Can we kill all this T-mac didn't like Mike James stuff.

Lots of FTs there at the end, so that video really doesn't show what the defense did beforehand.

However, I saw mostly single coverage out on the perimeter, help D when he got into the lane, but most of all ..........I saw some really BAD D by the Raptors. Either they don't try very hard on D, or Kobe was just making them look ridiculously slow. Probably a little bit of both.

Mainly, its look like Kobe was just on fire from the outside.

 

Yeah, most of the time the Raptors were just standing around watching him, I don't know how you can blame Mitchell for that, his shots hardly ever hit rim, way too good.

 

I can blame Mitchell. There was almost NO D on the perimeter. It was single coverage or less. Never with a guy who had any chance of getting in his face or was trying to. Dude's were playing way back and letting him rip those outside shots even when it was obvious he was in the zone.

This may have been one of the worst defensive efforts I've seen in awhile. The coach should be slammed for this.

 

I don't like Sam Mitchell at all. But it's easy to say in retrospect. Let's assume they wanted to shut everyone else down, and let Kobe beat them single handedly. Well, they almost succeeded, it was a very close game most the time. Kobe isn't usually THAT hot, right? Remember, LBJ scored 50+ points on them, and they did win. The reason they double teamed TMac was even simpler, who else did they have to shut down? Beside Kobe, Lakers still have some weapons. If Kobe scored only 60+ points, that would be a totally different game.

 

Mitchell and MJ are saying the opposite. Either Mitchell lied to save his butt or MJ didn't know what he's talking about. From the highlight I saw, they didn't seem to be doubling him very much. So I tend to believe MJ more. I lost what little respect I had left for Mitchell.