http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2004/columns/story?columnist=smith_sam&id
=1821993
I come today to praise Kobe Bryant.
At a time when most are trying to bury him.
It seems last week Bryant, when he saved the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of
the NBA Finals with that shocking 3-pointer, as he'd done many times before,
namely his twin threes in Portland at the end of the season that changed the
entire playoff seeding, Bryant was Michael Jordan hitting that game-winning
shot against Cleveland and Craig Ehlo in the playoffs. The shot was played over
and over again on TV. And so the last few days Bryant has been Jordan again, as
the joke here at the Finals goes, the Jordan in Washington. Like Dorian Gray,
Bryant was aging but just his game.
Yeah, yeah, he takes bad shots. And he breaks the Lakers' offense a little too
often.
Daring to be great is not just hitting the game-winning shot. It's failing, as
well, as Jordan has said many times. And trying. This is what truly separates
the great ones. They don't ever expect to miss. Or lose.
Jordan wasn't always smart, and he wasn't always in the offense and wasn't
always taking the right shot at the right time. Competition, youth and
frustration understand that.
With the Detroit Pistons leading the NBA Finals 3-1, Joe Dumars, who has done
a magnificent job in building an unlikely champion, was sitting in the stands
as his team practiced on the eve of what could be his greatest moment as an
executive. It's one thing to win when you have, well, guys like Joe Dumars. And
Isiah Thomas, Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant, Jordan, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and
John Havlicek. But win it all with this Pistons team?
"The biggest statement you can make, without having to say anything, is to win
the championship," Dumars said. "Then you don't have to say anything about what
you did."
Bryant knows that position. So does O'Neal, Rick Fox and others on the Lakers.
There were questions about Bryant's shot selection, which was curious. It's
what everyone says when you are 4-for-13 and 8-for-25, as Bryant was the last
two games. Fox suggested players should be fined for dribbling more than two or
three times. Someone tried to bait O'Neal into a condemnation of Bryant when
O'Neal had made 16 of 21 shots in Sunday's 88-80 defeat in Game 4 while Bryant
had missed 17 of his 25. "Maybe Shaq should shoot 50 times," Fox wondered.
For his part, O'Neal saw the Kobe slam setup coming and said it was a trick
question which he had no trick answer.
"You're not going to get me with that question today, buddy," O'Neal smiled.
So perhaps it was appropriate that it all happened here in The Palace at
Auburn Hills, where the Pistons tortured Jordan and the Bulls for so many years
until they finally made the Bad Boys go away.
It was 1989, remember that? Dumars does.
Jordan went off for one of those big-shot, bad-shot performances -- 10 for 29
-- in Game 1. But the Bulls won and took a 2-1 series lead before the Pistons
laid them out three straight. Jordan was going to do everything he could to win
this. Look, the truth is only a few aren't afraid to do it.
It was amusing the other day here to hear Pistons coach Larry Brown talking
about Allen Iverson. Brown likes to tweak Iverson now and then, but he admires
the competitor in "the little guy." Brown said just about every timeout he had
in six years with the 76ers someone would be mumbling about the ridiculous shot
Iverson took or all the dribbling he did. And then they'd get to the end of the
game and everyone would throw the ball to Iverson and run away.
It was usually that way with the Bulls, especially in the early losing years.
So Jordan had one of those 5-for-15 games and the Bulls lost Game 4 to even the
series. The frustration of Jordan would boil over from time to time, always in
Detroit, where the Pistons shadowed him and collapsed and handed him off from
defender to defender in a defensive relay known as the Jordan Rules. Everyone
has assignments to defense Jordan. If Sam Vincent beat you, so be it.
It's never worked better than it has in this series. No one on the Lakers but
O'Neal and Bryant is averaging even seven points per game in the Finals. No one
has scored in double figures in any game but those two. That has to be a
dubious record.
So, with Jordan back then, teammates started talking and it got back to Jordan
that perhaps some of those shots were ill-advised against Detroit's defense and
perhaps a pass or two might've worked. In the next game, Jordan attempted eight
shots. Heck, he could've gotten eight shots during a timeout if he wanted.
Against Wilt, Russell and Kareem. C'mon. The message was clear: You think it's
so easy. Try it.
Yes, Jordan was young then, 26, like Bryant, who will be 26 in August. Some-
times their youth, aggression, ability and desire interferes with their reason.
But they are the major reason their teams succeed.
Dumars understands that. Nobody had a better view of Jordan in those years
since Dumars was the primary defender, although with plenty of help.
"There are a lot of similarities," Dumars said when asked about the two. "Kobe
is a better shooter at 25 than Michael was. Michael became a great shooter as
he got older. Those guys are eerily similar to me. When I watch Kobe play, it's
as close to Michael as I've ever seen. It's hard to imagine that. I have the
utmost respect for his game. He made a play (in Game 4) I shook my head over, a
floater away, kissed off the backboard. That's a hard shot to make."
But, Joe, Michael never took shots like that and had games like that!
"Times does a lot of things to people's memory," Dumars said with a knowing
smirk. "It makes you think everyone had 40 every night. Mike had some awfully
tough ganes in this building, awfully tough games. It's a little unfair to say
Michael wouldn't have those games. He wasn't getting 40 in here. He had some
good games, but he wasn't getting 40. But he was going to have the ball."
Of course, the argument is Jordan didn't have Shaq. But it's hard to say
Bryant does, either. At least that Shaq.
