Doc Samson
Superhero Psychiatrist
- Joined
- May 23, 2007
- Messages
- 5,624
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How? He routinely had the most assists on the team, and also played the opposing teams best player, which almost always wasn't a Center.
Because it's happened enough through the regular season, where the stakes were considerably less. Why try it now, with your playoff lives on the line?
Kobe doesn't deviate from it when it's working, or when he feels it's important for him to be more aggressive. I don't understand why people fail to realize that the Center position is the easiest to double team. Teams already have no real incentive to play the shooters because they aren't effective enough. So unless Kobe is doing his thing, they'll just sit in the paint on Bynum all night, which the Nuggets did damn near every game.
Yeah he does, 90% of the time Kobe gets the ball from him lol, much more than he does from Sessions.
Well this is where Mike Brown is somewhat accountable. You can't demand the guy to be a passer from the High Post, then at the same time want his shots to come closer in, it's just not going to happen. The bottomline is you can't have three guys in the post, and Bynum is clearly more effective there. Kobe is too, when he decides to stay in that area, the real issue is the Lakers not committing to Pau in the post with the reserves in. He still hangs around the High Post doing the same thing.
Wasn't my point, I'm referring to the real reason behind Pau's reduced touches, it's Bynum's emergence way more than Kobe gunning. Remember, those two rings were won with Bynum basically a non-factor offensively, so it was still Pau & Kobe working off of each other, way more then they do now.
How you figure, the backbreaker for Kobe was really the pass Durant picked off, he didn't have anything to do with Blake passing to him with Westbrook right there.
With his shots, one of those attempts were when the shot clock was running down (when he grabbed the ball as it was rolling towards him with 5 left on the clock) and a few were called plays for him to try and tie the game with three's.
His real error was the Durant turnover, just as Pau's turnover was the main factor behind the loss. Obviously other things go into it over the course of 4 quarters, but acting like Kobe was shooting those shots within his game is false, at least two were desperation shots/plays to try and tie, and one was with the clock running down. A running theme for him is bailouts, I'm sure you've seen them toss him the rock with seconds left at least 5 times EVERY game.
But how are they cold when Lebron is looking for them the whole game? They don't have a lot of motion or movement, which is bad offense, no argument there. But regardless Lebron still gets them around 3-5 shots each, at least. Open shots. And they aren't fairing any better than the Lakers "shooters" which is my point. It's false to assume that more touches automatically equals better results, if that were case, Lebron would have two rings already, as he's been surrounded with good shooters quite a few times. And they always got the ball.
How so? They've been wide open ALL season because everyone sits in the lane on Bynum and lets them shoot. This is factual, and it's been a problem the whole time, so I don't see why now, with the playoffs here, Kobe is supposed to have faith that these guys will all of a sudden rise to the occasion.
Well, we agree on something
He starts the offense, it's coming from him, so how isn't he touching it? On top of that, there's been plenty of times that he's showed no confidence in his shot dating back to last year. If he doesn't have belief in it himself, nobody else will either. Against Denver he wasn't getting the ball anymore or less than he ever does, he was just ready to shoot when it came to him and didn't hesitate. Hesitation is more of a problem for him (and Sessions) then Kobe will ever be.
Oh it does, Kobe shouldn't have called him out publicly, but checking the track record, it seems to work. You also can't freeze someone already frozen. That's like saying D-Wade froze out Lebron in the Finals last year. It's clear as day when Gasol is looking for his opportunities and when he's not. Kobe called him out last series, and like magic, Game 7 Gasol scores 20+ points and grabs boards. He didn't get the ball anymore that game then he usually does, he just decided to do something aggressive with it when the time came, something he shouldn't be reminded to do.
And that's partially why, he's not going sit by and watch these guys miss open shots for too long, or Bynum getting doubled and being useless against it, and grow cold because of it. Somebody needs to do something.
As far as walk off, game winning shots, Kobe's hit more than anyone else in NBA history, so I don't really see your point. The fact is he's willing to take those shots way more than anyone else is, and is put in that position way more than anyone else has over the last decade. In just 2010, he hit 7 game winners in the season, so no, there's no confusion on where he stands in regards to anyone else in the clutch. He can miss the rest of his game winners the rest of his career, until someone else hits more, it's a mute point.
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