For one, clutch can be in the form of scoring - but that's not all it is. From the opinions of some on this board, it seems like coming up big down the stretch is only about making buckets. No! For all the shots Kobe has made, I've never seen him come up with a important steal. An important defensive play. All of his "late game" heroics have come within the offensive game. Yes, I've seen Tracy get a steal with 3 seconds left in a game and make a pass to an open man for the game winning bucket. Like Kobe, I've seen Tracy drive to the hole - get swarmed, pass off to an open Howard right under the rim - Howard misses the shot and Tracy fights for the rebound under the tall trees of the Knicks and ties up the game. Yes, I've seen Tracy with the Magic up one come out and block Jamal Mashburns shot that could have won the game for the Hornets. I watch as much Laker games as Laker fans, and I have rarely ever seen Kobe contribute in the clutch other than scoring. When it comes to offense, I'm not saying that it's not tough to do or downplaying it's importance - but it also depends on the situation of a player. Have you ever heard of a clutch player in McGrady's situation? The problem McGrady has had is that he's had to carry the Magic for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters. Coming up late in games is just as much about energy as it is mentally. I've witnessed games where Kobe would just glide through the first 3 and a half quarters and then turn it on late in games. Phil Jackson has even admitted that he would like Kobe to make the game come to him so he can have enough energy down the stretch to seal games. McGrady has never had the benefit of letting the game come to him. I don't know the stats for last season, but in 2002-2003, McGrady was the #1 First quarter scorer, the #1 second quarter scorer, the #1 third quarter scorer, and #2 4th quarter scorer behind Kobe. How come all of the clutch players ever in the history of the league have had another All-Star caliber player on their team? Michael Jordan wasn't known as this magical "clutch" player his first 3 seasons in the league. Where was Mike Bibby's late game heroics in Vancouver? What happened to Robert Horry in PHX?
Fact of the matter is, Kobe has made more game winning shots than Tracy has made game winning plays. However, the one point you SHOULD have argued (and maybe I missed it in previous posts) is that the Magic are simply less likely to have the score late in games than the Lakers, which would mean there are less "clutch" opportunities to begin with. Thus far, Kobe has been better. But that doesn't mean Kobe's the betetr player, it just means that under each of their given circumstances, Kobe has performed better. T-Mac has his chance now - Kobe's going to be jacking up all the shots, and T-Mac will have the big man. Let's see how they do swapping circumstances.
Last year could you have found a team that wanted to trade for Cato? Thanks. Nachbar actually drove the lane this year and played what defense he was capable of. But I guess you'd rather have it your way and park him at the three point lane so he can launch them right? Cuttino became a better defender this year and finally has started to get noticed as just that, a good defensive player. He also had his second-best year in 3 point %. It's easier to shoot the three in an offense rather than ISO, but that's just my opinion. Cato also had one of his best years, but I guess numbers tell the entire story, right francis 4 prez? Cato was playing with an all-star center, and playing out of position at the four. Of Course you're going to to grab rebounds and get more blocked shots when you're other big man is Maurice Taylor. Even with Yao, Cato had a good season. And frankly when it comes down to it, I'd rather Patrick Ewing work with Yao than Mr. Mean.
Here's an article a while back about the exact same question. http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/may_peter/1467459.html
i don't think the 2 can be compared right now until: 1- kobe plays in tmac's old shoes (without a center) 2- tmac is given the chance to play some d now that he doesn't have to score 40 a night
Actually a much better team. Starting five TMac + LUe + Bogans + Howard + Declerg vs Kobe + Payton + Odom(Butler) + Malone(Odom) + Vlade(Grant)
This is slightly off topic but i've read from two columnists (Dave Dupree , Ralph Wiley(rip) ) that Tracy McGrady is actually 6'9 and judging from that pic of he and Kobe together it would appear to be so. Wow a 6'9 shooting guard with his mad ballhandling skills and a will to prove the doubters wrong. This is good news for the Rockets. Wiley by the way thought that T-mac was better than Kobe.
The last second block by Hakeem Olajuwan on John Starks to seal the 94 NBA championship was pretty clutch....
For the most part that is true, but Reggie Miller is one of *the* best clutch players of all time and he has never ever really had any all star caliber player on his team.
Not true... 3-Time All-Star Selected to the 1989 All-Star Game Selected to the 1998 All-Star Game 18.9ppg in six seasons with the Pacers Not to mention Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, and Brad Miller.
Kobe and TMac are a very close call. That's why it's such an interesting debate. Whether it is easier to "pad the stats" with a poor team or with a dominant teammate, to me, has no clear answer. Each situation has its positive and negative effect on a superstar's performance. Fortunately, their situations seem to have reversed this coming season (although not exactly because Yao is still no Shaq and the Lakers are still way more talented than TMac's Magic). We'll see. Both of them could be MVP candidates comes April depending on how their respect teams do. I give the nod to TMac, maybe due to my Rockets biased. (Maybe my negative Lakers biased is even stronger. ) I think TMac has shown that he can handle double-team better. Until this past playoffs season, almost every team focused their defense on Shaq. Even the LA commentators noticed that teams changed tatics in this playoffs and focused on stopping Kobe. The result was, Kobe did get stopped. TMac, on the other hand, got double-teamed the whole season long. He still seemed to be able to score at will. But it still remains to be seen because the regular season is very different from the playoffs. I think people tend to underestimate TMac's defense. He played very good defense in Toronto. I believe taking on the whole offensive load does affect your defensive game. Again, we'll see how he does with better scorers on the team and under a defensive minded coach. I actually thinks he has better defensive skills than Kobe. On being clutch, I've always argued that "clutchness" is overrated. Yes, I agree that Kobe has shown clutchness much more than TMac. But as a Lakers watcher, I've also observed that Kobe is streaky. He often does very little in the first half. He can afford that because the Lakers have other weapons. He often shoots poorly and get the Lakers behind. Then he seems to turn it on in the 4th and all people notice is how great he is in the final minutes. There is no denial that Kobe is fabulous in the final minutes of games. What is seldom mentioned is that the need for heroic is sometimes the result of his poor plays earlier in the game. That's why I say clutchness is overrated. And as someone has pointed out, it's easier to make clutch shots when your opponents have to worry about your other options. When Jordan was focused on the buzzer beater shot, he always had the option of dumping it off to a Kerr or a Pippen. That's why Horry made so many last second shots. This is not a knock on these clutch shots. It's great to have a player you know he can get the job done in those situations. All I'm saying is that clutch shots are not as important as steady performance throughout the game. The only thing that set TMac back behind Kobe, imo, is the intangible called competiveness. Again, this coming season will reveal (expose?) a lot about these two players.
The Magic had no problems trading TMAC. TMAC mentioned how they did nothing to keep him in Orlando despite the fact he would have stayed if they tried. The Lakers got rid of a Hall of Fame coach and the most dominating player in the history of the game, just for the greater chance of resigning Kobe. That's all I need to know. Kobe is the winner!
