To be fair, that article about Kobe's defense is written by a guy who's basically a Lakers beat reporter. You check any daily paper's coverage of their local team and there are dozens of stories like that a year, where they take some minor tactical wrinkle, change in player rotation, or an area the coach is stressing in particular that week and stretch it into a story. Only thanks to the internet and ESPN Los Angeles, it gets spread around more. No biggie.