Game 27: Los Angeles Lakers (12-14)@ Golden State Warriors (18-9)

[dc5jdm]

Can someone tweet gasol tell him to be strong with the ball on rebounds and dunk it!!

[GetShrutedOn]

I'm not just talking about where he took shots on the floor, but when and why.

The man is a head case surrounded by an army of people who will never hold him accountable. If any other player in the league put up those numbers we'd all be laughing. If any other player on the Laker squad put up those numbers we'd want them benched or traded. But Kobe does it and hey, it's all good.

Well it's not all good. The entire team shot a hair over 50% for the game. Kobe bricked enough shots by himself to get us blown out -- in large part because most of them became turnovers and easy buckets for the other team. How is that effective or efficient?

It's neither. It's pathetic.

The biggest liability on this team is defense. It overshadows every other problem.

But the biggest threat to a potential title run is Kobe. If he can't play team ball at this point in his career then you might as well blow up the team. Nash can do it, Pau can do it, and I think Howard can do it. But if Kobe can't do it then it's over before it starts.

Again: the Lakers needed to go to OVERTIME because their STAR PLAYER bricked enough shots to keep the other team in the game. There's no other way to describe what happened tonight. And yet everybody thinks he's a hero.

Honestly, i feel like you think you know way to much. You complain about everyone whining and venting about the lakers, yet you ***** about Kobe all the time. Yes, Kobe shot a ton of shots today, but he also made huge shots that helped us win the game. It's funny how you have made excuses for everyone on the team, but you trash the guy that has won us 5 titles. It's pretty comical how you are supportive of everyone in our franchise, but when it comes to our franchise player, you aren't. Do you really think Kobe is the problem man?? I would like to know because when I read your 65 posts day it seems like you think you know everything.

[Citanoxeno]

Honestly, i feel like you think you know way to much. You complain about everyone whining and venting about the lakers, yet you ***** about Kobe all the time. Yes, Kobe shot a ton of shots today, but he also made huge shots that helped us win the game. It's funny how you have made excuses for everyone on the team, but you trash the guy that has won us 5 titles. It's pretty comical how you are supportive of everyone in our franchise, but when it comes to our franchise player, you aren't. Do you really think Kobe is the problem man?? I would like to know because when I read your 65 posts day it seems like you think you know everything.

41 times is way too much. i don't care how you cut it. We will not go far with Kobe taking that many shots. of course he made big shots, hw was the only one taking them

[Pluvious]

Honestly, i feel like you think you know way to much. You complain about everyone whining and venting about the lakers, yet you ***** about Kobe all the time. Yes, Kobe shot a ton of shots today, but he also made huge shots that helped us win the game. It's funny how you have made excuses for everyone on the team, but you trash the guy that has won us 5 titles. It's pretty comical how you are supportive of everyone in our franchise, but when it comes to our franchise player, you aren't. Do you really think Kobe is the problem man?? I would like to know because when I read your 65 posts day it seems like you think you know everything.

Kobe is a deadly weapon. He can obliterate the enemy with a barrage of shots or kill his own team with friendly fire.

[Pluvious]

This is the kind of game haters look at and conclude that Kobe Bryant is a ballhog. Unfortunately, they ignore the other 70-75 games a season where he plays a reasonable game.

Forget the raw number of 41 shots. I'm talking about the constant pursuit of a basket and forsaking of ball movement. I guess he saw a mismatch (more than usual) with whomever was guarding him, and was determined to establish dominance. Almost from minute one tonight, he was just pressing the action constantly, dribbling into traffic and looking only for the basket.

Notwithstanding the makes in crunch time, Kobe played like hammered s h i t. I have to think that also he has gotten swept up in his current scoring streak. I remember him getting this kind of tunnel-vision in a particular game against the Sonics during his streak of 40-point games in 02-03. He had the presence, at least after the game, to apologize to his teammates afterward that time. Of course, that's when he was surrounded by older vets and Phil Jackson to let him no the score (no pun intended).

Kobe is a ball hog. Anybody who doesn't realize that is clueless.

However, that does not mean being a ball hog hurts the team more than it helps. There are positives and negatives. Its almost like you have to look at each game and see if it helped or hindered in that particular game.

To have a player that is extremely aggressive, confident, can get his shot anytime and get fouled is a huge asset. It also draws lots of defensive attention. That is very positive.

However, if Kobe would just realize that moving the ball to the open man when the ball is being swung or when he's doubled would get higher % shots overall and help gain confidence for other players then that would be a good thing for the team.

No player is perfect though and you just live with it. But everyone on this board loves to pick on the deficiencies of each player.

Nash is poor on defense, Gasol is passive, Howard is dumb, etc. Anyone of these things can hurt the Lakers in a given game. But they all bring a lot to the game as well. You just need to limit these weaknesses.

Nash handling the ball a lot actually limits many of the weaknesses for all the other players. And the team in turn needs to help Nash. Nash actually plays hard and smart on D too so its not as bad as it seems. Physically he just needs help. Unfortunately there are other questionable defenders on the team too so that is a big issue.

[Pluvious]

And Nash being a leader is a he's and no. He's more of a praise, good cop, buddy. I'm not denying that but it didnt win him anything in his life, never got him out the west, but Kobe's I go hard, hell, kick, scream, exact your best, and you either battle with me or gtfo out the way got him 5 rings and 7 finals appearances.

