I think you have the chicken and the egg mixed up. Make or miss, it's Kobe's job to shoot the ball. If a Superstar like Kobe doesn't take shots; he's not doing his job. Kobe's aggressive shooting keeps the defense honest. Pau Gasol didn't get double teams, Ron Artest and Artest is wide open. Ron Artest was so good in the Finals because his defender left him open to go guard Kobe. If Kobe stopped shooting, Ron wouldn't have been wide open to be hero. I wish there was a ballhogger on the Rockets to take off the pressure off the other guys and give them wide open looks.
On the flipside, guys like Lebron are too unselfish. Why do you think his teammates always disappear in the Playoffs? It's because teams know Lebron is going to pass to the open man so they don't even bother double-teaming him. Teams only defend Lebron with 1 man in a half court set. They know that if they double, Lebron will find the open man. So Lebron's teammates are always covered up by a defender...no open looks like Ron Artest had. Because of Kobe's aggressive shooting, Ron usually didn't have a defender within 10 feet of him. This is why the Cavs have never won, Lebron just didn't command enough attention from the defense to make it easier on his teammates. Kobe's "ballhogging" makes it much easier for his teammates to score because they're wide open. Meanwhile Lebron's "over-passing" makes it much harder on his teammates to score because they're constantly defended.
do u know how many wide open shots his teammaes missed? they missed the same type of shots they got in the reg. season. some players just don't live up to the pressure. simple as that. you can see jamison was intimidated by KG's intensity and mo will was flabbergasted by rondo.
Gee, and here I thought it was because Kobe has had prime Shaq and prime Gasol and Lebron had old Shaq and old Z. Thanks for clearing up my folly!
Shaq was great when Kobe had him. Shaq was an All Star the year before Lebron got to him. Antawn Jamison was a 22ppg guy in Washington. Mo Williams was an All Star the year before. Lebron had plenty of help. But on Kobe's side: Gasol was actually "GaSoft" in Memphis. He was also "GaSoft" in 2008 as KG beat him raw. Ron Artest was on his 4th team in 5 years. Lamar Odom smokes weed. Utah Jazz were happy to get rid of Derek Fisher Bynum plays half a season and then breaks a leg Jordan Farmar? Vujachich? DJ Benga? Josh Powe? Who are these guys?
So you would have traded Kobe's "supporting cast" for Lebron's? Seriously? You must think the Cavs will be decent next year since they have so much talent. Kobe's biggest skill is having spent 90% of his career with great bigmen.
Absolutely. Give me: Kobe, Shaq, Jamison, Mo Williams, Big Z, Anderson Verajao, Delonte West, etc. That's a championship team right there. They won 60+ games 2 years in a row...they won even with Lebron sitting out.
I have a question for you. Will Lebron, Wade and Bosh win a Championship this year? That's a very talented team. I say no, they will not. What do you say?
Can they beat the Celtics? maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure the Lakers will be there this year, carrying knee surgery into the year on both Kobe and Bynum is as big a risk element, if not more as the bionic foot.
I don't know where you're getting your information, but the Cavs were 1-5 last year without Lebron. They were 60-16 with him in the lineup. How is that winning "even with Lebron sitting out"?
It doesn't matter to me if it's the Celtics/Lakers/Heat/Thunder/Rockets that beat the Heat. I just don't think they'll win the Championship even with 3 top players. I'm just wondering what excuse will it be this year if Lebron, Wade, Bosh don't win? They didn't have 4 stars instead of 3?
so kobe would win a ring w/ the cavs? mo will was on a terrible team where he could jack up shots. nobody knew or cared about him. jamison was a 3rd wheel so there was no pressure on him. he became a 2nd wheel and couldn't handle the offensive load when he played kevin garnett. shaq actually played fine production-wise. he just played way less minutes compared to phoenix since he can be a defensive liabiliy b/c of his age; phoenix didn't play defense. shaq wasn't the reason why they lost. it was mo will and jamison. on the other hand, gasol led the grizz to 50 wins IN THE WEST without kobe or phil jackson. ron artest sucked offensively for the lakers mind you, but they got him for defense and he was known for defense before anyways. they can withstand bynum's injury b/c they have gasol. odom actually is extremely inconsistent, but again, they have gasol to back up kobe and sometimes lead the lakers. again, kobe had that "2nd guy" who has shown to lead a team to 50 wins as the "lead guy." if i remember correctly, mo will/jamison/shaq have not led a team to 50 wins as a #1 guy in recent years.
so a team that wins 16% of its games w/o lebron proves it can win w/o lebron? wow lakers were 8-4 w/o kobe -> 66% winning rate
MJ is in both categories, and he had a game worse than Kobe in 1996 finals game 6. Or the entire series. Now what?
Gasol led Grizzles to back to back 20 wins seasons before joining the lakers. Mo and Shaq did better than that.
Not only that, the Lakers have ALWAYS had a great record when Kobe has been out, going back to the Shaq days.
So Rondo's now a PG that can't shoot, easy to cover target? Tell LeBron about that. Rondo was killing Cavs, putting up near triple double numbers every game and LeBron didn't do a damn thing. If it's that easy and LeBron's that good defensively, don't you think he should switch to Rondo? Or switch to KG? If PP killed Cavs due to that, that's another story. But don't you shut down the hottest player first? Kobe had to guard Melo in 4th quarter in 09 WCF, just to get enough to win. Melo killing Ariza, while true, couldn't be an excuse. Kobe had to switch to PP when he's hot in 08 finals and they lost because RA killed Sasha too. There's no such thing as I did my job, great players do everything they could do to win. LeBron's a player, I got my numbers and I am already the best, just "check my $tat"
