Supplies are limited and all the cool kids at school will have them. Don’t miss out — operators are standing by.
(Joke stolen from the twitter account of friend of this site J.D. Hastings, who you should follow for the art and jazz talk, too.)
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There has been some talk in the comments about Kobe’s defense — his penchant to save energy for the offensive end and gamble more than makes people comfortable at times. I think Darius had a great point and a great place to keep the conversation going:
I don’t see the need to harp on his defense. There are probably 5 or 6 SG’s in the entire league that are main contributors to their teams offense – Wade, Roy, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Eric Gordon, Monta Ellis (throw in Manu if you want, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten one or two) – and Kobe plays hard on defense against all of them for every minute they share the court. For the players that aren’t true offensive threats or focal points for their team, Kobe takes a different defensive strategy. I really don’t see a problem with this. Could he close out harder at times? Sure, but do you really want to run out hard at Ronnie Brewer or Sefalosha? Do you really want our main perimeter threat, a player that despite his fundamental and precision on offense, expends the most energy on offense of any player on our team running around and chasing low quality offensive (non)threats just to show that he’s committed to defense? I’d lean towards no on questions like those. On a side note, it’s not like Phil treats Kobe the same way he treated MJ when he was at this stage of his career (and by that I mean years in the league, games played, minutes accumulated, etc). By the time Jordan was a 13 year vet with all those minutes played, Phil put Jordan on the weakest possible wing offense player or a player that Jordan could use his size and smarts against to disrupt while leaving the bigger threats to Pippen and Ron Harper. But with Kobe (pre Artest), Phil often put Kobe on the best wing offensive player for long stretches when he knew he needed that defensive presence – guys like ‘Melo, Lebron, and Pierce even when those guys aren’t natural match ups for Kobe.
Vic De Zen says
Smart look. I never really thought about the lack of superstar 2-guards these days.
TheSTD says
According to 82games nobody but Artest is holding his opponent down more than Kobe on this team, and I’m sure a lot of that has to do with the lack of great 2s in the league.
Sure he’ll let Rondo get some open 20 footers. That’s the game plan.
Darius says
Before someone brings him up, I should have mentioned Joe Johnson. He’s so damn (anonymously) good, I forgot him. This leads me to another point – earlier this season, Joe Johnson got hot against us when Kobe was guarding him. Sometimes, even really good defenders get beat by better offense. But, after Joe sat for a while, Phil stuck Ron on Joe and that was that as Joe struggled the rest of the game. This is the true value of Artest – even when Kobe doesn’t have it on defense, we have another (some would say even better) option. This was the case last season with Ariza as well, but not to the extent that it is with Ron as Artest is just a more versatile defender that brings a different element to defense than either Kobe or Ariza does (size/strength/quickness combination). Anyways, I really just wanted to mention Joe Johnson as he’s one of my favorite players.
Anonymous says
I disagree strongly with the principal argument here. Just about any SG in the league can hit a wide-open 3, and how many times have we seen some nobody hit 3 or 4 open shots in a row while Kobe drifts around the paint for no apparent reason? I’m not sure Kobe needs to stay on these players like glue (I don’t care if he relaxes as they cross through the lane, for example), but he needs to catch up to the play in time to stop an easy spot up catch and shoot but, unless its a top-ten player, he seems to have little interest in doing so.
Don’t get me wrong: I think Kobe is having a remarkable season, but this is imo a real negative in a ledger that has very few….
In fact, I’d go even further– with less SSZ/trapping this season, there’s even less reason for him to drift into the paint when his man is at the 3 point line.
chris h says
someday we’ll look back fondly and remember the Fisher era, sometimes you don’t appreciate what you’ve got til it’s gone.
let’s appreciate him now.
Tyler says
I kind of agree with number 4 and I kind of agree with this post.
I don’t mind it too much most of the time. However, sometimes it seems like Kobe almost totally loses track of his man and also neglects to give any sort of help defense and I get a bit aggravated.
