Anyone know what started Ray and Kobe's beef?

[shobe_81]

It's Kobe who should have a lot of motivation against Ray Allen, Ray is the one who made those comments!

Over the years Ray might have topped Kobe at times but looking at their Head to Head Kobe has a lot more times dominated against Ray!

[Gomes3PC]

Apparently the stats elude you. Ray Allen has basically matched him in PPG and is 12-11 vs. Kobe in that span. Maybe he had a few more dominant games but with near equal PPG, apparently he also had more clunkers, and if Kobe has any clunkers vs. BOS, good luck winning. Boston can win if Allen does not play great; LA cannot if Kobe falters.

[shobe_81]

That's why comparing Kobe's productivity to Allens throughout their careers is pathetic, Kobe head and shoulder is plain and simply better than Allen (I haven't done much in this playoffs).

[vegas_runnin_rebel]

Everyone knows that Kobe is a much better player than Ray Allen. And that's what makes Ray playing Kobe to a near standstill over the course of their careers so impressive.

If you're a Kobe fan, the last thing you should be doing is trying to downplay Ray's career. Either give Ray credit for playing so well against Kobe over the years, or throw Kobe under the bus for letting a "lesser" player play so well against him. It's your choice...

[nyhuskyfan]

In the 15 times they have gone head-to-head since Ray went to Seattle (including the two meetings this year), I would say that Ray has had the better of the match-up six times, Kobe three times, and six were a standstill (or close to it). This takes into account everything - full stat line, which team won, etc.

2/23/03 - Standstill. Kobe has 41 - but on 13-34 shooting. Ray has near triple-double with 26 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Lakers win.

2/28/03 - Advantage Ray. Triple-double with 29-10-10. Kobe has 34 on 10-27 shooting. Sonics win.

3/30/03 - Advantage Ray. Outscored Kobe 32-14 in Sonics win.

1/2/04 - Standstill. Ray outscored Kobe 35-32 with 13-22 shooting compared to 11-25 for Kobe. Sonics win, so I could even score this a slight edge to Ray, but I want to be fair.

1/28/04 - Advantage Ray. Triple double with 18-10-10. Kobe held to 14.

3/5/04 - n/a (Kobe played one minute - I think he suffered an early injury)

4/2/04 - Standstill. Ray outscored Kobe 30-25 and had seven assists to Kobe's two, but Lakers won.

12/14/04 - Standstill. Kobe had a 35-26 scoring edge (shooting 12-23 to Ray's 10-18 ), but Sonics won.

3/20/05 - n/a (Ray played 10 minutes due to injury).

4/8/05 - Edge Kobe. Outscored Ray 42-30 in Lakers win. Was very efficient as well, shooting 15-22.

11/24/05 - Edge Kobe. Outscored Ray 34-19 in Lakers win.

3/12/06 - Edge Ray. Sonics win. Kobe had 22-19 scoring edge, but shot 8-29 compared to 8-17 for Ray. Ray also had 10 rebounds and five assists.

3/31/06 - Edge Kobe. Had a 43-29 edge in scoring, but shot 17-38 from the floor (Ray wasn't efficient either, shooting 10-27). Lakers won.

11/03/06 - Standstill. Ray had 30-23 scoring edge, but Lakers won.

11/5/06 - Edge Ray. Dominated the matchup, outscoring Kobe 32-15. Sonics win.

11/23/07 - Standstill. Kobe outscored Ray 28-18, but the Celtics won big.

12/30/07 - Edge Ray. Celtics won. Kobe had 22 and Ray had 19, but Kobe shot 25 times and Ray shot 13.


Of course, none of this really means anything for this series. Kobe is now option #1 for the Lakers and Ray is option #3 for the Celtics, so all the stat lines should favor Kobe. Its clear, though, that there has been no advantage in the head to head match-up in the past.

[Crooked-I]

It's A LOT different when your going head to head with Kobe when your the number one option than being a 3rd option he is now in these playoffs.

Pierce's output in this series is going to be a lot closer to Kobe's than Ray IMO.

[Gomes3PC]

Yes that's true. Pierce will likely match Kobe in production because the defensive options for stopping Pierce don't exist for LA. He's going to rip through a shoddy perimeter D and get easy buckets or draw fouls on Gasol/Odom.

All we're pointing out is that, despite Kobe being a vastly better player in the body of their careers, when these two guys match up, Ray Allen tends to play a little bit better than he normally does in order to challenge Kobe. Nobody would trade Kobe for Ray Allen, but don't expect in this series for Ray to just disappear. He loves playing the Lakers and Mamba and I expect him to put up great numbers.