Shaq takes a shot at Mo Williams

[Killakobe81]

No he didn't make the wrong choice Kobe was the younger player who was entering his prime while Shaq was leaving his prime.

I've always thought coasting through the regular season was smart, IMO taking dumb shots in the playoffs (as in games you can't lose) is way worse than being out of shape for November games that mean jack . Shaq was always ready to go for the playoffs and stepped up when he needed to. Kobe seemed more concerned with winning as the alpha dog than winning.

And you maybe right. I am not a shrink ...so I don't try and psycho-analyze why Kobe did what he did. You speak as those you know for sure why he did...I am not saying you are wrong. But you could look at articles where Kobe implies that he had a hard time respecting Shaq as the leader or "alpha dog" because he did not take the game seriously enough. As far as a strategy I agree, you don't want to burn out early, but for a man of Shaq's size I always felt he would decline faster if he did not take care of himself back then. Granted injuries have not been a MAJOR issue like i thought back then, but his game has declined faster because of it IMHO. But Like I said, I don't absolve Kobe for his actions ..if you thought I would, you are looking at the wrong Laker fan. In fact colorado set the tone for a miserable 2004 ...maybe we lose the Pistons anyway ...but I knew our chances were ty after the rape allegation ...

[Nahtanoj]

Being out of shape coming into the season is unprofessional IMO. Also it puts a strain on the rest of the team physically - with 23.5M sitting on the injured list because he wants to heal his sore toe (that could've been dealt with in the off-season by the way) and having Samaki/Madsen play C in 2003.

The great ones never take a day or a game off, they compete every game, it doesn't matter if it is a meaningless December game, fans pay to watch the games, and it is the professional thing to do to make sure you're ready to play and to compete. I remember LeBron sitting out a few games at the end of last season although he was healthy (then they came up with this weird elbow injury later on), and he got critisized for that. Jordan would not have done that. Kobe wouldn't do that, because they know they owe it to the fans, to the game itself.

[LkrFan]

Snaq should take a shot at P90X and get his lard-ass back in shape. He should be ashamed of himself for letting himself balloon to 400+lbs like that. His laziness cost him (and my Lakers more importantly) at least 2 more rings.

[Venti Quattro]

Snaq should take a shot at P90X and get his lard-ass back in shape. He should be ashamed of himself for letting himself balloon to 400+lbs like that. His laziness cost him (and my Lakers more importantly) at least 2 more rings.

If you're not going to feed me the ball then I'm not going to play defense

[mabrignani]

Heat/Wade

what a flop