Kobe responds to recent references to Game 7 "tank job" of 2006 playoffs

[da_suns_fan]

Uh, uh, we'll go round & round on this ....Nash quit for a span of games, poured poison (not encouraging, huh?) into Bell's ear till he became insubordinate and they had to ship his ass out. Nope, your boy is just as guilty, da, and you know it.

A real Lady MacBeth, that Steve Nash. Or maybe hes the creepy old guy in "Needful things".

So are you accusing Nash of making Raja do his dirty work for him or did Nash not like Raja so much that he poisoned Raja's head with thoughts that he knew would eventually lead to Raja being traded?

[SomeCallMeTim]

Laker shot attempt leaders
Gm 1 Kobme 21 Walton 16
Gm 2 Kobme 24 Odom 12
Gm 3 Walton 19 Kobme 18
Gm 4 Odom 16 Kobme 14
Gm 5 Kobme 17 Odom 14
Gm 6 Kobme 35 Odom 14
Kobme 132 2nd place combined 88
and yet you're trying to say Komes motive was to suddenly follow some new game change plan in Gm 7? When he still ended up taking the most shots.

And your point is...?

Kobe's shots as a percentage of total team FGA were significantly down in that series. He took about 33% of the teams FGA for the season -- and he missed two games. For the series, he shot 25% of the team's FGA.

What about this is hard to recognize and/or accept?

Kobe played a much more balanced game through that whole series and that's a big reason why they almost knocked off Phoenix... Odom stepping up was another huge reason.

The 35-shot game was the outlier for the series and Kobe went for 50 pts on 67% TS%. You'll have to bend yourself into quite the statistical knot to try to make that out to be a bad thing. Lakers lost that game because they couldn't stop the Suns on the defensive end, not because Kobe was pouring in points at a historic clip.

[da_suns_fan]

And your point is...?

Kobe's shots as a percentage of total team FGA were significantly down in that series. He took about 33% of the teams FGA for the season -- and he missed two games. For the series, he shot 25% of the team's FGA.

What about this is hard to recognize and/or accept?

Kobe played a much more balanced game through that whole series and that's a big reason why they almost knocked off Phoenix... Odom stepping up was another huge reason.

The 35-shot game was the outlier for the series and Kobe went for 50 pts on 67% TS%. You'll have to bend yourself into quite the statistical knot to try to make that out to be a bad thing. Lakers lost that game because they couldn't stop the Suns on the defensive end, not because Kobe was pouring in points at a historic clip.

Who gives a how many shots he took that game 7? If you watched the game, you would have seen when he came out for the second half he didnt try to penetrate and dish to open teammates, play aggressive defense, try to be a leader etc.

IIRC, he had zero assists in the second half.

He didnt do ANYTHING. He mailed it in because he realized his team just blew a 3-1 lead and he was pissed. That reporter should have had some balls when Kobe said "Cmon man!"

I would have said "Make no mistake about it, you QUIT. You will be asked about this the rest of your life because anyone who saw the game KNOWS you quit. Some speculate you were making it a point to quit to show what crappy teammates you had. You better get a better at ude about it, say you were going through a rough time or you were just so demoralized from blowing the series lead etc and it wasnt your best moment and you regret it blah blah. But dont tell me youre insulted by the question when everyone knows you quit."

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

get off your moral high-horse you racist bas

"spaniards and arabs are the 2 lowest forms of on earth"

"i don't like hispanic chicks they're stupid as and have annoying voices"

damn you're still pissed about that earlier conversation

I don't pretend to be some morally sound, perfect human being, but I sure as am not some phony like David Robinson who goes around acting like he knows who's going to heaven or .

[da_suns_fan]

Recent TJ Simers (LA Times) article:

I'm also talking about e-mailers like Vibhav Mittal, who wrote this week: "You cannot argue with the fact that Kobe has a focus that puts Michael Jordan to shame."

Or this from Judge Kelvin D. Filer: "LeBron's no Kobe," and "Interesting to watch LeBron 'disappear' in that critical playoff game …can you imagine if Kobe had a game like that?"

Amnesia in sports is such a wonderful thing.

Not one mention from anyone this week, as if it never happened, Kobe Bryant, the greatest closer in the game taking three shots and scoring only one point on a technical free throw in the second half of the seventh game of a playoff series with Phoenix in 2006.

Can you imagine great players like LeBron, Michael or Magic having a close-out game like that?

Kobe scored 50 points in Game 6 against the Suns, 23 in the first half of Game 7, but then someone in the Lakers locker room suggested at halftime that everyone needed to get more involved for the Lakers to be successful.

And so Kobe went out of his way to make that happen, declining to make any move for the basket, but making some wonderful passes to his teammates who couldn't score.

The NBA ticker back then called it a "puzzling disappearing act, Bryant deferring to his teammates in the second half."

What a team player, though, as we all know now.

I'd like to be the first to say I don't think there's any way Kobe tanks again in Phoenix.

He probably got that out of his system in Oklahoma City a few weeks back in Game 4 after Phil Jackson criticized some of his shots taken in Game 3.

