Hmm, so the fact that Kobe had Gasol and Odom....both better players than any other player on the Cavs roster when they faced the Spurs means nothing? Or that the Spurs had a healthy Manu against LeBron and he was clearly injured when they faced LA? You also ignored my questions. What team did Kobe win with that didn't have top 5 talent? Which one of LeBron's teams do you think Kobe would have taken further? Has LeBron ever played on a team as good as any team Kobe won a title with?
You are right, but it makes no point to say well Kobe wins and LeBron doesn't when Kobe has always won with that #2 player, and lost when he didn't have one....and LeBron has never even had a #2 guy on his team. And before Pau got to LA Kobe hadn't led them past the first round. After Bynum went down the Lakers were doing some major losing before they made the Gasol deal. Kobe is the man but he has no 4th title without the Gasol trade, and Gasol is better than any player LeBron has ever played with. Lamar Odom is as well if you are really honest about it, and he comes off the bench in LA.
kobe killed the lakers with 3 straight bad shots (2 barely hit rim). that lucky 3 saved him and the team. but to answer your question, lebron is easily a better playmaker than kobe. it's not even close. but kobe is easily a top 5 offensive player in history. what he does with the basketball offensively is something special. and i'm sure he enjoys taking those tough shots. i've seen kobe pass up OPEN shots just so he can shoot it in someone's face. he loves challenges, and as you saw tonight, he often rises to them.
Top 5 easily? Do you mean top 5 guard? I'll gladly take these high scoring centers that do it at a 50% clip and get double teamed more (Kareem, Shaq, Hakeem). As unstoppable as Kobe Bryant is, he isn't more unstoppable than Hakeem was at his peak. Give me Bird and Magic too, as well as MJ.
If Fisher misses that 3-pointer, the story of the game is probably how Wade outplayed Kobe in crunch time. Wade was penetrating the Lakers defense at will on one end, and forcing bad, off-balance jumpers from Kobe on the other. For a player who's so maligned by the home town fans, Derek Fisher hits a ton of big shots.
top 5 overall. if kobe wants to take more efficient shots, he can easily do that. dude purposely takes some of the most ridiculous shots i've ever seen (those triple pump fakes without dribbling the ball, falling away... ridiculous). i guess it's b/c he's so cocky that it's not even funny. like i said, i've seen kobe passed up open shots MULTIPLE times just so he can take one with a hand in his face. but it's just my opinion. i think his offensive skillset is the best the league has ever seen though.
you're right. wade got the better of kobe at the end, with the help of the pick and roll (he couldn't shake kobe several times when he didn't have the pick and roll). dfish is clutch. but yes, he is maligned by the hometown fans. i don't know if you have heard this but whenever dfish starts taking a lot of shots, the lakers own commentators kinda take a jab at him by saying, "it's dfish being aggressive." lol
Without the "pick" (by "BigCat" Magloire and/or Haslem), Wade doesn't have a field-goal tonight against Bryant, who played lockdown defense throughout that game. I don't recall Wade having a field-goal in isolation against Bryant. Just great defense. The one thing that seperates Bryant from James is that he raises the level of competition from his opponents. Wade and James did not even try to guard one-another when they played earlier in the season. Matador defense both-ways. Wright guarded Bryant for the most part, but Wade also took the challenge of trying to guard Bryant in the second half. I noticed that with James and Carter, as well. Not known for their man-to-man defense, they tend to take the challenge of guarding Bryant when they play. McGrady '04: 37 points vs Lakers -YouTube -YouTube / Bryant -YouTube. "I think of myself as a throwback -- not only can I score the basketball, I can keep people from scoring" Bryant said. "It was very fun. I love those matchups." -March 15, 2004 "He wanted to guard McGrady coming out of halftime, but I felt like we needed his offense" Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "But he really scored most of his points while he was guarding McGrady." I love this quote: "It's a challenge, and you've just got to step up to [Bryant]'s level." [McGrady] said.
lol, james brings out the best in everybody. wade said earlier this year that the opposing player who pumps him up the most is lebron james. also wade and james don't guard one another b/c of the size/height difference. wade is 6'4, while james is 6'9. kobe and wade are more similar in size. however, james does guard kobe A TON when they do meet, while kobe rarely guards lebron. lebron is one of the best defensive players in this league right now period. the good 1-on-1 defense on wade wasn't just by kobe. artest also shut him down earlier in the game when wade didn't use a lot of the pick and rolls. this is where i feel his poor jumper is causing wade problems this year. you can't make yourself one dimensional if you want to be an elite offensive player. wade has had some great games, but he has had also some bad games.
