POST GAME - L.A. LAKERS

Boston Celtics survive Kobe Bryant's 34, beat Lakers 107-100

ESPNBOSTON

LOS ANGELES -- Isaiah Thomas scored 26 points and the Boston Celtics clinched a playoff berth while besting Kobe Bryant for the final time with a 107-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.

Jae Crowder added 22 points for the Celtics, who blew an early 17-point lead and survived a tense fourth quarter in their first game since snapping the Golden State Warriors' NBA-record 54-game home winning streak.

Bryant scored 34 points in his final showdown with the Lakers' historic rivals, putting up the second highest-scoring performance of his farewell season.

He hit a jumper with 56 seconds left, and Julius Randle's three-point play moments later trimmed Boston's lead to four points. But Bryant missed two late jumpers, and the Celtics secured their eighth playoff berth in nine years.

Randle had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordan Clarkson added 17 points in the Western Conference-worst Lakers' 60th loss of the season.

Evan Turner scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, while Amir Johnson had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics. They also moved a half-game ahead of Miami and Charlotte for fourth place in the tight Eastern Conference standings.

Boston has yet to win a postseason series under coach Brad Stevens.

Thomas scored 13 points in a 1:54 span of the second quarter for the Celtics, who led by 17 points in the first half. Los Angeles erased the lead in the third quarter, but Crowder kicked off an 18-8 run to start the fourth quarter.

KOBE'S LAST SHOT

Bryant, who made a key shot in the Lakers' surprising win at Boston on Dec. 30, came back with his fourth 30-point game of his final season. He hadn't gone for 30 since getting a season-high 38 against Minnesota two months ago.

Bryant looked rejuvenated after playing just nine minutes in the Lakers' previous game four days ago. The 20-year veteran hopes to play in each of the Lakers' six remaining games.

VITTI'S VALEDICTION

The Lakers honored retiring athletic trainer Gary Vitti after the first quarter with a video tribute, a standing ovation and a framed jersey featuring a medical cross in place of a number. Vitti has been on the Lakers' bench for 32 seasons, overseeing the health of Bryant and his teammates while the Lakers won eight championships. Bryant has credited Vitti with a major role in his resilience through innumerable injuries.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Turner played 35 minutes after starting in place of Avery Bradley, who left the team for what Stevens called "good personal reasons" -- apparently the birth of a child. Turner also left the court through the Lakers' tunnel with 15.7 seconds left after getting hit in the face while fighting with Randle for a rebound. ... Thomas repeatedly gestured at courtside fan Floyd Mayweather Jr. after baskets. The point guard and the boxer are friends.

Lakers: Brandon Bass didn't play against his former Boston teammates. ... Fans near courtside included UFC President Dana White, Casey Affleck, David Beckham, Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Yasiel Puig.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host Pelicans on Wednesday.

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STUDS AND DUDS: ISAIAH THOMAS, CELTICS WAVE KOBE BRYANT GOODBYE, CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT

WEEI

By Mike Petraglia

Beating Kobe Bryant and the Lakers and clinching a playoff spot proved to be a little more than mere formality for the Celtics Sunday night.

Isaiah Thomas scored 21 of his 26 points in the first half and Jae Crowder added 22 as the Celtics turned back the 16-win Lakers, 107-100, Sunday night at Staples Center. In his final game ever against Boston, Bryant went out on a strong note. He scored 18 of his 34 points in the first half to try and keep the Lakers close.

As for Thomas, who played in front of his friend and boxing champ Floyd Mayweather, he matched Paul Pierce’s 2005-06 mark of 16 straight games with at least 20 points.

The Celtics improve to 45-32 and are tied with the Atlanta Hawks for third in the East.

Bryant, who finished 11-of-28 from the field, came out clearly with a point to prove in his final game ever against the Celtics. He made his first shot, a 12-foot left wing jumper over Crowder just 64 seconds into the game. He made just two of his six first-quarter shots from the floor but converted all six attempts at the line for 11 points.