He was that Shaq again on Sunday, having one of those Wilt-like nights when
big people bounced away like toys. He had an extra day's rest and the
desperation of a great player. It will be interesting to see whether O'Neal can
sustain it after playing 47 tough minutes in Game 4. If he can, the Lakers can
still be playing after Tuesday.
But it comes and goes now. O'Neal averaged 30 points per game or close every
playoffs in his career but his first. He's been barely above 20 per game in
these playoffs. Nine times he's failed to score 20 points. He used to average
over 30 in the Finals every year. He's still great, but not as he once was. So
he needs Bryant. As Bryant needs him.
It's unfortunate how neither seems to fully understand that.
It's not easy for Shaq to put up with Bryant's wicked collection of shots, or
for Bryant to put up with O'Neal's diminishing stamina, which was the essential
part of the Pistons' game plan. Run the big guy until he couldn't keep up. And
then run him some more. It was a track meet to set up in the half court.
But the Lakers are not even here without Bryant. He averaged almost 30 per
game after they were down 0-2 to the Spurs. He shot 50 percent and averaged
almost six rebounds and six assists. He had 31 points and 10 assists to close
out the Rockets. He had 31 points in the big Game 4 win that effectively closed
out the Timberwolves.
Yeah, Bryant doesn't always throw the ball to O'Neal when it looks like he has
the advantage, but O'Neal doesn't always come to get it, work for his position
and power up like he did in Game 4. Sure, Bryant handles the ball too much at
times and takes some of the most curious shots. But they often go in. It's what
you have to live with sometimes when you have a creative genius of the game.
Guys like Fox and Fisher don't make many mistakes. But they don't bail the team
out either, Fisher's point-oh-four miracle notwithstanding.
Most teams would be dead now if they were in the Lakers' position with injured
and ineffective players. They're not because they have players like O'Neal and
Bryant. So you have to put up with the unconventional and hope they'll grow up
like Jordan did.
作者 aval (你是我的誰) 看板 KobeBryant
標題 Re: Taking Bad Shots with the Good
時間 Tue Jun 15 21:54:23 2004
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我對每個人心目中的高下優劣之別沒什麼意見, 但別忘了有框架這回事, 成天把客觀放在
嘴上不啻暴露自己的無知. 一切都是主觀的, 連你認定的客觀尚且由主觀判定, 那何來客
觀之有? 只要能把自己的道理說出來就好, 用主客觀去掩飾自己的偏見實在沒什麼必要.
我只是對一些事情, 或講得確切點由人的認知建構出來的事實被過分扭曲有意見. 也就是
某些人在陳述的時候引用的事實我覺得可能差太遠, 也許是因為他們到了六月才開始看湖
人比賽的緣故, 也或許先前的比賽他們看了但受限於認知結構上的盲點.
第一輪碰到火箭隊對手選擇包夾的對象是誰? 第四戰後 Jeff Van Gundy 被問到最後 Kobe
在右邊三分線弧頂外切進來硬吃 Cuttino Mobley 那個 "為什麼全場都對 Kobe 作包夾防
守但是在最後卻 (結果論) 功虧一簀" 的質疑時沒有反問媒體, "你們搞錯了吧, 我們全場
包夾的對象明明就是 Shaquille O'Neal." 對上馬刺的時候對方有像湖人隊在後面四戰包
夾 Duncan 的積極和強度來面對 Diesel 嗎? 現在對上活塞, Larry Brown 不是更擺明了
對 MDE 用 single-coverage? 活塞真正的防守重心在身上?
如果你的答案是 Shaq, 我想知道為什麼.
另外一個就是 Sam Smith 在文章中提到的, Jordan 在早期對活塞的比賽中不乏碰壁的經
驗. 根據他的說法, Jordan 在 89 年對活賽的系列中第一場 29 投 10 是個 big-shot,
bad-shot performance, 第四戰 15 投 5 中後, 大神的隊友開始說有些球實在不應該投,
如果多傳幾下可能會更好, 話傳到了 Jordan 耳中, 下一場比賽他全場只出手八球, Smith
對此的詮釋為大神想告訴他的隊友 : 你以為很容易嗎? 你自己來試試.
29 投 10 中, 隊友對他的 shot selection 有意見後全場只出手八球 --- 當然從出手八
球來論斷那場 Jordan 的表現不洽當, 他可能進攻上充分扮演誘餌的角色讓隊友有空檔出
手, 也可能在進攻時刻意地消失 --- 重點是, 有些人似乎就認定在 Jordan Rules 的伺候
下大神打得就跟他們想像中一樣, 而不去提 Jordan 情急時也會有旁人眼中不好的投籃出
手, 聽到旁人的責難時 Jordan "也許" (沒有更多證據無法斷言) 會在場上作情緒性的反
應.
第三戰後 Kobe 說到他跟禪師討論如何讓他有更好的進攻機會, 或做更有效率的進攻. 但
是第四戰打下來 Kobe 的進攻模式有什麼不同嗎? 我覺得他有去想要怎麼對付 Prince 的
防守, 跟前面幾場稍有不同的, 他在上半場幾次試圖用他的腳步 (一次在罰球區上緣左轉
翻身後仰) 和快速 (一次帶球往裡衝在 Prince 沒有辦法完全貼緊之下急停出手) 來爭取
在 Prince 面前更好的出手視野.