K-O-B-E

Kobe Bryant won that game last night. (You can check out his miracle three here.)

Look, I don’t mean to belittle Pau Gasol’s tip back that tied the game with a minute to go or his pair of clutch freethrows to bring the game within two with nine seconds to go. I especially don’t want to overlook Derek Fisher’s step back three that put the Lakers within a point with four seconds left in the game. All of those plays were critical, vital even.

I’m also not going to argue that Dwyane Wade missed a freethrow after Fisher’s triple that would have ensured the Heat at least overtime. Hell, the guy went 12-18 from the stripe last night (a side note, Wade’s freethrow total nearly matched that of Bryant, Gasol, and Andrew Bynum combined (21), who, as noted in ESPN’s Weekend Dime make up three of the top five players in the NBA in scoring in the paint).

But I will say it again. Kobe won that game. He put the team on his back going into the fourth quarter and turned a 76-76 tie into a six-point Laker advantage a minute and ten seconds into it. The boxscore indicates he only had three assists, but he fed several wide-open looks to Ron Artest, Fisher and Shannon Brown (a combined 9-32) that they just didn’t hit. He was moving the ball around in the first half and only took six shots.

And because of his last second game winner, nobody is even talking about him slicing between three defenders and fading away to a hit running-bank to end the first half.

Kobe also helped to limit Wade to 2-9 from the field in the first half.

In fact, Bryant seemed to make it his mission to harass Wade and outside of about six times a high pick came and Wade made something happen via scoring himself or assisting on a bucket or getting to the line, Bryant accomplished his mission. Wade did a lot of his damage when matched up against Brown and Artest. Brown, while energetic and athletic, doesn’t possess the savvy necessary and Artest, who is a brute and can hang with bigger small forwards, doesn’t have the speed to hang with Wade.

The Black Mamba put full body pressure on Flash and forced him into tough shots or giving up the ball (though I’m still not sure why Bryant picked him up at half court and beyond).

Offensively, Kobe put on a show as well. He hit a now standard fake left, turnaround fadeway jumper, a running, left-handed baby sky hook, as well as a couple of different and ones, including a scoop shot off a drive into JO (which could have been a charge…)

And of course, he hit this shot. Watch it again. Staples Center…Where Kobe happens.

Oh, it’s also where Sasha Vujacic can put up a statline of zeros across the board and yet still manage to have a +6 in the +/- department. (Hint, he was in during the last few seconds of the game when Fish and Kobe both hit their improbable threes.)

Shrewd Customer?

Color me curious, but I think Bryant not opting out of his contract is a shrewd business move. Sure, there's talks of a three to four year extension, but that's not supposed to happen until later in July. While a lot of media are focusing more closely on Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza (as they most certainly should be) I can't help but think that Kobe is using his position to leverage the Lakers. He wants the whole team back, and if he had opted out he would have distracted Lakers brass from pursuing Odom and Ariza (I mean, he would then become the number one priority for the Lakers). Also, if he worked out a new contract, he would be guaranteeing himself as a part of this franchise before knowing for sure if Ariza and Odom would be back. He seems to be back in love with the Lakers, but he remembers what happened last time he signed on the dotted line with promises of building a contender. Two straight years of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown. Kobe's learned from his past mistakes. With him only signed for one more season right now, the onus is on the Lakers to fork over the money for both Odom and Ariza, which would make Kobe happy, and would help solidify in his mind to sign that extension.

Skill Versus Talent

Charles Barkley on last night’s TNT telecast when discussing this year’s MVP said that if you substituted Lebron for Kobe on the Lakers, that the Lakers would win 70 games because the Lakers have far superior talent.

Chuck speaks from his heart, which can be funny at times, bold at others. In this instance, it’s just ill-informed. Kobe and Lebron have different games. Kobe’s really changed his game this year with Gasol, Odom and Bynum clogging the middle. He’s become primarily a jumpshooter which accounts for nearly 80 percent of his shots.

The Lakers really only have three players who can hit from beyond the arc outside of Kobe, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher. That’s why the subtraction of Vladimir Radmanovic has hurt their offense whether people want to admit it or not. Luke Walton is horrible from outside of five feet, as I’ll show in a second, and Ariza is a streak shooter at the absolute very best.

82Games.com sheds some stats on the matter showing the percentage of jump shots taken by each player and their subsequent effective field goal percentage from that area.

Fisher: 86 percent jump shots, 55.6 percent EFG
Odom: 41 percent jump shots, 37.8 percent EFG
Gasol: 42 percent jump shots, 47.6 percent EFG
Bynum: 35 percent jump shots, 41.5 percent EFG
Ariza: 57 percent jump shots, 42.5 percent EFG
Walton: 69 percent jump shots, 37.4 percent EFG
Vujacic: 90 percent jump shots, 48.6 percent EFG
Farmar: 65 percent jump shots, 44 percent EFG
Powell: 60 percent jump shots, 41 percent EFG

Only three of the Lakers regular rotation players shoot better than 45 percent as jump shooters: Fisher, Vujacic and Gasol. Everyone else, especially Odom and Walton (starters), shoot a pretty bad percentage as jump shooters. Walton is especially horrible considering that 70 percent of his shots are jumpers. Vlad Rad was at a blistering 57 percent EFG. The Lakers dip in offensive efficiency of late and their lack of bench production can directly be tied to Luke moving into the starting spot and Vlad Rad moving to Charlotte.

