Yeah I definitely thought of this during the game today. Seems like he wants to win alone to fulfill his legacy. Hopefully Phil will get him to calm down. Kobe was great in the 1st half, scoring all the points, but we were still down. We need other guys to get involved and get going to win this thing.
Yeah he was off in Game 3, very out of it by the end of the game. But it was more cold than making the wrong decisions, he just didn't handle the ball as well. I thought he took too much heat in Game 2, he had 11 points in the fourth and an overall dominant second half and OT. He even got two phantom turnovers in the second half.
I don't think Kobe was cold. Two games in a row now he's blatantly ignored teammates and tried to do everything himself.
Ok but how in Game 2? That's what I want to know. He got blocked on one possession, but was money in the fourth...
So when he iced the game for Pau's and 1 in OT, he didn't trust his teammates? I think that's overblown.
I would have to say probably. He was off after the first quarter, only went 4/15 after that, but they were all shots he can make. My only real big problem with Kobe tonight was his FT shooting. He makes his FTs, this is a different ball game. I will say though, definitely not Kobe's best, but probably could have been worse.
Turnovers, tried forcing the issue a lot (the last play of the 4th, had Ariza WIDE open). He just is resorting back to dominating the ball when he can make it a lot easier by trusting his teammates. He had a good 2nd half after a fucking horrible 1st half, and we got the win. That is all that matters.
Five turnovers aside from the made up ones, missing an open 3-13 Trevor Ariza is not a blatant ignorance of teammates. I want Kobe taking the last shot especially in Game 2 with all those bricks from the other guys, he doesn't usually throw the ball away. He was 2/6, 6 points 5 assists and getting his teammates involved in the first half, so he wasn't trying too hard to be the hero.
What "made up" turnovers are you referring to? A wide open shot is a wide open shot. Kobe had what? 3 guys around him? Howard in front, Hedo behind? and another one? Ariza was wide open. He's been money from 3, especially at home, you take that chance over what Kobe got, imo.
Lewis bump, and phantom OT turnover that went off Hedo? Ariza was trash the first two games on offense.
I'm with HK here. I'd much rather have Kobe taking that final shot in the 4th than an icy cold Trevor Ariza.
A bunch of "experts" completely forgot what they're talking about. Kobe torched Orlando in the second half.
um... he's had 5 straight games of 8 assists... how is that not trusting your team mates? for me he has been really solid especially in this series... yeah we lost game 3 bec. of him but i think it had more to do with the law of averages... he just caught fire too early in the game and flamed out at the end... his performance sort of balance from a high leap to a slow decline therefore his game ended up in the middle... average/solid performance (31pts 44FG%, 4-9 3's, 5-10 fts. (his only fault imo), 8 assists, 4 to's) for him.
It's not Kobe and it's not the offense. Our defense is the culprit. We allowed Orlando to make 75% of their shots. If Kobe wasn't on fire in that 1st half himself we'd be down by a lot more than 5 points heading into the break. The game was lost in the 1st half last night because our defense was non-existent.
Kobe's been better this Finals than last Finals. Although that could have to do with the defense as well.
I think the defense has been fairly solid outside of the D on Shard. Hedo is making some tough shots and Dwight's getting his from the FT line, mostly.
