Kobe Bryant calls out His Haters and Stat Nerds!

[Hulk Hogan]

Interesting Read.

BOSTON – As the volume rises on the criticism of Kobe Bryant, the chorus causes him to feel far more invigorated than invalidated. The call to deconstruct a championship legacy is a right of passage for a generational talent. The debate rages over his reputation as a clutch performer, over his propriety in five Los Angeles Lakers championships.

Pay no mind when he tells you he never listens to it because he’s too much within the hysteria that surrounds him. Rest assured, he ingests it.


“People kind of get bored with things that I’ve done, so they try to find new ones to talk about or try to find numbers to justify certain things,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. “That’s what happens when you win. I remember Magic and Michael [Jordan] going through similar things. Hey, the talk before was that I couldn’t do it without Shaq. Well I did that. And then I did it again. Now it’s something else. They’re always going to come for something else.

“But I win. We win.”

After the Los Angeles Lakers practiced on Wednesday, Bryant wore a black ski cap, ankle tape and a bemused grin in the bleachers of Emerson College. Here, he spit out his metaphors through the stark prism with which he sees the game. Bryant still believes this season will come down to big shots because it always does. He still believes that ball belongs in his hands because those moments have always belonged to him.

“If somebody had their life on the line, and they’ve got their options on who they want to save their life – tell me who you’re going to pick?” Bryant asked. “You’re going to look at the stats first?”

Eventually, Bryant will get the final word this basketball season. He’ll have the ball, the game, the chance for the Lakers’ three-peat within his grasp. Perhaps it’ll be here at the Boston Garden, where the Lakers play the Celtics on Thursday night. Perhaps it’ll be in the Western Conference finals against the San Antonio Spurs. Perhaps it’ll come against LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

Across the past four years, