Without Shaq, Kobe wouldn't have those rings. Put Tracy in those laker's teams instead of Kobe and it would be Tracy with those rings instead of Kobe. If Tracy isn't a superstar then neither is Kobe. Tracy and Yao are superstars. They can only do so much. This league is too hard for it to be only a two man team. You need a consistent and good supporting cast and hopefully this year they will have it.
what has kobe done w/o shaq. look at shaq's playoff stats. during his laker years, his playoff stats were on the line of 29ppg, 14 rpg, 2-3 bpg, and on a ridiculous 56% fg. kobe only had 1 great playoff run where he avg 31pts (where he was on par w/ shaq). not to mention, during their hey day, shaq drew MUCH MUCH more doubles (yao didn't draw much during our series v. utah). so no. shaq had a bigger role and everyone knew it. why do u think kobe wanted his own team?
While t-mac does not drive as much as other superstars (yes he should, but damn, he was one year removed from that back spasm filled season, who wouldn't be tentative?), its unfair to blindly point a finger and say: "it's because he didn't drive late in game 7! thats why we lost!". What about all the bricks from the role players aside from Battier? What about Yao not getting those rebounds at the end of the game? He had 29 points and 13 assists (or 16, i forgot), i think he was doing his part. BTW, blazer_ben, "you're" is 'you are' and "your" is 'belonging to you'. just fyi!
u always point to the best player of any team. like i said, those players get most of the credit when their teams win, and most of the blame when their teams lose. it's unfair both ways but that's how it works.
The Rockets problem wasn't TMac being a softee, it was Bonzi Wells being a fatty, Vassilis Spanoulis being a sucky, and the front office filled the rest of the roster with kinds who are not ready.
I'd take guys who put their heart into the Rockets over guys who did not any day-- whatever the fg% says. Howard was fighting HARD in game 7, Rafer was fighting hard in game 7. They actually gave the team a chance making some big plays. These guys had to play through all their bad shooting games because guys on the bench were too busy eating donuts and moaning about guaranteed minutes.
The softee was the reason why there is a game 6 and a game 7. He's the reason why there's even a game 1 and game 2.
that's fine for ONE game. i love the heart and hustle. but our team had guys who hustled and competed. that was not the question. but when u get to the playoffs, EVERY team hustled on EVERY single possession for EVERY second of the game. it comes down to who makes more shots and who gets more stops. we got stops. we didn't make shots. those guys failed to make their WIDE OPEN shots to lighten the load on tmac and yao.
people don't realize had tmac not perform the way he had (which i don't think was up to his standards), making the #5 seed in a competitive west w/ yao out for most of the year would not have happened. hell, we might not even break the 9/10 seed.
Shaq won a ring in Miami without Kobe playing like a superstar. ;-) That only proves that Shaq can win it without Kobe. It doesn't mean Kobe can't get past the first round without Shaq. Just that it hasn't been done yet.
I'm sure what u guys mean by labeling Tmac as a "softee". Does that mean that he doesn't know how to close out games? Or...That his style of play portrays a soft player?
A player, during crunch time, who relies on shooting outside jumpers instead of imposing his will and driving to the basket for a higher percentage shot or getting fouled and going to the f/t line.
MOST superstars take jumpers during crunch time. tmac just missed his. kobe takes a lot of jumpers late in games. same w/ jordan. even w/ lebron. only wade and iverson drive late in games. he just missed.
