didnt see the game but did any of the thunder players or coaches try to get the shot waved off? i mean great shot but it should not have counted.
im not a kobe fan nor a kobe hater but the people that just shrug it off as something simple or commonplace look like idiots in this thread. go spread your kobe hate somewhere else, the shot was amazing, regardless of whether or not you can do it at the bball park or if bird did it. (though bird's shot was equally if not better)
Why shouldn't it be counted? I thought only if it touches the back pole or shot clock, then it is considered out of bounds.
If it goes over the backboard (in either direction) it was my understanding that it was out of bounds.
That's not the shot I was thinking of. He shot another one that went over the corner of the backboard while falling out of bounds. At least I remember seeing him hit one like that. The shot posted looks more like Bryant's.
Shot is legal. Kobe was not directly behind the backboard, neither was the ball. He was behind the backboard horizontally but not directly behind the backboard vertically. There was space for the ball to crossover and be on the front side of the backboard before it was in the vertical path of the backboard. It's just like the ball being in and out of the cylinder. The ball can be above the rim but not in the cylinder. There is an imaginary box going out the back of the backboard just like there is an imaginary cylinder going out the top of the rim. Kobe's shot was outside that box. Bird's was not.
Kobe is flat out one of the ten greatest players of all time. The skill level comibined with the athleticism and DRIVE........ The nonchalance here is something.He really DOES make it look easy...Full speed,fouled,and a shot that we never see made in an NBA game. Who cares if it counts?
lol @ people acting like this shot is so easy to make. He did it in a game situation where he only has 1 time to make it. Not the same as shooting this shot over and over at the YMCA or your local gym.
The ball clearly went over the backboard. I don't know if that is legal or not now. But I know it used to be considered out of bounds.
Actually, Bird's shot was harder. It was a "turnaround" shot for Bird. Kobe's shot was amazing. But people act like he is god. Far from it. Bird made not once, but twice, long time ago. I remember Bird made one off his own miss: He was jumping toward the baseline on the right side of the backboard, grabbed the rebound with his right hand, transferred the ball to his left hand and scooped it in while his body was moving past the board.
Here we go.. Henry Abbott is my hero... http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10939/on-balls-passing-behind-the-backboard Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold told me that he thought Kobe Bryant's miraculous circus shot may have, in fact, been illegal. It didn't take a lot of poking around in the rulebook to find ol' rule 8 II b: Any ball that rebounds or passes directly behind the backboard, in either direction, from any point is considered out-of-bounds. That is to be interpreted as a tunnel, with the height and width of the backboard, that extends back into infinity. If a pass or anything else passes through that space, it's out. Watch the multiple-angle replays on Kurt's site, and you know what? I'm not at all sure. At about the :41 mark you can see the release point, as shot from a camera on the ceiling, and it's darn near behind the backboard at the moment of release, and its on it way further behind the board as it makes its way up. However, once it gets above the top of the backboard, however, the ball is entitled to be wherever it wants. So what really matters is where it was in those few feet of travel between release, at a little under ten feet, and reaching passing the top of the backboard, about 13-and-a-half feet in the air. At about the :50 mark, there's a shot from the opposite end of the floor. The angle is not perfect, but it seems likely to me that the ball did not enter the "no fly zone" behind the backboard. Here's what I'm wondering, though: Why would you even want this shot on the borderline of legality? It's pretty much the greatest thing that happened to the NBA yesterday.
The ball falls behind the backboard and people rebound it all the time. If his shot was illegal, it hasn't been officiated that way in some years.
I do think it is a very difficult shot...but would also agree with JV, in that it isn't inherently more difficult that other difficult shots we see him, and other NBA'ers make, all the time. Like turnaround-fadeaways from 20 feet out with a defender in their face...which Kobe seems to make regularly. The reason video of similar shots is so scarce, I'd argue, is because most players when in that situation do the smart thing, and pass to one of their wide open teammates. Pause the video in the original post at 8 seconds. Kobe could either pass to a wide open Artest for three or an even more wide open Farmar at the top of the key for three. Instead he shoots, and fortunately makes, an undeniably difficult shot. But I'd agree that if I looked at every second of footage from last nights game, I could find a more difficult shot, or two, or three, or five, that were made.
We're getting some really ridiculous replies in this thread because the Kobe hate is so strong. If it was anyone else in the league who made it, it would have been unanimous that it was an incredible shot. Instead we have people saying he should have passed it off disregarding the fact that he was fouled and others saying they could do that in a pick up game.
The greatest part of the shot is that he takes one (with contact) and makes one. If someone does it 5 times in-game and hits one "accidentally" (like many of us can actually do in pick-up games), it is nothing too spectacular and I am sure no NBA coaches would allow that. Before great things, many people claim "I can do it too", but only a select few can really does it right all at once.
no. i would say its illegal no matter who it was. even if it was AB i would say, " i hope they dont wave it off." and the other reason u dont see it often is that its illegal. having said that. its disgusting that its kobe cuz he gets away with murder on the court (rape off court). its not the greatest thing to happen to modern day nba. his 80+ point game was maybe the greatest indivdual 22 game win streak, and houstons playoff series against the lakers last year but not this shot.
On the contrary, there is PLENTY of Kobe love in this thread. The "hater" comments, however, still stand. Was he fouled? Probably. You might be able to go as far as to say, technically, yes, it was a foul. But just barely. And as JV points, plenty of players are fouled on shot attempts, make the shot and don't get the foul called. Heck, AB was fouled twice at the end of our overtime against the Lakers a few weeks back, and one wasn't called and the other was called, was clearly on a shot, but we were given the ball out of bounds. But did Aaron have shoot the ref the typical Kobe "I can't believe I don't get every call, I'm a superstar!" look that Kobe seems to have multiple times a game...no. Was it a difficult shot. Undeniably. It was behind the backboard. It was off the wrong foot. He was, barely, bumped. But I still contend I could find multiple more difficult shots that are made on a nightly basis. He was barely fouled. He was very close to the basket. Etc. And FINALLY, is it really even possible to argue that the correct play would have been to pass to one of his wide open teammates at the three point line? No, of course not. That would have clearly been the smart play. As you obviously think, and I agree above, the shot was definitely difficult. As such, he probably shouldn't have taken it. The fact that it went in is definitely impressive.
