That is completely absurd. As if no one has any film or scouting reviews of Kobe to know what he likes to do or how to defend him. Everyone knows what (to try) to do. It's a matter of doing it -- and then crossing your fingers and praying he doesn't beat you anyway. Sheeesh....
yeah, I tend to think Batum being a stud wing defender had something to do with Kobe struggling last night. Portland has waves of long wing players and several good shot blockers to contest drives to the hole. All the strategizing in the world won't help if you don't have the talent. Of course where the game is played makes a big difference too. If that game was in LA I'm sure Blazer players would have been called for a lot of the same stuff they let go last night. STOMP
That was an extremely complimentary article, except for the backhanded slap at our small city status.
When the coach is afraid to chastise a player for being lazy and settling for 3's rather than fight through the defense, the chances of winning diminish greatly.
Nice read. Much love for BRoy too. I wouldn't go as far as to say Nate knows any more then any other coach on how to stop Kobe, but who cares, he's doing a great job with this squad.
I thought it was a pretty good article. And other than the "Nate advantage" from coaching Kobe on Team USA, I thought it was very accurate. With all the film and scouting reports available, it's not like Nate learned something over the summer that gives the Blazers an edge over everyone else in stopping Kobe. Most teams know what they need to TRY to do, but "knowing" and "doing" are two very different things. Last night, especially late in the game, the Blazers had the "doing" part down. Kobe still scored 32. So, it's not like the Blazers shut him down. But, they forced him to work for those points and while he scored more than his season average, he also did so much less efficiently than he usually does. BNM
So to sum it up, the reason they lose in Portland is our players, coach, and fans... Gee, thanks captain obvious.