He tanked in Phoenix only to demonstrate the Lakers couldn't win without better players.

Some people think LeBron did almost the same thing in Game 5, shutting it down because his teammates were letting him down.

Kobe was 27 when he tanked, though, and no one even remembers it here five years later, or finds it odd that such a great compe or would do such a thing to prove a point.

LeBron is 25, and as much damage as he's done to his own reputation this week with ridiculous comments and an early exit from the playoffs, five years from now no one will probably give it a thought, while referring to him as the game's greatest closer..

[Mavs_man_41]

damn you're still pissed about that earlier conversation

I don't pretend to be some morally sound, perfect human being, but I sure as am not some phony like David Robinson who goes around acting like he knows who's going to heaven or .

pointing the finger at christians when you fit the mold of a typical racist jew is just ironic scrah

so you're better than david robinson and these so called christians who try to impose their beliefs upon others, when your very own beliefs consist of looking down on certain races of people. nice.

[Giuseppe]

So are you accusing Nash of making Raja do his dirty work for him

Yes.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Eh Raja did plenty on his own Cubby. He acted more immature and selfish than anyone else during the whole Porter thing.

[Giuseppe]

IIRC, he had zero assists in the second half.

He didnt do ANYTHING. He mailed it in because he realized if sabotaged the team they'd fire Porter and he was pissed. That reporter should have had some balls when Nash got said "Cmon man!"

I would have said "Make no mistake about it, you QUIT. You will be asked about this the rest of your life because anyone who saw these games KNOWS you quit. Some speculate you were making it a point to quit to show what a crappy coach you had. You better get a better at ude about it, say you were going through a rough time or you were just so demoralized from having Porter as your coach etc and it wasnt your best moment and you regret it blah blah. But dont tell me youre insulted by the question when everyone knows you quit."

Nash quit too.

[Giuseppe]

Eh Raja did plenty on his own Cubby. He acted more immature and selfish than anyone else during the whole Porter thing.

Nash was the instigator and he's here right now, so he's gonna be held to accounts.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Nash was the instigator and he's here right now, so he's gonna be held to accounts.

You're probably right but Raja is his own person. He chose to go along with it and quit just like Nash did, albeit make it a lot more obvious.

[BadOdor]

pointing the finger at christians when you fit the mold of a typical racist jew is just ironic scrah

so you're better than david robinson and these so called christians who try to impose their beliefs upon others, when your very own beliefs consist of looking down on certain races of people. nice.

Don't you be talking to my jewish brother DoK, you fat . Jews>Christians>sand jockeys imho.

[Michael Jordan.]

After practice Saturday afternoon Kobe was asked about the infamous game 7 against the suns and if he purposely did not shoot to prove something.
The following quotes are his responses.

In the spring of 2006, did you tank the second half of Game 7 of the first-round series against the Phoenix Suns?

"C'mon seriously? People who say that are stupid. That's just stupid. It's outlandish, the amount of irresponsibility people have, throwing out statements like that"

In response to Barkley's rant on Inside the NBA after the game

"Barkley was stupid, he didn't watch the game, lots of people who were critical of me didn't even watch the game"

What went wrong in the game?

"To get back in the game, we needed somebody else to start making shots. I was just trying to get the other guys going, turn the momentum around. I really tried to help everyone else, it just never happened, we missed shots, they got run-outs, three, three, three, and all of the sudden, the game was out of reach. I had been successful doing that before, other guys start making shots, the energy picks up, we get back in the game. But nobody saw those games."

Were you trying to send a message to the FO that you needed help?

" , no. That's not my thought process. I don't think like that. I think about one thing and one thing only, and that's kicking butt. If I'm going to send a message to the front office, I'm going to do it by going up there and raising . There is no way I'm going to be doing it on the court, losing a game. That's not who I am. That's just not my nature, you just have to know me."



http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...00,full.column

[UZER]

Kobe rewriting history.

[lefty]

[Banzai]

damn 7 years ago...WTF

[spurraider21]

Bryant quit. I got no problem admitting it. We have to eat that sandwich forever.

Kobe needed to end that series upright & clean, then go after Buss with hammer & tong. Bryant failed there.

But, what Kobe did was a calculated act of pettiness and spite. His mind was clear and resolute make no mistake.

The Cavs in Game Six were beaten spiritually, they're minds broke for a myriad of reasons, most will never know of. Is that an excuse? No, it's a reason.

Kobe was broken spiritually in Colorado and has never recovered and never will. His heart is painted black, his mind seared in regret as his contentment is lost forever.

Bryant just made the point himself - he doesn't make his teammates better. He doesn't even have a clue how to make his teammates better.

And never has. Quality players transend Kobe though, Daddy/Shaw/Harper---Gasol/Fisher.

The only mistake Kobe made was quitting. He had/has every right to go after Buss and make him toe the f'in line. That's the way it's been for like 30+ years now. The inmates have been running the asylum.

There, Kobe quit. He quit on his team, didn't finish the game, humiliated himself and his team. Then Kobe went after Buss.

Nash did too. He quit on Porter, got him fired, humiliated him and his team. Then Nash went after Sarver.

giuseppe with the goods