<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">What I find funny is that as soon as Kobe has an amazing performance like this ESPN already has two or three articles about how selfish Kobe is the next morning. I have never seen anything like this to that degree. A player doing something amazing and then the next morning they are callin him "ball-hoggin'est player in league history?" The same ESPN that was quick to say Kobe didn't want to play the 4th because of what would be said about his character if he did. Kobe knew going for the records wasnt worth possibly getting hurt in a blown out game, why can't we leave it at that? I just hate seeing such treatment by the media, because if LeBron would have put up the EXACT same number the articles up on ESPN front page would be "THE NEXT JORDAN"</div> To add to the hypocrisy, BSPN radio was getting all over his case about not playing in the 4th quarter because he had a chance at history and the fans paid to be entertained. Kobe cannot win with his critics, but those who want to nitpick his game and not just enjoy watching an amazing performance can go right on hating #8.
The reason ESPN had artles about him being a ball hog was because of his numbers in the assist coulumn. I mean it is pretty selfish to be a guard and have the ball enough to score 62 points and still manage to get 0 assist. Though there wasn't really any need for him to pass it since his shots just seemed to magically go in. Great performance by Mr. Bryant even though I'm not his biggest fan.
You really wonder if some of these people ever try to listen to themselves talk, it's pathetic really. Kobe owns the game of basketball right now, no one can check him. and btw, whats the point of passing when your on fire? I mean you pass to get the best chance to score and giving him the ball would give you a really high percentage of scoring so why pass to someone else? Oh ya im on fire and can probably score 70+ this game and carry the team but you know what? ill just give it off to someone else.
Ok lemme see if I can figure this out... What FG% does the Lakers as a team shoot? No... in fact lets look at what the player on the Lakers roster has the best shooting % - Chris Mihm at 49.4% So if we are talking about efficiency here and you realize that you are shooting at an incredible clip (just under 60%) would you give someone, who maybe shoots 50% at best, the ball when clearly you are unstoppable? Does that make any sense? If you are shooting at 60% you take every shot because that means the team FG% is closer to your 60% than it is to the other players lower FG%. Seriously... does that not make common sense?!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AirJordan:</div><div class="quote_post">You really wonder if some of these people ever try to listen to themselves talk, it's pathetic really. Kobe owns the game of basketball right now, no one can check him. and btw, whats the point of passing when your on fire? I mean you pass to get the best chance to score and giving him the ball would give you a really high percentage of scoring so why pass to someone else? Oh ya im on fire and can probably score 70+ this game and carry the team but you know what? ill just give it off to someone else.</div> At least someone gets it. It seemed simple common sense to me, but I guess common sense is not so common these days.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">So if we are talking about efficiency here and you realize that you are shooting at an incredible clip (just under 60%) would you give someone, who maybe shoots 50% at best, the ball when clearly you are unstoppable? Does that make any sense? If you are shooting at 60% you take every shot because that means the team FG% is closer to your 60% than it is to the other players lower FG%. Seriously... does that not make common sense?!</div> Kobes a great player, but some of you Kobe fans are too far in the woods to see the trees. Basketball is a team game. The fact that you have teammates and decide not to pass to them says something.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobes a great player, but some of you Kobe fans are too far in the woods to see the trees. Basketball is a team game. The fact that you have teammates and decide not to pass to them says something.</div> Basketball is a team game. Operative words being "team" and "game". The objective of a game is to win and that objective ALWAYS overrides the "team" objective. So if being selfish means you win... then by all means be selfish. Would you play a team game and lose and then be satisfied with the result? Clearly there are times when Kobe will not shoot 60% and be unstoppable. In which case playing selfishly will not win the game and he needs to play within the team concept. In fact, more often than not the Lakers will need Kobe to get the other players involved in order to win. But there are going to be times when he will need to be selfish... and when he is shooting 60%, is unguardable, and on fire that would constitute on of those rare times. Now what trees are you talking about?
Kobe is a great player and air jordan made a good point about not passing when you are on fire Kobe had a great game but the only thing I dislike about him is the fact that he force up shots over the double team.
Here's a little background build up to why Kobe was taking the shots. After the Houston loss, PJax ripped into the team and told them they were hesistant. Kobe Bryant said he wanted to lead by example in the Dallas game and told his teammates they can count on him scoring 50. He said the team has been played poorly at home, and if they want to be recognized as a contender the Lakers had to defend their homecourt. He wanted to show the team that the Lakers can score at Staples center and wanted his confidence to trickle down to the rest of his teammates. The very first possession the team set the Triangle and Smush took a 3 point shot from the sideline and missed. Kobe outhustled everyone for the rebound and then hit a mid range shot. The entire 1st quarter pretty much played out like this. Kobe's teammates were missing, but Kobe would score off second chance opportunities. In the second quarter Kobe started attacking the basket and getting to the charity stripe. He started getting into a groove near the middle of 2nd quarter and then started shooting 3 pointers after his defender backed off him. Finally in the 3rd quarter Kobe was in the zone and everyone (including his teammates) wanted to see him make history. They just kept feeding his hot hand and Kobe completely took over and ended up with 30 points in the 3rd.
Kobe felt it was best to take the scoring load to win the game and I don't see any reason why when you're feeling it and have a much better scoring chance by yourself than your teammate. It would've been a whole another debate if Kobe scored 45 and the Lakers lost.