Mohan says
In response to #4, this is purely anecdotal and I could be wrong, but as far as I remember, we’ve seen less of opposing shooting guards knock down a few 3s in a row this year. The only players I’ve seen catching fire against us are point guards. In most cases, that happens when we go under picks.
Generally, I think Kobe’s help defense has been significantly better this year. He’s done a great job of cutting off passing lanes to the post, and when they get the ball down there, he frequently disrupts the rhythm of the 4 or 5 man with the ball.
TheSTD says
Fans only notice the wide open jumpers, they never file away the number of times Kobe’s “drifting into the paint” has bothered opposing post players
j.d. Hastings says
Thanks for the shout out, Kurt! Now I’m suddenly self-conscious of my loquatiousness on that site…
I’ve previously been one who harped on Kobe’s d occasionally, but then I checked our team defensive stats at 82games.com for the last couple years.
These are imperfect stats, but maybe the best we have: Last year the Lakers guarded opposing SGs better than any other position, with SFs being the only other position held under a PER of 15 (average production)
http://www.82games.com/0809/0809LAL5.HTM
In 2006-2008, SG was the only position held under 15 PER:
http://www.82games.com/0708/0708LAL5.HTM
http://www.82games.com/0607/0607LAL5.HTM
(curiously, in 2005-2006 SF was the only position below 15 PER. So either Kobe was defending the SF more or Luke Walton was doing better than we thought)
Come to this year and we are KILLING SFs and SGs, holding them to PERs of 11.8 and 12.6 respectively- and PFs are being held under 15 as well. That is obviously the effect of Artest, who spends time on both positions, but I think it also backs up the claim that we’ve been skeptical of- that Artest’s on ball D frees up Kobe to be more of a ball hawk and “free safety.” Artest is able to hold down their primary perimeter guy, while Kobe causes havok from there.
Once I saw this I started to wonder if we have an anecdotal bias – we all remember the games where Steve Blake (or Bowen, Aflalo, or whoever) lights us up for 20 and the Lakers lose because it’s humiliating to have Blake beat us. And Blake was doing so well because kobe refused to respect him- however doesn’t “Make Steve Blake Beat You” sound like a valid game plan? So maybe us Laker fans just happen to see these games and remember the glaring failures without noticing how effective he is being most of the time.
We don’t give him credit when those role players are missing the open shots he’s giving, but somehow the position he defends ends up performing below average every year.
So I don’t know if he deserves to be first team all defense every year (who votes for that- coaches or media?), but I do think we don’t give him enough credit (one of the rare times I will ever claim Lakers fans don’t appreciate something about Kobe enough)
lakersfansincemagic says
Kobe needs to help boxing out.. I noticed when 2 bigs help on the D on a penetrating guard, the other team gets an easy put back. We need help boxing out by helping the helper..
exhelodrvr says
Bynum’s defense has improved, and Artest is much better overall defensively than Ariza. Those improvements will make Kobe’s (and everybody else’s) help defense “better.” And partly explains why his defense looked to be lacking at times in recent years.
j.d. Hastings says
Curious about who was defending the SF in 2005-2006, I just looked up who was starting for us at SF that year. Can you guess? Answer below.
It was Lamar Odom (I thought it was Luke, but that was the next year). The Lakers started Brian Cook, Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown at the PF/C spots every game. With Smush Parker at PG. AND THIS TEAM NOT ONLY WENT TO THE PLAYOFFS BUT ALMOST UPSET PHOENIX.
This is mind boggling. Kobe and Phil don’t get anywhere near enough credit for this. KG missed the playoffs for 2 or 3 straight seasons in MN. Was his supporting cast better than Odom and these stiffs??? To me, this is a greater accomplishment than anything Kobe did his MVP season.
Mimsy says
#9,
So basically the Laker version of leaving Sasha wide open in the corner to be able to double Pau or Andrew?