The Celtics, thanks in large part to red-hot shooting to start the game, built an early lead of nine points twice, including 29-20. The Celtics hit seven of their first ten shots before cooling off to 59 percent by the end of the first quarter. Thomas and Amir Johnson each had eight points in the opening quarter as Boston led, 31-26. After a layup by the Lakers just 12 seconds into the second quarter, a disgusted Brad Stevens called a timeout to regroup his troops.

Bryant had a laugh when he stepped back and drilled a 33-foot three with 6:23 left in the second quarter, cutting Boston’s lead in half, 40-37. But the Celtics went on a 14-3 run to assume complete control of the game with three minutes left in the first half.

Thomas had 21 of his 26 points in the first half on 8-of-11 shooting. The Celtics were cruising late in the second quarter, building their lead up to 17, 57-40. Terry Rozier played a big role, scoring four points and grabbing five rebounds in 12 minutes.But Bryant sparked an 8-0 run to end the half, capped by a Julius Randle coast-to-coast drive and layup with 1.8 seconds that cut Boston’s lead to nine at the break, 57-48.

The Laker momentum carried over into the second half, as they outscored the Celtics 11-2 to pull into a 59-59 tie with 8:38 left in the quarter. Evan Turner responded with a jumper but the Lakers kept pushing and took their first lead, 63-62, on a pair of Julius Randle free throws with 7:09 left in the third quarter.

Then Bryant began to take over. After Thomas’ three gave Boston a 65-63 lead, Bryant returned fire with the first of two third-quarter treys, putting the Lakers up, 66-65. D’Angelo Russell converted a layup that put L.A. up, 68-65. Bryant’s second three put the Lakers ahead, 71-69. But the Celtics ended the quarter on a 8-4 run to take a 77-75 lead into the fourth.


Crowder’s three with 11:11 left in the fourth put Boston ahead, 80-77. Crowder followed that with a layup with 10:22 left, extending the lead to 82-77. Rozier hit a jumper to make it 84-77. After the Lakers cut the Boston lead to eight, 90-82, Evan Turner hit a wide open baseline three with 6:02 left to push the lead back to 11, 93-82.

The Lakers made one final run, as Roy Hibbert hit two free throws with 2:49 left to cut the Boston lead to eight, 99-91. Bryant hit a fallaway jumper with 2:27 to cut it to 99-93. But Thomas blew by Hibbert with 2:11 left to put Boston up 101-93. Marcus Smart drained a three with 1:37 left to increase the lead to 11, 104-93.

The Lakers came back as Julius Randle converted a three-point play with 27.9 left to cut the lead to 104-100. Crowder hit a pair of free throws with 15.7 seconds left to increase the lead to 107-100 and seal the win and a 3-2 record on the five-game Western swing. Evan Turner took a shot to the left eye from Julius Randle on a Bryant three that rimmed in and out with 19.9 seconds left. Turner went immediately to the locker room holding the left side of his face and did not return.

Bryant came into Sunday’s game with a career 18-12 mark in 30 previous regular season meetings. Bryant was 6-7 in the NBA finals against Boston, losing in 2008 in six games while edging out his fifth and final NBA championship in 2010 against the Celtics a 7-game thriller at Staples Center.

The Celtics return home for a pair of games this week at TD Garden. They play the Pelicans on Wednesday night and the Bucks on Friday.

STUD OF THE NIGHT: Jae Crowder

In just his second game back from a sprained right ankle, Crowder looked like his old self, with 20 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals. Runner-up: Amir Johnson. The big man had 10 points and 12 rebounds (3 on the offensive glass).

DUD OF THE NIGHT: Kelly Olynyk

Managed just four points in 13 minutes and no playing time in the fourth quarter as he was overpowered at times underneath and couldn’t get free for his shot on the perimeter. Stevens chose to go with Zeller and Jonas Jerebko over Olynyk in crunch time off the bench.