At the very least twice a game, Kobe will drive and kick out to a wide open Walton who will clank the three or the 15-17 footer. That’s two dimes a game, without exaggeration. In fact, if you look at the games or even the quarters the Lakers do well, it’s when Walton is a factor on offensive and hits those shots.

Bottom line, especially with Bynum, the Lakers score the majority of their points in the paint. As the team’s best perimeter player, Kobe’s job is to hit jump shots. And considering he’s the number one option who takes the most difficult shots, his 46 percent EFG is pretty amazing.

On the flipside, Lebron’s 42 percent EFG from jump shooting is rather pedestrian. His bread and butter is taking it to the hole where he takes nearly 40 percent of his shots and is shooting 70 percent. That’s better than most centers, and is equally amazing.

His team is designed to shoot jumpers. Here are their stats.

Williams: 87 percent jump shots, 54.5 percent EFG
West: 79 percent jump shots, 53 percent EFG
Szczerbiak: 88 percent jump shots, 52 percent EFG
Ilgauskus: 65 percent jump shots, 46 percent EFG
Gibson: 89 percent jump shots, 48 percent EFG
Pavlovic: 70 percent jump shots, 56 percent EFG
Varejao: 41 percent jump shots, 34.6 percent EFG
Hickson: 40 percent jump shots, 31 percent EFG
Wallace: 25 percent jump shots, 18 percent EFG

Outside of the power forward spot, this team is a deadly jump shooting team with four players well over 50 percent EFG and one who is close at 48 percent. And while Ilgauskus is not quite as effective as Pau Gasol (46 to 48), he takes nearly 20 percent more jumpers than Pau and for the most part is just as deadly.

My point in all of this is that replacing Kobe with Lebron would most likely make the Lakers worse. Even if Lebron is a better talent than Kobe (not saying he is) or can do more for a team (he does), his presence on the Lakers would probably do more harm than good.

First and foremost, with Bynum and Gasol clogging the lanes, he’d have a much harder time driving to the hoop and getting his bread and butter shots. His outside shooting runs hot and cold, whereas Kobe is far more consistent, and would lead to a lot more 5-25 games like the one he threw up against the Lakers who forced him to take midrange shots and threes and effectively kept him away from the basket.

He’d also make Odom completely irrelevant. Odom’s best weapons are his abilities to drive, finish and pass, and Lebron’s a stronger, better and vastly more consistent version of the long, ball handling savy wing player.

Without Odom, the statement that the Lakers have more talent than the Cavs is completely untrue.

Also, instead of kicking it out to West, Williams, Gibson, Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, Lebron would be dishing to Walton, Ariza, Vujacic, Farmar and Fisher.

In fact, the opposite of what Barkley said might be more true.

On the flipside, if Kobe were on the Cavs, he’d be forced to take it to the hole, where he’s shooting inside shots at a 66 percent clip. Not Lebron-esque, but not shabby to say the least. It should go without saying, but just to make it crystal clear, it’s far easier to make closer shots than to make farther shots…

Kobe is also a much better freethrow shooter than James, so while he might not finish as many drives, he’d make up for it with his proficiency behind the line. He’d also get more assists kicking it out to actual shooters that can actually shoot.

Of course, because Bron Bron and Kobe play different positions, he’d also eliminate one of the perimeter players, either Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, but that just means the team would be better on defense.

As for Barkley’s comment, this isn’t fantasy basketball. If you added Lebron and subtracted Kobe from a Lakers fantasy basketball squad, then sure, you’d be the hands down favorite to win your league. In real basketball, floor spacing, coaching, style of play and maximizing the talents on your squad are vital for success.

Kobe’s ability to create space for his bigs, while remaining highly efficient for someone who is asked to shoot 80 percent of his shots from the perimeter, is why GMs, coaches and players around the league still believe him to be the best player in the league. Lebron is the best at what he can do, but he can’t do everything.

So while Kobe is not quite as good at being Lebron, he’s vastly better than Lebron is at being Kobe.

Finally, the Lakers are said to have a lot of talent although this reputation is based on the performances of four kids under 25 who had breakout seasons last year. So far, Bynum has failed to stay healthy and only started to play like he did last year for less than ten games. Farmar and Vujacic have grossly regressed. Only Ariza has started living up to his potential.

Of course, the prime example of talent not yet realized is Mr. Lamar Odom. Mr. Unfulfilled Potential. And even Lebron James can’t make Lamar consistent.

On the other side, the Cavs have a very specialized, skillful team. So while the talent might not be better, the skill level most certainly is. Wallace and Varejao are defensive bigs who grab boards and are good on the screen and roll. Both have very limited offensive talent, but their presence makes the Cavs a great defensive team.

