<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">You Jinx! Tim Thomas is had a big first half and with 12 points on 5 for 7 shooting.</div> What can I say? I know greatness when I see it.
Purple Fever, your man Kobe at the end obviously had some second thoughts and passed it to Lukie Dukie. As the star of the team, you have to take that shot especially with your history. Anyway, Bobcats THANK YOU. TT had a magnificent game! The Knicks need to play better at the end though. Anyway Matt...I think it's time
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">Purple Fever, your man Kobe at the end obviously had some second thoughts and passed it to Lukie Dukie. As the star of the team, you have to take that shot especially with your history. Anyway, Bobcats THANK YOU. TT had a magnificent game! The Knicks need to play better at the end though. Anyway Matt...I think it's time </div>Yeah put the blame on Kobe. The defense lost this game for us again. The Lakers allowed Tim Thomas to score a career high 36 against them, the Lakers allowed the Knicks to shoot 50% against them, the Lakers had another 18 turnovers, and the Lakers stillcannot guard the pick and roll. Off-topic... DMK you picked a great game to go to, OT at MSG, too bad the Lakers couldn't pull out the W.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah put the blame on Kobe. </div> So who do you blame? Walton for passing it to Kobe right under the basket when he could have been fouled? Or Kobe after hitting a clutch shot to actually get them into OT backing down? When your so clutch why would you pass it to a guy with someone on him who isn't even known for making game winning/tying shots? Yeah, that's right the blame is all on Luke.
OMG, Luke Walton is garbage .... is shooting a wide open 10 footer that complicated??? why the heck was he in the game anyway? <div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">So who do you blame? Walton for passing it to Kobe right under the basket when he could have been fouled? Or Kobe after hitting a clutch shot to actually get them into OT backing down? When your so clutch why would you pass it to a guy with someone on him who isn't even known for making game winning/tying shots? Yeah, that's right the blame is all on Luke. </div> He had a defender behind him, a defender in front of him, and Luke with a wide open 10 footer. I would've passed it to him too if I thought he would shoot it ...
I'll review the footage again it looked like he was more contested, but when you're so clutch, shouldn't you be a bit selfish at the end?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">I'll review the footage again it looked like he was more contested, but when you're so clutch, shouldn't you be a bit selfish at the end?</div> That is possibly the worst argument I have ever heard man...you pass the ball to someone wide open if you have someone on you, its common sense. Especially in the clutch like that. Luke Walton can Join my sig with Antawn Jamison Ahh, Very good down the stretch in the 4th, I thought we had a chance..our D killed us once again..you can stick a fork in our season... I'm ready for you Fu....Fricken sig...
Did you guys see Kobe's anger? I saw him say after Luke's annoying pass instead of shot. "LUKE!!!!!! SHOOT THE BALL!!!!!!!!" (after the buzzer) and then Kobe slams the ball down. I feel for Kobe though, I'm getting annoyed with Luke, he's just not good enough as a player, yeah he can pass..but to be a basketball player you need to be able to do OTHER things rather than pass. I didn't watch the whole game but during the end..with 3 seconds left passed to Luke..Luke should have shot instead of passed it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">So who do you blame? Walton for passing it to Kobe right under the basket when he could have been fouled? Or Kobe after hitting a clutch shot to actually get them into OT backing down? When your so clutch why would you pass it to a guy with someone on him who isn't even known for making game winning/tying shots? Yeah, that's right the blame is all on Luke. </div>First off you don't blame a single player for a loss, it's a team sport, they are all accountable. The play was designed for Kobe to take his man one on one and if/when he faced the double team the Lakers had a second option for him, (Luke) slashing to the hoop for a layup. Kobe passed the ball because the double team came immediately after he took his man off the dribble. Kobe dished to Walton and set him up perfectly to hit the shot to tie the game. Walton was in the huddle he had to know he was getting the ball and had to take the shot if Kobe kicked it to him. Walton choked and passed the ball back to Kobe, who had positioned himself for a rebound in case Luke missed. Kobe then bobbled the ball because he wasn't expecting the pass. Do I blame the loss on Luke, of course not. Even if he made the basket the Lakers weren't even guaranteed to win in the second overtime. I think Walton has to take some of the blame for that particular play, but I also question Hamblen for putting Luke in that position in the first place. Why wasn't Odom or Butler the second option instead of Luke? The problem I have is Kobe is taking heat for this loss. He's always in a no win situation with his critics. If he goes ahead and takes the shot and misses, he'll be called a ball hog, glory hound, and he forced a difficult shot even though Luke was wide open for a layup, Kobe is selfish etc. etc. Instead Kobe makes the right play and gets blasted for not taking the shot and being the clutch player, team leader, and making players around him better etc.