I know Rox got this one pulled off. But there was luck. How rare for Kobe to miss wide open finger roll like that. I have to say that Rudy calling out Ming with Kenny is questtionable. What's the point? Ming wasnt good enough offensivly tonight? There were 6 seconds left on the shot clock, and rox was only by one. We saw Francis blew up in the same play situation against Sun. He is no M.J., Kobe or not even Marbury in terms of closing the deal. I think to pass the ball to Ming in such situation would be more efficient. Ming was dominating, and it was 6'10 Horry guarding him, why not take advantage of that huge mismatch in a hot hand? Ming should've been on the court at least in that play! Tonight was a just good night for Rox.
Yeah, it was a lucky win. But, I loved the passing. And Yao really changes the game when he's in. I loved the fact that we had him on the court in the last minutes of the game. Yao is showing his toughness in the paint. He GOES AFTER THOSE OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS!
If he's no Kobe, then why did Kobe just blow the same situation Francis "blew" in Phoenix? At least Steve got the ball out to the open man, a la MJ (clutch no matter what the outcome); Bryant couldn't even make a layup to put his team ahead, he was so focused on scoring 50 points. So I guess you're right, he is no Kobe...and I'm glad.
I thought I was pretty reserved in my original post on Francis. Although Francis might be one of the best NBA gurads right now, he is still far from Kobe, or Kidd in all aspects, let me put this way, just be hornest.
All I mean is that I would personally prefer Francis for this Rockets team over Kobe. Neither of them have had enough outstanding clutch performances to label them as clutch; so I'm saying Kobe isn't a better game-on-the-line player than Steve. He may be a better player, but I still would rather have Steve.
I live in LA, and watch Laker to play a lot. Kobe is the man for Laker when the game needs to be closed, and he pulled it off more than 80% of time. Like I said, for Kobe to miss layup like that tonight is anomaly. I just dont remember it had ever happened to him. Again, it was a good night for the Rox. Francis even didnt get the shot off, man, that was ugly, that's all I am saying. Frankly, I havent seen much of Francis except for this season, so far he doesnt like that kind of player who handles pressure well.
huh?? kobe hasn't done enough to be clutch?? you can say what you want about shaq carrying them for 3 quarters and letting kobe rest, but when the games on the line, kobe is lights out. that's what made the missed layup even more astonishing. hell last year he had a last second shot taken away because he released it like .1 seconds late and so about 2 days later he hits a last second shot that does count. he was draining tough jumpers all over us to keep LA in the game today. kobe is definitely clutch. steve has had a few game winners so he could be on the way. but steve, what the hell was that shot clock violation with 20 seconds left? how could you possibly not think you had to rush a shot up?
Exactly. Also have you notice, in the near end of quarter situation, Kobe controls the tempo very well, let the run till there is 3 or 4 sec left, and hit the jumper to end the quarter. Look Francis, in the same situation he always rush to shoot when there is still tons of time left on the clock, and often he missed the shot, end up giveing opponent a fast break chance to end the quarter.
That's two games in a row that we've run that stupid high pick and bun (what roll?) in a crucial situation and got nothing. Rudy is as predictable as the tides. And whoever said we had great passing tonight, whatever. We had 14 assists and this offense tonight was the same stuff we've been seeing for 7 years. Post up and wait for a double or isolate.
Rudy is predictable. I think Jerry Sloan knows all his plays... Kobe is a streaky guy. I watch him a lot too and I have the sense that if he's doing great in the game, he's unstopable with the clutch. But if you don't remember when he's playing because of a 12/32, 3 assist night, I would not let him have the ball at the end of the game. I don't know if he overthinks too much or puts too much on his shoulders to redeem himself, but someone like Horry is better suited. In that Boston game where he took 47 shots, the last play was designed for Horry. Probably because Kobe blew the OT possession. Probably because after his sizzling third quarter that gave the Lakers their first lead in the second half, he wasn't seen again...
