Kobe Bryant, for all his brilliance, could not get the Lakers past the Phoenix Suns in the clutch game 7. A lot of people have said that Kobe has failed. Complete Sports, a sports blog I have come to enjoy over the past month said this:
Instead, he was beyond passive. In the 2nd half, he was 0/3 from the field. He scored 1 point, which came after a 3-in-the-key technical foul on Phoenix. He didn’t even look to shoot. He looked like a young Vince Carter after taking a hard foul…
Let’s just say Kobe failed.
David Friedman gives this opposing view:
The combination of Bryant hardly shooting in the second half and only having one assist in the game will provide much fodder for his numerous critics, who can now fire at will from all directions. In the coming days you can expect to hear that he shot too much in the first half, did not shoot enough in the second half, is selfish because he only had one assist and tried to prove a point by not shooting in the second half. Did I leave anything out? What is sorely needed here is some perspective, both about this Lakers team and about Bryant. First, the Lakers are one of the youngest teams in the league, have shown flashes of what they are capable of doing and as the seventh seeded team just extended the second seeded Phoenix Suns to seven games.
What do I feel? I strongly believe that the Jordan comparison, wherever it has come up, isn’t apt. Jordan had Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman along with effective guys like Kukoc, Kerr, Luc Longley and Brian Williams. Who does Bryant have?
Bryant has been simply brilliant this season. Whatever the romance of the individual elevating the game and winning the game conjures up, basketball remains a team game. In instances, Jordan gave brilliant individual performances. However, it must be remembered that the Bulls carried themselves more than adequately when Jordan wasn’t top notch.
Kobe is part of a very young team. It should not have been expected that he could have driven the Lakers to a series win here. That would be simply raising the bar too high and then being disappointed and thus feeling Bryant has lost out on some thing.
The guy hasn’t lost out on any thing. He has been sheer quality right through.
First off, thanks for the link and the kind words.
Second, I do think Kobe “failed” in the 2nd half. Not in the fact that they lost the series, I agree with you that they’re a young team that’s not as talented in Phoenix is, but I think he failed because it looked like he gave up. He made no effort to look for shot, he made little effort to actually go get the ball, he gave up defensively, etc. For 6 1/2 games of this series, he was brilliant. He was passive when he needed to be, he took control when he needed to. But those last 2 quarters have overshadowed that a bit in my eyes. No matter what he did, LA probably wasn’t making a comeback with how Phoenix played, but the fact that, IMO, Kobe simply gave up pretty early in the 3rd quarter, is inexcusable in my eyes.
You have a quality sports blog dude. Welcome.
A superstar, even the most brilliant, cannot always give his ‘A’ game. Team mates have to ride him during those phases. For this reason, I do not blame Kobe here.
We disagree on this. No issues. :)
Which is the great thing about sports. Many people can see the same thing and have totally different opinions about it, none more right than the others.
Yeah Twins. We do agree on this and love our sport. :)
[...] Some how, flawed geniuses excite us and help us avoid the don’t care phenomena. So, a Kobe Bryant will never fail to bore us. One day, he scores truck loads of points and we can’t get enough of his talent. The next day, we wonder if he failed. Breaks in successful performances avoids repitions. Would we have got as excited for the second Jordan three peat had he not had the gap to try baseball despite scenario in which he achieved the second three peat very different? [...]