<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SACRAMENTO ? Dirk Nowitzki took Kobe Bryant's 62-point eruption as an opportunity to point out the differences in basketball in the United States and in Europe. The biggest discrepancy: the absence of the team game in America. When asked if Bryant's huge game was, at the least, a good entertainment package for fans even though it came at the Mavericks' expense, Nowitzki said: "I guess. That's what American sports are ? a one-man show, I guess. Every time you look on TV, it's not Houston and LA, it's T-Mac [Tracy McGrady] and Kobe against each other." That's not the case in Europe, the German-born Nowitzki said. While many soccer superstars are revered in Europe, basketball is known as a team game, not for its individual playmakers. Recently, the German national team that Nowitzki led to a silver medal in the European Championships was named the sports team of the year in Germany, a rarity given the dominance of soccer there. "In Europe, it's more of a five-on-five game," he said. "But I guess over here it's more a game of stars and a game of heroes. And Kobe put on a show." Nowitzki's point is well taken. The NBA goes to great lengths to market its superstars more so than teams. Superstar jerseys sell quickly. Hats with team logos, not so well. </div> Source Interesting.
Dirks right, kobe was a ballhog that game, if you see his stats, he had no ASSISTS, hes probably the biggest ballhog in the game..
Of course American is very care about individual,the point is they know how to put them,the "hero,star player" and common players together,how to manage them to do the team work.And it's american way too....i think. Buddy,the man in your signatrue looks like a miner........
That is because in Germany they don't have a Kobe, a T-Mac, or an AI. In Germany they have mediocre players that do the fundamentals well, and rely on eachother to win. If they had a Kobe, it would be the same as it is here.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting igotask8board:</div><div class="quote_post">That is because in Germany they don't have a Kobe, a T-Mac, or an AI. In Germany they have mediocre players that do the fundamentals well, and rely on eachother to win. If they had a Kobe, it would be the same as it is here. </div> Dirk isn't as good as them? Dirk is an idol in Germany like Kobe, AI, Tmac are here and it's still a team game for the Olympics for the Germans, rather than pad stats, etc. 31 shots and 25 FT's in 3 quarters with 0 assists. Kobe is an individual player. It doesn't hurt the Lakers that much because he is so good and they still win, but he is definetely of the ballhog type.(not saying he's a ballhog, but that he still shoots way more than he should-he should definetely get his teammates more involved) After witnessing Tmac in Orlando for 4 years, a 1 man show won't get you anywhere. If that person is hot, normally the rest of the team just stands around waiting for that person to make the play, rather than getting into their offense and letting things come to the team.
I don't know how it is in Europe, but he's right about the state of the NBA in USA. It's a stars' league. Just look at the promos.
Last time I checked, Dirk plays in the NBA, meaning int'l stars that would be the equivalent of Kobe in their respective countries are almost always playing in the NBA. Everyone's jumping on the hate Kobe bandwagon, if he scores 60 and loses, it's his fault for being selfish, if he scores 60 and wins, he's still selfish and he's lucky that his team won. Need I remind you that MJ was doing the same thing, yet half you people would probably praise MJ and call it a "a demonstration of talent and determination to win." The NBA game IS more based on individuals than the int'l game, but it's because the NBA has the personel to pull it off. If someone's on fire, you get the ball to them, does it matter who scores the ball as long as the W is achieved at the end? Kobe shot 18-31, and considering that he's the defensive focus of any team LAL faces, that's pretty damn good. Kobe didn't pass the ball much that game because he probably knew if he took a shot, it was going in, what matter does it make if he makes it or someone else does? If he's pouring in shots than why change the plan? Should Kobe had been more concerned with his box score and how many ASTs he had (like you Kobe-haters probably would've been concerned about) if the W was secured by him keep taking shots? Like Barkley said, superstars get more credit than they deserve and more blame than they deserve, I see Kobe's explosion as assertiveness and willingness to lead a team, at times he would be better off getting his teammates involved, but I guarantee you he's not taking that many shots with individual statistics in mind. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting GatorsowntheSEC:</div><div class="quote_post">Dirk isn't as good as them? Dirk is an idol in Germany like Kobe, AI, Tmac are here and it's still a team game for the Olympics for the Germans, rather than pad stats, etc. 31 shots and 25 FT's in 3 quarters with 0 assists. Kobe is an individual player. It doesn't hurt the Lakers that much because he is so good and they still win, but he is definetely of the ballhog type.(not saying he's a ballhog, but that he still shoots way more than he should-he should definetely get his teammates more involved) After witnessing Tmac in Orlando for 4 years, a 1 man show won't get you anywhere. If that person is hot, normally the rest of the team just stands around waiting for that person to make the play, rather than getting into their offense and letting things come to the team.</div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I guess. That's what American sports are ? a one-man show, I guess. Every time you look on TV, it's not Houston and LA, it's T-Mac [Tracy McGrady] and Kobe against each other."</div> Dirk is right. A perfect is example is the Sunday Christmas Day Double Header. You have two of the top teams in the league in addition was the last two teams contending for an NBA championship but yet you have a rivalry between two guys not a team, but just two guys as the marquee game. So that just goes to show you that Dirk is right about what he is saying. In in my honest opinoin that double header didn't need to happen in order to make me realize that American sports is a star game. It's pretty evident in my eyes as it is.
I agree the NBA is a star's game, game plans are tailored for 1 or 2 star players, this is true but not by choice (I laugh when people are naive enough to believe that NBA players are selfish, etc) -- other leagues in the world don't have such games because their superstars are almost always exported: Yao, Sabonis, Ginobili, Dirk, just to name a few off the top of my head. Irrc I was looking at Yao's stats in the CBA I believed he averaged 30 pts and 20 boards a game, he was certainly the focal point for his team in the CBA (and if you watch the Chinese play, teamwork is certainly stressed, but with a superstar like Yao, one'd have to be crazy to not exploit his skills). <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">Dirk is right. A perfect is example is the Sunday Christmas Day Double Header. You have two of the top teams in the league in addition was the last two teams contending for an NBA championship but yet you have a rivalry between two guys not a team, but just two guys as the marquee game. So that just goes to show you that Dirk is right about what he is saying. In in my honest opinoin that double header didn't need to happen in order to make me realize that American sports is a star game. It's pretty evident in my eyes as it is.</div>
Bah, who cares. He's just annoyed that he isn't a one man show himself. I'm from Europe and it really isn't about a team game. It is more of a team game than America, but we still like to have our superstars. This doesn't really apply to basketball professionally, but to what I've seen myself. If you look at sports like Soccer, you will understand the point I made.
He's right, but it seems more like whining because he just got beat. He himself is part of the idolizing of players, he himself has 40 and 50 point games, so what's he complaining about? Dirk never actually played in the good Euroleague, he played for a lesser team that wouldn't be in the group of teams playing that 5 on 5 game. On Germany in the Olympics, he was playing like a one man team also, so he's not really in the position to complain about it.
