Shane Battier started guarding Kobe near the end of the game, and Kobe started hitting shots. I'm not gonna say it's a coincidence that Kobe was just Kobe taking over because Wafer was playing great defense and closing out on his J faster than Battier was. Wafer was doing such a great defensive job on him and I don't understand why they would switch.. WHY?? RICK WHY?? I think someone needs to post up a video of the defense that Wafer played, maybe Rockets2k? Sort of like last years video for Shane's defense on Kobe. Did yall guys see the switch also? I mean Kobe was missing most of his shots pretty badly when Wafer was on him. AND THEN, on offense, why didn't Wafer get any touches except for that one drive that he missed? I mean come on, he was easily our best player tonight.
Admittedly, I didn't see most of the game. But, Wafer is not a shut down defender at all. I would think it's more coincidence that Kobe just missed the shots.
Battier's D on Kobe was excellent... Kobe in first three quarters and Kobe in last few minutes are totally different players. Kobe's Offense > Battier's Defense.
No, look at when Battier came in, that's when he started guarding him, but before that Wafer was doing a great job on him. I'm pretty sure that I saw that unless I'm messing up my quarters.
There is not other player who guards Kobe better than Battier today. Maybe Artest would help if he's healthy.
Wafer only guarded Kobe when Shane was on the bench. The rest of the game, Kobe was guarded by Battier.
With a guy as skilled as Kobe, Battier should know when to put his hands directly in the shooter's view and when to just try to have your hands up in a chance to block the shot. The one play where Bryant makes that miracle 3pointer to put them up 102-100, Battier went for the eyes when Kobe a sec before already had his target on the hoop locked. He just needs to mix up his defense on Kobe sometimes.
I'm gonna watch the game over and see if I can find what I'm talking about. It's gonna be hard for me to watch it over knowing it's a loss.
When Kobe shoots as much as he did tonight he is bound to get hot at some point of the game and that is what happened. I don't think it would of mattered if Wafer was on him the way he was shooting at the end. That 3 pointer with the clock running down pretty much proves it.
BATTIER bloody overrated does absolutely jack all on offense. his essentially a chuck hayes but guards smaller players OVERRATED TO THE BONE. awesome person, but just doesnt have the talents
Blame it on both RAs, Rafer and Rick. I dont even think Rick had a play set for Von Wafer til the final minute and Rafer taking stupid shots didn't help. They also had Battier and Rafer passing the ball into Yao in the post when it should have been Wafer cause he can hit the three and create off the drive. It should've been Wafer on the pick and roll with Yao or Landry in the final minutes. It's mostly all on Rick for this loss cause he basically didn't even use Wafer in the 4th. IT's RICKs FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the story would be so different if kobe didn't hit his three after battier knocked down a clutch 3. battier is a clutch shooter; he's made game winning plays before.
There were 4 mistakes during last min. of play. Kobe's 3 was bad shot selection which he made it anyway, but ours mistakes starts from here. 1st: Landry passes his open jump shot. 2nd: Rafer missed 2 FT 3rd: last play in bound pass went to Aaron Brooks at the corner where he was cut off and he pass it to Yao. 4th: Yao shot jump shot with 2.5 sec left. There was mental breakdown at last min.
Got nothing to do with Battier or Wafer. Kobe's just like that -- he can be having a really horrid game (for him, at least), but if the score's close near the end, he'll ALWAYS step it up, regardless of who's guarding him. Kobe's a beast.
Whoever guarded Kobe was hard to stop this guy.Kobe being Kobe in the final minutes of the game and started to hit those clutch shots for the lakers.Just suck it up.Can't blame anyone.Battier used his defensive skills to shade Kobe's eyes like he used to do,but this time,it ain't worked maybe due to his injury. Wafer did pretty well also on the defensive end.