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting drm2dnk:</div><div class="quote_post">Did you guys see Kobe's anger? I saw him say after Luke's annoying pass instead of shot. "LUKE!!!!!! SHOOT THE BALL!!!!!!!!" (after the buzzer) and then Kobe slams the ball down. I feel for Kobe though, I'm getting annoyed with Luke, he's just not good enough as a player, yeah he can pass..but to be a basketball player you need to be able to do OTHER things rather than pass. I didn't watch the whole game but during the end..with 3 seconds left passed to Luke..Luke should have shot instead of passed it.</div>Yeah Kobe was furious as were the rest of the Lakers. Kobe slammed the ball after the buzzer sounded and shot Luke some dirty looks. In the press conference Kobe and Butler agreed Walton should have taken the shot. I agree 100% with Kobe. I would have been screaming at a teammate as well if he passed up that shot. The Lakers had just come out of a timeout, and obviously a play was drawn up with a first and second option to tie the game up. Option 1 was Kobe driving to the hoop and taking the shot if he had single coverage, option 2 was dishing it to a slashing player if the double team came. The double team came and Kobe went along with the play, which Walton botched and didn't execute. It was a frustrating loss, especially after the Lakers fought so hard to put themselves into OT and in a position to win the game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting notMuchgame:</div><div class="quote_post">OMG, Luke Walton is garbage .... is shooting a wide open 10 footer that complicated??? why the heck was he in the game anyway? He had a defender behind him, a defender in front of him, and Luke with a wide open 10 footer. I would've passed it to him too if I thought he would shoot it ...</div>I don't even think it was a 10 footer, Luke could have taken a step and went in for a layup. He let his teammates down on that play, but the Lakers have to realize their lack of defense and turnovers is the reason they are in these situations in the first place.
Tim Thomas?.....SMH. Dunno if anyone seen, but Kobe was fouled under the basket clearly bumped nearly out of bounds with a second and so on the clock. Now i know the ref's wouldnt have called it in that time frame anyways but still. As for kobe getting mad at walton for over passing in the clutch....the leaders of the team that want to win everytime and who have the weight on their shoulders moreso then the other players rightfully get heated, look at how many time jordan beratted his players on and off the court (Kerr,Kukoc,Brown etc.) they demand solid plays from their roleplayers and walton had the right intentions, it just didnt turn out right. Lakers truly disgusted me last night, but that come back was crazy. Noone gets the blame, game shouldnt have been that close....lakers let this mediocre team shoot 50% on them and score WAY too many points in the paint (sweetney murked em)
I'm not at all saying Kobe deserves the blame. I just think he should have taken the shot as the leader and with him being so clutch. I'm seeing the game again in about a half hour on the MSG Rewind, but from what I saw, Luke wasn't as uncontested as some of you are saying. I'll see it again, but I really think Kobe should have taken that shot. First off, he had Kurt Thomas on the perimeter and I think he should have taken advantage of that more, and second of all, if Luke is as garbage and whack as you say he is, why was the play drawn up for him? Maybe it wasn't and he couldnt deal with the improvisation and just choked? I don't know what happened out there, I just think Kobe arguably the clutchest player in the game, should have taken the last shot. Who cares what everyone thinks about him being selfish. I would want my best player to in the final seconds. Anyway, good Laker comeback, bad Knick collapse and overall a good game
Wow, what a tough loss. I'll admit I thought the game was over when they were down by 12 in the dying minutes of the 4th. What a great comeback, too bad we couldn't carry that momentum into overtime. WAY too much turnovers and there's no way in hell that a guy like TIM THOMAS (of all people) should be able to drop 35 on us. By the way, the last shot, I don't know why people are blaming Kobe. Yes he's clutch but if you play basketball, you should realize that it's always a better option to pass to a WIDE OPEN teammate at crunch-time rather then force up a shot with defenders flying around you. I cannot believe Luke Walton passed up a wide open shot. He will learn from this for sure but let's hope he doesn't shy away from wide open shots in clutch situations later on.
Questioning Kobe's "clutchness"? If memory serves me, didnt he hit the game tying 3 to send it into OT? hmm...guess to some thats not clutch.
