In my opinion, Kobe deserves the 1 game suspension he received for his elbow to the face of Manu Ginobli.

Anyone who claims that the contact was a total accident isn't being objective. All you need to do is ask yourself when the last time was that you saw Kobe throw his arm out like that after having his shot blocked. The answer is never. He may not have known who it was that blocked it, but he did know the direction the pressure came from, and lashed out after he was blocked.

If it was any other top 10 star player, I'd probably give him a pass. But this is the guy that downplayed a brilliant performance by Gilbert Arenas earlier in the year when it upstaged his own game. This is the guy that minutes earlier was punching the air and bltching at refs for an uncalled "foul" while the ball was still in play and precious seconds were counting down, as the rest of his team was still playing and trying to win the game. (Thanks to Radmonovic, who kept his head on the game and not his individual glory, the Lakers stayed alive with his 3 pointer). And you could see Kobe pouting on his way back to the bench after the game-tying 3-pointer. He may have been happy that a teammate tied the game, but he was plssed that it wasn't his 3, or "and 1", that tied the game. This character trait is the same reason that he says that he'd rather have a superstar carreer with no championships like Barkley, than a role-playing carreer with lots of championships, as Robery Horry has.

Which brings me to my final point. When Kobe's final shot was slyly blocked from behind, I believe Kobe was frustrated that someone had the nerve to try and stop him from being great. And the whipping of his arm was as if to say, "Get these insects away from me. Don't they know who I am?" I know who he is. Do you?