Timing. What I'm talking about is not the amount of assists. But the degree of difficulty in those assists. I said many times (Celtic plays) that the key to the assists is to get the easilest possible shot/layup. Not the most difficult; like ISO, pass, ISO, shoot. We didn't do that this time. We moved the ball. Especially when Yao was in the game. He's a big moving target.
Since you have only seen Steve play in two games this year I thought these stats from Kobes and Steves third year might help: Kobe Bryant (3rd year) PPG 19.9 ASST 3.8 REB 5.3 Steve Francis(3rd year) Last year... PPG 21.6 ASST 6.6 REB 7.0 Steve played a lot of games with miagrane headaches last year so he really didnt have as good a year as expected. Steve seems to coming along fairly well. Kobe who..????
Timing, I agree with the statements that Yao Ming should have remained in the game. He was causing serious match up problems with LAL. With Yao Ming and MoT in the game at the same time the spacing was better and Steve was able to do more things with out the defense concentrating on him. Having said that... I think Rudy T pulled Yao Ming out because he wanted Steve to come off of a pick and then take it strong to the basket. Yao Ming sets the worst pick I have ever seen right now. He consistently provides a moving screen, which is illegal as hell. He is very lucky he does not get called for it more than he does. I have no problem with the play call since it was essentially the exact same play that Steve ran at the end of the game against Portland that worked to perfection. Of course with Ming out of the game KT was basically ignored and Steve was swarmed by defenders out on the perimeter and the play looked like ****. I was thinking the same thing about the assists part. It is funny how a win changes perception. I thought for most of the 1st and 3rd quarters we were playing our worst basketball of the season. We only had 6 assists the entire first half. I do love the fact that with Yao Ming and Mo Taylor in the game that the Rockets seem to be more than willing to run post plays. Shades of days gone by. Dump the ball into the post and let your big men go to work. Mo Taylor is really seeing the floor well and is making some really good passes out of the post. Our best group tonight was Steve, Cat, Hawk, MoT and Yao Ming. That was easily our most efficient group. MoT and Yao Ming really opened things up on the outside for Steve and Cat as well when they were in the game. I would love to see more of that group a lot more. Hawk is not much at the offensive end but he does make some really good passes.
zzhiggins: Interesting, except you neglected to mention the "age" stat. And, btw, who was the first option on the Lakers at the time? And, what was the record of each team? I think answering those questions might make Bryant look a little better in comparison. Steve's a great player, but Bryant is almost certainly the 2nd or 3rd best player in the NBA. Look very hard at the Lakers. That team, without Bryant, is worse than Memphis. Every time they win, it's because he's had a fantastic game. When he merely has a very good game, they lose. They're desparate for Shaq.
fieshen: whaaa whaaa whaaaa yao ming should get the ball every trip down the court whaaa whaa whaaaaaaa jesus, grow up, we won the game against a tough lakers team. the only thing kobe has on francis is size. thats it. francis is more accurate, better shooting percentage, and is a better playmaker. clutch? i cannot count how many times kobe has lost the game in clutch situations. the best, most clutch players on that lakers squad is out with a big toe.
Heh, I know the particular one you're talking about. I don't think he meant to set a moving pick, but he was breaking off for the pick and roll before the pick was actually set and ran right into the defender. After that you could see he definitely made sure he had his feet planted and the pick was set before he moved. I doubt he'll be setting to many more moving picks after that one.
Steve was born in 1977 , Kobe 1978. While Steve got extra experience in college he was forced to change positions in the pros. Who knows what would have happened if they would have made Kobe change to point guard, Last year opposing teams formulated defenses simply to stop Steve. They knew if they stopped him, they stopped the Rockets. We lost almost every game Steve missed. If Steve were a second or third option, it surely would have been an advantage for him.......
Kobe scoring 40+ and losing looks worse than Steve getting 20+ and winning... They are both great players. They should be the starting back court during the all star game. I don't know if it is Phil, but I think they are relying on Kobe too much. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Shaq to fit back in. They are starting to rack up some losses...
