An Unbiased Fan wrote:Shaq shot 63% because he only took shots 5 feet from the backet at that point,
Yes, because that was sensible and played to his strengths. Did you want him to shoot 3s? That was never part of his game. Shaq did what he was supposed to do. Aside from make free throws, of course, because 49.1% FT was abysmal even by his standards.
Kobe had challenges in that series. Detroit had both strong interior defense and good perimeter defense. Kobe was never the same as Michael in terms of his mid-range shot-making ability, nor in his ability to hit his shots against double- and triple-coverage. That's... a high bar to set, of course, since Jordan was arguably the best we've ever seen at any point in the league at this.
But also, Detroit didn't have to respect the rest of the Lakers, which does touch your point about other Lakers not hitting double figures. Fisher was horrendous, 5/20 from under the arc (6/16 from 3, which is fine). Devean George sucked, though that's sort of what he did on the regular. Payton was an oxygen thief in that series, though everyone expected that because he had no jumper to speak of. Malone missed a game and was otherwise injured, which really hurt LA's overall offensive profile, and obviously did nothing to help Kobe in terms of alleviating defensive pressure. And then what? Medvedenko and Kareem Rush?
So it wasn't exactly a friendly offensive environment. Yes, Kobe sucked, but it's not like even Jordan didn't see notable reductions in his FG% against strong defenses in slow-paced environments. The 2004 Finals were played at 83.4 possessions per game, which is around the tempo of the 96-98 FInals (83.5, 84.0 and 82.0 poss/g), which were not super-great for even MJ's efficiency. 97 Heat (MJ at 47.5% TS and 38.7% FG), 92 Knicks (Jordan at 53.9% TS after 57.9% in the RS), it's not like other high-end stars didn't have hard times against good defenses, particularly at slow tempos. We've seen in the last decade and a half how Boston has been able to affect not just Kobe, but Lebron and KD, right? It takes a LOT to be a very good individual scorer against a team that is geared up specifically to stop a particular star, and raw TS% becomes only so appropriate in such contexts.
Shaq did well with what he was given. As a post big, he had to rely on his perimeter guys to enter the ball. Kobe was bad about that in that series, as he frequently was when he was struggling, but that wasn't really the reason they lost the series. Detroit's defense did as good a job as it gets at limiting Shaq's touches, he was just... Shaq, so he did well when he got the ball. But there's a limit to what a post guy with no J can do when you can't get him the ball. Particularly when he's leaving lots of points on the board at the foul line. Lebron did a little better than Kobe against those Pistons in 2006, but he didn't have a world-busting series against them either, despite being one of the more impressive athletic freaks in NBA history. He got through them in 2007, but he still wasn't any kind of all-world against them. Good enough, which given his team context and the quality of their defense, was just fine. Kind of like Kobe in the 2010 Finals against Boston, to be honest: a performance commensurate with the quality of the opponent.
