Kobe Discussion: Clash of the Titus! (671)

therealdeal wrote:Westbrook is really a b****. He's nothing but a total punk b****. If I were playing with that guy in the gym, I'd give him a nasty hit.

If I could catch him

charvin wrote:Triangleish offense. Nash taking the Fisher spot-up shooting role.

addygrace wrote:There was a story about Kobe tanking basketball games in high school. According to the great Phil Jackson, Kobe would play games and keep them close. At the end he would take over and be the hero.

Now just to clarify, I am a huge Kobe fan, and always have been. But, we can infer from this story Kobe is selfish, he has an ego, and is extremely talented. It takes some audacity. Some would say it disgraces the game. I would say, Kobe is a man who knows how to create a game inside a game. Maybe, he has a need to prove he's better than his dad ever was. He proved that a long time ago.

If you're a savant or genius at something, you are chasing history, not peers. You don't measure yourself against the field, you measure yourself against that which is much bigger. Kobe's like a chessmaster. He's a confident chessmaster. He took the number 24. Ask yourself why? Kobe proves to himself he can succeed in any circumstance. Why did Kobe take a run at the 100 point plateau? Why did Kobe want Shaq out of L.A.? I'm not saying that was all his fault. Phil and Shaq had a bigger role to play in that than he did. But why did he want that?

I have a theory. It's far-fetched, but it's a theory molded from history.

Kobe keeps the Lakers on the brink of missing the playoffs. A team with a great starting five, and 4 future hall of famers. Everybody starts writing them off. It's a head scratcher. This team can't win games and it looks as though Kobe's doing all he can. He shoots. He scores. The games are close, but they are losing.

All of sudden Kobe switches roles. He stops shooting. Why does he do this? Well according to Kobe, he did it to take some of the pressure off of Steve Nash. Ask yourself why? Why does he need to take the pressure off of a two time MVP? A guy who is one of the greatest point guards, this game has ever seen. A guy who played under D'Antoni for many years needs Kobe's help to facilitate D'Antoni's offense? Kobe said that! Not only does he start passing, but he does it at a clip, only the greats could accomplish. He has back to back 14 assist games. Kobe is the hero once again. The player that saves a hall of fame team from missing the playoffs. I think Kobe's goal is an NBA title. An NBA title after starting the season with the most head scratching losing streaks, NBA fans have ever seen.

Kobe has less shots in the last two games than he has assists!! It's mind blowing, if this is just a coincidence. So, after 42 games in the season, Kobe decides he can actually play point guard? Why wouldn't he do this when Steve Nash as injured? I think you know the answer.

I may be jumping the gun here but, if this continues you could not deny how this looks. I mean this would be legendary. A player, who's in his 16th season and looks like a young Dominique Wilkins, goes effing nuts, and switches to Magic Johnson the rest of the season. Is Kobe playing a game inside the game? You decide.
He's even high arching that shot right now.

kobebryant248 wrote:one more time. you only can get a assists when your teammates hit their shots. and kobe tried many games to be the facilitator at the start of the game but his teammates couldn t hit a shot and so kobe didn t get the assists like he did tonight .kobe s game wasn t so different when several other games but this time his teammates could convert on kobe assists and that was the difference.

King of Clutch wrote:I still don't understand how kobe averages more assists than wade, durant, and melo, etc., and still gets the most crap about not being a passer. It kinda sorta makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. How the heck does this happen? Media brainwashing, or just plain stupidity?

Weezy wrote:Kobe doesn't go for scoring titles at the expense of winning, he could have played and tried for it last season and he didn't. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous, he was playing to win, doing what he thought he needed to win. Clearly it wasn't working and he has changed it up, not on his own, after that team meeting, which means it was probably suggested by teammates and maybe even the coach.

Weezy wrote:So basically they're playing like under Bernie, no real offense, just the players doing what they know how to do as intelligent basketball vets. So we hired a coach for his offense, that we had to stop running to start winning, brilliant. What purpose does this guy serve exactly?

CaCHooKa Man wrote:

dj vitus wrote:I wonder what is the Lakers' W/L record with Kobe having 10 or more assists?

52-21

trodgers wrote:

Weezy wrote:Kobe doesn't go for scoring titles at the expense of winning, he could have played and tried for it last season and he didn't. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous, he was playing to win, doing what he thought he needed to win. Clearly it wasn't working and he has changed it up, not on his own, after that team meeting, which means it was probably suggested by teammates and maybe even the coach.

Exactly. It doesn't get any more clear cut than: go play this game, score X points, win the scoring title...and Kobe doesn't go for it. See David Robinson for a clear example of a guy playing for the scoring title.

trodgers wrote:

Weezy wrote:Kobe doesn't go for scoring titles at the expense of winning, he could have played and tried for it last season and he didn't. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous, he was playing to win, doing what he thought he needed to win. Clearly it wasn't working and he has changed it up, not on his own, after that team meeting, which means it was probably suggested by teammates and maybe even the coach.

