That's great and all,but why do they have to call a travel on Luis scola's beautiful pump fake spin,when it's clearly not a violation? After the rockets are eliminated,I rarely watch the rest of the playoff games and finals, maybe a couple of minutes in between NCIS reruns on the usa network. It's for the reason that some players can play by different standards, that has drifted me away from the overall product of the NBA.
lebron=most athletic player in the league which athleticism in that superior level and versatility with his offense in todays league produces insane stats kobe is the most skilled, you have one shot, hes the guy you want on the line, period. hell of a shot too, running fadeaway from the corner? damn and then even in the Orlando game, espn puts it as not this time mamba as if he failed, yes he missed the last shot, but lets not forget they were down by 6-7 points and kobe hit two 20 foot shots to bring them back and set up the last shot it won't always go in, thats the nature of the game, but if theres one shot, i go with this guy, no one's as cold blooded to do what he does in today's league
See the replay above. He puts the ball down after turning on his pivot foot. He doesn't gain an advantage, which is the purpose for the rule. I hate Mr. Bryant as much as the next guy, but that wasn't a travel, sir.
Kobe is great. Remember the more clutch shots you take, the more clutch shots you make. Kevin Martin should be our go to guy in the 4th. How is is passing game? If it's good than he should always have the ball in this situation.
Great shot by Kobe, bad defense by Toronto. You don't allow Kobe to get to that spot on the floor. That fadeaway on the right baseline is his pet shot. He's much more accurate from there than he is on the wing.
Kobe always seems to dominate against Toronto. His career average against Toronto must be something like 35 8 7 (helped by the 81 point game of course)
people forget that basketball is a team game and you cant win by yourself. lebron cant win by himself. people also foget kobe didnt even make it out of the fist round post-shaq until gasol came to la
I don't believe he would have been able to get that shot off without the extra split second he gained from pulling that move. If Kobe would have dribbled the ball before he picked up his foot that shot would have been even more contested than it already was. Granted, he might have made a more contested shot, but why do they need to give him an advantage?
People also forget before the Gasol trade, lakers were no 1 in the West too. I'd say lebron takes the cavs from a bad team to a top team. Kobe takes the lakers from a solid good team to Championship level. That is the difference as he has better 'individual talent' around him, but in the end it takes a special player to closer to those championship level. Remember the bulls were contention to go to conference finals or compete without MJ, but he took them over that hill and made them champions. And people overvalue individual talent too, just like you said basketball is a team game, its also about cohesiveness more so than individual talent. You can take baron davis, ricky davis, correy maggette, zach randolph and who ever all guys who can score 20+ on any night, and lose every game. Lebron's team is not individually talented as kobe's, but its sutied for him like a glove, its just like A.i's sixers in 01, guys who play defense and spread the court for him. So guys like that are more valuable to lebron who leads league with possessions and keeps the ball in his hands, where as if he has bynum then the paint is clogged for his bread and butter(the drive), or if he has odom instead of mo williams the defender can double and close lebron's drives and not respect odom's shot as much even though he is individually better. Same goes with pairing Lebron and dwade, what you will have is two talented players whose games over lap and neither are pure shooters so they won't help and space eachother as much as people would think that duo wins a championship, its more likely they will just step on eachothers toes.
If Kobe did travel, it's because he picked up his pivot foot a fraction of a second too soon. He certainly didn't "change pivot foot." Yeah that was just a complete BS call by a ref. I watched the replay a couple more times, and I still think it's debatable whether the move can be considered a travel. Again, I believe that if people were to scrutinize every play in the NBA, they'd find at least several, if not dozens, of uncalled travels according to the puritan standard some of the posters uphold. Does Kobe get favorable treatment from the refs? Certainly, it's part of the system. However, this play was not the best example to demonstrate that. Just a great player making a very difficult shot when the game is on the line.
wtf bynum is more mobile than a 38 y/ shaq and lebron is doing fine. and lebrons team may suit him "like a glove" but it doesnt matter when your 2nd options disappear in the playoffs. mo williams and deltonte west shot the bal terribly in the playoffs and lebron had to pick up the slack for them the whole time which is why lebron came off statistically one of the greatest playoffs performances of all time. at least kobe's team showed up in the playoffs when the needed them.
He did travel on the last replay you can see, he took his last dribble, then stepped off of his right foot (1 step) and landed with both feet (2 more steps) and shot it....(3 steps = travel) blinks right
LBJ beat a 53 win Pistons to finals. Rox won 52 that year. Cavs were on par to Jazz in 07 and I am not impressed. Think about it again. The 53 win Pistons is the only 50 win team LBJ overtook in his career. By comparison, Kobe has done that 20 times.
50 wins is 50 wins and LeBron flat out dominated a 50 win Pistons team that was known for defense. How in the world is not that impressive considering the supporting cast LeBron played with?
LBJ achieved something Deron and Boozer did. If you want to call that impressive, fine. But let's not make a fuss like it's some very big deal. LBJ is way overhyped and he may not have come out of first round had he been in west before 07.
It's not that big of a deal, who said it was a big deal? It just means LeBron is a great player that has carried a supporting cast that was not that good. What's the point in comparing LeBron to Deron and Boozer? That Utah team is more talented than that Cleveland team was.
I think you were right the first time. Blatant travel. It isn't really even debate-able. He switches pivot feet clear as day before dribbling. That said, as has been noted time and time again, to NBA refs, despite what the rulebook says, this isn't a travel. There is a bias towards start players, for sure, but also a bias overall to just not call travel so much. The real issue is that Antoine Wright allowed the greatest closer in the game to make a move to his strong hand, away from a double team. Maybe if no double team was coming, you could play him straight up, and if he goes right, at least he's hemming himself in with the baseline. But knowing a double team is coming, you should shade him to make his move be towards the double team, if possible. Still, Kobe is the king of clutch shots, without a doubt.