112288

KO was overpowered? really, I don't think anybody is shocked.

Heckler told me we need him to bring out bigs on offense to spread the floor, he had a slow old dinosaur Hibbert on him and couldn't do a THING, nothing. I thought that was a tailor made match up for him? guess I was wrong.

Last 3 games hes had 3 rebounds, last 3 games Rozier has had 17 rebounds, one guy is 6'2" the 7 foot guy is playing his way out of the playoff rotation, as he has no offense or defense. Wheres his offense last 6-7 games?

sorry had to vent.

Well we won, game had me edgy as we lost the lead, ET had some nice plays that we can now expect. Smart had some great passes and his usual bad ass D, really missed his partner in crime, AB. Rozier is really making progress, kid has all the attributes you would want in a PG. Jae shook off the rust, played hard, IT had a Curry like first half, then hit some key shots down the stretch. Sully had a bad Jeff Green like game, Sully were gonna need you, you better earn your money/contract in the playoffs, when the real season starts. Amir played well with alot of defense and rebounding that was refreshing to see after having to see KO flounder around doing nothing again.

Kobe hogged the ball, allowing his team to not get in a rhythm, thanks Kobe.

I think this was ONE game the Lakers actually WANTED to win this year. But most they are tanking, to be honest.

they have no intentions of losing this years high draft pick and never did.

This was a must win for Boston.  Losing to the horrible Lakers after the extraordinary win over the Warriors would have been bad news.

Terry Rosier has made it into the rotation and looks more comfortable with each game.  He is playing within himself and not trying to do too much.  There was one defensive sequence late in the game where Rosier's on the ball defense was second to none.  I also like the way he pushes the ball.  Perhaps the eye opening skill that he has displayed is his ability to rebound the basketball.  His rebounding at the PG position is really similar to Rajon Rondo. He can read where the ball is coming off the rim, has the quickness to get there and has great leaping ability.

Evan Turner may not be the best player on this team but his ability to play multiple positions increases his value to the team significantly.

What is up with KO.  He had one really good game since returning from the shoulder injury but now he looks really bad.  He is shooting the ball well over the past 5 games but his inability to rebound off the defensive glass is a real problem.  He is also struggling now when he up-fakes and tries to drive to the hoop.  Actually he looks slower and more awkward than I can ever remember.  

IT did his usual thing and Crowder is back and Smart once again makes big plays when needed the most.  I would not go so far to refer to him as having superstar abilities but he is still one helleva basketball player.

Zeller made some bad plays but also some good ones as well.  

I have been thinking about going to the Hawks game!

dboss

It's not uncommon to play up or, as in this case, play down to one's competition.  It is just disconcerting losing a 17 point lead to the 2nd worse team in the league.  However, despite all the whoopin' and hollerin' they only outscored us by 2 points in the 2nd half.  What saved them, and made us look bad, was that they put on a run at the end of the 2nd quarter to cut our 17 point lead with 2:42 left in the 2nd down to 9 at the half and then came out for the 3rd with energy and outworked us, Jordan Clarkson in particular, while we turned the ball over.  At 8:37 in the 3rd, and the score tied at 59-59, Jae and Amir and Sully came out and Smart, Jonas and Kelly came in.  This new unit went on to play the Lakers even for most of the rest of the quarter.  

Happy news for Avery Bradley.  Hope mother and child are well.  Next time, don't have sex between February and September so that it doesn't interfere with hoops (I'm kidding, of course.  If it's reasonable to assume we're not going to be in the Finals they can have sex in October too).  Women weaken teams.