Aaron says
Kurt,
Sorry… I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t saying the Celtics are perfect… I don’t think they are very close to the Lakers actually. I was saying the thing that separates them from a lot of other teams is they don’t have a weak link in they’re starting 5. Just as a great player can make the rest if his team that much better (Lebron) a bad player can make the rest of his team that much worse.
James says
Poeple give Ariza WAY TOO MUCH CREDIT! He wasn’t a great on-ball defender; he was an undersized 3 that got bullied by guys like Melo (which is why Kobe had to guard him), Ariza is a great help defender and excellent at anticipation and jumping into passing lanes. He got his defensive rep from his steals, but 80% of his steals came from jumping a pass. Kobe can definitely work a little less this year on D than last year
James says
#4 has a funny complaint considering the Lakers lead the league in opponent 3 pt. FG % at about 29%
wondahbap says
Of course Artest and Bynum have a lot to do with it, but I think our defense also is better because we aren’t employing the SSZ. I’m sure Artest and Bynum and lack of SSZ go hand in hand. Our personnel is better now, though I never really cared for it, and I didn’t mind seeing Rambis leave to become a head coach. It left too many shooters open for 3’s. Too many times, players were caught in la-la land when the ball was rotated. I prefer manning up and closing out on shooters, and using our length to give shooters second thoughts. Not merely preventing penetration.
Chris J says
What’s prompted this “Kobe doesn’t do enough on defense” talk of late?
Are we that desperate for things to gripe about? Really?
Wade was only 7 of 21 from the floor. He only got his points because the refs continually bail him out more than any player in recent memory. (Not to mention totally ignoring his frequent traveling violations…. But I digress.)
If Afflalo’s eight points a few weeks ago is now considered in terms of Kobe “being torched” we really need to step back and remember this team is 16-3 despite missing its second-best player for half of those games.
quetzpalin says
I don’t necessarily believe this completely, but just to play devil’s advocate…
There seems to be an implicit desire when criticizing Kobe for lack of effort on defense for him to be more like Garnett as a Celtic. We have so many weapons on the offensive end that it would seem to make sense for him to expend less energy there. Let’s face it, sometimes when he expends a ton of energy on offense, he takes us out of the triangle, and the flow. I have to admit to occasionally thinking that there would be a theoretical benefit of just letting the triangle do it’s job more of the time if he were to tire himself out more on defense.
As we all know, he is capable of being dominant on both sides of the ball, and it’s an interesting thought experiment to wonder where that dominance would be most useful or effective on this particular team.
Wade A.D. says
9. – J. D. Hastings. I think you hit the nail on the head with the Steve Blake comment. When the other team has someone at the SG spot who PJ and KB knows has the talent to beat us that night by going for 40 KB goes hard on D and shuts the guy down. When was the last time an all star 2 guard had 30 against us when Kobe guarded him for 40 min. The last time I remember this is when Rip Hamilton ran him off 8,000 screens against the pistons the year they beat us in the finals. Making an inferior player step up to beat you while helping to take away a stronger player is an excellent defensive strategy, IMHO.
And this year Kobe is averaging almost 2.5 steal per game with is an increase of his career average of 1.5. He is at his personal best in that catergory right now. I think that can be looked at three different ways.
1. It’s a statistical aberration and Kobe is living off of games like his 5 steal performance against the Warriors and will come back to his usual 1.5.
2. He is benefitting from having two seven footers and a premier wing defender playing along side.
3. He is wreaking more havoc in his help D, and reading passing lanes and ever before as he continues to become less of an athlete and more of a crafty, wily veteran while dominating games.
I think ultimately it’s a combination of mostly number 2 and a bit of number 3.
Also in Kobe’s only other season of averaging 2+ steals a game he played 41 minutes a night. This year he is down to 36. So he’s doin more on defense ( at least in easily quantifiable catergories) in less minutes than he has ever done before…
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=110
Craig W says
Just how much more effective should Kobe be on defense? We already have about the best defense in the league at his position (looking at PER).
