It makes them more deserving of All-Defensive team positions, IMO, because they have to actually play defense every night.
The point remains even if that is true it doesn't mean anything unless you argue that this phenomena is unique to Kobe and the same things you criticize him for didn't occur with every other NBA legend high on that list .
Kobe had to guard Melo in 4th quarter in WCF 2009 since Ariza wasn't doing a good job at that. Kobe had to guard Westbrook and Rondo since Fisher would be killed last year. Kobe's the one that had to take it on himself in both ends, more so than Jordan, since Pippen always got the toughest one. LeBron nuthuggers are shameless liars by saying Kobe always took the easiest assignment. And sure LeBron got the toughest assignment when he did a perfect job on Aston in ECF 2009, when SF scrubs like Lewis and Turk were killing it at will.
yea, I met coach K at a book signing and he told the people there a story about how in the olympics, the first time kobe came since he ha missed the other summer with a knee surgery, and he had just averaged 35 ppg and was on top of the league. He said all the young guys(bron, wade, melo) all kind of had their eye on what kobe does and how he practices. He said kobe, the guy who earlier that season dropped 81, spent the entire day witout taking one shot or layup. He got in there and did defensive drills hardcore the entire practice. Coach K said all the young guys saw his tenacity and work ethic and commitment to defense and they prety much all followed suit. He set that tone inside of them of what it takes to win in that regard. On a side note, He also said Kobe had a meeting with him, said he knows the team is stacked with scorers, he'll do whatever the team needs but mainly he just wants one request, that he guard the best player on every team. Yea, now you see these guys focusing on defense, but here is the root of it. Notice before the olympics so on, most of these guys weren't as good defenders, they picked it up, which is ok, but give credit where credit is due
back to the topic, yea if Heat do take the series, then Bron's performance tonight again under 20 points, shot under 50 percent tonight, was inefficient, and outside his assists, did not contribute that much. This is after he said hes about to be really aggressive and make it count. Its hard to see how Wade does not get MVP. If you had to compare, wade is definitely the MJ to Lebron being like Pippen. They are both amazing, but lebron is the all around player who puts up really good stats, but dwade is that winner who really brings the title home, and this final series he has been showing it. I think that is why pippen also believes lebron is better and almost called mj just a scorer, albeit the best one, because he probably relates to lebron's role more and its not secret him and jordan weren't always buddies and pippen wanted more recognition. So you could see the underlying background and mentality in his statements
Miami is going to win this series and it looks like Wade will win the Finals MVP for the second time.
I think this series is going to seven. Miami is going to need to be the unstoppable force they were all Playoffs at home.
I swear There are a whole lot of prophets in this thread who should be in Vegas Already calling the series after game 3? And they have the MVP to boot??? LOLZ
That's not necessarily true. By the time Wade received the ball and actually had possession, there were only about 1.5 seconds left on the clock. At the end of his shooting motion, there's only 0.8 seconds left on the clock. Assuming the amount of time for him to complete his shooting motion is about equal to the amount of time it would take to pass the ball to Chalmers (I think that's a fair estimate, especially because Chalmers was not yet in position to receive the ball for the 3 as he was about 4 feet from the perimeter), that would give Chalmers less than a second to catch and shoot; that would cut it real close with the game clock and Chalmers might not get it off in time. The quality of the shot that Wade got off and what Chalmers had was not significantly different, so it was better for Wade to at least get off the shot rather than passing it up and Chalmers not getting the shot off in time. Also, if Wade had made the pass, Kidd would have reacted and been there to contest Chalmers shot, so the quality of shot Chalmers would have got might have been even worse than what Wade got. But yeah, if it was LeBron I think he woulda pulled the trigger himself as well.
I agree with you that Wade probably cemented his Finals MVP if Miami wins with tonight's game. However, your overall assessment of the James/Wade dynamics is completely off. Wade is the guy playing great right now. In the Conference Finals, it was Lebron. And Lebron is playing much better in the Finals than Wade was in the conference Finals, where he nearly sabotaged their chances at victory in one or two of the games.
In 2001, Kobe played way better than Shaq in WSCF and WCF and it didn't matter. Kobe's remembered as the sidekick as Shaq got the finals MVP that year. And LeBron's 25/.45 stats were hardly better than Bosh's 23.2/.60 in ECF. All in all, LeBron did a great job of riding coattail.
first game i would say it's even. wade played better in game 2 but that's a losing effort. give credit to wade for game 3. there're 2 more games so in theory lebron still has a chance. but i doubt lebron will be selfish like kobe looking for his own shots first. championship is clearly the bigger stake here. he's enough time to win more FMVP than kobe so i'm sure that's not his priority now.
Maybe that's really what LeBron's thinking. But excuse me and let me puke on the comparison of MJ for second. Last time I checked, Pippen didn't get any FMVP over MJ. MJ got them all.
Unlike cheap clippy, I am a man on my words. And that Clutch doesn't update my status isn't my fault.
I'll concede that as far as mentality goes, Wade is the MJ and Bron is the Pippen. Bron doesn't possess the maturity or the hunger that MJ had. Sure he has the killer instinct and can bury opponents, but to me LBJ lacks the desire to dominate which basically constituted MJ and Kobe's makeup. That's about all the MJ comparison you can make though, LBJ dominates Wade on every aspect of the game just like MJ dominated Pippen. He's a better defender, shooter, playmaker, rebounder, shot-blocker, more athletic, younger and healthier to boot. As far as being the Finals MVP, LBJ was the guy who closed the lid on Boston and Chicago. He's played crap this one game, and suddenly his Wade's sidekick? Where were you guys during the regular season? How about during the Chicago series? Even the first game of the finals LBJ played better than wade. If MIami wins, LBJ is either the Finals MVP or co-finals MVP.
Wade's been utterly dominant throughout the entire Finals, James hasn't. James isn't necessarily Wade's sidekick and is generally better, but if we are looking at Finals MVP, Wade has played significantly better than James so far over these past three games. Just like Tony Parker got the 2007 Finals MVP, even though everyone knows who the best player on that Spurs team was.
