sucking the chinese for the commie yuan, nothing to see here
washed up scrub can't even compete with Chinese high-schoolers
"bit his lip"
He can only contain himself for so long, though. Which brings us back to the one-on-one game against the Chinese teen, back on Wednesday night, four nights earlier, the one that went viral. The le of the video when it showed up on sports blogs was along the lines of “Kobe destroys Chinese fans at one-on-one!” It showed Bryant draining deep threes against a lanky kid, and it all fit in perfectly with the Kobe narrative. The Mamba Mythology.
Though rusty at first on the court with the young Chinese students, Bryant settled into his game and in the end gave the players and the fans their chance to see him up close.
Only that’s not what happened. What actually transpired was that Bryant became increasingly geeked as the night went on, watching all these kids chuck up jumpers. First he began dribbling a ball between his legs. Then he bit his lip. Then, when the show was supposed to be wrapping up, he grabbed the mike from the emcee. “They probably haven’t seen me play in a while, so we’ll do a little one-on-one game,” Kobe said, and this was true because no one had seen him play in over a year. Not Gotham. Not his handlers. “We used to call the game ‘sunrise’ in Philly,” Bryant continued. “Whoever scores stays on.”
The two emcees were surprised but went with it as Kobe extricated himself from his headset and took some practice shots. Then Bryant handpicked the three best opponents among the 30 campers and they began a rotating game of one-on-one, winner stays on, to five buckets. The crowd, as you can imagine, went bonkers. At first Kobe looked rusty. Really rusty. His jumpers hit the front iron. He threw up an air ball. He ended up backing down the kids and shooting five-foot jump hooks. It looked as if maybe his comeback was not as far along as advertised. Then, slowly, Bryant came alive. He sunk deep into a stance on D, he chased down long rebounds, pivoted and fired up high-arcing baseline fadeaways. Against a particularly *frenetic guard, he backed him down, then dribbled around the kid’s back and spun to score, sending the crowd and emcees into spasms of joy. This is what they came to see. As Kobe will explain later, “They want to know what it’s like to actually see it, up close. To have that experience.”
There was only one problem with the narrative: Kobe lost. This is the part you don’t see on the viral videos. He thought he had the game in hand, with four points tallied in a game to five. Then the tallest of the Chinese kids, wearing a number 10 jersey, sank an impressive 17-foot fadeaway bank shot on Kobe to score his third point. After which number 10 proceeded to score on the other two kids while Kobe watched helplessly from the sidelines. Ballgame. Some random Chinese kid just beat Kobe in a one-on-one contest.
Clearly, this could not stand. While the kid raised his arms in celebration, Kobe gave him exactly three courtesy claps before grabbing the mike again. He was no longer smiling, no longer jovial. “O.K., we’re going to play again,” Kobe announced. “First to five and we’ll play like I did growing up. Full court.” The two emcees looked both surprised and concerned. “Are you sure?” one asked. On the sideline Team Kobe stood up. Full court on a reconstructed knee? When Kobe hadn’t played compe ively in almost a year? You could just see the headlines: kobe reinjures knee while taping bizarre chinese game show.
There was no dissuading Kobe, though. Similarly, there was no discussion about the other two kids from the previous game. They were shooed off the court. This was personal. So the campers cleared the floor for a showdown between one of the five greatest players in NBA history and a kid from Who-Knows-Where, China. Again Kobe started slow, missing his shot for outs, but it was clear that there was no way he was losing this time. At one point he blocked the kid’s shot out-of-bounds and, without pausing—and without regard for the rules—took possession himself. Then it happened. He nailed a 23-footer. Running back down the court, he started moving his shoulders. Feeling it. Then a 22-footer. Now Kobe was firing the finger guns, and licking his fingertips. A 26-footer followed and the place erupted. Then a 30-footer. Sure the lanky kid answered with a layup, and answered again with a three, but Kobe wasn’t really guarding him and it didn’t matter anyway. We all knew what was coming. And so on game point Bryant pivoted and pivoted again just above the free throw line and then faded that Kobe fade and unleashed that gooseneck follow-through and the ball splashed in and the crowd went berserk and the watching players pumped their fists while Kobe stood, arms outstretched as if he’d just won his sixth ring and not an informal game of one-on-one in Shanghai.