One of the values of his offense, as upset as we sometimes get, is that he intimidates other teams and they double and triple team him. He forces up enough shots that they justify that type of action. Now, when he passes the ball either the person he passes to is wide open or the next pass in line is wide open. Isn’t that another aspect of the triangle?
lakersfansincemagic says
#18. Many of those wade misses were followed up by put backs. Kobe got beat by a screen, but didn’t help the helper.
I believe it’s just not only kobe’s issue, it’s the other teammates as well… They need to help the helper. But I frequently find kobe not helping on boxing out most.
Darius says
#19. quetzpalin raises an interesting question about Kobe’s role, offense vs. defense, and balance.
I would say that Kobe needs to find a balance where he can be impactful on both ends of the floor – which I think he’s found (or at least is close to finding). We see the stats of PER against and and also see an uptick in his own offensive efficiency this season. So, essentially, I think he’s doing a pretty good job of defending in the manner that he needs to while still being a dominant force on offense. Plus, both sides of the ball are a team game and I think he’s doing a pretty good job of playing good team offense and defense.
A couple of other points on this bullet style (because I can’t find a way to really tie this together in a coherent comment):
*Kobe’s offensive game is key not only to our team’s offensive output, but also in him slowing down the offense of the player that is guarding him. In year’s past, we’d always mention how Shaq’s bruising style on the post would take the legs away of the opposing Center when that man had to come down and play offense. This affect is similar with Kobe as the man that is guarding Kobe must put an extreme amount of mental and physical energy into slowing him down. That expenditure of energy reduces that player’s efficiency when he comes down to the other end of the court to play offense.
*Speaking of Shaq and his style of play, Kobe’s uptick in effiency, points in the paint, and FT attempts is directy attributable to his greater effort to work from the low post. Kobe is now making defenders work even harder when defending him by taking them down to the low block and fighting with them for position, delivering elbows and (not so gentle) pushes/shoves, and then sitting on their legs as he establishes his ground in or near the paint.
*But beyond Kobe’s work in the post, he’s still our only reliable perimeter threat (I’ve loved Ron’s game as much as the next guy, but he’s not nearly as efficient or effective as Kobe when operating from the wing – or anywhere on the court, really). And since this is the case, Kobe really can’t “rest” on offense as there is always attention on him – attention that is given because he is a threat from everywhere. Yes, Kobe has capable weapons in Gasol/Bynum/LO/Artest. But part of what makes those guys effective is an active and engaged Kobe. This is kind of like the chicken vs. the egg. I don’t know what came first or where the causation lies, but the fact is these things work in tandem and need not be tinkered with. I don’t want to see a less involved Kobe on offense or any semblance of him not being as forthcoming with his effort on that side of the ball becasue that may effect the other players whose efficiency we laud.
sbdunks says
I think the most irritating thing about Kobe’s D, or lack thereof, is that if another Laker neglected to even try to get out to his man when he gets burned, Kobe would be furious. I can’t really remember seeing one of the guys not even attempt to close the gap, or direct Kobe to switch onto his man when burned.
Having said that, (woohoo, curb reference) I think his brand of D is justified. He’s good at playing the passing lanes, and the energy savings is definitely a plus. In Kobe’s defense, Wade shot 7-21 on Friday night; I went through the game log and 3 of those were dunks, 3 were layups and just one was a “jump shot”. That “jump shot” was the desperation flip shot after he clanged an attempt up off the bottom of the backboard and got the ball back after the scramble with less than a minute left. So essentially Wade missed every jumper that game. Oh, and Kobe’s free throw defense was pretty good as well, as Wade went 12 for 18 from the line, haha.
Jman says
I’d like to see Kobe gamble less, but he’s still playing exceptional defense despite his aging legs. As mentioned, there really aren’t that many dominating shooting guards left in the league. Off the top of my head, I can think of Carter, Wade, Johnson, Roy (really a PG?), and… hmm. However, the other SGs in the league are still professionals and (most) will hit the shots if given enough space.
