Pau Gasol might be a hall of famer FWIW
I'm not a Kobe fan at all and at times I'm a hater, but no matter who the player is I'm not a fan of blind hatred at all. Placing the 2004 finals loss squarely on Kobe's shoulder's is blind hatred.
Pau Gasol might be a hall of famer FWIW
lol whatever. I also recall one of the commentators after that stat was put up saying that one of the Laker coaches suggested that Kobe needs to get Shaq the ball more.
Who the put the whole finals loss on Kobe? Kobe did deserve quite a bit of the blame though.
Don't go acting like he didn't deserve any blame. He was shooting a piss poor percentage yet he kept jacking up shots while Shaq was shooting over 60% from the field. You tell me now how Kobe should not have passed Shaq the ball and kept shooting 40% or whatever he shot. Karl Malone's injury stopped Kobe from passing the ball to Shaq on all those jump shots huh???????
He def. deserves blame but IMO Karl Malone's injury and the role players not showing up were two bigger factors.
So Karl Malone's injury made Kobe not pass the ball to Shaq?
What I recall most about that series is Kobe's ball hogging and missing jumper after jumper. It was stupid basketball on Kobe's part. I don't see how you could not acknowledge that, that was a big reason for their loss.
Last edited by Ice009; 06-04-2009 at 10:51 AM.
Karl Malone's injury made it so Detroit could stuff the paint and deny Shaq the ball a lot better than they could have with Malone. Look Kobe sure as didn't play well or anything close to it but the role players on the court being so useless that it was easier to stop Kobe's penetration and a lot easier to defend an entry pass sure as perpetuated the problem.
I don't think a healthy Karl Malone would have made a difference considering how both teams were playing at that point. The Lakers should have beaten the Pistons regardless. It was how the Lakers were playing bad basketball versus how perfect team chemistry was with that Pistons team. That was also a very poorly coached Lakers team. Phil Jackson didn't make any adjustments because he thought the talent disparity would eventually make the difference. Kobe takes most of the blame for 2004. The injury to Karl Malone, in my opinion, is pretty far down the list of reasons why the Lakers lost in 2004.
Malone would have made all the difference.
The triangle spacing got completely ed up the moment he went down. Nobody could make those elbow jumpers like Malone and it allowed the Pistons to load up on Shaq and Kobe without fear of someone else going off. Plus Malone's defense is highly underrated.
You claim to be a Laker fan but post some of the worst takes I've ever seen, and this is from someone who actually visits LG pretty frequently.
Silly argument above.
Duncan is a BETTER all-around player that is why he won with no kobe or Wade ...
Shaq has never won a le ...or even made a FINALS without the development of Penny, Kobe then Wade. Before that he got swept out of the playoffs on a REGULAR basis.
And agree wiytth many other even MJ never won by himself.
Odom has NEVER made an all-star team ...In facxct Marc stein wrote he is one of the better players to never to make it. He was names to the USA squad but he got hurt then lost his son ...highest honors he ver has got ten but i think he was robbed one year in Miami ...
THat's not the point here
Kobe said MJ was the GOAT last year in the Celtics-Lakers finals. People were still questioning if Kobe actually changed or not when he won the MVP. Many people said he's the same player, but just that the Lakers are better because of + Gasol and Fisher. Kobe is seen as a hugely egotistical and arrogant player.
So when he said MJ was the greatest, people were starting to think he changed from his past ways.
so this year, now he's saying "It's impossible to pick one"
???? Flip flopper. He wants to blur the lines between himself and MJ because his ego is so large he competes with Pharoah Ramses.
Shaq's twitter
What kobe said to magic is true, I wouldn't of won it without him fish and robert horry, and b shaw and fox and everybody dynasty baby/Threadthats right i am saying it today and today only, i want kobe bryant to get number 4, spread da word
He's not a Lakers fan, just likes to troll Lakers fan.
And regarding Malone, not only does his presence completely change Detroit's scheme due to him spreading the floor, Rasheed Wallace was torching the Lakers that series to the point where Shaq was forced to guard him. Then you had Luke Walton playing minutes getting tore up by Corliss ing Williamson. That doesn't happen with a healthy Malone.
Not to mention, he was the Lakers 2nd best rebounder. I mean come on, Slava started game 5 of the NBA FINALS. He's been out of the league for years and was never NBA material to begin with.
I dont think Shaq wins without Kobe, nor does Kobe win without Shaq.....they were the Lakers version of Jordan/Pippen.....a dynamic duo that was Championship calibur. You need both to win. One without the other is great, but not CHAMPIONSHIP GREAT. Jordan won zero without Pippen, Pippen won zero without Jordan. Together they won 6, sharing double 3peats.
Yes Shaq won in Miami, but it was the Dwayne Wade show really. Wade just needed that little extra oomph, and Shaq gave it to him....well so did the refs.
Those Lakers teams needed both Shaq and Kobe to be successful, and both were of equal value to the team. Shaq was THE MAN back then, but Kobe was the assassin. It wasn't Shaq that ripped the hearts out of all us Spurs fans, it was Kobe. Go back and watch 2001 and 2002. In several of those games, it was Kobe who owned us in the 4th quarter and stuck the dagger deep inside our hearts....and eventually shoved his hand in our chests and ripped em out.
TEAMS win championships.
Thats probably true.
Wade with Gasol and Odom would definitely be the favorite to come out of the east. And they probably would have fought better than LAs game 6 "phone-in".
Give Wade Kwame Brown, Smush Paker, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom in the Starting line up and we will see what happens, maybe another lottery team
Wade already had Lamar Odom, during his rookie year.
They reached Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
Yeah Lamar is pretty good when he is on, but the rest of the starting lineup is just pathetic, Kwame, Smush, and Walton, and off the bench with Brian Cook
Hey Gino how are the fish?
Ready to enjoy another 2 decades of suck ude? Eh, you probably jumped off the bandwagon already like the rest of your pale, ugly, retaaarded fans.
at KG guaranteeing the next two les. He and Mo Williams need to create the All- NBA team.
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