Last edited by Splits; 09-18-2014 at 12:53 AM.
sucking the chinese for the commie yuan, nothing to see here
God was not even trying against this kid. God is a nice guy when it comes to his fans so he wanted to give this kid a great memory and also he was selling himself to China to make more money off of endorsements by allowing this kid to win.
Jordan would've been giving it his all.
Original Source: http://www.si.com/longform/kobe/
It's from SI, so .....
A few observations:
1) It really explains why Kobe likes to do business in places like China and Saudi Arabia. The transparency in those places are non-existent, and any failures like these would have been covered up if it wasn't for a SI reporter being right there. Who knows how many times it had happened before? He may well have lost a number of 1-1 games vs. other Saudi kid and the media and team Kobe decide to shut it down, or even change the story entirely.
2) Kobe didn't play defense, and went all out on offense. Not unlike how he played in an NBA game.
3) Kobe kept shooting long range bombs and post ups, which is an indication that he couldn't even drive past some random Chinese kid and had to rely on his height to shoot over him
4) Kobe missed a lot of shots. No surprises there.
Finally:
So who do you drop off the top 5 list to make room for Kobe?
1) Jordan
2) Kareem
3) Wilt
4) Russell
5) Duncan
6) Hakeem
7) Shaq
8) Moses
9) Magic
10) Bird
11) Lebron
At this point, Kobe is in the same realm as Jerry West, Garnett, and Dirk area. His advanced stats are shocking similar to Stockton's, who no one in their right minds will ever put in the top 10, let alone top 5.
Boiled down:::
Amy & Battier doin' Tim face ass down in Texas.
tee, hee.
Jordan would have bankrupted that kid's family business
Boiled down:::
Tim liftin' #5.
Amy hopin' la migra doesn't deport the poverty illegal immigrant she cheated on Tim with.
Kirby gettin' his cookie taken by a Chinese midget & likin' it.
tee, hee.
Jordan would have brought Stern and Pippen along to carry him.
There was no dissuading Kobe, though. Similarly, there was no discussion about the other two kids from the previous game. They were shooed off the court. This was personal. So the campers cleared the floor for a showdown between one of the five greatest players in NBA history and a kid from Who-Knows-Where, China. Again Kobe started slow, missing his shot for outs, but it was clear that there was no way he was losing this time. At one point he blocked the kid’s shot out-of-bounds and, without pausing—and without regard for the rules—took possession himself. Then it happened. He nailed a 23-footer. Running back down the court, he started moving his shoulders. Feeling it. Then a 22-footer. Now Kobe was firing the finger guns, and licking his fingertips. A 26-footer followed and the place erupted. Then a 30-footer. Sure the lanky kid answered with a layup, and answered again with a three, but Kobe wasn’t really guarding him and it didn’t matter anyway. We all knew what was coming. And so on game point Bryant pivoted and pivoted again just above the free throw line and then faded that Kobe fade and unleashed that gooseneck follow-through and the ball splashed in and the crowd went berserk and the watching players pumped their fists whileKobe stood, arms outstretched as if he’d just won his sixth ring and not an informal game of one-on-one in Shanghai.
I'm a trend setter.
I set trends.
The fact that you wasted time on a resopnse shows what kind of idiot you really are. Trolling or not, you have to realize that no matter what you say Kobe's place in NBA s om is solidified. Sorry bro, good luck with being an asshole.
Please explain how me responding was a reflection of my idiocy. I am really interested in the train of thought on that one.
How was Kobe's place in the NBA solidified? By whom? What does that even mean?
Also, how is disagreeing being an asshole?
