MACHINE, c'mon, Kobe was as phony as a $3 bill last night. The look on his face was unmistakeable. He should have legitimately finished this series. If it ended badly then take your fit, your retribution. Have an accounting, and let all, nary an exclusion be present.
Bryant...the franchise's top scorer and the only perimeter player worth a damn for LA and he tries to force feed the ball.
Also the led the team in turnovers that night.
Simply not his game and a really ty strategy if it wasn't Kobe's doing. If it was, good luck next year.
Here come the 5 year old cliches that have absolutely no bearing on the state of current play.
Next you're going to try and convince me that Kobe is one of the top 3 shooting guards in the league currently. Go on.
Or wait, forget top 3 shooting guards, you just might even harbor the notion that Kobe is one of the top 3 players in the league, currently.
How ironic. The haters and moan for weeks how Kobe is shooting them out of games and how he should shoot 16-22 shots per game and get his teamates inolved. Especially the bigs. You all decried him for his shooting % as well on those 25+ shots a game too. So the Lakers practice nothing but the post entry passing in the day before game 4. PJ makes it clear that the team will concentrate on getting the bigs invonvled. So the haters should be all happy right? Now we are going to see the juggernaut Lakers roll the Thunder since Kobe wont be bringing the team down with his personal agenda to score and pad stats. Right?
So, he defers to the bigs and makes a difinite effort to get the rock to them.
He shot 50% on pace to take 16-20 shots. He led the team in assists, again. How many times did you see Pau dribble it out of the post and pass it out? Quite a few. The starters sans Ron all shot 50% or better. FOr the bigs however, 50% is below their season averages. Go figure.
So now all the haters are blaming Kobe again, for doing EXACTLY what they have been asking him to do all along. Can you say hypocritical?
This game was lost on the defensive end just as game 3 was. It just goes to show that regardless of how the Lakers approach their offense, if you don't play D and get the "hustle" plays, you will not win.
As I said after game 3, the Lakers played reaching in defense that led to fouls and they got out hustled on every lose ball and every contested rebound. You will never win a game when outscored by a whopping 25 pts at the line.
So now you haters are blaming it on Kobe passing too much. How ironic.
I remember when he did that one time a few years ago... Maybe his shooting hand is really messed up... But I would still think Kobe should be able to find some balance... He never seemed to get the whole balance thing.
Balance. Kobe needs to learn it. It seems to be something LeBron has more of a grasp of, (with inferior pieces, granted). It is a mentality thing.
Taking all the shots is bad. Passing all the time (even at the POINT position) is bad.
The issue here isn't the number of shots taken by Kobe. If Kobe takes only 10 shots because that's what the defense gives him and he's passing it out to his teammates getting them involved for easy scoring, then that's one thing.
It's an entirely different thing, however, to voluntarily pass up opportunities for shots when they are given to you.
If Kobe is confronted with a defense that is amenable to him going to work by himself, using a S&R or P&R and shoot an uncontested or poorly contested shot, then it's his duty to take those opportunities.
In the past, it wasn't so much Kobe's poor shooting percentage that was the issue, it was his shot selection. He took shots he shoul've taken and missed them - that's all well and good. But, he also forced up ill-advised, highly contested shots when he should have deferred to other people in those specific situations. That's been the issue.
Now, while it's true that Kobe might have eliminated the "ill advised, highly contested" shots that he was hammered for in the past, if he's also deferring to people when the opposing team defense is such that it would have been more effective for Kobe to take those shots instead, then he's also hurting the team.
It reminds me of Matt Bonner wide open on the 3 point line in the past...passing the ball up to Ginobili and Duncan because he was afraid to take the shots. Popovich eventually told him that if he didn't shoot when he was wide open, he'd pull Bonner from the game.
The underlying motives here are a little bit different, but the idea is the same.
Personally, I did not watch the Lakers-Thunder game 4 in its entirety, so I cannot comment as to whether Kobe was passing up shots he should have taken, but to me if there's anything people should be angry about, it's just that. I'd be interested to hear from someone who watched the game fully as to whether Kobe was passing up shots he should have taken.
The truth is that this year's Laker team isn't that good. Even last year they were lucky to win the le because so many other teams had injuries to key players, whereas the Lakers were healthy.
Last year the following injuries heavily contributed to LA's le: Garnett (Celtics), Manu (Spurs), Orlando (Jameer). For example, Jameer Nelson scored 19 points in the 1st quarter last night, and 32 for the game. Last year in the Finals, he was operating at 25% capacity.
This year the Lakers' bench is practically non-existent, and their lack of athleticism without Ariza is quite glaring, especially against a team like OK City. They're very fortunate that Bynum is back and playing pretty well, otherwise this series would be over.
He looked for the open guys and hit them. It's their job to finish and they didn't. He was on pace to shoot 16-20 shots. This game was NOT lost on offense or shooting. It was lost on hustle. If you want to blame Kobe and others for defensive lapses and not hustling, I buy in 100%. Blaming Kobe for passing up a shot or 2 when the concerted effort is to get it to the bigs is hypocritical at best. Hatred at worst.
Lakers actually scored more buckets on a slightly better shooting %. They were outrebounded, got less blocks, got less steals, had more turnovers, and got to the line 20 less times to the Thunders for a 25 point freethrow differential. All the hustle intangibles.
This game was not lost on shots.... it was entirely lost on HUSTLE and defense. To say otherwise is just absurd.
This is pure asinine. What a joke of a post cobbler.
