Points: Kobe 4th All-Time; passes Wilt / MJ next

Correct me if I am wrong, as it has been a while, but when Magic Johnson passed Oscar Robertson on the all-time assist list, with that pass to Terry Teagle on the baseline turnaround, didn't the Lakers stop the game and honor Johnson with a ceremony before heading back to the court to play the game? Do you believe if he were to ever do that, that play would stop, and he a ceremony would take place?

LAKEROC wrote:Correct me if I am wrong, as it has been a while, but when Magic Johnson passed Oscar Robertson on the all-time assist list, with that pass to Terry Teagle on the baseline turnaround, didn't the Lakers stop the game and honor Johnson with a ceremony before heading back to the court to play the game? Do you believe if he were to ever do that, that play would stop, and he a ceremony would take place?

If he passed Kareem.... maybe at the next timeout. It would depend on who's home floor it was on I suppose.

When Kareem passed Wilt it was in Las Vegas of all places and they did stop the game and gave him the ball.

It's awesome that he's passed Shaq. I'm very happy for that! I still think of him being number 7 right now though behind Dr. J and Moses on all time NBA/ABA points. At the rate he's going he'll pass Moses this year and come right up close to Dr. J.

Congrats Kobe! Inching towards #1 overall.

I'll congratulate him when he cracks the top 3...which is basically inevitable if he stays healthy *knock on wood*.

Classy (and funny) response from Shaq...

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_t ... e_reax.nba

I doubt Kobe catches Kareem. He may get Malone however.

I think you can expect Kobe to score around 20 to 25 for the next 4 years (after this one) and then you will see the drop off. at 36 to 37 years of age it will be difficult for him to play enough minutes to get over 20 points for a full season unless his field goal percentage rises with age...... which isn't usually the case with aging players. Usually the opposite is true.

I think one of the best seasons ever for any player was Kareem's 85-86 season. He finished the regular season 6 days away from his 39 birthday and averaged 23.4, 6.1 and 3.5 in just over 33 minutes a game. That was the end of him being a dominant player as the next 3 years saw significant drop-offs each successive year.

At 38 to 39 years old nobody's done anything like that in an entire season. MJ averaged 22 at the same age but that was after a 4 year layoff and he only played 60 games. Malone had a pretty good season at 38..... he averaged 22 and 8 in 38 minutes.

Jordan Played 15 seasons and amassed 41,010 regular season minutes and another 7,474 playoff minutes
Kobe is in his 16th season and has 41,100 minutes regular season minutes and another 8,165 playoff minutes
Kareem played 20 seasons and logged 57,477 regular season minutes and another 8,851 playoff minutes.
Malone played 19 seasons and logged 54,852 regular season minutes and another 7,907 playoff minutes.

Looking at those minute totals gives you some perspective on just how much Kobe as played. He's already played more minutes than Jordan but he will need to play another 6 years to catch Kareem (at about 2600 min/season average). Kareem averaged 36.8 minutes for 20 years. Kobe is below that in his 16th season and that will most likely go down from this point on. So if Kobe catches Kareem in minutes played it will take him until he is about 40 years old and 22 seasons.... That puts what Kareem did in perspective..... especially since he was 22 when he started his NBA Career.

The question that will be answered by Kobe will be: Is it minutes or age that is limiting factor? The next 6 years will answer that question. I don't think he will catch Kareem in scoring but he may in minutes played. I think he can catch Malone if he avoids a significant injury.

Playoff points updated!

To put what's needed to pass Kareem in perspective, Kobe just averaged 29 points for 7 games, or about 203 points. Lakers will need to advance to the next round in order to catch KAJ this year

Sirron wrote:To put what's needed to pass Kareem in perspective, Kobe just averaged 29 points for 7 games, or about 203 points. Lakers will need to advance to the next round in order to catch KAJ this year

Doable.

An early exit last season kind of messed up my prediction but he should still end his career as the all-time leading post-season scorer. I think just barely though, it really depends on if the Lakers can stay competitive after this season. A lot of question marks there.

