You know how you know when a player is truly great? There are plenty of stats out there, but I go by one rule:You’re surprised when he misses a shot.
In all honesty, as great as NBA players are, there aren’t a lot of guys I’ve seen in my lifetime that lived up to that standard. And I don’t just mean open 3’s in the corner when the ball’s been swung around. I mean any shot.
From my years of watching the NBA, the list of people who fill that role include MJ, Bird, Magic, Robert Horry (playoff version), John Stockton, and, now, of course, Kobe Bryant.
Think about it; if the Lakers-Suns game this weekend goes down to the final shot, and if Kobe launches one of his impossible 3’s from 25 feet out, wouldn’t you be shocked if it didn’t go down, no matter what the level of difficulty and no matter the number of hands in his face?
Now, imagine Steve Nash, LeBron James, Rip Hamilton, ANYBODY else taking that same shot. Would you be as surprised? Were you shocked last night when Nash missed a 3 in the corner seconds before Thomas hit his to send it to overtime? No, you weren’t, because Steve Nash isn’t at the same level.
Kobe Bryant may be many things. He may be a bad teammate. He may not be a good husband. He may petulant and selfish.
But be certain of this: Kobe Bryant is the greatest clutch basketball player on this planet and he is beginning to convince me that he is the greatest basketball player, period.
20 comments:
Kobe is a fantastic player, no doubt about it
I watched the game last night (at 4 am !) and Diaw wasn't bad either:)
If the Suns can get Kobe to try and take over the game, then PHX is a lock for the next round. If I'm D'Antoni, I'm telling every media outlet willing to listen that Kobe ain't shit, and that there's no way Kobe can score 50 on the Suns again.
It's a tough call. I was really surprised that Kobe didn't just drag the Lakers up onto his shoulders in game 5 after Bell was ejected. He had that look in his eye as if he was going to hit a 3 every time down the court. Of course, he couldn't do it.
You may be right, Lance. As great as Jordan was, he needed Scottie Pippen. Magic needed Kareem, Bird needed McHale.
The way I see it, Game 6 was LA's last chance. That Thomas 3 at the end of regulation was the end of their season. Unless Kobe can score 60, or unless somebody (Odom?) can spring for 25+, I can't see the Lakers winning Game 7.
I want the Lakers to win, just because of Nash's Second MVP Title !
What a joke !
I believe that Jackson will ask Kobe to share the ball more just like in the previous games...
One thing I was suprised about in last night's game is Kobe's lack to make himself more open. He wasted a lot of clock just staring down Marion before his move. Listen, I'm a Kobe-hater and I thought Kobe was unstoppable last night. A couple of elbows to Barbosa's lip helped the cause (I'm still annoyed he gets away with that).
Anyways, Kobe was amazing last night. Unfortunately, it came down to the end and again, Kobe Bryant had no trust of his teammates. He also had a lot of turnovers as well.
The point is... Kobe has proven to us that when he scores over 40 a game as he did in the regular season against the Suns, they continue to lose.
Kind of an urban legend about Bryant being a detriment to the squad when he 'takes over'. The Lake Show was 18-10 when Kobe went 40+ this year. That's a better record than the Lakers posted in '05-'06, so it would seem that they're actually better when Bryant scores a lot. While the sample is too small to draw a conclusion that Kobe's big games HELP the Lakers, there's certainly not any clear evidence to advocate that Kobe's 40+ games drag the team down...
I agree with the Clippers fan. There's no evidence that Bryant scoring huge amounts of points makes any difference in Laker wins.
My only thought would be that at the end of games he tends to force shots when he's trying to will the team to win. As great as Kobe is, an open jumper from 12 feet from Luke Walton has a better chance of going in than a 25-foot jumper with 4 hands in your face from Kobe Bryant.
You know, watching this series makes it pretty obvious about the whole MVP debate. Here's the whole argument in a nutshell:
Would you trade away Kobe to get Nash?
Like Aretha says, ain't no way.
Does anyone think that if the Lakers and Suns traded Kobe for Nash that the Lake show would be in the playoffs?? Basically could Nash make Kwame Brown, Smush parker, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom into great players? NO.
How can you say he may be a bad teammate, but also be the greatest basketball player ever?
biggie said...
Does anyone think that if the Lakers and Suns traded Kobe for Nash that the Lake show would be in the playoffs?? Basically could Nash make Kwame Brown, Smush parker, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom into great players? NO.
Wtf? Since when did Kwame, Smush, and Luke become great players? Would you have said the same thing about Boris Diaw or Leandro Barbosa? Does Shawn Marion have the same success with anyone else running the offense? If the Suns had ONE true 4/5 (Kurt or Amare) can you honestly say this series wouldn't already be over?
I can agree that Kobe is without a doubt the best player in the game TODAY. And, I'm not saying Nash is the MVP (Lebron IMO), but let's get off Kobe's sack for a second and wait before we start saying he's the best player to ever play the game.
As far as I'm concerned, if/when he becomes the greatest player we will all know it. There won't be any discussion just like you can't doubt Jordan. At this point, he hasn't even touched MJ.
I don't think Pete was saying Kobe is the best EVER, just the best playing today. I hope. Because we all know the best player ever was XAVIER MCDANIEL! w00t!
Thanks, Paul, that's exactly what I meant. Obviously, Kobe is no Jordan, just as, obviously, Nash is no Kobe.
I won't put words into Biggie's mouth, but it seems to me that he's saying that all year we've heard how Nash has made Marion, Diaw, etc. into superstars. Well, Marion averaged 20 ppg before Nash got there and he's averaged 20 ppg after Nash got there, so I think we can put the whole Nash makes marion a superstar theory to rest.
Biggie's point was that it's easy to make great players even better, but it's not so easy to make guys like Smush Parker better. In fact, I don't think Kobe makes them better, either. It's just that he's so good on his own he raises the team by himself.
"so I think we can put the whole Nash makes marion a superstar theory to rest."
Same thing with Diaw, just look at him with the French team and you understand that he didn't need Nash to be a very good player.
Or Raja Bell, whose numbers are virtually identical pre- and post-Nash.
I think it's a chicken and egg thing. The Suns play a high-tempo offense, which inflates offensive numbers for its players. Now, do they play this offense only because of Steve Nash? In other words, would these guys get these numbers if, say, Andre Miller was running the point? Or, is this offense only possible with Nash running it, thereby making him responsible for the numbers?
I don't think anyone knows that answer definitively. However, it's interesting to note that the Mavericks have continued to post strong numbers post-Nash.
"Kobe Bryant may be many things. He may be a bad teammate. He may not be a good husband. He may petulant and selfish.
But be certain of this: Kobe Bryant is the greatest clutch basketball player on this planet and he is beginning to convince me that he is the greatest basketball player, period."
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Just not clutch in the 2nd half of game 7.
That's called the Nussbaum Jinx! Nicely played, Pete.
I'd say something, but my mouth is too full of crow at the moment.
i did not watch game 7 but for Kobe to only score one second half point after lighting up the Suns for 23 in the first half? maybe Jackson laid into him about not playing within the offense, and so to prove a point, he packed it up in the second half? or was it, dare i say, the Suns phenomenal *cough* defense?
I didn't get to see game 7 either but I tend to agree with chunk's bro. It may be the same petulant behavior that he has displayed before, passing up shots he usually takes to prove a point. I mean, they did take the series lead when he wasn't the leading scorer for the Lakers. When he did play "Kobe-ball" and hit for 50, they lost in OT. Which isn't his fault, but nonetheless, the conclusions can be inferred. Well, so much for a clash of LA teams. Go Clips, I just hate Nash and the Suns.
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