Kobe's "Quitting" During Game 7's

[milesfides]

Despite lighting up Denver just 2 days ago, Kobe didn't look for his shot at all this game. Instead, he played defense, moved the ball quickly out of double teams, didn't force shots, didn't press, found his open teammates. He was a point guard from the high post.

He committed to this style of play despite the shot clock going down, despite pressure building. Calmly found his teammates, and I think there's no question this helped fuel Blake's confidence, Metta's stroke, and Pau's rhythm.

I thought, wait, haven't I seen this before? Of course. Game 7 against Phoenix, 2006. When Kobe was accused of quitting in the 2nd half.

http://chasing23.com/kobe-bryant-quit-game-7/

Kobe's rationale and play was the same for both games. Kobe knew he could light up Phoenix (or Denver) if he focused on scoring individually, but since they were losing no matter how many points he scored, he decided to take a radical approach: sacrifice his game and push his teammates to step up.

Of course we know what happened. Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Brian Cook, and Kwame Brown happened.

Tonight's game, Kobe took the same approach. Different outcome.

Of course, Kobe's critics won't change their tune, but I thought the parallels in both Game 7's warranted a comment.


(Kobe still hit the dagger three in the fourth, of course)

[Tee212]

great quality post as always, of course ppl will say blake and pau bailed out the lakers. Its the same pau and blake everyone blasted on including me (blake = fisher) a few games ago. but as i said... a few 3's in the playoffs and youll be forgiven blake.

[rand0m]

His demeanor just didn't seem the same tonight as it was vs PHX. He didn't seem to have his heart in the game and lacked the intensity we usually get from Kobe Bryant. It was a while ago though so I may be wrong?

[milesfides]

Well, of course the demeanor won't be exactly the same because you can't be happy about your teammates bricking shots and losing by 30. But his approach and logic were the same. If Kobe could score at will but still lose, he needed to make a point to them that he's going to commit to making them better, push them into opportunities to contribute, because they weren't going to step up on their own.

This was partly Phil Jackson's idea, IIRC.

[Mamba Venom]

Clearly he played the same way. I wish someone would have brought that up to Charles after the game. He ripped Kobe so bad for quitting.

Kobe is 5-1 in game 7s. That 1 is what people remember most because of Charles. The fact is the Lakers should have won it in 6. But Kwame couldn't rebound and Thomas was WIDE open.

[Imadogg]

I gotta rewatch that game but it pretty much felt like quit back then. Didn't see that in him at all tonight.

It's just stupid we think it's ok if he has to choose between "I'll score 40.. oh wait it's not working so I'll just pass all the time and not look to shoot at all". That was the rationale for Phx but I actually don't believe he did that today, it was much more in the flow of things instead of just focusing on "I'll make sure everyone else shoots but I just set them up". And I don't remember any of the GOAT-level players choosing between scoring 40 and choosing to not shoot at all.

[jellybean8]

He was double teamed every single possession he had the ball

-Removed personal attack - Ty

[Sofa King]

He was double teamed every single possession he had the ball

Clear example of someone just reading the title and not the post.

[Mirjalovic]

Miles, just a question, are you really a Blake fans ? Everytime I read your posts, its always had Steve Blake on it. Peace

btw, i like Kobe game tonight.

[semi-sentient]

A lot of the stat dorks who only watch box scores are going to be thrilled to include these numbers to his cumulative game 7 averages.

I thought that this game was similar to the Rockets Game 7 a few years ago where Kobe played great despite not looking to score.

Anyway, here is an article written a couple of years ago that looks deeper into what happened against the Suns: http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/n ... id=5195953

I went back and watched the 2nd half recently and what I saw was Kobe looking to get Kwame involved as well as the shooters, with Kwame failing miserably (seriously he blew like 5 layups). The Suns were also aggressively double-teaming Kobe to get the ball out of his hands, and guys like Cook, Walton, and Smush were just launching up 3's and going outside of the game plan -- which was to slow the tempo.

[DEEP3CL]

This is one of those read between the lines threads......

To everybody let me break this down in layman's terms, what Kobe pulled in 07 was a direct shot to management to get him help.

Last night his approach was the same, but he has a better trust for his teammates and he wasn't afraid to relent to what our strength is. He trusted passing out to Blake rather than Smush Parker, he trusted passing to Drew in the post rather than Kwame.

Approach was the same, out come was different......because his teammates were different.

[chefy]

I thought kobe played perfect ball last night.

[CowsMoo]

I thought kobe played perfect ball last night.

Probably one of the most underrated games he'll have. Every score was off Kobe, hockey assist or just assist. Pretty amazing.

And that defense was nasty.

[EArl]

He was double teamed every single possession he had the ball

Clear example of someone just reading the title and not the post.

I was thinking the same thing when i read the tittle. Maybe you should consider making the tittle more clear. When i read the tittle a light went inside my head that said defend the board form troll, but it went down when I read through it

[snaquille oatmeal]

though I agree with Miles I also have to point out that Kobe looked a bit worn out too. I think it might have been his illness that made him weak enough to make him want to conserve his energy to finish the game. he may have not been puking like game six, but his level of energy was certainly down a notch or two and might have influenced his approach to game seven. it is my experience to feel weaker during the recovery phase than when you are fighting the illness.

[Gek]

though I agree with Miles I also have to point out that Kobe looked a bit worn out too. I think it might have been his illness that made him weak enough to make him want to conserve his energy to finish the game. he may have not been puking like game six, but his level of energy was certainly down a notch or two and might have influenced his approach to game seven. it is my experience to feel weaker during the recovery phase than when you are fighting the illness.

I agree, he definitely looked fatigued (not gassed, but his body looked like he just got over the flu). I think this played a part in his decision making. Coming up short on 2 or 3 free throws in a row made him realize that jacking shots wasn't the most likely path to winning and he adjusted. It helps that Blake was draining 3s also.

[LaLa]

Kobe wasn't trying? What game were you watching? He was doubled every single time and played perfectly on offense. He was basically doubled every time he got the ball, he realized it and kept passing it. He didn't force anything, passed it to the open man every time and got results. Why do you think Ron and Blake had the numbers that they had lol.

[Kalidogg24]

I honestly thought Kobe looked exhausted.
He pretty much went all out the first 6 games.
An just like Lala said , he was pretty much doubled and tripled
teamed every single possession in this series.

To conclude I think it's fair to say majority of all us Laker heads like it when Kobe facilitates and plays with this type of patience.
It's gets everyone else highly involved.

Team Ball FTW over Hero Ball anyday.

[picc]

I didn't think this game and 2006's game 7 were similar. I thought Kobe called it a game back then and still do. And this time he had the personnel to play that kind of game. Against Phx he didn't, and he knew it, but he also knew he couldn't beat them by himself. So he relented and sent a message. Thats how I see it.

[milesfides]

Fatigue might have been a factor, but I thought Kobe was crisp and decisive in his passes out of double teams to open teammates. Seemed like a deliberate game plan to me.

Also he had plenty left in the tank for that dagger three.

Biggest difference between 2006 and 2012 Game 7's was the quality of Kobe's teammates. Circumstances were very similar, as was Kobe's reasoning.

Still, some very vocal people out there hold on to that game as the biggest flaw in Kobe's career.