And, yes, it’s true that most people probably won’t notice when Kobe affects and helps Lakers defense. So what? Would your boss get mad if you achieved positive results on a project by taking chances and/or shortcuts, or when you take those chances and shortcuts and the project flops?
But because Kobe is one of the top five players to ever play the game of basketball, I would never question his basketball decisions. Additionally, the Lakers have been winning decisively and our defensive rating is fantastic.
However, what’s the point of a basketball discussion forum if anytime anyone expresses a concern about the Lakers, it’s shot down and labeled as irrelevant, an overreaction or complaining? Show some respect. Sometimes, it feels like this is just a maturer forum of fanboys that use correct grammar and more sophisticated words than the ESPN comments boards.
Not Charlie Rosen says
Just had to point out the lovely irony:
External Kobe-disparagers love to make the argument, “Sure, Kobe’s a great player, love to watch him, would want him on my side, but he’s not as great as you think…his PER is much lower than other folks you don’t think are as good as him.”
And from the other side out of the mouth, “Kobe’s a rotten defender…he’s good when he tries, but he almost never tries”…and yet, as has been pointed out, according to PER-against, assuming he’s spending the majority of minutes guarding the opposing SG, he’s one of if not the best SG/wing defender out there.
Considering the overall results (Finals->Champs-> 16-3 and at least a couple more years of being right there for it), I’m absolutely fine with Kobe “taking a few possessions off” on defense to roam and/or rest, particularly when it’s against a lesser opponent (i.e. not Wade/Roy/etc.). It reduces the toll the game takes on his body, and I’ll gladly trade a couple nights a season of an “average” SG scoring 5-6 points above their average if it buys us, long term, 2-4 more *years* of Kobe at his prime, and not breaking down (like KG did last season).
Mohan says
My only concern with Kobe’s D is the pick and roll. He frequently disappears behind the pick or sends a soft double to the ballhandler, leaving the big man open as he rolls to the hoop. Sometimes I wonder if this is on purpose and he’s trying to bait the ballhandler into throwing a pass to the middle, where someone like Lamar can easily jump it. Other times, it just looks and feels lazy.
The former case (disappearing behind the pick) is even worse when we play teams like the Heat, because they are smart enough to set a high pick and leave Kobe stranded outside of the 3 point line.
Ultimately, I’m just continuing this conversation for the sake of continuing it. I’m very pleased with Kobe’s D this year.
Travis says
I’m surprised that Kobe’s D is the hot topic of conversation right now.
Has nobody noticed that Bynum closed the game last week versus the Heat? Is this of no consequence? was it a matchup thing, or is Drew already showing the form Phil needs to see to use him in the closing 5?
did anybody watching the game feel like Drew is ready for closing duty in a playoff game?
firewalker says
I’m in New York tonight. Can I watch on the internet? I miss my satellite.
isolate says
It may have had a little to do with Lamar having been ejected for the 2 technical fouls..
Zephid says
28, the only reason Andrew closed is because Odom got ejected.
As for Kobe, I don’t really care that he drifts or that he doesn’t close out hard on his man. The thing I hate is that he refuses to switch onto open players, he always tells his teammates to switch onto his man if he gets picked as opposed to fighting over, and he points at open players, telling his teammates to go close out. In short, Kobe throws his teammates under the bus on defense.
I’ve seen numerous occasions when Kobe will drift of his man, go for some ill-advised steal or poke, his man gets left wide open, and instead of closing out, Kobe points at a teammate and tells them to close out instead. Almost 90% of the times we see “omg *insert name* needs to close out harder on three point shooters” are because Kobe pointed at one of his teammates to close out and the guy was subsequently late. The players most left out to dry by this are Fisher, Farmar, Odom, and Sasha, four guys we love to hate for ineptitudes on defense. 90% of the time, it is not their fault; it is Kobe’s.
