Top 5 players who are playing the best in 2007/2008?

[Bgil]

With league pass, as it pertains to AI and kobe I follow the lakers (my friend is a huge fan) and the nuggets. I've seen about half the lakers games and seen all but two of the nuggets games. In the games I've seen AI has been the superior and more impactful player. Even the game that they credit Kobe for winning, that win was more about the laker bench keeping them in the game while kobe sat on the bench in foul trouble trying to D up AI and denver's coach switching the game plan and trying to use jr and melo to win the game in the fourth.

Obviously you didn't watch the game. It's still available on edit if you need a refresher. Kobe didn't guard AI. Fish started out on him and Farmar was on him later. Both of them got torched. Kobe picked up 1 foul on AI so it wasn't like he was on him all night picking up fouls.

The nuggetts changed their gameplan because the Lakers put Ariza on AI and he locked him up. But hey, if you want to roast george Karl for trying to use a proven superstar to win the game then so be it. The nuggetts lost because they had no defensive plan to stop anyone but Kobe so fish and radman went off. Then when it came to crunch time, Kobe did his thing and iced it.

http://lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t ... sc&start=0

[CB4MiamiHeat]

[quote="Phil_2.0"][/quote]

i never said Iverson was CLEARLY having a better season..

And youre giving Kobe credit for what Fisher, Bynum Farmar etc are doing is like blaming Kobe for what Smush, Cook, Walton couldnt do last season.

Those players are good in their own right, Farmar can create his own shot...Ive seen Fisher dribble up the court and just drain shots, and Bynum, like every center needs to be setup..and he has been setup well by everyone on the team. Give those players some credit.

The talent differential on the Lakers and the Nuggets is pretty even IMO.obviously Carmelo/Camby are better than Odom/Bynum BUT the rest of the players 4-10 on the Lakers are superior to those on the Nuggets.

[ambiglight]

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When Iverson won MVP he shot .420 and yet his team went 56-26.

Like I always say, just because your stats are better doesn't make it better for your team. Just like Iverson in 2001, Kobe continuously shooting the ball makes the defense have to respect his presence on the court.
If you watch games you'll see that those long stretches of time when Kobe would be looking to set up teammates and not looking for his shot or vise-versa are completely gone. That makes the team more effective and harder to defend.

The games against PHX typified this... AI had 32 on 50% shooting yet they got blown out and he was a -21. The Lakers first game against the Suns Kobe went 6-15 and was a +27 in a blowout win without LO. The second game saw Kobe go 12-20 for 38 points but he was only a +9 in a close win.

AI and Carmelo shoot better percentages than Kobe yet the Lakers as a team shoot better than the Nuggets. AI averages more assists than Kobe yet the Lakers average more assists than the Nuggets.

Kobe's playing much better unselfish ball this year, his stats are suffering for it compared to previous seasons, but his team is doing better.

Kobe over AI anyday.

This is just an argument that LA is better than Denver dressed as Kobe is better than AI.

You can't use indicators of team performance to compare players. If you could you could replace Kobe's name with any player on LA and say that player was better than AI.

[LLcoleJ]

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i never said Iverson was CLEARLY having a better season..

I never said you did. But Iverson is have a slightly better offensive season against Kobe's much better defensive season and you make it seem like I cant see why Kobe doesnt get the nod. better record , tougher schedule and a difference in supporting casts.

And youre giving Kobe credit for what Fisher, Bynum Farmar etc are doing is like blaming Kobe for what Smush, Cook, Walton couldnt do last season.

Well no , thats not it all all. Kobe should get credit ( see Millers comments tonight) he draws a lot of attention and allows other players to get good looks. Fisher and Bynum are a direct result of that. fact.

As far as Smush and Cook ..all of those players have had better seasons playing next to Kobe regardless of their limits as players. Walton had a career year last year in the starting role and had been in and out of if this year.

Those players are good in their own right, Farmar can create his own shot...Ive seen Fisher dribble up the court and just drain shots, and Bynum, like every center needs to be setup..and he has been setup well by everyone on the team. Give those players some credit.

Why do you think I am not giving those players credit? But it helps when you have a Kobe on your team. Who leads the team in assists.

The talent differential on the Lakers and the Nuggets is pretty even IMO.obviously Carmelo/Camby are better than Odom/Bynum BUT the rest of the players 4-10 on the Lakers are superior to those on the Nuggets.

Kobe doesnt have a 25 + scorer next to him either. Think about it.

[ambiglight]

With league pass, as it pertains to AI and kobe I follow the lakers (my friend is a huge fan) and the nuggets. I've seen about half the lakers games and seen all but two of the nuggets games. In the games I've seen AI has been the superior and more impactful player. Even the game that they credit Kobe for winning, that win was more about the laker bench keeping them in the game while kobe sat on the bench in foul trouble trying to D up AI and denver's coach switching the game plan and trying to use jr and melo to win the game in the fourth.

Obviously you didn't watch the game. It's still available on edit if you need a refresher. Kobe didn't guard AI. Fish started out on him and Farmar was on him later. Both of them got torched. Kobe picked up 1 foul on AI so it wasn't like he was on him all night picking up fouls.

The nuggetts changed their gameplan because the Lakers put Ariza on AI and he locked him up. But hey, if you want to roast george Karl for trying to use a proven superstar to win the game then so be it. The nuggetts lost because they had no defensive plan to stop anyone but Kobe so fish and radman went off. Then when it came to crunch time, Kobe did his thing and iced it.

http://lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t ... sc&start=0

Actually they changed their game plan before they even started the fourth quarter. Not in response to anything LA did. If you review the game tape, they have footage of Karl specifically changing the game plan, to which AI responded that they better knock down shots if thats the case. Which they failed to do, not to mention turning the ball over and fouling at the wrong times and here you have a perfect example of a team GIVING away a game rather than it being stolen because of something a team or opposing player did.

That ariza stuff is an urban legend just like your other gibberish about AI not putting kobe in foul trouble.

Thanks to play by play on espn game notes you can see for yourself.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbypla ... =271205007

AI was destroying the lakers single handedly. Kobe volunteered to defend him. AI drew two fouls on Kobe in the second quarter at the 4 minute mark and 30 second mark. Kobe then opened the third quarter fouling AI at the 11 minute mark.

That's three fouls right there in the span of five minutes of play.

Good sir, are you sure you watched the game?