He says he was just making himself a decoy. But since when is taking 26 shots making yourself a decoy?
With 6'9" Kenyon Martin draped all over him, Kobe Bryant made only nine of those 26, and most of them didn't come until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.
Although the Lakers won handily, 128-114, could they have doubled their winning margin if Bryant had passed up some of the shots he obviously forced?
Just past the half-way mark of the first quarter, the Lakers opened up a 10-point lead in what amounted to a layup drill that the Nuggets were helpless to stop.
Then Bryant started taking unnecessary perimeter shots. Some were open and some were contested. Only two found their mark.
Instead of increasing their 10-point lead, the Lakers found themselves on the short end of a 47-40 score.
It wasn't until Gasol, Odom, and Walton started feeding each other in the paint that the Lakers made up ground and forged ahead 58-56 at halftime. Bryant was only 2-10 at the intermission.
Continuing to pound the ball in the paint, the Lakers, led by Pau Gasol, opened the second half with a 15-2 run. They closed the third quarter way out in front, 97-78.
But at the start of the fourth quarter, Bryant went back to hoisting up contested shots, and the Nuggets promptly cut the Laker lead down to 10.
They would close to within nine points twice in the period before Bryant finally found the mark and wound up with 18 points in the quarter. He had 32 points overall. Thirteen came on free throws.
I had to ask myself if Bryant's erratic performance through three-and-a-half quarters had anything to do with Chris Paul's performance Saturday.
In the New Orleans Hornets' opener against the Dallas Mavericks, Paul had a lackluster first half just like Bryant did on Sunday. The Hornets went into their locker room at the half trailing Dallas, 52-40.
But in the second half, Paul was nothing less than sensational. To chants of "M-V-P," he put the Hornets on his back and drove them to a 104-92 victory.
Paul left no doubt as to his MVP caliber, fueling the Hornets' 24-point turnaround with a 35-point, 10-assist performance. His energy and determination are what single-handedly lifted New Orleans past Dallas.
Could Chris Paul's performance actually have gotten Kobe Bryant to throw up shot after shot in Sunday's game against the Nuggets? With his front court playing so well together, there was no need to take more than half that number of shots.
"I just made myself more of a decoy and then allow my teammates to open up the game for me," Bryant said.
Was he telling the truth or simply trying to cover his real motivation? Being the competitor that he is, did Bryant feel the need to surpass Chris Paul's performance with an unequaled one of his own?
One thing is certain. It was quite obvious who turned out to be the Most Valuable Player this weekend.
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5 months ago
if you want to give the MVPOTFGOTP (most valuable player of the first game of the playoffs) to chris paul, that's fine. kobe clearly proved that he is more deserving of the mvp for the season than chris paul. i really hate how the media labels a player good or bad depending on the latest strings of games played by those players. very intelligent
5 months ago
New Orleans Hornets Team assists per game: 21.7
League Average Team assists per game: 21.7
So ... what does Chris Paul add to his team, beside allocating more assists to himself, while his teams' assists are the league average?
from 5 months ago
Without him his team assists would be under league average, think abou it
5 months ago
Good article. Just one question-why does each and every contest have to be made out to be psychological competition everytime Kobe's games come up? So what if he had 26 shots? So what? and the assumption that half of his attempts could have led to more points instead? If that is the sole criteria, why don't everybody simply pass the ball and not attempt a shot every possession, how's that sound? C'mon bro, mind games or not, Kobe leads his team, by example, and they defer to him. Think Gasol just got good in LA? He did, coz he's got Kobe's wholehearted support. Because Lamar has Kobe to thank for this season. Chris Paul? The kid's good, very good, but please....enough's enough. Till the two meet, let's not get too overanxious and excited. It takes a man to discipline a kid, remember that!
But still, your article's good reading. I enjoyed it. Of course, what would we be without some good-natured criticism, right?
5 months ago
The assumption was a long-shot. Maybe last year's Mavericks, led by Dirk 'Diggler' Novitski, should have prompted the vote to be witheld until after the 1st round
5 months ago
Its *Nowitzky* and I think its possible, I doubt it though, Kobe probably wasnt even watching the Hornets game, but if we was, it is possible, doubtful, but possible
5 months ago
YOU ARE AN IDIOT. Now that that's out of the way... One thing you didn't notice, obiviously, was that the Nuggets moved Martin off of Kobe when he stopped shooting as much in the second quarter. What this does was allow the smaller guards of the nuggets guard Kobe and Martin to go back to guarding the larger interior players. This is when the Nuggets made there run. He was a decoy that allowed Luke Freaking Walton to score 16 points because he had a six foot guy guarding him. You need to understand basket ball rather than just ripping a player you don't like very much. Idiot!
from 5 months ago
I won't flag your comment as offensive although I am tempted to. Nevertheless, I believe I have hit a soft spot. First of all, I root for Kobe as much as anyone. But I'm also fair-minded, and call them as I see them. Kobe was hoisting up contested shots when he had open men he could have passed to and with enough time on the 24-second clock for them to get off a shot.
Even when the smaller guards were on him and he had somewhat open looks, he was still missing. So, why not realize you're having an off night shooting (20%) the first half and pass the ball off.
Finally, Luke Freaking Walton made some shots in the paint for a change because Odom and Gasol fed him the ball and opted not to pass it back out to Kobe. Case closed!
5 months ago
Why is it offensive when I call you as I see you (an idiot).
Guys like Kobe should never care if they are 20% from the field and pass because his job is to put pressure on the defense and keep shooting because the shots will start falling (as they did in the fourth quarter).
Luke knows how to play basketball and he became more agressive in trying to score because he had a midget guarding him. Any 6'8" guy will score at will against a 6'0" guy it is just plain common sense and the only reason he had Iverson guarding him was because Martin was on Kobe and they fealt the mismatch on Walton was a calculated risk. The issue here is that Iverson is a defensive liability in part because Kobe was a decoy.
4 months ago
Did Chris Paul losing to the Spurs force Kobe to beat the Spurs in Game 1 tonight?
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