Kelly didn't have a good game but then neither did any of the Laker bigs he went against either.  For a while he guarded the Laker dinosaur, Roy Hibbert.  A lot of shoving underneath with Kelly getting called for a foul for muscling Hibbert further away from the basket than needed.  The play earlier he two-hand shoved Hibbert out of the paint (didn't get called for that one).  Hibbert had 4 points on 1-3 and 5 boards in 29 minutes.  Ryan Kelly had 2 points on 1-3 and 2 boards.  Kelly played 13 minutes and had 4 points on 2-4.  So, he effectively played even with both of them, they didn't torture anybody.  Petraglia just became Cowens' favorite sportswriter.  On the other hand, Zeller, our other big off the bench, had 6 points on 3-5 with some of those points from mid-range.  

Speaking of bigs that struggled, Sully with 6 points on 3-8 and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes.  Sully with 6 points and 2 boards in 17 vs Kelly with 4 points on 2-4 and 1 board in 13 minutes.  On a minute-by-minute comparison they're about even.  How did Petraglia notice Kelly's ineffectiveness in 13 minutes but not notice our starting center's equal ineffectiveness in 17 minutes?  The big that did well was Amir.  He worked his ass off and ran the floor.  Julius Randle had a good game too.  He needs to add range onto his shot but he is 'Toine-like in his interior spin moves.  New word, "'Toine-like".  It means "twisty, twirly and is it all really necessary?"

Crowder's the stud of the night?  He was 6-fer-freaking-18!  He's the reason we lost the lead, he kept throwing up brick-after-brick-after-brick.  He was 2-8 from 3.  He had 5 steals, I'll give him that, but our offense disappeared for a long time because of him.  What game was Petraglia watching?  He sees Crowder hit a shot or two but doesn't notice he was 3-14 at one point and that maybe that contributed to this game being closer than it should have been?  Is Petraglia so mathematically-challenged that he can't figure out that it is not good when a player takes 20% of your team's fgas in a game and shoots 33%?  We call Bryant "Ko-ME" for shooting like that.  Crowder almost shot us OUT of this game.  What game was Petraglia watching?

Turner with another solid, clutch performance.  When he's on he's on (and when he isn't he's awful because he needs the ball in his hands).  He made some desperately needed shots for us.

Rozier can board far beyond his size.  7 boards.  Perhaps even more importantly, he had 3 assists and zero turnovers, key stats for a budding point guard.  His defense is NBA ready, he was doing an excellent job on veteran (just not NBA veteran) Marcelo Huertas, stuck to him like glue despite Huertas' repeated efforts to rub him off of picks.  He played less than a minute vs Portland.  If we take that game out and look at the 4 games of the last 5 he did play real minutes in he has averaged 17:45 / game and 4.25 rebounds.  That's pretty good for a 6'2" guard.  He had 3 TOs vs the Clippers but those are the only TOs during those 4 games.  The kid is starting to grow on me.

Have a nice retirement, Kobe.  Your fadeaway corner 3 with 2 Celtics draped all over you was vintage you.  I'd say I'll miss you but that would be a lie.  I respect you, I respect your talent and I am in awe of your competitive fire, but you ushered in an era of ME-ball that many of today's young players are trying to emulate and I don't like that.  It's not all your fault, of course, some of the blame has to go to Dictator David Stern for exalting the cult of the individual over the mystique and symbiosis of team ball, but you fed the beast.  It took Pop, and now Brad, to bring us back to the type of game that Dr. Naismith created.  I look forward to hearing your acceptance speech in Springfield.  Don't be vicious and vindictive like MJ was.  I also won't miss listening to the Laker announcers slobber all over you like St. Bernard dogs who have been licking lollipops.

45 wins.  That's about how many the experts predicted we'd get all season and we still have 5 games left to add to that.

It says a lot about this team and where it has come to that this game clinched a playoff berth for us and nobody has been doing a Magic Number countdown.  We've just accepted that we're in.  We've come a long way in 2 years, babies.

