Why is it...

...that when Kobe comes through in the clutch for his team, like he did last night against Denver, it doesn't seem to be as exciting to people as when LeBron comes through in the clutch for Cleveland?

I don't really know.

Maybe it's because LeBron supposedly has a better public persona? Because he's newer to the league? Because he's younger? Because he's already "surpassed Kobe as a player," according to former Lakers' player/coach/manager Jerry West?

I don't really know.

Even to Kobe's fellow Lakers, it doesn't seem to be that exciting. As teammate Lamar Odom remarked after last night's game, "Kobe does that time and time and time and time and time again for game winners." He then added, "It is routine--for him."

Maybe that's it. It's routine, for Kobe. For LeBron... not so much.

Sure, we all remember when LeBron manhandled--and I mean, manhandled--the Pistons two seasons ago by scoring 25 straight points for the Cavaliers in order to defeat Detroit in Game 5 of that Eastern Conference Finals.

And some of us remember when LeBron led his team, who was down by 17 points going into the fourth quarter, to a win over the Toronto Raptors in January 2008 by scoring 24 points in the final quarter... all by himself.

Sure, he's had memorable moments where he's stepped up to help his team in the clutch.

But for Kobe, it seems like it's just normal. When the Lakers were down by two points last night, with 1:09 left in the game, Kobe drained a 3-pointer over J.R. Smith to put his team up 96-95. The Lakers, with the help of some more clutch free throws by Mr. Bryant, kept the lead for the rest of the game.

And it just seemed typical.

When LeBron drained the game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer for the Cavaliers two nights ago in Game 2, it was immediately hailed as one of the greatest shots, if not the greatest shot, in NBA playoff history. And as soon as LeBron hit that shot, there were Facebook and Twitter updates galore by people (including myself) expressing their admiration for LeBron.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, it was a spectacular shot. But if Kobe had drained that same shot, the reaction would not have been the same.

I guess why people go crazy over LeBron is because he's newer. A fresher face for the league. Plus, no player in recent history was hyped up as much as LeBron was before he entered the league... and we all love to see people live up to the hype. And LeBron definitely lived up to the hype.

But LeBron hasn't been doing it for as long as Kobe has been, and we still haven't gotten as used to LeBron coming through in the clutch as we have to Kobe doing the same. As a result, whenever LeBron does what he does, we just naturally get more excited about it.

Oh well. I just hope the excitement doesn't wear off anytime soon.