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:An early exit last season kind of messed up my prediction but he should still end his career as the all-time leading post-season scorer. I think just barely though, it really depends on if the Lakers can stay competitive after this season. A lot of question marks there.

If he does become the playoffs all-time leading scorer, don't you think that's a better argument for greatness than being the regular season all-time leading scorer?

Finwë wrote:

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:An early exit last season kind of messed up my prediction but he should still end his career as the all-time leading post-season scorer. I think just barely though, it really depends on if the Lakers can stay competitive after this season. A lot of question marks there.

If he does become the playoffs all-time leading scorer, don't you think that's a better argument for greatness than being the regular season all-time leading scorer?

One thing you have to look at is the number of AVAILABLE playoff games. Because of format changes, numbers of teams and length of series changes Kareem didn't have the same number of AVAILABLE games each year that Kobe has. If Kareem had played under the current formats he would be quite a bit in front of Kobe.....

Kareem played 237 playoff games...... Kobe 215 so far. Kareem averaged 24.3 in those games. Kobe is averaging 25.5. Kareem's last two year lowered his post season average quite a bit...

Yes, Roo, but we don't penalize Russell for playing many less playoff games than the modern era en route to his 11 titles.

Number three in playoff points scored is impressive, considering that Kob has only been to the finals 7 times, so far.

V.V.V.V.V. wrote:Yes, Roo, but we don't penalize Russell for playing many less playoff games than the modern era en route to his 11 titles.

Number three in playoff points scored is impressive, considering that Kob has only been to the finals 7 times, so far.

I'm just pointing out that Kareem didn't have the opportunities to play as many games. The competition was a little stronger because of fewer teams as well. It's impossible to compare era's and say one is greater than the other IMO. If Kareem has played in the current format he'd have significantly more points IMO at the end.

It would seem to me that points per game is a better measure given a minimum number of games. In that case Kobe and Kareem are among a list of players that seemed to score well in the playoffs. AI, Jordan, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, George Gervin, Dirk and Hakeem all have higher averages than either of those two.....

V.V.V.V.V. wrote:We don’t penalize Russell for playing many less playoff games than the modern era en route to his 11 titles. Number three in playoff points scored is impressive, considering that Kob has only been to the finals 7 times, so far.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is No. 2 on the finals scoring list (10 Finals) while Russell is No. 5 (12 Finals).

Code: Select all

                                            Games if averaging:
                                            20ppg   25ppg   30ppg
1.  Jerry West           1,679 (+  742)     38      30      25
2.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar  1,317 (+  380)     19      16      13
3.  Michael Jordan       1,176 (+  239)     12      10       8
4.  Elgin Baylor         1,161 (+  224)     12       9       8
5.  Bill Russell         1,151 (+  214)     11       9       8
6.  Sam Jones            1,139 (+  202)     11       9       7
7.  Tom Heinsohn         1,035 (+   98)      5       4       4
8.  John Havlicek        1,018 (+   81)      5       4       3
9.  Magic Johnson          972 (+   35)      2       2       2
10. Kobe Bryant            937
11. Julius Erving *        928 (-    9)
12. Shaquille O’Neal       865 (-   72)
13. James Worthy           754 (-  183)
14. George Mikan           741 (-  196)
15. Larry Bird             716 (-  221)

* - Points are combined ABA + NBA

I looked it up a few years ago. What got me interested was a game note from the 2009 NBA Finals.

ESPN wrote:Bryant (707) passed Dennis Johnson (676) for 16th on the finals scoring list. Next is Bob Pettit (709).

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

I wanted to know who were in the Top 15 and compiled a list. Remove Erving for an NBA only’ list.

^^ nice find.

In game 5, Kobe set the NBA playoffs record:

Most FGA (33) without an assist !

Bump. And updated.
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2012/12/05/20121204-lal-kobe-30000.nba

Hope he gets his 30,000 quick so we can get back to playing team basketball

GoldenKnight wrote:Hope he gets his 30,000 quick so we can get back to playing team basketball

It's sad that nothing is changed till now. Hope he can wake up after Pau and Nash coming back. Actually I dont think he will.