Let's feast on some Pelican on Wednesday and some Buck on Friday.  Then, the playoffs begin.  Not technically, but the last 3 games of the season are vs Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami.  HUGE games, games which will determine who we play and whether we get a home series.  The away game in Atlanta will be a great test of our mettle.


bob


.

kdp59 wrote:I think this was ONE game the Lakers actually WANTED to win this year. But most they are tanking, to be honest.

they have no intentions of losing this years high draft pick and never did.

It's out of their hands. They can go into the draft with the #2 position but if the ping pong balls go against them and they drop to four or five they lose the pick to Philly. It's top 3 protected. But obviously the worse they do during the season that lowers the odds of that happening. But it could still go to Philly. That franchise and their fans would be devastated if that happened.

steve3344 wrote:

kdp59 wrote:I think this was ONE game the Lakers actually WANTED to win this year. But most they are tanking, to be honest.

they have no intentions of losing this years high draft pick and never did.

It's out of their hands.  They can go into the draft with the #2 position but if the ping pong balls go against them and they drop to four or five they lose the pick to Philly.  It's top 3 protected.  But obviously the worse they do during the season that lowers the odds of that happening.  But it could still go to Philly.  That franchise and their fans would be devastated if that happened.

great point steve, didn't know that, you know the game....I'm gonna root for them to get focked.

bobheckler wrote:It's not uncommon to play up or, as in this case, play down to one's competition.  It is just disconcerting losing a 17 point lead to the 2nd worse team in the league.  However, despite all the whoopin' and hollerin' they only outscored us by 2 points in the 2nd half.  What saved them, and made us look bad, was that they put on a run at the end of the 2nd quarter to cut our 17 point lead with 2:42 left in the 2nd down to 9 at the half and then came out for the 3rd with energy and outworked us, Jordan Clarkson in particular, while we turned the ball over.  At 8:37 in the 3rd, and the score tied at 59-59, Jae and Amir and Sully came out and Smart, Jonas and Kelly came in.  This new unit went on to play the Lakers even for most of the rest of the quarter.  

Happy news for Avery Bradley.  Hope mother and child are well.  Next time, don't have sex between February and September so that it doesn't interfere with hoops (I'm kidding, of course.  If it's reasonable to assume we're not going to be in the Finals they can have sex in October too).  Women weaken teams.



Kelly didn't have a good game but then neither did any of the Laker bigs he went against either.  For a while he guarded the Laker dinosaur, Roy Hibbert.  A lot of shoving underneath with Kelly getting called for a foul for muscling Hibbert further away from the basket than needed.  The play earlier he two-hand shoved Hibbert out of the paint (didn't get called for that one).  Hibbert had 4 points on 1-3 and 5 boards in 29 minutes.  Ryan Kelly had 2 points on 1-3 and 2 boards.  Kelly played 13 minutes and had 4 points on 2-4.  So, he effectively played even with both of them, they didn't torture anybody.  Petraglia just became Cowens' favorite sportswriter.  On the other hand, Zeller, our other big off the bench, had 6 points on 3-5 with some of those points from mid-range.  

Speaking of bigs that struggled, Sully with 6 points on 3-8 and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes.  Sully with 6 points and 2 boards in 17 vs Kelly with 4 points on 2-4 and 1 board in 13 minutes.  On a minute-by-minute comparison they're about even.  How did Petraglia notice Kelly's ineffectiveness in 13 minutes but not notice our starting center's equal ineffectiveness in 17 minutes?  The big that did well was Amir.  He worked his ass off and ran the floor.  Julius Randle had a good game too.  He needs to add range onto his shot but he is 'Toine-like in his interior spin moves.  New word, "'Toine-like".  It means "twisty, twirly and is it all really necessary?"

