Smile Like You Mean It

We're finally starting to see the real Kobe Bryant.  People have long said that everything he does is contrived, that he modeled all of his behaviors off Jordan, even down to his fist pumps and his steely-eyed look of determination.  But now, Kobe seems to have learned to drop that facade, because there's no way in hell anyone would consciously do the following in an effort to look cool:

Vicious underbite.  This is what he looks like when he's happy.  He does this after making a huge shot in someone's face.

Intense finger point.  He often does this after a teammate gives him a good pass or finishes off one of his (Kobe's) assists.  Its more like he's accusing them of something than actually celebrating their efforts, but at least he's acknowledging them.

By acting like a mildly-sociopathic weirdo, he's finally learning how to be himself, but he can only act "natural" after making a good play.  For example, last night's brutal hugging of Ron Artest smacked of fakeness.  Artest won the game on a put-back after Kobe air-balled the potential game-winner, then Bryant hugged him for way too long.  A few weeks ago, Pau Gasol made a similar game-winning play off a Kobe miss, and Kobe didn't celebrate at all, instead he acted like he was depressed, and this did not go unnoticed by the media. Perhaps Kobe's handlers told him to show more affection towards his teammates; let's hope no one tells him to start kissing babies.

This became a little unnatural after the first five seconds, then it went on for another minute.