The Pistons watched this and decided that they would just leave Shaq one-on-one, knowing that Kobe would flip out over not getting to put up fancy bad jumpers and eventually kill the Lakers offense by refusing to pass anymore. Kobe shot 38% in that series and the Pistons won the 2004 Championship.
As great as Bowen was defensively, I just never felt like he was the perimeter defender of the 00's. Ron Artest was, imo, and I also never thought that he was the best "Kobe defender". That title to me belonged to Shane Battier, particularly from '07-'12. It was impressive watching his defense on Kobe in the '09 WCSF. Kobe got his but it was easily his least productive series in the '09 P/O, albeit 27/5/5/45%FG is still great. He also did this with Yao missing most of the series unlike Bowen who had Duncan and Robinson ('02 and '03) back there (exponentially greater than Yao, anyways).
NTJ, How do you feel about LeBron's performance in this year's finals? Do you feel he could've done a bit better or was his age and fatigue slowing him down and there wasn't much he could do more? Do you think if he managed to best the warriors in a 7 games series that he it would've been as good as the Dream's performance against the knicks?
I think raja bell and Tayshaun Prince were the best defenders in kobe since 2000to 2007 ,but since 2007 to 2009 was shane battier because he was tall and had great mecanic on defense (head down, wide stance and slide
Ima be honest. Kobe's shot was not the problem. When he went to the rim, the refs don't call the foul. The stats show missed shot, but if d wade or lebron drives, refs quick to call a foul over any little bump. Clearly kobe drew plenty of contact on those plays
Lazy Boy I think that's era rather than ref bias. If this game happened in 2006, hopefully Kobe would have got the same kinds of calls that Wade got against Dallas. Prior to the '05 season, the rules were different.
+Lazy Boy where are you getting these numbers. Jordan only averaged over 10 free throws in his 3rd and 4th year. Kobe averaged over 10 free throws for 3 straight years from 04/05 to 06/07. MJ averaged 8.2 FTAs for his career to Kobe's 7.6.
+IM REALLY BOUT TO GETCHA YA Yes the 2002 WCF was extremely rigged in favor of the Kings Shaq is the only player in history that led his team to a ring while the playoffs were rigged against him 2002 WCF facts show the Kings took more free throw attempts and committed fewer fouls than the lakers in that series.... that is a fact....the officiating favored the Kings.....that's a documented historical fact.... Shaq and Kobe are 2 of the alltime leaders in free throw attempts,and the kings STILL shot more free throws than the lakers did in that series Kings took 204 free throws in the series.... Lakers took 185 free throws in the series... advantage Kings.. Kings committed 173 fouls.. Lakers commited 179 fouls.. advantage Kings.. kings won game 2 and had a 38-25 edge in free throw attempts...horry fouled out.. kings won game 3 and had a 35-15 adge in free throw attempts...kobe fouled out... kings won game 5 and had a 33-23 edge in free throw attempts....shaq fouled out and attempted 1 free throw.. Kings had a 106 to 63 FTA advantage in the 3 games they won.....with horry,kobe,and shaq each having a game in which they fouled out and the team lost... these are the facts....they are undisputed...refs favored the Kings Lakers were screwed by the refs.....good thing they had Shaq
Kobe Not Top 100 lol its when they happened you can have all the free throws in th world but when they start calling them at a certain time in the game it can go bad
No era el mejor jugador del equipo No era el mejor atacante No era el mejor anotador Quedó fuera en el draft porque ningun equipo lo quiso. Fue ninguneado como "Defensor de Elite" poniendolo solo como un "Buen defensor". Tenia fama de sucio, de quebrar tobillos y jugar al limite de las reglas y sanciones Ni siquiera tenia gran efectividad en los simples desde la linea (free-throw) Todo eso se decia y percibia de él... Y aun asi: AHI ESTÁ UNO DE LOS MEJORES JUGADORES EN LA HISTORIA DE LOS SPURS . EL MEJOR DEFENSOR DE LA GRAN ELITE . EL TERROR DE LAS SUPERESTRELLAS RIVALES . EL ULTIMO DEFENSOR DE "EL ALAMO" ...BRUCE BOWEN... AMOR Y RESPETO PARA UNO DE LOS GRANDES FUNDAMENTOS DE LOS SPURS
Everybody n they mama know Battier n Tony Allen were probably the best defenders on kobe.Infact they got like a 7 min video on battiers defense on kobe in the 09 WCSF .Although we lost in 7 Kobe shot bad fg% and our defense was stout even with injuries to mutumbo yao and McGrady and Artest playing with a bad ankle
+Miltonman100 Kobe averaged over 27 points and shot over 45% from the field, so Battier didn't really bother him that much in that series. Crazy y'all were able to play so well against the Lakers when your team was so depleted, though
Nobody Touches Jordan I challenge you to a Kobe vs Magic + Kareem debate. I've never been in an argument with a smart stan on this subject, and I want to see all arguments Magic and Kareem fans use. So throw in all the stats you have, and I'll counter it. Good luck, you'll need it
***** leonard is a much better offensive player but don't let his defensive to offensive skills fool you, Bowen slowed down offensive players and forced bad shots and bad shooting percentages. basically he made them feel uncomfortable. Kawhi on the other hand, may give up 27 to lebron but he can also get those points back.