Crowder's the stud of the night?  He was 6-fer-freaking-18!  He's the reason we lost the lead, he kept throwing up brick-after-brick-after-brick.  He was 2-8 from 3.  He had 5 steals, I'll give him that, but our offense disappeared for a long time because of him.  What game was Petraglia watching?  He sees Crowder hit a shot or two but doesn't notice he was 3-14 at one point and that maybe that contributed to this game being closer than it should have been?  Is Petraglia so mathematically-challenged that he can't figure out that it is not good when a player takes 20% of your team's fgas in a game and shoots 33%?  We call Bryant "Ko-ME" for shooting like that.  Crowder almost shot us OUT of this game.  What game was Petraglia watching?

Turner with another solid, clutch performance.  When he's on he's on (and when he isn't he's awful because he needs the ball in his hands).  He made some desperately needed shots for us.

Rozier can board far beyond his size.  7 boards.  Perhaps even more importantly, he had 3 assists and zero turnovers, key stats for a budding point guard.  His defense is NBA ready, he was doing an excellent job on veteran (just not NBA veteran) Marcelo Huertas, stuck to him like glue despite Huertas' repeated efforts to rub him off of picks.  He played less than a minute vs Portland.  If we take that game out and look at the 4 games of the last 5 he did play real minutes in he has averaged 17:45 / game and 4.25 rebounds.  That's pretty good for a 6'2" guard.  He had 3 TOs vs the Clippers but those are the only TOs during those 4 games.  The kid is starting to grow on me.

Have a nice retirement, Kobe.  Your fadeaway corner 3 with 2 Celtics draped all over you was vintage you.  I'd say I'll miss you but that would be a lie.  I respect you, I respect your talent and I am in awe of your competitive fire, but you ushered in an era of ME-ball that many of today's young players are trying to emulate and I don't like that.  It's not all your fault, of course, some of the blame has to go to Dictator David Stern for exalting the cult of the individual over the mystique and symbiosis of team ball, but you fed the beast.  It took Pop, and now Brad, to bring us back to the type of game that Dr. Naismith created.  I look forward to hearing your acceptance speech in Springfield.  Don't be vicious and vindictive like MJ was.  I also won't miss listening to the Laker announcers slobber all over you like St. Bernard dogs who have been licking lollipops.

45 wins.  That's about how many the experts predicted we'd get all season and we still have 5 games left to add to that.

It says a lot about this team and where it has come to that this game clinched a playoff berth for us and nobody has been doing a Magic Number countdown.  We've just accepted that we're in.  We've come a long way in 2 years, babies.

Let's feast on some Pelican on Wednesday and some Buck on Friday.  Then, the playoffs begin.  Not technically, but the last 3 games of the season are vs Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami.  HUGE games, games which will determine who we play and whether we get a home series.  The away game in Atlanta will be a great test of our mettle.


bob


.

buddy are you going soft, he got 3 friggin rebounds in 3 games and hes a 7 foot PF/C? just cause hes going against other wusses like Hibbert and Kelly, who he should if not dominate, that word doesn't seem to work for him, at least be able to score or take better advantage of those other stiffs, no? Those are made to order match ups for him to give us something, anything, no? are you telling me NOT to expect any production out of him and thats okay.....??????

cowens/oldschool wrote:

steve3344 wrote:

kdp59 wrote:I think this was ONE game the Lakers actually WANTED to win this year. But most they are tanking, to be honest.

they have no intentions of losing this years high draft pick and never did.

It's out of their hands.  They can go into the draft with the #2 position but if the ping pong balls go against them and they drop to four or five they lose the pick to Philly.  It's top 3 protected.  But obviously the worse they do during the season that lowers the odds of that happening.  But it could still go to Philly.  That franchise and their fans would be devastated if that happened.

great point steve, didn't know that, you know the game....I'm gonna root for them to get focked.

If you root for that and get what you want, that means that a team in our division would have two picks in the top 4 or 5 (maybe even 1 & 4). That would right that rat-infested ship from Philly that much quicker. I know they're currently worse than Villanova but will at some point (you'd think so with so many upcoming picks) become serious competition for us. But again, they're the Sixers so I wouldn't really worry about it.

steve if I have to root for one of those 2 organizations to fail, I'm going LA all the way....