Like it or not basketball isn't linear. Here's no status opaque or model to follow as a leader r player. What worked for Magic didnt work for Bird, what worked for Mike didnt work for them. Nash has played with great talent, probably more than Kobe has his career if you lineup names side by side but his heavily nice guy approach ain't won so why would Kobe adopt it over doing things his winning way?

I agree Kobe is a winner and always has had a great winning mentality. But so much is circumstance in this league. If Jackson had not come along how many titles would Kobe have? They struggled the year before Jackson came even though they had similar players. You just never know.

In regards to Nash...his teams always exceed expectations. I mean literally every year in Phoenix they played better and won more then they were expected too. It was in fact talent that was the problem. Namely rebounding and defense. That is talent as well. And coaching.

In the Playoffs as well the Suns always played and won up to their expectations going into the playoffs. They just never quite exceed them and beat a team that was better then them like the Spurs or Lakers.

Also, while Nash is positive he's not a super "good guy". He's mean and gets really hard and tough in games. He's always positive to players though so you're right. But the Suns players always did well and performed above what they did otherwise in their careers.

Basically, relating any "not winning a title" to Nash is just way off base. Nash is a championship type player but he just never quite had the right team/fit. Can he carry a team on his own? No.

[KB-Pau-DH2012]

No excuse for Kobe to jack up 41 shots like that and not play team ball. That being said, two positives out of last night's win. One, Nash seemed to prove very well after being off for so long. Two, the Lakers have now been able to show that despite getting into a hole, they have been able to come back for double digit second half deficits in both games.

[J4KOP99]

I just watched the highlights again... pretty magical comeback

[GailGoodrich]

Honestly, i feel like you think you know way to much. You complain about everyone whining and venting about the lakers, yet you ***** about Kobe all the time. Yes, Kobe shot a ton of shots today, but he also made huge shots that helped us win the game. It's funny how you have made excuses for everyone on the team, but you trash the guy that has won us 5 titles. It's pretty comical how you are supportive of everyone in our franchise, but when it comes to our franchise player, you aren't. Do you really think Kobe is the problem man?? I would like to know because when I read your 65 posts day it seems like you think you know everything.

I've been pretty clear about what the problems were/are with this team.

1. Mike Brown. I advocated for and supported his termination. He was terrible.

2. Meeks/offense. Get the ball in the hands of decent shooters who are ready to launch. We're now doing this.

3. Defense. This is now the biggest problem with the team. It trumps everything on offense by a mile.

4. Kobe. I've said from the beginning of the season that we only go as far as Kobe's leadership takes us. And so far this season Kobe has consistently demonstrated that he doesn't know how to lead. Yes, he's a great scorer. Yes, he has a indomitable will. But he also has an excuse for everything. Well, last night that excuse was exposed for the lie that it always has been. He says he only takes over when he can't trust his teammates, but last night his teammates were shooting 50+% for the game. Kobe single-handedly keep GS in the game by bricking a ton of shots, and he didn't have to.

I agree Kobe helped win 5 rings. But he didn't win them on his own, any more than MJ did. Without Shaq he gets none. Without Pau and Lamar he gets none. And without Phil he probably gets none.

As for supporting Kobe, I'll say this again. If you say you are THE MAN then I'm raising the bar on my expectations for you. I don't know why everybody else seems to think the right response is to worship his gunslinging *** and put up with his petulant crap, but that's clearly how many people respond.

If you almost shoot your team out of a win, struggle to shoot 50%, play zero defense, and then make a few buckets late in a game that should never even have gone to overtime, you don't get my respect. You get ripped -- and rightly so, because you and everyone else would have done the same thing to any other player(s) on the team.

I'm a life-long Laker fan. Nobody -- including Magic -- transcends my idiotic fan fervor for the team. When Kobe's on, he's great. When he's off, he's an accident waiting to happen. Our only hope this year is that Nash can provide the leadership that Kobe can't deliver. If so, maybe we can get Kobe another ring, and you can pretend it was all about the Mamab and nobody else. Even if he goes 6-24 again in the final game.

[J4KOP99]

It's very fitting that the poll results are 6 and 24...

[duane v]

Honestly, i feel like you think you know way to much. You complain about everyone whining and venting about the lakers, yet you ***** about Kobe all the time. Yes, Kobe shot a ton of shots today, but he also made huge shots that helped us win the game. It's funny how you have made excuses for everyone on the team, but you trash the guy that has won us 5 titles. It's pretty comical how you are supportive of everyone in our franchise, but when it comes to our franchise player, you aren't. Do you really think Kobe is the problem man?? I would like to know because when I read your 65 posts day it seems like you think you know everything.

Him and Pluvius have their heads so far up D'Antoni's anal cavity, that if he were to stop walking both of their empty skulls would pop out of D'Antoni's arm-pits.

[GailGoodrich]

It's very fitting that the poll results are 6 and 24...

Good eye!

LOL.....

[Chavacano]

I didn't watch the game so I may be wrong, but I think Kobe is taking too shot attemps instead of our 2 Big Man, this probably would motivate them to play more defense, because we are struggling a lot on this side of the court.

^^ If getting to play your favorite sport and get paid millions while at it isn't motivation enough to play hard then I don't what will.

[GailGoodrich]

Him and Pluvius have their heads so far up D'Antoni's anal cavity, that if he were to stop walking both of their empty skulls would pop out of D'Antoni's arm-pits.

Would not!

[LAKERMANIA]

^^ If getting to play your favorite sport and get paid millions while at it isn't motivation enough to play hard then I don't what will.

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