It just shows as good as Lebron's stats are, he's still not up there with the elite guys who can deliver in the crunch, which is the marquee of a great backcourt player, IMO. His defense still leaves much to be desired, as good as he is, he still has a few things to learn in this league, but as things stand now, Kobe still has a clear edge over him, and and even a hobbled McGrady has had the edge over him for the past couple of seasons now. Not to take anything from Lebron though, it's still crazy that he's even in the same mention as Kobe and McGrady (as far as dominant combo guards are concerned) while being only 21. It's not that he doesn't match up physically or talent wise, it's that Kobe and T-Mac have the mental edge over him (i.e. clutchness, killer instinct, etc.) Kobe didn't have his best game last night, and once again his Lakers teammates played better with him on the bench (even Magic Johnson and the TNT announcers were repeatedly mentioning this during the game), but as a great player does, when the game is on the line and hanging in the balance, he stepped up and Lebron didn't.
No body has the killer instinct that Kobe has in the NBA, you can't argue with that. And as much as I like the rox, and Tmac, I think everybody knows that, even Tracy himself, that Kobe is step ahead of all the elite in the NBA now. Lebron admited, and Tracy also admited before. You can't dislike him all you want, but this guy is just amazing, you gota respect his talent.
You really like kobe don't you, the last 4 post i saw of you were about How great kobe was. But can you please explain to my why kobe is so much better then Duncan? or Nash? Kobe never got his team in the play-offs as the best player. And don't start with the talk of his championships, because he had Shaq then.
If anybody has those killer instinct that Kobe has, then I will give them pros no matter what. But, the fact is that, no one except Kobe can do it time and time again. Best Teams player: Duncun, Nash, .............. Best individual player: Kobe, Lebron, Tmac, AI..............
Nobody here is questioning Kob's talent and his Mr. Clutch Mentality. But I just don't see how anyone on this board would rate Kobe ahead of Tmac in terms of making shots in crunch time. Kobe hasn't done anything that Tmac hasnt' done except for, of course, that three rings Kobe got with the help of Shaq. Kobe was amazing last night. But, if he didnt' make those shots, everybody would have talked about how he was outplayed by James. Kobe was ineffective most of the games. I know, I know. he's injured. Still, some people just give Kobe too much credit. He's a great player. No doubt about that. Ahead of Tmac?Please!!
Dude I'm a HUGE Rockets and T-Mac fan, but I'd have to disagree with you there... I would definetly take Kobe over T-Mac for a game winning FG. He's done it so many times in his career. More than T-Mac, you can be sure of that. If you can't realize Kobe is better than T-Mac in terms of talent and basketball skill, you have to be a homer. The only thing that holds Kobe back from being the best player in the league is his attitude and mentality.
I'm sorry. I'm a rox fan, but I never disagreed and argue with truth and fact. The fact is that Kobe is better than Tmac, not only Tmac, he's better than anyone in the league, INDIVIDUALLY. If you say Tmac edge over Kobe, or you would count on Tmac to take the last shot instead of Kobe, I think all the coach in the world, and even Tmac himself would dissagreed with you.
There're actually a lot of things that not only Tmac, but Jordan hasn't done that Kobe did. I'm not trying to give edge to Kobe, but it's just facts plain out. Couple small example recently this year, 45 pts for 4 or 5 games, 62 pts in 3 quarter, 30 pts in one quarter...........................so on.
Skill-wise, I'd say Kobe definitely has the edge over T-Mac right now. Although every now and then T-Mac does some superhuman things that make you want to rethink (like 13 points in 35 seconds), I'd say head-to-head Kobe is a better baller than T-Mac is. But if you asked me who I'd rather have on my team, I'd choose T-Mac any day. By far a much better leader ... Kobe has next to zero leadership skill. Plus he is much more of a team player -- just compare his assist stats to Kobe's, or simply watch them play. T-Mac instantly makes all his teammates better by simply being on the court. On the other hand, Kobe's teammates just give him the ball and watch. THIS, imho, was the reason why we won at LA the other day. And that was why it took a couple of miracle jumpers by Kobe to win against Cleveland...sure LeBron isn't as clutch as Kobe and couldn't hit the big shot, but he got 9 assists to Kobe's 2 (both of which came during the 4th quarter comeback). And that is why LeBron is eventually going to eclipse Kobe and anybody else in this league ... once he learns how to be more disciplined and hit big shots when it counts, then the MJ comparisons can resume.
I think its more like Kobe+Ryan Bowen-Wesley = Wade X Haslem > Lebron +Stromile=Tmac/ Yao However, this can be simplified but I dont have the time or energy to do that now. Perhaps if Clutch has the time he would be willing to work it out. GO ROCKETS!!!