Perhaps the Lakers have some sort of intrinsic agreement where they know Kobe is saving himself, so everyone else is expected to cover for him, and if so, that’s fine. But I’ve seen too many times fans throwing other players under the bus (Fisher, Farmar, Vujacic, Odom) for mistakes made by Kobe.
And 24, sbdunks makes a great point: if anybody else on the team did what Kobe does, Kobe would be all over them.
He is lazy on defense; nobody seems to be challenging this. And for the most part, I don’t really have a problem with it. I do, however, have a problem with Kobe’s teammates getting thrown under the bus because of his defensive laziness. Kobe takes all the accolades for his roaming and his steals and swipes and what not, while taking none of the blame for his mistakes.
T. Rogers says
#20) Not that it really matters, but remember a couple of seasons ago when Gilbert Arenas dropped 60 points on the Lakers? Kobe guarded him for most of that game. And while the Wizards try to pass Gilbert off as a one, we all know he is a two. To be fair, Kobe appeared to be seriously hobbled by some kind of injury to either his knee or ankle in that game.
And you can put me in the camp that is not completely comfortable with Kobe “roaming” on defense. But he makes the right decisions most of the time. Granted the kid from OKC hit open jumper after jumper as Kobe continued to leave him in that OKC road game. Still I’d take LA’s defensive wings (Kobe and Ron) over any other wing combo in the league.
j.d. Hastings says
Recently NBATV replayed some games from the 2000-2002 campaigns, and I find it fascinating to watch young Kobe again having seen everything since. Current Kobe by rights should have the nickname the machine way more than Sasha. He is meticulous, practiced and intentional. Every aspect of his game has been refined and looks like it. Even the impromptu game winner against Miami- he knew it was a low % shot, but understood how to correct for that.
Young kobe was so much more wild, improvisational and got by on spit, vinegar and athletic ability.
These were also the years he made his reputation on defense. And when he had to, he was able to move his feet and hands in a frenetic fashion you never see from him anymore-
in Game 4 against the Kings in 2002, nobody remembers that Horry would have had no shot at winning the game if Kobe’s second quarter defense hadn’t almost single-handedly brought us back from 20 down. The rest of the team couldn’t shake itself out of its doldrums so he took it on himself. Reminded me of Pippen.
However- on average possessions his defense looked a lot like today’s. He’d sag off his man on the perimeter and ball watch much of the time. Even then, when NOBODY complained about any aspect of his D he conserved himself.
Today people notice it more, and when he turns the D on it isn’t as frantic as it was back then, which forced you to notice, but as Jeff Van Gundy was pointing out during the Miami game, he’s still got it when he wants/needs to.
PJ says
I agree with Darius.
You can describe Kobe as being lazy on rotations/closing out or Kobe saving his legs for the Offensive end, then calling out or yelling at a teammate for the missed assignment. But I, along with Kobe’s teammates, dismiss it as “Kobe being Kobe.”
j.d. Hastings says
Another interesting observation from those games- Game 1 against Philly in 2001 was lost as much because Kobe probably had his worst game of those playoffs as because of Iverson’s 48. I think Kobe had a chance to win it in regulation but did one of his young kobe moves where he drove into traffic without a plan. Maybe turned it over. I don’t recall the exact sequence but it was a trip down memory lane back when he did that more than once (also see: 2001 All Star Game where he acts as though he’s going to take the final shot, realizes he doesn’t have it and tries to pass to a shocked Tim Duncan)
Also interesting from that game: Raja Bell didn’t guard Kobe, Eric Snow did. Not what I expected given Bell’s bitterness 5 years later.
Kaifa says
Nice Kobe interview at The Sporting News NBA page:
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Baseline/entry/view/46945/kobe_bryant_on_snr_for_me,_its_all_about_the_june_result#page_break
Including:
SN: The first time you heard Ron Artest was going to be a Laker, what went through your mind?