Exactly. It doesn't get any more clear cut than: go play this game, score X points, win the scoring title...and Kobe doesn't go for it. See David Robinson for a clear example of a guy playing for the scoring title.

last stand wrote:

therealdeal wrote:Westbrook is really a b****. He's nothing but a total punk b****. If I were playing with that guy in the gym, I'd give him a nasty hit.

If I could catch him

I don't know how big you are but unless you undercut his legs I doubt you'd move him very much. He's built very well. 6'3" 190lbs pure muscle

Also I respect the hell out of Russell. That's a guy who has never been given anything. He's always had to fight for his spot and it's gotten him this far. A ton of resolve and fight in that guy. Thats why Kobe respects him. Russell has a ridiculous work ethic

I wish more players played with his heart, effort and worked like him

LOS ANGELES -- Watching the Los Angeles Lakers beat down the Utah Jazz on Friday and take down the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday is enough to make me believe a deal has been struck: The Laker community will be confrontational -- the way Kobe Bryant likes it -- and in return Bryant will share the ball the way everyone else has wanted.

So there was Bryant, snapping at Steve Nash for passing up a shot Friday night. Or Kobe with a look of disgust on his face when Metta World Peace was clogging his path by posting up on the right block Sunday afternoon. You know what else happened on a regular basis this weekend? Kobe Bryant dishing out 14 assists per game as if he were gunning for John Stockton's record, not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring crown.

There wasn't a contract drawn up by lawyers for everyone to sign. Not even so much as a handshake deal. But everyone seems to be happier after the Lakers' proved able to, in Bryant's uncouth terms, "finally beat a team that's worth a s---" with a 105-96 victory over the Thunder.

"There's been no discussion, but it's been great," Lakers guard Steve Nash said. "He's been making plays for everybody. No matter how we do this or how it looks, when he plays for his teammates, draws a crowd and makes the right read, we're a different team."

While Bryant's passing was the talk of the Lakers' locker room, the passer himself was more pleased with the no-nonsense atmosphere.

"We're doing a real good job of holding each other accountable," Bryant said. "That makes a big difference."

The best sequence that summarized both of the changes came in the fourth quarter, with the Lakers clinging to a one-point lead. Bryant, dribbling on the right side, saw World Peace in his way. Kobe made a face as if he'd just bitten an onion soaked in lemon juice and dismissively waved World Peace out to the corner.

"What the f--- are you doing?" Bryant later recounted his thoughts at that moment.

Friday, Bryant had used the same terminology to express his displeasure at Nash making an unnecessary extra pass. That night he also expounded on the current climate in Lakerland: "The culture right now is a confrontational one, which you want. You can't just sweep things under the rug all the time. They don't get better by doing it. You have to be able to confront things."

On Sunday, World Peace vacated the spot and left Bryant a lane to drive to the hoop. Bryant drove past Serge Ibaka, but rather than challenge one of the NBA's top shot-blockers Bryant found a cutting Earl Clark, who took the ball and slammed it home.

Kobe got things his way, and everyone else got a chance to shoot the ball. For what it's worth, the Lakers are 7-14 when he scores 30 points this season and 3-0 when he has 11 or more assists.

"When he distributes the ball like that, guys are ready to catch it," Lakers forward Pau Gasol said. "He sets everybody up and sets up such a good energy on offense and it carries over to the defensive end. It's worked great."

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni's joy from looking at a box score with 29 assists and six players in double-digit scoring was tempered when his eyes caught the Lakers' record, which is still under .500 at 19-25. You also wonder if D'Antoni's happiness is diminished by the essential scrapping of his offensive philosophy to accommodate this bigger, slower team.

"We're a team that posts the ball," is how Bryant described the Lakers' newfound identity. "We play inside-out."

Does that sound like a typical Mike D'Antoni team to you? But the urgency of their situation has forced everyone to abandon his comfort zone. Nash has gone from directing the show to becoming a spot-up shooter (he made 6 of 11 shots in both of Kobe's 14-assist games). Pau Gasol is coming off the bench, but still scoring more than his season average. Dwight Howard had only seven field goal attempts (he did shoot 10 free throws).

"I think the key for us is to not look at the past and how we played in the past individually and say, 'Well, I had success doing it this way,'" Nash said. "Look at how you can get involved and impact with the way that we're playing."

The Lakers are still four games behind the Houston Rockets for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. Even though the Lakers aren't a playoff team yet, they finally have started to play like one. The ongoing question: Is it the fancy passing, or a passing fancy?

Jazzygirl205 wrote:Since Kobe passed MJ on the all time assists list where does that put him on your list, well for those who still have him outside of your top 10 or top 5? That's a pretty cool accomplishment since he's so selfish and all? Call me silly but I always thought the selfish argument was to deflect from him as a great scorer. While us Laker fans prefer this Kobe, others are saying "Yay no more scoring Kobe no more scoring titles" of course bean doesn't care. But other players are always begged to score and have these explosive scoring runs, and people enjoy it. Still mind boggling how people still get up in arms about comparing him to MJ opposed to other players. But Kobe is Kobe I rather Kobe be compared to Kobe since it's like 3 different versions of him lol. Only get one player like this in a lifetime, too bad I never saw him in person.

last stand wrote:i think when it's all said and done

MJ>lebron>kobe>magic