2004 Finals Loss definitely is on Kobe

[gengiskhan]

Given the most dominant team SUPER DUPER LAL team in NBA history

NBA's Most dominant Big man Shaq was still 32 yo. shooting 60%FG in Finals dominating.

Gary Payton was still 35 yo. Malone was also there in the line up.

Kobe still choked having the best line up ever in the NBA history to clean SWEEP title.

Kobe's fake MJ wannabe ego in quest of stealing FMVP from Shaq choked away the easiest title win in the NBA history.

[Lakers Legend#32]

Don't forget Payton pouted in that series.

[gengiskhan]

Don't forget Payton pouted in that series.

nobody pouted like Kobe at 38%FG.

gtfoutta here loser.

[Lebron23]

Yes

[ELITEpower23]

Still top 15 doe

BR even ranked Kobe at 11

[ImKobe]

Rest of the team combined shot worse than Kobe lol, and Kobe was playing while hurt

Malone was injured and Payton struggled in the triangle which is why they lost. No help around KB/Shaq meant there just wasn't enough offense to compete with the Pistons. Lakers' defense and their lack of help cost them that series. As much as Shaq produced in single coverage he was a turnstile on defense.

[jayfan]

Rest of the team combined shot worse than Kobe lol, and Kobe was playing while hurt

Malone was injured and Payton struggled in the triangle which is why they lost. No help around KB/Shaq meant there just wasn't enough offense to compete with the Pistons. Lakers' defense and their lack of help cost them that series. As much as Shaq produced in single coverage he was a turnstile on defense.

Kobe wasn't playing hurt. Stop it.


The Lakers' excuse tree for '04 never ceases to sprout new branches.

.

[ImKobe]

Kobe wasn't playing hurt. Stop it.


The Lakers' excuse tree for '04 never ceases to sprout new branches.

.

Kobe had surgeries going into the '04 season and got injured in the middle of it.

Duncan won Finals mvp averaging less points on almost identical efficiency as Kobe (47.1%TS for Duncan vs 45.6% for Kobe) vs. those Pistons a year later.

[ShawkFactory]

Kobe had surgeries going into the '04 season and got injured in the middle of it.

Duncan won Finals mvp averaging less points on almost identical efficiency as Kobe (47.1%TS for Duncan vs 45.6% for Kobe) vs. those Pistons a year later.

Come on...

[Phoenix]

Kobe had surgeries going into the '04 season and got injured in the middle of it.

Probably wasn't a great idea taking 29 more shots than Shaq, then.

[ImKobe]

Probably wasn't a great idea taking 29 more shots than Shaq, then.

Shaq took 30 more FTs. I keep having to say this but Shaq was not the same Shaq in '04... he significantly upped his volume as is in the Finals and really didn't have more to give. Their worst loss in the series came when Kobe barely shot the ball at all. Kobe also played more minutes than Shaq.

[SouBeachTalents]

Shaq took 30 more FTs. I keep having to say this but Shaq was not the same Shaq in '04... he significantly upped his volume as is in the Finals and really didn't have more to give. Their worst loss in the series came when Kobe barely shot the ball at all. Kobe also played more minutes than Shaq.

For real, Kobe had a good series, people need to get off his back.

[Phoenix]

Shaq took 30 more FTs. I keep having to say this but Shaq was not the same Shaq in '04... he significantly upped his volume as is in the Finals and really didn't have more to give. Their worst loss in the series came when Kobe barely shot the ball at all. Kobe also played more minutes than Shaq.

If Shaq wasn't the same Shaq in 2004( and I know he wasn't, in fact I'd say he wasn't quite the same in 03 either), then Kobe wouldn't have been the same Kobe if he was injured, yeah? He shot too much at too low efficiency. Also, Shaq played 43 minutes a game to Kobe's 46, that's not enough of a time difference to justify Kobe taking an extra 6 shots a game, especially at 38%. The worst loss in the series came about when neither Shaq nor Kobe shot the ball much, but in the game you're referring to Kobe was 4 out of 13, so if he shot any more they'd probably have lost by 30 instead of 20.


Hell, Kobe himself is on record as saying that series was on him:


Here's Chauncey Billips clearly outlining the Pistons strategy,:

[imdaman99]

That Pistons team was dominant on defense. They were not simply gonna allow Shaq to drop 40 pts on 60% shooting. We act like all Kobe had to do was give the ball to Shaq and the Lakers were easily winning that series. Nope. Pistons matched up well against them. Legit players at every position and great bench.

[ImKobe]

If Shaq wasn't the same Shaq in 2004( and I know he wasn't, in fact I'd say he wasn't quite the same in 03 either), then Kobe wouldn't have been the same Kobe if he was injured, yeah? He shot too much at too low efficiency. Also, Shaq played 43 minutes a game to Kobe's 46, that's not enough of a time difference to justify Kobe taking an extra 6 shots a game, especially at 38%. The worst loss in the series came about when neither Shaq nor Kobe shot the ball much, but in the game you're referring to Kobe was 4 out of 13, so if he shot any more they'd probably have lost by 30 instead of 20.


Hell, Kobe himself is on record as saying that series was on him:


Here's Chauncey Billips clearly outlining the Pistons strategy,:

Who else was taking those shots? Malone's injured and old, Payton's old and not really good in the triangle, role players couldn't make shots and they're up against a generational defense. They were going to live or die by Kobe like they did for most of the season. It's 18 minutes of difference where they're usage rate is almost identical with Kobe having 2% more which makes sense.

Of course Kobe took accountability as he should, but the people arguing that the Lakers would've done any better if he didn't shoot are smoking on something because it was evident in this series that they simply didn't have enough offense to win against them. Kobe shot poorly sure, he was actually decent in 4th quarters, well above in efficiency compared to his first 3 quarters, and they simply couldn't get stops for example in Game 4 where KB had 8 points on 3/6 shooting 2/2 FT while Shaq had 13 points on 5/6 FG & 3/6 FT. They scored 24 points but the Pistons scored 32 and they lost by 8 and the series was over. You see the issue right there though. Their two best players score almost all of the points in the 4th and the Pistons beat them because they have two double-digit scorers in the 4th + Chauncey adding 8 of his own.

Lakers got outrebounded by a significant margin and the Pistons got to the line 12 more times per game, and it wasn't just because Ben Wallace was a poor FT shooter, he only took 34 of their 171 FTAs. I don't see how Kobe shooting less fixes these problems.