so for people who saw it, why exactly did he shoot so much. did they refuse to double him or something so there were few opportunities to pass?? i mean, based on the last 3 games, he has been looking to pass a lot (apparently too much last night), so why the sudden change. a reaction to being told to shoot more?? the game was close so he figured he could do it all? what was up.
Macbeth, I have to disagree. I'm not here to make a point if Kobe is better than Shaq, any purist of the sport knows the answer to that. But to say that Kobe doesn't belong with Iverson, T-Mac or Vince is simply wrong. But hey, everyone has their opinions and everyone will say Kobe is God when he gets a triple double or takes over certain games and everyone will say Kobe is a fluke when he has nights like this. We can say anything we want because it really doesn't effect us. I just have to part with this. Those players do have solid backup. A.D., Grant Hill, Aaron Mckie etc. are very good players. It's just best to see when Shaq retires and if that extra cap room can land another solid big man. Then again, I'm sure it's back up to "Without this [enter player] he'd be nothing." Reminds me of the Jordan years to an extent.
Just basing this on stats, if Cuttino took 47 shots at his season average of 44.7%FG would make him 21/47 from the floor. Now Kobe, goes 17/47. Not to mention Cuttino would have hit at least 2 of his treys if he jacked up 8 of them (Kobe 0/8 3FG). Now tell me why Cuttino shouldn't shoot 47 FG's and Kobe should.....
He got hot in the 3rd quarter. I mean really hot. 5 or 6 tough jumpers in a row. Then he just started hoisting up jumpers from all over the place, instead of being aggressive and attacking the basket. 0-8 from 3 point land and 17-47 in all with only 7 FT attempts. Not a pretty combination.
1)I'm saying he hasn't proven what they have had to...He might...he might prove to be better...But until he has had to do it, he hasn't done it. 2) You're not seriously suggesting any one of those players you mentioned, excpet Hill, who hasn;t been there, are remotley in the same league, or draw the same defensive attention and afford the same single or open looks that Shaq does for Kobe, are you? Yeah, they're solid...that's it. Shaq is the single most dominant player in the game. 3) History shows that Jordan didn't do anything until he got help, in terms of winning. He was known as a selfish choker until then...every year, swept 1st round...
Umm, neither of them should. Its already been said, but there is really no excuse for jacking up that many shots. Besides, Cuttinos last name is Mobley, therefore he is not allowed to shoot that many times. Just refer to the previous posts about these rules
I bet I could. Of course we can never prove it so why argue? Its one freakin shot every minute for crying out loud! ESPNews said its the worst percentage in history for a single game (minimum shot attempts 47)! Only Elgin Baylor was kind enough to hoist up 55, 48, and 47 shots. Second best player my ass. Who here thinks Duncan would not score atleast 75-100 if he jacked up that many shots?
It'd be next to impossible for Duncan to jack up that many shots, because he doesn't have the ball in his hands nearly as much as Kobe Bryant does. He relies on his wings feeding it into the post. Duncan's personality also wouldn't match a 47 FGA night, but I know you're saying hypothetically.
If you had read the post by mav3434 he said "Kobe is a 2 guard and 2 guards can shoot as much as they like". So to answer your question.... mav3434.... duh!
Well why don't YOU show me the LOGIC of why Kobe should shoot as much as he possibly can, yet Cuttino shouldn't. Also, I always seem to read your bashings of Steve and Cuttino about ball hogging. Yet when Kobe throws up 47 you seem to be defending him. Do I smell a troll?
Pierce is not overrated by any means. He's better than AI imo. Tmac and Kobe are on another level just because of their physical attributes. They've got mad mad hops too. Walker on the other hand is overrated. He shoots too much and handles the ball too much. I don't really care for Celtics, but Pierce is top five guards in the league imo.
Shaq and Kobe take up more than half the Lakers cap space. Shaq and Fox are out. That means the regular starters left are Horry/Walker and Fisher. Samaki had a decent night which was good enough for being the second best Laker in the game. The other guys' percentages were pretty pathetic, and it showed during the game. Kobe's 3rd quarter explosion made that game a real game. The Lakers were down by double digits before that. The Rocket's main concern isn't about talent nor are they a one to two superstar team. Besides Steve and Cato (with lowered expectations), our players with highest salaries aren't playing up to how much they're being paid. Our number one pick isn't getting the setups. With the pieces and depth we have on paper we shouldn't have players standing around watching the Steve and Cat show. Situations and circumstances determine when a player can jack up shots or not. If the Lakers were playing with a full stack of cards, Kobe's 47 shots wouldn't be justified.
You pretty much answered your own question. Because it's Kobe, an all nba first team member, and one of the top 5 players in the league. Minus Shaq, there really isn't another scoring option that you can rely upon a regular basis, unless you want to call Fox that "3rd option"? Besides, when you're second leading scorer has 11 points and is named Devean George, you have my blessing to shoot as much as you want. I would say the same if Mobley or Stevie were in Kobe's situation.
Jesus, of course not. I mean as of now, their supporting cast is much better than what Kobe has right now. Fisher and Horry hit the right shots but all the other stuff in between is horrible. S. Walker has been improving the past several games, but very slightly and is clearly still far behind from the norm. Only George has been proven to be half-way decent and even he's living off Kobe. And the bench is...well you get the idea. I'm just saying that Shaq wasn't in L.A., that's at least $10-15 million off the cap. Surely with that money a decent big man could be brought, a Ben Wallace or a Theo Ratliff. Championship? No, but playoff bound at least. I haven't really found such soft spots for T-Mac and Vince. The Magic was already playoff bound before McGrady arrived. And for the past years, their winning percentage has slightly increased. They've never cracked the top four in the East. However, with Hill they'll go much further. Don't get me wrong, I truly believe T-Mac and Kobe are on a tier of excellence with Vince and Iverson just below them. Vince despite his God-given talents doesn't drive the ball at much. He seems to lack the skills of Kobe or the ambition of T-Mac. And Iverson is Iverson. I love to watch him play, but his team concept is seriously flawed. And the fact that he's greatly undersized allows us to have a warm spot for him. Same with Pierce. He lacks the athleticism and the god-hops of the rest, but the boy works and we respect that. And lastly, it's the east. If none of these four can make it to the Finals (Iverson made it in 2000 just to be trounced in the first roudn the next year) consistenly, I can't say they're head and shoulders above Kobe.
But you explain why he shot 17/47.... This guy has been labelled to have equal, to better skills then Jordan has ever had. Add to the equation that Jordan would never shoot that poorly and not get his teammates more involved no matter what talent they have. Adding to the fact that if Kobe was so great he could make his teammates better as Jordan did. I mean, Where is Luc Longley these days? Ron Harper? Seriously, I don't even remember the guys that Jordan played with apart from those 2, Trippin and Rodman. Now to the next point, did Cuttino have anyone in that stretch of games without Steve? KT was out for some of those games too if I remember correctly. Who would you want to shoot the ball? Would you want Cat to jack up 47 shots? I can tell you for a fact that if he even had half that much some people in this BBS would be complaining that he wasn't getting someone involved. Cato? The Wizard at PF? Pfft... Kobe could have used his ability to draw the defence and used Horry/Fisher/Shaw as a shot up shooters. Between those 3 they had a combined 9/23 which is a tick below 40%, better then Kobe's 36%. Why not give them the ball? Keeping in mind, Basketball is a team sport.
Whoa boy, that was kind of a joke that I posted earlier poking fun at steviecat haters; I didn't expect it to morph into an overnight sensation. Let that be a lesson to you non-smiley users out there.
