Bryant v.s. Anthony: A Delicious Hoops Battle

CLEVELAND - While the sports world eagerly awaits (and humbly prays for) a possible LeBron James/Kobe Bryant NBA Finals matchup, another tantalizing star battle is taking place on the west coast.

Kobe Bryant versus Carmelo Anthony.

A generation ago, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins staged a years-long battle complete with high-octane offense and high-wire flourishes to the basket. Nowadays, the 30-year old Bryant is the biggest gunslinger in the game, but Anthony, 25 next week is right there with him.

The NBA Western Conference Finals between the Denver Nuggets and L.A. Lakers have showcased these two scoring machines at their point-gobbling best -- and we're only two games in. No matter, in the Lakers' slim 105-103 Game 1 victory, L.A.'s Bryant went on a scoring rampage down the stretch, scoring 15 in the final 6:48 of the game to finish with a gargantuan 40 points. Denver superstar Anthony had been equally unstoppable all night, and eventually wound up nailing 4-of-5 3-pointers en route to 39 points of his own.

A classic Western shootout won by 13-year star Bryant.

In last night's Game 2, the storyline ended up being a sequel to the first offering -- except the ending had a twist; the Nuggets won, 106-103 behind Anthony's 34 points. Of course, Bryant nailed 32 points himself which put their two-game averages at 36.5 ppg for Anthony and 36.0 ppg for Bryant.

Sheeesh!

The high degree of offensive brilliance has been evidenced in the way both men score the ball. They both have enormous offensive repertoires and consistently make tough baskets under great duress. Often, both score against double and triple teams and Bryant has made a career out of making impossible shots in crunch time with defenders draped all over him.

The series now shifts from Hollywood to Denver for the next two games. The Nuggets have a great chance to dominate at home, but then again, L.A. has the mettle to rise to a road victory (or two) if they need to. With Bryant at the controls, anything can happen.

And nowadays, the same can be said for Anthony as well.