Kobe Bryant is undoubtedly the game's best player and its most lethal assasin. He's proven that in the regular season and now he's once again proving it in the playoffs at the expense of the Denver Nuggets.
Kobe averaged 28.3 PPG in the regular season and he's almost doubled that in their series.
Denver attempted to play a series of zones and got dissected by floor general #24.
Here is a list of all players that were assigned the unaccomplishable task of guarding the league's great :
Kenyon Martin PF
Linas Kleiza SF
Eduardo Najera SF
Carmelo Anthony SF
Marcus Camby C
J.R. Smith SG
1st Quarter
With Kenyon Martin defending, it was bound to happen. No way should Karl have had Kenyon defending; a player who's had several possible career ending knee surgeries, certainly career changing. Bryant went 12-13 from the field and finished second in Lakers history in points in the first quarter in a playoff game, behind Elgin Baylor (22).
20 points
2nd Quarter
Kobe decided to beat the Nuggets another way, by using ball movement to deliver heat seekers to teammates when being defended by Linas Kleiza; who hyper extended his elbow in the 2nd quarter of Game 2 and was in no shape or position to be defending anyone, let alone the NBA’s best player.
3 points 1 assist
3rd Quarter
Black Mamba used savage crossovers to work over Eduardo Najera and delivered daggers into George Karl’s heart and Denver fans all over the West Coast
5 points 4 assists
4th Quarter
Versus Carmelo Anthony, Bryant used his elusiveness and his speed to get away from the sluggish forward who's capability on the defensive end seems non-existent.
Bryant used his wits against J.R. Smith and frustrated the young buck who hasn't learned how to get in fromt of a defender either.
19 points 3 assists
The end result, 49 points, 10 assists, on 66.6 % FG shooting.
What will stop Kobe?
The answer, himself
Or Ron Artest like I mentioned
Kobe has averaged 40.5 PPG in the series (81 total), and created numerous oppurtunities for Pau Gasol, Luke Walton, Sasha Vujajic, and Derek Fisher.
If Denver wants to have at least a shot at advancing to the next roud, they'tr going to have to do something to immobilize Kobe Bryant.
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3 months ago
Also, Denver should try inserting Nene into the starting lineup to try and defend Kobe Bryant, as Kenyon Martin is a solid part of their offensive scheme; picks up fouls when trying to defend Kobe.
3 months ago
Najera isn't a bad defender in his own right, he should do it... who knows, Kobe might not drop 30. AI is way too short to defend Kobe... Luke Walton can get past the answer, imagine what Kobe would do to him. Nene isn't a bad idea, but Kobe is just too quick, even for him, although drives to the hoop would certainly be more difficult.
3 months ago
40.5 is actually nowhere close to doubling his season average, but I'll leave math alone. However, KMart did an OK job in game one, which is why he was on him in game 2. He held Kobe to 2/10 in the first half of game one, Kobe just got hot early in game two. And actually, he was 10/12 and hit 10 straight, not 12/13.
from 3 months ago
Martin may have held Kobe in Game 1, but not Pau Gasol. His real job is to help down low in the paint. Ny bringing Martin out it allowed Gasol to have a easier time dropping 36 and 16.
Game 2 like I said, they shouldn't have put Kenyon back on Kobe, and look what happened.
Once again this all falls back to owner Stan Kroenke and George Karl for not pulling the trigger on the Ron Artest deal.
3 months ago
game 1 was Gasol. Gasol won that game. Kobe shot horrible the the first 2 quarters. They were already blowing them out when Kobe started converting his shots. He finished with 32 but it looked more like 20. Game 2, i think he was just trying to take the spotlight from Gasol.
3 months ago
I don't think Kobe was trying to take the spotlight from anyone. He's moved on from that. He was just hot, and when you're hot, you shoot the ball. And when he gets hot, the Lakers look to him more frequently, which they did. He may have gotten 49 points, but it was depriving anyone, he was doing it within the offense.
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