Let's just cut to the chase: Shane's famous hand in the face guarding strategy is not working against Kobe. Throwing out the intangibles such as "making him work for every shot" etc, just by looking at the stats alone, it clearly has no effect at all. In the regular season this year, Kobe shot %467 overall on 21 shots per game and %351 on 3pt shots. Against Utah, his overall field goal was %466, 3pt field goal was %353. Against us, he's made the same %466 of his shoots on 25.75 shots per game, and his 3pt percentage has gone up to %40. The numbers don't lie, Shane has not been able to slow down Kobe at all. I think there are 2 reasons that Shane's technique has little effect on Kobe. One, the hand always comes too late. Kobe as the initiator has time advantage. He knows when and where he wants to pull up for the shot. Shane can only react. The time delay is inevitable. And the fact that Kobe is one of the quickest in the league to get up only makes it worse. That's why if you watch the slow replays, Kobe ALWAYS had a clear look at the basket before Shane's hand got over there. Two, because Shane always focus on blocking Kobe's view, he doesn't get up high enough. Kobe knows that too. He knows Shane isn't gonna do any real stuff to bother his shot, so he shoots with the same confidence as he does with any other defender, hence maintaining his shooting percentage. I don't know why Shane is so obsessed with this technique. What makes him believe it is the best strategy against this guy? I think the correct way is to get up as high as possible. I don't mean to try to block the shot every time, but at least try make Kobe jump a little higher. You have to make him respect your defense, can't fake it every time. Besides, if just really want to block his view at the basket, the arm and body will do a even better job that just a hand. I hope he try this tonight for a change. It certainly will bring a surpise factor to it. The old technique is not working anyway, can't hurt to try or can it?
it was a good post but just face it. You can't stop Kobe. You can only try to contain him and one person can't do that. It has to be a team effort.
Its real. Hell of a job done by Battier, no complaints here at all. He's reducing Kobe to jumpers, I'm satisfied. Minimal fouls, drives to the rim, etc.... All things considered....we are tied 2 - 2.
What happened last game. It's Kobe Bryant there is not much you can really do. Kobe has been shouting "he can't gaurd me" all series. Shane doesn't care because he is not really trying to guard he is trying to make Kobe take jump shots. Thats good defence, forcing the opponet to take jumpers. How many times have you seen Kobe at the free throw line this series. How many times have you seen Kobe dunk this series, let alone get in the paint for lay ups. Shane doesn't want to get caught jumping in the air to where Kobe can get shooting foul calls or drive the lane. Shane is playing brillantly so far this series and I hope he continues to keep doing what he is doing.
Shane cannot get off the ground quickly enough nor jump high enough to block Kobe's jumpshot. He's just going to get fouls called on him. There is no stopping Kobe, . . you can only hope to work him as hard as possible and attempt to fluster him, which is what the hand in the face is all about.
Kobe has shot below 50% in 3 out of 4 games with little access to the paint and/or foul line. Keep up the good work Shane.
Shane will get in foul trouble. Kobe is not stupid. The minute Shane stops his current strategy and starts with this one, it will be easy for Kobe to pump fake him or also it will be easier for Kobe to drive past him causing Shane to reach from behind or getting the Rockets interior men into foul trouble. Hell, Kobe loves to jump into defenders when they bite on a pump fake. It just isn't worth it. Kobe is having a great series because he is a great player. Even Shane said it himself, he isn't trying to stop him he is just trying to get him to spots on the floor where he shoots the lowest percentage.
he might try ron artest strategy of pulling down his shorts...maybe artest can teach him how to do that...well, it didn't have good results when artest pull that so nevermind.
Kobe's game has changed dramatically compared to how it used to be. When he was younger he would drive in the paint and draw more fouls, and would get a lot of opportunities at the FT line. (Shaq would help him get to the penalty to take more FTs with non-shot attempt fouls too. One thing I think Kobe misses so much that Pau just can't give.) That's not happening this series. He's taking a bunch of contested 20 foot jumpers. He's not getting many FTs. He's not getting any easy lay ups. Just jumpers. He's 30 and he knows his legs can't take 48 minutes of throwing your body in the paint in order to get to the line. That may change for the rest of this series but so far all he's managed to really do is nail 20 foot jumpers in high volume without breaking down our defense. Hopefully the longer the series goes on, the more Kobe's legs will start to tire and that jumper isn't so consistent. I think this is the long term strategy the Rockets have otherwise yes, we will continue to get burned by him. I think forcing to take jumpers is what helped the Celtics to break him down in the Finals. Physicality will wear down anyone that's been in as many playoff games as he's had. It might very well be starting to take its toll on him this series if the 15 points scored in game 4 is any indication.
If Shane has any dirty in him, he should sometimes have his hand touching/rubbing kobe's face...so what if he gets call for a foul or two, it will put the thought in Kobe's head everytime there is a hand in the face...just enough to make him feel really comfortable anyway...
Yep, no need to change. Shane stays on the ground to take away the drive until Kobe commits to the jumpshot. If Shane started jumping when anticipating Kobe's jumpshot, Kobe would be at the line 20 times a game and foul out Shane and our interior defenders. Steady as she goes.
Yea the one thing i don't like about Shane is that EVEN if he has a chance to block somebody's shot, he always just want to shield their vision. He ought to block it whenever he can....this way it put doubt into his opponents. Artest would try to block it whenever he can...
Once again, this falls into the "make him work for his shots" intangibles. Getting to rim or not, the bottom line his overall shooting percentage has not gone down a bit, and 3pt percentage is actually up a notch. This after increasing the shot volum from 21 spg to 25 spg. So I says it's not working. Will Kobe drive more if Shane really gets up to block his shots? I think he will if Shane does it all the time. He probably should mix it up a little and not be so predictable every time. No one can guard Kobe? Sure we know that. But if you are one of the best perimeter defenders, is it too much to expect just to slow him down a little?
You don't understand one thing. Every time a guy makes a long, tough shot and you know you put a hand in his face and forced him to take that shot - you are ok with it. He is that good, he can make jumpshots but it is not like he is making wide open shots, Shane makes him work for those. This is NBA, good offense always beats good defense. Look, I don't care about the stats. We are 2-2 (no Yao, no T-Mac) and we are in good shape. For me he can even average 60 points on 80% shooting. I don't care. You can't win alone. It is proven.
his attempts per game increasing is actually a good thing. there was a grphic on an abc game not long ago that showed when kobe takes over 21 shots a game they were like a .500 ball club. they play hard team defense and as his teamates struggle he loses confidence in them. turns himinto the 04-05 kobe. they are playing perfect defense on him...similar to celtics in the finals last year.
If you think his D is not working then check the stats again. If you dont include game 2 where Kobe went off for 40, Battier has done a awesome job. Games 1,3,4 combine = 26.6667 ppg on 25.3333 FGA. 42.1% from field, 4 FTA per game Can you really do better than that? Like the broadcasters said, you want to make Kobe a volume shooter. The best you can hope for is making him shoot as many times as he scores. In the Jazz series he had 1 bad game. Houston series he has had 3 subpar games.
What more do you want him to do, OP? It's not Shane's fault that those shots are somehow finding their way in. I think the Rockets have an effective plan for Kobe. Take everyone else out of the game and make sure Kobe is denied access to the lane.