KB: I honestly was sad because we had just won a championship and had great chemistry with Trevor (Ariza), and Trevor was like a brother and still is. So I was sad to see him go … I think we all were. At the same time, our relationship isn’t going to change, but now it’s time to welcome in a new brother into our family, which is Ron. So I quickly shifted from being sad Trevor was gone to being happy Ron was coming in.
SN: But you guys almost threw down last year. It’s always been intense with you guys throughout your careers—none of those thoughts went through your head? You weren’t at least happy that he wasn’t checking you anymore?
KB: Absolutely not, are you kidding? I was excited to face him every day in practice. When he got here and Phil (Jackson) put us on the same team I immediately took my jersey off, switched teams and told him we were going straight up.
Bernie says
Off topic but Forbes just came out with its most valued NBA franchise list. Guess who’s finally number one??
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4729043
Snoopy2006 says
33 – Trying to remember, is that the 2nd quarter when Kobe took Bibby (who was on fire) and just locked him down? I was a kid back then, so my memory’s weak, but if so, I still remember that defensive performance.
I think j.d. brought up an incredible point that doesn’t get talked about enough. I was thinking about the exact same thing a few weeks ago. It’s incredible what they did in 2006. Essentially, Kobe was surrounded with a D-League team and Odom. Guys who can barely stick around in the league or haven’t – Parker, Mihm, Kwame, Cook, George. Laron Profit, Von Wafer, Aaron McKie, Slava. And they nearly derailed one of the strongest teams to never win a championship.
It’s incredible. And with all respect to Kobe, I think so much of the credit lies within the system and Jackson. His ability to get the most out of borderline NBA players is absolutely incredible. And this is the coach who supposedly “only won” because he had superstars.
Consider my mind sufficiently boggled.
The Dude Abides says
35. JD, I’ve always believed that the team lost Game 1 of the 2001 Finals because Robert Horry committed the stupidest offensive foul in history with a five or seven-point lead with two minutes left in OT. That foul was a retaliatory foul for something. He practically threw a punch at a Philly player (Tyrone Hill?).
MannyP13 says
Apparently this Kobe Bryant kid can really play basketball. Who would have ever thought so?
Craig W says
“He is lazy on defense; nobody seems to be challenging this.”
Hummmmm! I seem to be seeing a lot of fans here challenging this.
Just how can someone be lazy on defense and still a top defender at his position? How far has NBA quality deteriorated?
I don’t mind questions about any players on our team – even Kobe – but comments that he is lazy are out-of-line, unless the fan can back them up with statistics. Observations of several plays during a game just don’t cut it when the stats show he consistently keeps his man below the average PER. Occasionally someone will go off, but it is usually a 2nd tier player and doesn’t Kobe have a bad offensive night occasionally. Allow him a bad defensive night every once-in-a-while.
No matter what we think Kobe is not a machine. He is simply one of the best players ever to lace up his shoes – at least keep your comments in the weakness area, not the lazy area.
Kurt says
Jazz preview up:
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2009/12/09/preview-chat-the-utah-jazz-4/
Snoopy2006 says
I know we’ve all seen this video before, everyone’s heard about Shaq ignoring Kobe after the lob. But I just watched the video again and I’m pretty sure, unless my ears deceive me, that something else happened –
Shaq immediately starts pointing and running for the bench before Portland calls timeout. Portland inbounds the ball and Shaq is hamming it up for the crowd, and he’s halfway to the bench before the ref blows his whistle. Kobe and Fish stayed to stop the play. That’s just shameful.
Anyway, thought I’d share the post, if only for a few great vids to kill the time.
http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2009/12/9/1192833/some-thoughts-on-kobe-shaq#storyjump
Travis says
didn’t notice the odom ejection, my bad
Joel says
I don’t think Kobe is ‘lazy on defense’ in a general sense, but he seems to have a strange aversion to closing out on open shooters. And Zephid is right about the pointing at other teammates when he leaves his man open.
Dirk Kettlewell says
Good Read!