What can this be attributed to? The past 3 games Kobe's look tired, disspirited, and awful out there. His shots aren't falling and his steals are down. Could all his minutes be catching up to him? Over the first 3/4's of the season, Kobe had to over-exert himself to keep the Lakers in playoff contention, such as his streak of 40 point games in January. Lamar hasn't been stepping it up until recently, could that be the reason? Lamar is finally stepping it up as fatigue is finally setting in on Kobe? Also, Kobe hasn't been getting to the FT line in this stretch of games, he's been settling for the jumper because it doesn't exert as much energy. If Kobe can take second fiddle to Lamar and rest a little bit for the rest of the season, can the Lakers still make the play-offs? Lamar is here to stay, he's finally stepped it up, he won't go anywhere. But is that good enough for us to maintain our play-off spot? Or will Kobe have to find his game again and play at the high pace that got us wins?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting K8B:</div><div class="quote_post">What can this be attributed to? The past 3 games Kobe's look tired, disspirited, and awful out there. His shots aren't falling and his steals are down. Could all his minutes be catching up to him? Over the first 3/4's of the season, Kobe had to over-exert himself to keep the Lakers in playoff contention, such as his streak of 40 point games in January. Lamar hasn't been stepping it up until recently, could that be the reason? Lamar is finally stepping it up as fatigue is finally setting in on Kobe? Also, Kobe hasn't been getting to the FT line in this stretch of games, he's been settling for the jumper because it doesn't exert as much energy. If Kobe can take second fiddle to Lamar and rest a little bit for the rest of the season, can the Lakers still make the play-offs? Lamar is here to stay, he's finally stepped it up, he won't go anywhere. But is that good enough for us to maintain our play-off spot? Or will Kobe have to find his game again and play at the high pace that got us wins?</div> I do agree that he may be a little fatigued. But I don't really think thats the problem. I just think he hit a stretch of bad games and needs to just shoot himself out of the slump. Kind of looks like he is doing that against the Timberwolves too... although he is still not getting to the line. But notice that Lamar's stats are up while Kobe has been struggling. Now I haven't seen any of these games but based on comments made by both Kobe and Phil I am guessing teams have adjusted again to keep Kobe out of the lane and his jumpers haven't been falling with their usuall consistency. As a result fo loading up the defence on Kobe though the other guys are getting good looks and over the last three games the role players and Lamar have been getting the job done. But Kobe's run of bad form has cost us at least two games I think. He should get it together soon though. Its not uncommon for him or any gueard in the league to hit a rough patch.
What I did notice is, after every game against New Orleans, Kobe has had some horrible shooting nights: We played the Hornets February 4th, Kobe's games after that: Tuesday, February 7th against the Mavericks: 5-22 FG Wednesday, February 8th against the Rockets: 13-29 FG Saturday, February 11th against Memphis: 10-28 FG Monday, February 13th against Utah: 6-20 FG We played the Hornets March 8th, Kobe's games after that: Friday, March 10th against San Antonio: 11-29 FG Sunday, March 12th against Seattle: 8-29 FG Tueday, March 14th against Sacramento: 12-28 FG Tonight, he didn't shoot bad, he turned it up in the second half, hopefully he can get on track.
Kobe Bryant is not getting any calls from the refs. The last 4 games he's only gone to the charity stripe 16 times, that's only 4 attempts a game. Kobe normally averages 10 trips to the free throw line. For the amount of shots Kobe takes and the amount of time he touches the basketball, there is a huge discrepency. I know Kobe has been doing a lot of complaining and it certainly doesn't help, but a foul is a foul and the refs can't swallow their whistles to make a point. And no Kobe is not settling for jump shots either. He's attacking the basket, just look at the shot charts from the games. I think this is the main reason he's in a slump. Usually he gets a good rhythm by going to the line and finding his stroke. Without those FTAs, he's struggling to find his shooting rhythm. On the bright side, nothing brings the best out of Kobe than Vince Carter as his opposition. Kobe will get back on track against the Nets...BOOK IT!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe Bryant is not getting any calls from the refs. The last 4 games he's only gone to the charity stripe 16 times, that's only 4 attempts a game. Kobe normally averages 10 trips to the free throw line. For the amount of shots Kobe takes and the amount of time he touches the basketball, there is a huge discrepency. I know Kobe has been doing a lot of complaining and it certainly doesn't help, but a foul is a foul and the refs can't swallow their whistles to make a point. And no Kobe is not settling for jump shots either. He's attacking the basket, just look at the shot charts from the games. I think this is the main reason he's in a slump. Usually he gets a good rhythm by going to the line and finding his stroke. Without those FTAs, he's struggling to find his shooting rhythm. On the bright side, nothing brings the best out of Kobe than Vince Carter as his opposition. Kobe will get back on track against the Nets...BOOK IT!</div> Yeah... I heard this from some other people who watched the games and then in the article in the LA Times where Phil Jackson was complaining about it. But what did Kobe do to bring on the wrath of the refs all of a sudden?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Fiyah:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah... I heard this from some other people who watched the games and then in the article in the LA Times where Phil Jackson was complaining about it. But what did Kobe do to bring on the wrath of the refs all of a sudden?</div> Conspiracy Theory <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jackson suggested that Kobe Bryant hasn't been getting to the free-throw line because officials have been told not to call fouls for him. Bryant shot just one free throw against Minnesota on Wednesday. He shot just 15 in the three previous games combined. "I've heard of weirder conspiracy theories. There might be some truth to that," Bryant said. "I'm not getting to the line as much I would like to right now." </div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Conspiracy Theory Source</div> Right. I read that in the LA Times this morning... but seriously... who would tell the refs to do that and what would be their agenda for doing so?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Fiyah:</div><div class="quote_post">Right. I read that in the LA Times this morning... but seriously... who would tell the refs to do that and what would be their agenda for doing so? </div> PJax thinks it's Ronnie Nun. He was the same guy who accused Kobe of "cheating" when Kobe got the foul call in the Utah game.