Shaq has Gasol's number as of last year, if you insist. And you can argue Shaq's at least more intimidating in the post on both sides and demands more double team. It's just a pity once he becomes LBJ's teammate, his numbers take a big slump, both fg% and ppg. Hughes was a borderline all star when he joined the Cavs. Only more consistent on offensive side and made all NBA defensive team. LBJ hasn't been winning anything, but that's not the point. It's that he hasn't been able to make any teammate better, or even keep the performance on par, while Kobe has some strong cases. Unless he could win finals this way, he's just another AI, more efficient but not enough.
Surround Kobe with good 3 pts and centers that can shoot from outside like LBJ and Wade have in their teams. He can be more efficient just playing down low all night long. Or give him P&R and vacate the center for every possession, he can be more efficient. Lakers are not built that way, they are built for balanced attack.
What are you talking about? Bryant has guarded James almost exclusively throughout their careers. Bryant guarded James in both meetings, last season (on National Television). 01/19/09: Los Angeles 105, Cleveland 88 -GameRecap 02/02/09: Cleveland 91, Los Angeles 101 -GameRecap
LeBron's WAYYYYY better More strength More speed Better talent better vision better passer better leader better 3 point shooter better finishing kobes advantage - mid range shot
earlier in lebron's career, yes. definitely not last year though. i rarely saw kobe guarding lebron in their 2 meetings last year. lebron often guarded kobe though.
c'mon man. kobe wouldn't lead the cavs of last year to the record they had. and i can say that with a straight face. that was one of the least talented teams that ever won 60 games. kobe is a better scorer than lebron and that's it. and i don't think lebron will ever match kobe's offensive prowess. but lebron's overall game, on both ends, surpasses kobe even in kobe's prime. if you don't think lebron makes his teammates better, there's nothing i can say. you can ask any NBA player right now who they would rather play with, lebron would win in a landslide.
who inspired lebron to even get on the defensive end, though he is good for high lights in big blocks and steals, he is a off ball defender and a help defender so he accumulates those stats, one on one and just defensive awareness if you understand basketball beyong box score and high lights, youll know he has much more work to do but back to inspiration, i think i mentioned this in my original post. I had the pleasure of talking to coach K about team USA(yes personally) and he mentioned a story about how kobe came to practice for USA after being injured and all the young guys(lebron, wade, melo, dwight) wanted to see what he would do, this is after dropping 35ppg and having the rep of best scorer in the league. He said Kobe practiced the whole day, never once shooting a basketball, just did Defense drills. He said the young guys followed his lead and the rest was history, the team's commitment to defense was riding Kobe, and everyone bought into it. Kobe also had meeting with coach the summer before, and made a special request. not to shoot the last shot(which if we remember he did make clutch shots to give them the win anyway), or make any offensive demands, he just requested to be assigned to the best player on the opposing team every game.... speaks for itself
Are you kidding me? Kobe is best perimeter defender in the league, best on ball defender as well, by GM survey. The guy has 7 times all NBA defensive team. LBJ isn't even close. Defense isn't about getting a highlight block, it's about deny penetration and challenge jump shots. And no, LBJ doesn't make his teammates better, you can show me an individual example by just showing me the numbers, simple as that.
It's apples and oranges. Name the last NBA champion that got away with their star player who could only drive inside and chuck up shots from behind the arc? Spurs? Tim Duncan=No. Lakers? Kobe=No. Detroit? Hamilton=No. Heat? Wade=No. Celtics? Pierce=No. Bulls? Jordan=Hell no. Rockets? Hakeem=No. I can't remember the last time it happened. LBJ is a great player and the most entertaining player out there and is a top 4 player but he comes after Melo, Kobe and Wade...if your goal is championships. If not, and you want ratings and money go with Lebron.