Essentially every single point you tried to make was lacking in any type of logic, or at least the logic is not apparent.
Soon enough the whole United States will be losing to the Chinese 1-on-1
Your trends don't change this fact:::
Chinese Midget: 1
Kirby: 0
Let us proceed....
Easy, you're using an exhibition one on one game to disparage Kobe's nba career. So asinine it hurts my brain. Then comparing him to albeit good players like stock and dirk spouting bd advanced stars is revisionist history at its finest. You can have an opinion too bad it doesn't mean .
Can't believe you fell for his bait, Med.
So how does that translates to idiocy? Even if true (and I don't agree it is), disparaging a basketball player's career isn't idiocy, nor is it an act of being an asshole.
What is wrong with comparing two players using advanced stats? They are shockingly similar. I never said Kobe is the same player as Stockton, I said Kobe's advanced stats are very similar to Stockton, and nobody would consider Stockton a top 10 player of all time. A person of your superior intellectual powers should be able to read that correctly.
And what's wrong with comparing Kobe to Dirk? Dirk carried a team nobody expected to make any damage in the playoffs to a championship, putting up fantastic numbers along the way, with no other notable 2nd fiddle to speak of. Kobe never did that. If anything, it should be a slap to Dirk's face.
Finally, he did play an exhibition game like he played in the NBA the last few years. Which part is not true? The one where he didn't play much defense, or the part where he missed a lot of shots?
It's not a bait, it's straight from the heart son.
I thought you didn't care to discuss your oriental heritage?
A lot of assumptions. Not sure if you have played with any pros before ...but when i have or have seen events like this none of the players drive hard unless wide open. Why would they risk injury driving when they can shoot? Even the drives i see are non-chalant cross overs or blow-bys when an over anxious defender "reaches". Kobe is old driving by these guys wouldnt prove anything anyway. I wont waste time disputing some of your other points ... and tbh who cares? Will any of this matter come the NBA season? It is funny that he lost ... but again your hate clouds your view on almost anything Kobe related.
Your posts when he is not the subject matter are so much better.
And LoL at your patented "no I dont hate Kobe" response. Stevie Wonder blindfolded, in a dark basement at night could see that you do. Again just admit it or just poke fun like CN does, no need to hide behind advanced metrics. Some dudes you just don't like. I dont like Wade, Dwight, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen. Ditto Bowen, McHale, Ainge. All of those guys are really good to great players. I just don't like 'em.
No, KK, Ambchang really likes Kobe
See his older posts
I haven't played against pros before, I am just not even close to those standards. But my impression of pros is that they can beat non-pros pretty handily, with or without driving to the hoop. And if they DO want to drive to the hoop, they can do so without much effort.
For example, Brian Scalabrine absolutely dominated the comple ion in a 1-1 challenge, and these are college players and such, not some random chumps who are playing overseas with no real coaching in his life. Scalabrine beat his compe ion 44-6.
I kept saying, I have no problem with Kobe. If I meet him in person, I would even ask him for an autograph, and I won't sell it on ebay. I'd take a photo with him, and be very grateful if he chose to do so. I wouldn't even hold an ill will against him if he decided to ignore me because I understand how a person like him likely has a million autograph and photo requests a week.
What I have a problem with though, and I have said it before, is when a player is overrated. I am starting to argue against Lebron lately. It's a more difficult argument, because Lebron does put up huge stats, both advanced and basic and he is not being overrated like crazy, but when it comes a day people starts to call Lebron the greatest ever, then you can count on me arguing vehemently that he isn't. I don't have a problem with Lebron, and I think he is a once in a generation type of player, but I don't like players being blatantly overrated.
BTW, Stevie Wonder got great ears, he can "see" with his ears, I'm sure.
BTW2, the only player I dislike is pedo. I used to think I really hated Shaq, but as the years went on, it was me hating that he was overrated. Now that he is properly rated (or even underrated some), I don't have any issues anymore. The same is true against Kobe.
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