Why does Old Kobe struggle so much against Shawn Marion

[tpols]

Uh no. Kobe was far better in 01 and 02 than Gasol ever was.

Yup.. and so was Pippen on the Bulls.. so is Wade if the Heat win the chip. Gasol was/is a very good player, but he was never a superstar like those guys.

Anyone besides prime Jordan would have been 'second option' to Shaq. There's really no shame in it.

[MJ23forever]

He was easily as good as Shaq in 01 and 02.

kobe was close to shaq's equal only in the 2001 playoffs but other than that shaq was clearly superior. that doesn't take anything from kobe though because he he was still a full fledged superstar in 2002 despite the detractors that try to downplay him as a disposable side-kick.

[Heavincent]

Lebron was just standing around doing nothing and playing hot potato with the ball.

Fixed. lol at you trying to defend the most pathetic display by a superstar in Finals history

[hitmanyr2k]

[B]He was easily as good as Shaq in 01 and 02. Kobe was better in the WCF playoffs where there were real defenders to play Shaq.
In 01 Shaq got to go up against old and to skinny for him Dikembe Mutumbo, and in 02 he went up against 6 '9 Kenyon Martin. Lakers woulda been morons to not go to shaq more than Kobe in those series.

It wasn't just Shaq who had weak competition. Kobe rarely had to face any quality all-star competition at his position either. All the elite swingmen T-Mac, Vince, Iverson, Pierce, Ray Allen were out east and had to battle it out amongst themselves. Meanwhile Kobe got to go up against 6'3 Antonio Daniels and 6'3 37 year old Terry Porter in the 2001 WCF with Shaq taking a lot of the defensive attention. The Kings had no one at SG to make Kobe work on both ends either. Doug Christie was garbage. So it goes both ways.

[rodman91]

He was easily as good as Shaq in 01 and 02.

[hitmanyr2k]

Lebron had no problem whatsoever against him..... last time he torched the Mavs... dropping 37-10-6 @ 58% FG... on the contrary, Lebron shut down Marion defensively that game....

Not even in the Finals did he have trouble... he shot 48% fg, took only like 10-14 shots that series... he was just facilitating, leading everybody in assists.... Heat were doing perfectly fine that way, the only problem Lebron/Heat had were closing out games in the clutch.... thats the only reason they lost...

If that series was replayed Lebron would absolutely go ham on Mavs....

Give it up. Lebron got skull-f***ed against the Mavs. I'm sure Lebron has no problem dropping big numbers against the Mavs in the regular season but the playoffs, the Finals in particular are another beast entirely that Lebron hasn't shown he can deal with yet. If Marion blatantly called any other superstar a bitch to their face he would probably ignite that player. Lebron wilted instead.

[rodman91]

Eric Snow pretty much stopped Kobe in 2001 and yet you dare to say he was Shaq's equal. Kobe was 3rd best player in those finals.

His performance got away because of Shaq's amazing performance..otherwise it wouldn't much better than Lebron's with a lost.

[rodman91]

He was easily as good as Shaq in 01 and 02.

[chazzy]

His performance got away because of Shaq's amazing performance..otherwise it wouldn't much better than Lebron's with a lost.

Not even close

[Deuce Bigalow]

A first half of one game? lol

Kobe was not bad - 25/8/6/42%

Before that series Kobe averaged
35/9/4/47% in 2nd Round
33/7/7/51% in WCF

What were the stats in the 2nd half?

[rodman91]

Not even close

24.6 PPG/7.8 RPG/5.8 APG (41%)

22.0 PPG/7.0 RPG/6.8 APG (35%)

pretty close, especially if you count defense was focusing on Shaq, not Kobe.

[rodman91]

A first half of one game? lol

1st off Iverson shot 35% for the series
Kobe was not bad - 25/8/5/41%, the 2nd best player in the series

Before that series Kobe averaged
35/9/4/47% in 2nd Round
33/7/7/51% in WCF

What were the stats in the 2nd half?

10 points in 2nd half

2nd best player in series? Iverson had 48 point game and a win while Kobe had 15 points. Iverson had 35.6 ppg series while kobe had 24.6 ppg.

Kobe was 3rd best player in series.

He wasn't even main focus of Sixers.Snow stopped Kobe as you can see from the stats you have posted.

[Deuce Bigalow]

10 points in 2nd half

2nd best player in series? Iverson had 48 point game and a win while Kobe had 15 points. Iverson had 35.6 ppg series while kobe had 24.6 ppg.

Kobe was 3rd best player in series.

He wasn't even main focus of Sixers.Snow stopped Kobe as you can see from the stats you have posted.

Sure Iverson outplayed Kobe in game 1, but lets look at the other 4 games

Game 2
Kobe - 31/8/6 on 23 shots
Iverson - 23/4/3 on 29 shots

Game 3
Kobe - 32/6/3 on 30 shots
Iverson -35/12/4 on 30 shots

Game 4
Kobe - 19/10/9 on 13 shots
Iverson - 35/4/4 on 30 shots

Game 5
Kobe - 26/12/6 on 18 shots
Iverson - 37/3/2 on 32 shots

Iverson for the series averaged 35.6 PPG on 32.2 FGA

[rodman91]

Sure Iverson outplayed Kobe in game 1, but lets look at the other 4 games

Game 2
Kobe - 31/8/6 on 23 shots
Iverson - 23/4/3 on 29 shots

Game 3
Kobe - 32/6/3 on 30 shots
Iverson -35/12/4 on 30 shots

Game 4
Kobe - 19/10/9 on 13 shots
Iverson - 35/4/4 on 30 shots

Game 5
Kobe - 26/12/6 on 18 shots
Iverson - 37/3/2 on 32 shots

Iverson for the series averaged 35.6 PPG on 32.2 FGA

Kobe was taking less shot with almost same FG% while not much defensive pressure compared to Iverson. That doesn't make it better.

Iverson 41% as only offensive weapon more shots
Kobe 41.5 next to shaq, much more open looks, less shots

It's all on youtube anyway.

[ThaRegul8r]

Maybe he's just a good defender.

Novel concept, I know.