I might be able to root for the Lakers a little bit now that Bryant is leaving them. Yes, a great player, a great career, but I have just never been able to stand him.

Cheap shot of the night:

"Boston has yet to win a postseason series under coach Brad Stevens."

What kind of schmuck is this writer? Really?

worcester wrote:Cheap shot of the night:

"Boston has yet to win a postseason series under coach Brad Stevens."

What kind of schmuck is this writer? Really?

Hell W he's never won a post season GAME!

And how many teams would love to have him?

beat

I have to get one last shot in at Kobe the ball hog. Maybe if some of those younger players got their hands on the ball last night, we may have lost. I am glad this tour is over, I am sick of seeing teams who really hated Kobe fall all over him in his last games in their arenas. Made me sick. HE has a piece of the Parquet? Give me a break, Perk deserved that not that jerk.

Oh well Bob, one last shot, I am done and so is he.

Rosalie

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have to get one last shot in at Kobe the ball hog.  Maybe if some of those younger players got their hands on the ball last night, we may have lost.  I am glad this tour is over, I am sick of seeing teams who really hated Kobe fall all over him in his last games in their arenas. Made me sick.  HE has a piece of the Parquet? Give me a break, Perk deserved that not that jerk.  

Oh well Bob, one last shot,  I am done and so is he.

Rosalie

Rosalie,

Like I said on the Game On thread "when I grow up I wanna be as Celtic Green as you".


bob

.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have to get one last shot in at Kobe the ball hog.  Maybe if some of those younger players got their hands on the ball last night, we may have lost.  I am glad this tour is over, I am sick of seeing teams who really hated Kobe fall all over him in his last games in their arenas. Made me sick.  HE has a piece of the Parquet? Give me a break, Perk deserved that not that jerk.  

Oh well Bob, one last shot,  I am done and so is he.

Rosalie

Could not agree more. I can't even respect his so called talent. And as far as the team is concerned 40 years wandering in the dessert won't break my heart.....in the 60's and early 70's I could respect um but not since.

beat

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have to get one last shot in at Kobe the ball hog.  Maybe if some of those younger players got their hands on the ball last night, we may have lost.  I am glad this tour is over, I am sick of seeing teams who really hated Kobe fall all over him in his last games in their arenas. Made me sick.  HE has a piece of the Parquet? Give me a break, Perk deserved that not that jerk.  

Oh well Bob, one last shot,  I am done and so is he.

Rosalie

If you say Kobe is a ball hog, you have to call Jordan one too.
Jordan easily attempted more shots per game than Kobe.
Jordan has 6 rings. He could have maybe won 8 in a row if he didn't take two years off to play baseball.
Kobe has 5 rings.
It's usually good when a teams best player shoots the ball the most.

The Lakers were in that game last night because Kobe by far led the team in scoring and kept them in the game.

If Perk was that important, maybe Danny shouldn't have traded him...

tjmakz wrote:

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have to get one last shot in at Kobe the ball hog.  Maybe if some of those younger players got their hands on the ball last night, we may have lost.  I am glad this tour is over, I am sick of seeing teams who really hated Kobe fall all over him in his last games in their arenas. Made me sick.  HE has a piece of the Parquet? Give me a break, Perk deserved that not that jerk.  

Oh well Bob, one last shot,  I am done and so is he.

Rosalie

If you say Kobe is a ball hog, you have to call Jordan one too.
Jordan easily attempted more shots per game than Kobe.
Jordan has 6 rings. He could have maybe won 8 in a row if he didn't take two years off to play baseball.
Kobe has 5 rings.
It's usually good when a teams best player shoots the ball the most.

The Lakers were in that game last night because Kobe by far led the team in scoring and kept them in the game.

If Perk was that important, maybe Danny shouldn't have traded him...