What I dont understand is why Kobe is a ballhog and Jordan is not. Jordan scored over 50 pts 36 times in his career. 50 points! you know how many touches you need to score that many points? Not to mention the amount of 30-40 pt games he has had. His career average is over 30 points. You need to have many touches to achieve that kind of stat. He had to have the ball in his hands alot. Yet, Kobe is bashed everytime he holds the ball. Jordan had a game where he shot 49 times from the Field. You dont call that ballhogging? Im not bashing Jordan. He was one of the greatest players to ever step on the court. (notice how I've mentioned, ONE of the greatest), but he was a ballhog many times when he decided to take over a game. I dont think it wrong that he did that either. Stop the Kobe bashing. Kobe's the best there is in the game right now. He just demonstrated that last night against a very talented Maverick squad in 3 quick quarters. WHY THE HATE?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobes a great player, but some of you Kobe fans are too far in the woods to see the trees. Basketball is a team game. The fact that you have teammates and decide not to pass to them says something.</div> Dude its obvious your a kobe hater stop with the stupid comments...obviously he was on fire if you ever played basketball and you know when your on fire you gonna take shots till you cool down. Except in this case he didnt cool down and shot almost .600 percent I would take that ANY day. Kings v. Lakers Rivalry is over get over it...give the guy credit..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting trenchteam:</div><div class="quote_post">What I dont understand is why Kobe is a ballhog and Jordan is not. Jordan scored over 50 pts 36 times in his career. 50 points! you know how many touches you need to score that many points? </div> Jordan was a ballhog. Who says he wasn't? And he got criticized plenty for being a ballhog, particularly when the Bulls weren't winning championships. The difference, of course, is Jordan was a better player and his ball-hogging was more justified. There's nothing inherently wrong with being a ball-hog. How can anyone seriously criticize Kobe for ball-hogging in the third quarter when goes off for 30 points? That's called feeding the hot hand.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobes a great player, but some of you Kobe fans are too far in the woods to see the trees. Basketball is a team game. The fact that you have teammates and decide not to pass to them says something.</div>Coming from a Kings fan, I could just entirely disregard this and by all means should, but I will comment. Basketball is a team game. You're right. And when you play, you always want to do what is going to give you, the team, the best chance to win the ball game. Last night, giving the ball to Kobe was giving them the best chance to win. He was on fire. Period. When you have a player that was scoring and attacking the way he was, you LET him take over the game. Just sit back, watch, and conserve your energy for the other end of the court. And that's what they did. They just sat back and let him take over the game, why, because he was on fire, and they realized that. And plus, as it has been stated, it wasn't just Kobe that won the game. Sure, he carried the offensive load, but the Lakers also played great defense last night. And by the way, I completely disagree with your last sentence. He wasn't choosing to not pass, it's just that he was so hot, his teammates wanted him to have the ball each and every time down the court. And when you have that kind of rhythm going and your teammates want you to shoot it, do it. Don't hesitate and go for it. And that's what he did, and that's why he did what he did last night.
Want to know why there are alot of people who don't like Kobe here's the list. 1) They feel he broke up the laker dynasty and gave Shaq the boot. 2) The whole rape trial thing really hurt, he doesn't have his good guy image to go back to anymore. 3) Probably the original reason people started to hate on Kobe, he was biting Jordan's style. Many Jordan fans felt Kobe was just copying the things Jordan did and this made alot of them angry. Kobe has never been able to escape Jordan's shadow, and probably won't because he hasn't doen anything to really distinguish himself. Which is a bit sad.
Why do so many people say something along the likes of, "I don't like the guy, but I have to say that was a great game". Are you suppose to like the guy in order to give him credit? It's either he had a great game or not, you don't have to like the player in order to give him credit.
0 assists....not great- but they won....and they won by 22.....ON TOP OF shutting Nowitzki down by his standards. How do you complain? Kobe wanted to lead and send a message, and he did that. The only reason everyone hates Kobe so much is because he challenges Jordans greatness and people don't want that. They don't want change, they want the torch to stay in Jordans hand forever. Whether its Kobe, or LeBron- or some kid playing in a street right now, the torch of GOAT will be passed and people need to get over it. Personally I think Kobe Bryant will be the first and last Kobe Bryant, and will remember him for out of this world ability and his leadership. I'm a firm beleiver that Kobe will win at least 2 more champioships, and for that- he will be remembered as the best player of all time. Get over it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GiantMidget:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobes a great player, but some of you Kobe fans are too far in the woods to see the trees. Basketball is a team game. The fact that you have teammates and decide not to pass to them says something.</div> Just because he had no assists it does not mean he doesn't pass the ball.Maybe, just maybe his teammates A) Couldn't get the shot or He was shooting amazingly so they decided to feed him the ball more. Kobe's position is infact Shooting guard, PJax probably told him to keep shooting seeing as they were winning by it.
Kobe is an amazing player........plain and simple. Yesterday's performance just shows how great of a player he really is. And for the people who keep commenting on how he didn't have any assists.......you guys are just jealous because you know that not many players can score over 60 points and because Kobe isnt scoring for your fav team, unless your a LAKER fan, you have to hate.
http://www.databasebasketball.com/teams/bo...19961106&tm=MIA Micheal Jordan: 40 MINUTES 18-33 FIELD GOALS 6 REBOUNDS 0 ASSISTS 50 POINTS heres a little something for those haters that criticized Kobe for not having a single assist in the game. Does that mean that Jordan is a ballhog as well? i see that there is still a lot of hate for the Lakers in this forum. looks like nothing has changed, and it probably never will.