Kobe did not attempt a SHOT..a single shot in the first quarter. With Kobe it is shoot ALL the time or don't shoot AT ALL.
It's a joke just like your pathetic post.
I'm not even going to respond further to this preposterous post.
And it was also lost due to Kobe's at ude, Cobb. Kobe is not a good person. He's borderline sociopath. I can live with that. It's business to me, a toting up of cyphers (15 now). He pulled that same stunt last night that he pulled in the Phoenix series back a few years. Nobody took him to task then, and nary a word today is being spoken about this egrecious act.
milkshake, Kobe ed up plenty last night, but you're putting too much of it on him imo. It's been talked about plenty but LA's spacing is terrible, that's only making their already bad entry passing worse and it's enabling OKC to things such as double team and front down low. A lot of the entry passes have led to Bynum and Gasol catching the ball off balance and in terrible spots. Kobe isn't doing anything to help the problem, but LA simply isn't equipped to be a dominant offensive team.
Like I care what you think? You are just butthurt and blame Kobe like others for everything the Lakers up on. You wanted him to get it to the bigs. He did. There have been plently of games this year where he has taken just a handful of shots in the 1st and second quarters. This was even more exagerated last night due to the concerted effort by the TEAM to make the post entry passes. You even saw fish make the effort to make the entry pass and he rarely does. It was the FOCUS of their practice and PJ even said so.
What is really sad is a whining little like yourself making any part of this loss about the offensive woes of the Lakers and Kobe's shot selection. This loss was on the defense and hustle plays. The laker were beat in rebounding, TO's, steals, and blocks. All the hustle intangibles. When you are getting outhustled you start to play D with your hands instead of your feet. You reach. And no team will win a game outscored at the free throw line by 25.
So you can get all butthurt all you want but to blame this loss on Kobe's shot selection is moronic. He made plenty of mistakes. As did all the Lakers, but taking or not talking 2 or 3 shots was not the reason for the trouncing.
Maybe if you stopped crying enough during the games you would see what is really happening. The Lakers are getting outhustled by a youthful team that simply wants it more than they do.
Reading comprehesion is your friend lil .
Where in my post did I say Kobe not shooting was the REASON we lost?
Kobe could have went circa 07 and we still would have gotten our ass pounded.
This loss had A LOT to do with our offensive woes and not Kobe's shot selection, but Ron and Fishers.What is really sad is a whining little like yourself making any part of this loss about the offensive woes of the Lakers and Kobe's shot selection.
How many times last night did we throw up a BRICK and it IMMEDIATELY led to a Thunder dunk and/or foul and/or and1?
If we would pound the ball inside (I thought we did the first 6 or 7 minutes of the game but otherwise we didn't...no patience) it would slow the game down DRAMATICALLY and would limit OKC transition baskets.
OKC has had a of a time trying to score on us in the half court, its amusing after 4 games they have still gotten out and dominated us in transition points. (Put that on Phil)
And I agree it came down to hustle and that OKC wanted it more. I fully agree 100% with that. Its the same Lakers at ude last year against Houston.....
Except this OKC team is HEAD AND SHOULDERS better than that Houston team
And last years Laker team was HEAD AND SHOULDERS better than this years Laker team
I think it was a team loss last night. No other way around it.
What I have a problem with is Kobe is either shooting ALL THE TIME or not shooting at all. Why the can't he play a balanced game? He has done it before....
I think Scot Brooks has had a GREAT gameplan against the Lakers. Not many teams have fronted the post this year IIRC against us. I wouldn't say the spacing is horrible which enables OKC to do this...I think its the matter of fact that we do not have any shooters.
Ron Artest is shooting TEN...yes 10% on 3's this series.
His shots are WIDE OPEN. how can an NBA player be this awful at shooting wide open shots?
And as bad as Kobe has been....LO has been 10x worse. What a joke this guy has been.....
He's been watching Brown, Farmar, Walton, Vuj and Powell.
Ron bricking almost EVERY wide open shot he gets & Odom busting a david copperfield like usual & disappearing = no good hahaa..Now i know why both of em are in airheads, they grew up with each other lmao they probably smoked so much weed together.
Huh? Where in your following post did you imply anything other?
Fish actually shot 4-7 with 3-6 of those behind the arc. He actaully had a good shooting game for once. Ron, not so.
Let's not forget also that our bigs are also trying to toss up fancy little two footers instead of throwing it down. They are getting manhandled in the post due to thier passiveness. Gasol was pushed off the block regularly and had to toss the ball back out where a single pass and long shot was all that was left available. Add to that all the blocked shots we are seeing and there is your reason for transition baskets.
If the Lakers don't find some heart and move their feet to play D instead of reaching, they will not win this series. It's that simple and has NOTHING to do with the offense.
Kobe trying to prove a point.. by not shooting?
Total BS. Just the haters having to find something since he did EXACTLY what they were all calling for all week and it didn't pan out.
Yer wrong, Cobb. You don't have to like or believe in Bryant to accept his weakness anymore than his strengths. He's grossly immature & selfish and he proved that last evening.
he did something similar all playoffs when they had payton and malone and he's been doing it sporadically since then
when people get on his case for taking too many shots he acts like a whiny baby and takes it too far and passes it too much out of bitterness from what he's been told
and he also wants to prove that the lakers cant win unless he's dominating
passive-aggressive
the lakers aren't winning it this year
Viva, wringing his hands/pacing in front of the Alamo...mantras to himself.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote