NBA 2016 Playoffs Edition: Farewell, Kobe!

[Maithanet]

2 minutes ago, David Selig said:

Kobe was a major reason they won 5 titles and put in great effort on the court for 20 years. Of course he deserved a standing ovation, it doesn't matter how terrible he and the team were this season.

He did deserve it, from Lakers fans.  But the year-long victory lap like the NBA will never be the same without Kobe is the perfect embodiment of why so many non-Lakers fans find him insufferable. 

[ab aeterno]

1 minute ago, Maithanet said:

He did deserve it, from Lakers fans.  But the year-long victory lap like the NBA will never be the same without Kobe is the perfect embodiment of why so many non-Lakers fans find him insufferable. 

Apparently many non-Laker fans found him sufferable enough to give him standing ovations around the League.

[Maithanet]

4 minutes ago, ab aeterno said:

Apparently many non-Laker fans found him sufferable enough to give him standing ovations around the League.

Not really sure what point you are making, there are plenty of Lakers fans outside LA. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

5 minutes ago, ab aeterno said:

As to the retirement tour, I actually think it was a really good thing. Giving fans notice that one of the greatest players in history is only going to be around for one more year isn't a bad thing. Everyone then gets their last chance to see him play.

 Last chance to overpay to see a broken down shell of a former great limp through the worst season of his career? I'll pass, even if Kobe won't. 

[Maithanet]

2 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

 Last chance to overpay to see a broken down shell of a former great limp through the worst season of his career? I'll pass, even if Kobe won't. 

Plus, there is a very real chance that Kobe comes back to give us all the encore that nobody wanted, just like Jordan did. 

[ab aeterno]

1 minute ago, Maithanet said:

Not really sure what point you are making, there are plenty of Lakers fans outside LA. 

Come on, you don't really think that all the people around the NBA who were cheering Kobe were just Lakers fans?

Just now, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

 Last chance to overpay to see a broken down shell of a former great limp through the worst season of his career? I'll pass, even if Kobe won't. 

The broken down shell scored 60 points in a game at an older age than anyone has ever done before. Surely you don't blame him for ageing? 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

3 minutes ago, ab aeterno said:

The broken down shell scored 60 points in a game at an older age than anyone has ever done before. Surely you don't blame him for ageing? 

I don't blame him for aging, but this was his MO when he was young and healthy. A bloated point total at the cost of an excessive amount of attempts. 60 points in a meaningless game for both teams (outside of the sentimentality) on 50 attempts, with all of his teammates feeding him? Not seeing anything to get excited about there. 

[Maithanet]

3 minutes ago, ab aeterno said:

Come on, you don't really think that all the people around the NBA who were cheering Kobe were just Lakers fans?

If fans of his game want to cheer for his career achievements, they are welcome to do so.  But the fact that his final appearance in every arena was treated as some "event" just feeds into the negatives that people such as myself see in him - that he was a selfish player and an insufferable teammate. 

[ab aeterno]

3 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

I don't blame him for aging, but this was his MO when he was young and healthy. A bloated point total at the cost of an excessive amount of attempts. 60 points in a meaningless game for both teams (outside of the sentimentality) on 50 attempts, with all of his teammates feeding him? Not seeing anything to get excited about there. 

But if it's a meaningless game, and it was, why not give the fans what they wanted to see? There was nothing to lose by jacking up as many shots as he could, and nothing to gain from passing. No-one went to that game to see Roy Hibbert shooting. I'm not sure there was ever a more appropriate game for Kobe to shoot as much as he wanted.

3 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

If fans of his game want to cheer for his career achievements, they are welcome to do so.  But the fact that his final appearance in every arena was treated as some "event" just feeds into the negatives that people such as myself see in him - that he was a selfish player and an insufferable teammate. 

I think it was an event, because love him or hate him, he is indisputably one of the most successful and highest achieving players in NBA history, and he's been playing for 20 years. It's the end of an era.

He absolutely was a self-centred player who didn't treat his teammates well, often, but he was also one of the most compelling players in the league for his entire career. The Lakers anti-hero. Other fans got a lot out of hating him, and we all got to see a lot of spectacular performances. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

46 minutes ago, Kindly Old Man said:

I can't stand Kobe but watching him put up 60 points while breaking he NBA field goal attempts record at age 37 was super entertaining. Just the most Kobe thing possible. Sometimes you have to respect a good villain. He's still one of the most overrated players ever.

edited to say: not the all-time fga record, just whats available on basketball-reference.com

You made curious enough to check through some of the older records.

Apparently Wilt had over 60 FGA (single game) on at least 2 occasions. Wilt had over 50 FGA (single game) on multiple occasions. Elgin Baylor also attempted at least 50 FGA's in a reg. season game at least once. There was another more obscure player listed, I think he was named Joe Faulks( sp?) or something similar?

So yes the 50 FGA (single game) puts Kobe on the leader board but he's down a ways from being the record holder.

[David Selig]

BTW, Kobe was a pretty efficient scorer for most of his career (well above the league average for true shooting percentage), especially at his volume. Some of you make him seem like an inefficient chucker but that was never the case before his Achilles injury.

[Maithanet]

3 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

So yes the 50 FGA (single game) puts Kobe on the leader board but he's down a ways from being the record holder.

Yeah, well Wilt had 100 points in a game without the 3 point line.  It is hard to imagine he could have done that on less than 50 shots...

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

4 minutes ago, ab aeterno said:

But if it's a meaningless game, and it was, why not give the fans what they wanted to see? There was nothing to lose by jacking up as many shots as he could, and nothing to gain from passing. No-one went to that game to see Roy Hibbert shooting. I'm not sure there was ever a more appropriate game for Kobe to shoot as much as he wanted.

 Yeah, I agree with that. Put on a show, it's his final game. That being said, I don't think it's praise worthy. I don't think it lives up to the hype it's receiving. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Lost in all this Kobe and Dubs talk are two amazing stats:

1. The Heat scored 5 points last night in the 3rd quarter, and 3 of those 5 points came in the first 20 seconds of the quarter. I think a random collection of 5 of us could have made 3 shots in 12 minutes. Just sayin....

2. Assuming George Karl gets fired, starting next season, the Kings will have had 9 coaches in 11 seasons, and will still owe money to 4 or 5 of them. 

[DanteGabriel]

7 hours ago, Ramsay Blow said:

One of the only times I can ever remember rooting for Kobe was last night. I could only see the 1st quarter before work but he was taking some wild ass shots early and it was pretty fun to watch. Awesome that they came back and won too. 

And the Warriors overtook the Bulls. My dad just gave me a morning, "how sour are you?" text. Oh well, at least it wasn't Lebron.

Also, Heat scoring 5 in the 3rd quarter...ouch!!

Clearly the most noteworthy event last night was the Celtics' comeback from 26 points down at the half to beat Miami by 10 (because of that 5-point 3rd quarter).

In all seriousness, I'm glad to see the Kobe hate here. I agree he went out in the most Kobe-like way possible: throwing up shot after shot with his teammates standing back to win a meaningless game. It was like a shamelessly fan-servicing final episode for a TV show that ran a few years too long. We all know it's crap but we smile and nod because its trite awfulness is somehow comforting.

I'll not deny his skills. He was a giant of the basketball world in the same way that Richard Nixon was a giant of politics, and is about the same level of garbage human being. Good riddance to that gold-plated toad, and may the Lakers toil in shittiness for decades to come.

[Maithanet]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Lost in all this Kobe and Dubs talk are two amazing stats:

1. The Heat scored 5 points last night in the 3rd quarter, and 3 of those 5 points came in the first 20 seconds of the quarter. I think a random collection of 5 of us could have made 3 shots in 12 minutes. Just sayin....

Assuming the NBA team was actually trying, I doubt this very very much.  Most of the time I doubt we could even get past halfcourt. 

[David Selig]

6 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

You made curious enough to check through some of the older records.

Apparently Wilt had over 60 FGA (single game) on at least 2 occasions. Wilt had over 50 FGA (single game) on multiple occasions. Elgin Baylor also attempted at least 50 FGA's in a reg. season game at least once. There was another more obscure player listed, I think he was named Joe Faulks( sp?) or something similar?

So yes the 50 FGA (single game) puts Kobe on the leader board but he's down a ways from being the record holder.

The pace of the NBA games was downright ridiculous back in the early 1960s, that is the main reason that there are so many scoring and rebounding records from that era. Of course, Wilt being an extreme ball hog helped a lot too.

[ab aeterno]

Away from Kobe for a moment -

More impressive: 

402 3PT; 30.1PPG; 50.4 FG% & 6.7 APG, or 73 wins?

I was leaning towards the 73 wins, but now that I think about it, I'm really not convinced.

 

[Fez]

4 hours ago, Maithanet said:

I am glad that I'm not the only Kobe hater coming out this morning.  Good work, board.  I feel like this season just exemplified everything I dislike about Kobe's game.  What player takes a season long victory lap? 

These days? Seems like all the truly big name ones. Just look at Derek Jeter or Peyton Manning's final seasons. There's not the same recent history in the NBA, but Kobe is the first all-time NBA great to retire in the past few years. I fully expect Dirk, LeBron, KD, Westbrook, Dwade, etc. to get the same treatment when they retire.

Duncan would too, but he's an alien who has no use for your 'human emotions' and Pop is his coach.

[ab aeterno]

1 minute ago, David Selig said:

The pace of the NBA games was downright ridiculous back in the early 1960s, that is the main reason that there are so many scoring and rebounding records from that era. Of course, Wilt being an extreme ball hog helped a lot too.

I love the quote from Bill Russel about how he used to let Wilt score because if he tried too hard to stop him Wilt would take it as a challenge, and he (Wilt) was strong enough to overpower him.