone in the playoffs who were equipped to expose their (Lakers) weaknesses like the Heat are. The Blazers were crippled from the start, the Rockets were an undersized joke who constantly played iso-ball like it's Rucker Park, and while the Nuggets are alright, they had too many defensive lapses and really missed a guy like Will Barton for a deep playoff run. Nuggets were probably psychologically and physically drained as well, their road to the WCF was brutal.