Kobe Bryant's finals performances: He's not all that great.

[Calabis]

Lol at retards that use FG% as a basis for saying that Kobe had a bad series. Go back and look at MJ's FG % in the Finals for the 2nd 3-peat. Do we care that he shot in the low 40's or that his team still won?

He did shoot in the low 40's...43% to be exact, yet he had countless lengendary moments in that 2nd three peat, game winners, flu game, 16 fourth quarter points while scoring the Bulls final 8 points add in the key steal and game winner in 98(pippen struggling with a bad back).....huge difference

[Bring-Your-Js]

Of course not. Just more double standards.

It's really not though. Jordan all but cemented his stature with what he did in 1991-1993. Those are his GOAT worthy efforts. When have you ever seen a legitimate poster on here talking about Jordan's epic 1996 Finals? Everybody knows Jordan had dismal shooting nights, 1998 being no exception either. The thing is, those efforts are comparable to what you could call some of Kobe's BEST. And 1997 is probably better too.

[Calabis]

[/thread]

No one here is hating on Black Mamba.

If Kobe would've had just ONE EPIC Finals against Boston ... you could make a case for him being top five all-time, easily.

Dude his top ten all-time, for me ranks like 7th on the all-time list. And one of the few true guards to be top ten all-time.

Magic is not a guard, he's the original point forward prototype that Pippen, Penny, Hill, and LeBron evolved out of as players.

I know u are not hating kobe...some of the other guys r just killing him for no reason, acting like he is a piece of shit that can't play

[Bring-Your-Js]

I know u are not hating kobe...some of the other guys r just killing him for no reason, acting like he is a piece of shit that can't play

Genghis Khan.

[magnax1]

Another one who gets it.

Jordan cemented his legacy with arguably the three best consecutive Finals performances of ALL-TIME.

He submitted and stamped his GOAT resume in the Finals.

Think about it ... in 1996, Jordan was 33. The same age Kobe is this year, where he very clearly began to wear down. Jordan won MVP, and took his team to the Finals convincingly and won Finals MVP.

In 1997 he was 34, in 1998 he was 35. Think about that.

Do you see Kobe playing like the best player in the league the next two seasons, winning another regular season MVP, 2x Finals rings and 2x Finals MVPs? Doubtful.

Jordan was doing this on OLD legs, too.

Jordan is easily the best Finals performer of all-time. Especially including his 2nd three peat.

Shaq isn't even close. MJ was the best player on the floor easily for 6 NBA Finals.

The late 90's championships with Jordan Finals performances, they are better than Kobe's performances in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

The playoffs leading up to the chips is different, I'd give Bryant the slight edge. But in the Finals? Jordan was still the best player in sneakers.

I agree, but it's not that fair to compare Kobe at 33 to Jordan at 33. Kobe this year, or maybe even last year is more comparable to the wear Jordan had in 98.

[magnax1]

We would have to see where the minutes per game rank up.

Kobe didn't play much his first three years in the league.

It wasn't until 2000 that he started getting SERIOUS burn.

MJ lead the Bulls in minutes played from his rookie season forward.

Yeah, right now Kobe has almost the exact same minutes as Jordan during his whole career, so I think it's fair to say that he's had more wear then Jordan.

[caliman]

He did shoot in the low 40's...43% to be exact, yet he had countless lengendary moments in that 2nd three peat, game winners, flu game, 16 fourth quarter points while scoring the Bulls final 8 points add in the key steal and game winner in 98(pippen struggling with a bad back).....huge difference

So are we talking legendary Finals or legendary moments in the Finals? If it's the former, then Kobe may not have any legendary Finals series, but to act like he has been atrocious is false. The only series that he was piss poor in was against the Pistons, and some may include 2000 even though he missed the majority of 2 games.

I would agree that he hasn't had legendary moments. The closest may be when he took over in OT after Shaq fouled out in 2000.

I don't think anyone would argue that he has been a legendary Finals performer, but he has been much better than people are making him out to be. He has ranged from pretty average(2000) to great(2002, 2009).

[All Net]

Yeah, right now Kobe has almost the exact same minutes as Jordan during his whole career, so I think it's fair to say that he's had more wear then Jordan.

Two retirements certainly helped Jordan long term

[caliman]

We would have to see where the minutes per game rank up.

Kobe didn't play much his first three years in the league.

It wasn't until 2000 that he started getting SERIOUS burn.

MJ lead the Bulls in minutes played from his rookie season forward.

Another falsehood. Kobe was getting serious burn before 2000. He was at 26 mpg his 2nd year and 38 the next, which is the exact same number of minutes that he played in 2000.

[KenneBell]

We would have to see where the minutes per game rank up.

Kobe didn't play much his first three years in the league.

It wasn't until 2000 that he started getting SERIOUS burn.

MJ lead the Bulls in minutes played from his rookie season forward.

Yeah but he was 20-21 when he started getting serious playing time.

He's played in 15 straight seasons since turning 18.

Say what you want about the age vs minutes debate but Kobe is pushing it a lot further than MJ did at the same age.

That's why Wade at 29 looks a lot better than Kobe did at the same age and will look better than LeBron at 29 as well IMO.

[magnax1]

Two retirements certainly helped Jordan long term

A bit, but your body still wears down during that time, and it's almost impossible to come back to 100% of what you're capable of, sort of like rehabbing an injury.

[3zazer1]

He does have some choker in him. And it's even his teammates who usually hit the big shots in the playoffs. Let's just look at his finals performances:

00 - Played like crap
01 - Played like crap
02 - Played like he's supposed to
04 - Played like crap
08 - Played like crap
09 - His best finals performance
10 - Played like he's supposed to (6/24 game 7 though)

He has never dominated in the finals. And more often than not he underperforms.

Where are the stats behind your claim though? You sound like another bitter Lebron Stan.

LET IT GO!!

[guy]

Two retirements certainly helped Jordan long term

Jordan coming back after almost 2 years away and not being anywhere close to what he was was alot more likely then him coming back and still being the best player in the game. When else has that ever happened? He would've more likely kept the same level of play had he not retired in the first place. That's pretty much what has happened with Kobe in 15 seasons.

[BEAST Griffin]

"In the fourth quarters of the first four games in the Finals -- 48 minutes of action -- the Lakers had 82 possessions. In those possessions, Bryant had 57 touches. And within those 57 touches, he was 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from the floor, scoring only 28 points.

In the fourth quarter of Game 5, he was 2-for-6 (33.3 percent), scoring nine points. In the last five minutes of the game, when the Lakers were down by as many as eight points, he had zero field goals and five points from the line. Making his game total of 38 points pointless."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/comme...jackson/100614

Clutch.

[AlphaWolf24]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/comme...jackson/100614

Clutch.