As pointed out above, the Cavs also have a bevy of shooters. Shooting is a skill that takes years of practice. So while Wally world isn’t more talented than Odom, he’s definitely more skillful. The Lakers have a bunch of talented athletes, Ariza, Farmar, and Bynum, but no one can say that they are skillful. And, the one skillful rotation player outside of Fish and Gasol is Walton. And Walton is skillful at everything but shooting.

So, sure, maybe Kobe has more talent on the Lakers, but the Cavs have more skill.

Which is better?

The standings say they’re about even…

Wade vs Kobe

There was some hype going into last night’s Heat versus Lakers game that featured the two premiere shooting guards facing off in Los Angeles. There was added intrigue for Lakers fans, due to the Heat being one of only 6 other teams who have beaten the reigning Western Conference champs.

The game featured the league’s top (Wade) and third leading scorer (Bryant) butting heads. Literally. Wade finished the game with an ice pack on his head and Bryant had to have 4 stitches above his right eye. It was a gritty matchup, unlike their high-scoring affair three Christmas' ago.

The Heat stayed in the game thanks to the hot shooting of rookie Michael Beasley who drilled 10-16 shots for 23 points and the three point accuracy of Daequan Cook who shot 5-9 from downtown. Looked like he got his wrist slapped at the end of the game, but I see that happen to Kobe all the time, so, no harm no foul I guess. The Lakers stayed in the game thanks to Andrew Bynum's 24 points and Fish's 11 assists and Pau's 18 rebounds.

As far as the main event matchup is concerned, if you were to simply check the box score, you would read that Kobe got badly outplayed by Wade. Flash finished with 27 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, shooting 10-22 from the field.

On the other side of things, the reigning MVP made only 5-14 shots, finishing with 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds with no steals or blocks.

What the boxscore does not tell, is that Kobe, despite the poor shooting night, had the better night of the two. While Wade was pretty much asked to do everything, it was obvious that Kobe’s main responsibility was to stop Wade. #24 was up in #3’s jersey from the moment the ball was inbounded on every single Heat possession. Wade’s going to be smelling Bryant’s sweat at least until Miami plays Minny on Tuesday.

Both star guards played the entire first quarter. During that quarter, Wade shot 3-6, with a turnover and 2 assists. Kobe, amassed 6 assists and but only 3 points on one attempt.

Kobe and Wade both sat out at the beginning of the second quarter. Lakers had a 26-21 lead, and carried that until Wade entered at 8:08. At about the 7 minute mark, with Kobe still on the bench, Wade goes on a tear and proceeds to hit a 3 pointer, 2 freethrows and a 21-foot jumper to tie the game at 34-34. Overall, he’s 2-3 from the field.

At 5:33 of the second quarter, Kobe checks back in. With Kobe hounding him again, Wade finishes the quarter with a made bucket, 2 assists and 2 turnovers.

In the first half, while going up against Bryant, Wade shot 4-7, with 3 turnovers and 4 assists. When Kobe was out, Wade shot 2-3, with a pair of made freethrows.

The third quarter began with both playing the entire 12 minutes. With Kobe hounding him again, Wade misses all four of his attempts and the Heat’s 1 point lead vanishes into a 60-73 lead for the Lakers. At the 2:30 mark, Wade puts the team on his back and scores a layup and draws a foul on Gasol for the and-one. He gets to the line again for two more freethrows. Then misses another shot. For the quarter, Kobe went 4-7 from the field and 1-1 from the line with 1 assist. Wade shot 1-6 and 3-3 from the line with no assists. The Lakers carry a 71-77 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Wade and Kobe both sit. Wade enters first at the 9:33 mark. In the span of a minute, from 8:25 to 7:24, Wade scores 7 points, all while Bryant is still riding pine. His flurry turns a 77-85 lead for the Lakers into a 3-point game 82-85.

Kobe Bryant enters at 7:11 and Wade doesn’t score the rest of the way shooting 0-4. He does, however, amass 4 assists in the final 7 minutes of play, with 3 in a row that helped knot the game at 102. But he doesn’t score, nor does he get to the line.

With Kobe manning Wade up, Flash shot 5-17 from the field, hit 3-3 freethrows for 13 points and had 8 dimes to 3 turnovers. When Trevor Ariza or Sasha Vujacic was covering Wade, Flash was 5-5 from the field, 3-4 from the line for 14 points and had one assist and no turnovers.

Basically, Kobe forced Wade, pretty much all by his lonesome (I mean, he did get help defense) to become a distributor while he was guarding him. On the flipside, Kobe was constantly seeing double teams, and while Flash did guard Kobe throughout the game, Kobe saw Marion down the stretch.

So, while the final box score heavily favors Flash, it was Mamba who was the silent killer and the main reason the Lakers were able to pull this game out. He played some mean, mean defense tonight, and was a huge reason why his team won despite his putrid 35 percent from the field.

More and more evidence that box scores barely tell half the story.

Above all, this game was a unique testament to the greatness of two players, displayed in completely different ways. Wade showed his brilliance by scoring half of his 27 points in the tiny window of 5 minutes when Kobe was not guarding him. Even more impressive is how Kobe was able to slow down the league's leading scorer to a 5-17 shooting performance in the other 35 plus minutes the two played together.