I find it a bit curious that Kobe now shoots more three pointers per game (nearly 7) than he ever has before, while shooting them at a lower pct. (28.4%) than in any season in his past 15 years and third lowest of his career.  He's always been shot happy but that's unconscionable.

And to say Jordan "easily attempted more shots per game than Kobe" is not really accurate.  There isn't much of a difference between the two.  Jordan attempted 21.5 shots per 36 minutes, Kobe 19.4.  That's just two more.  But Jordan's career FG % was 49.7%, Kobe's is 44.8% so it was justified.

Who ever complained about MJ shooting too much?

steve3344 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have to get one last shot in at Kobe the ball hog.  Maybe if some of those younger players got their hands on the ball last night, we may have lost.  I am glad this tour is over, I am sick of seeing teams who really hated Kobe fall all over him in his last games in their arenas. Made me sick.  HE has a piece of the Parquet? Give me a break, Perk deserved that not that jerk.  

Oh well Bob, one last shot,  I am done and so is he.

Rosalie

If you say Kobe is a ball hog, you have to call Jordan one too.
Jordan easily attempted more shots per game than Kobe.
Jordan has 6 rings. He could have maybe won 8 in a row if he didn't take two years off to play baseball.
Kobe has 5 rings.
It's usually good when a teams best player shoots the ball the most.

The Lakers were in that game last night because Kobe by far led the team in scoring and kept them in the game.

If Perk was that important, maybe Danny shouldn't have traded him...

I find it a bit curious that Kobe now shoots more three pointers per game (nearly 7) than he ever has before, while shooting them at a lower pct. (28.4%) than in any season in his past 15 years and third lowest of his career.  He's always been shot happy but that's unconscionable.

And to say Jordan "easily attempted more shots per game than Kobe" is not really accurate.  There isn't much of a difference between the two.  Jordan attempted 21.5 shots per 36 minutes, Kobe 19.4.  That's just two more.  But Jordan's career FG % was 49.7%, Kobe's is 44.8% so it was justified.

Why do you find it curious that Kobe is taking a lot of 3 pointers?
He can no longer beat most defenders off the dribble. He's limping to the finish line.
His stats this season mean nothing.

Kobe's shots were often justified.
I'd rather see Kobe shooting more and not Fisher, Luke Walton, etc.
Kobe used to beg Pau to be more aggressive on offense.

They say that love can be blind. Probably just as true for hate.

  swish

Do you remember what Bird said about getting old. You turn into a jump shooter.

I do not know if Jordan's better FG% equates with Kobe being a ball hog.

Both were great players with a lot of rings between them.

It has turned a bit gooey.. Rosie thanks for bringing some sanity to the retirement.

TJ...how long do you think it will be before the Lakers become relevant again. Historically they never stay down too long. Do any big time free agents want to go there next year?

The Celtics have that same question too. But we are a few years ahead and Stevens is the superior coach.

Dboss

Dboss, plus we have better owners than LA currently.

dboss wrote:Do you remember what Bird said about getting old.  You turn into a jump shooter.

I do not know if Jordan's better FG% equates with Kobe being a ball hog.

Both were great players with a lot of rings between them.

It has turned a bit gooey..  Rosie thanks for bringing some sanity to the retirement.

TJ...how long do you think it will be before the Lakers become relevant again.  Historically they never stay down too long.  Do any big time free agents want to go there next year?  

The Celtics have that same question too.  But we are a few years ahead and Stevens is the superior coach.  

Dboss

I like the Lakers future, especially if they keep their pick and get to draft Simmons or Ingram.
So much of Boston and LA's future is dependent on free agency.
LA can match most offers for Clarkson and sign two max players.
I put no importance on any rumors about Durant possibly going to LA or Boston.
We all have no idea what his plan is.
The wish list this summer is Ingram, Durant and Whiteside....
I think LA will have Scott Brooks or Luke Walton as their head coach next year.

worcester wrote:Who ever complained about MJ shooting too much?

No one when you shoot 50%.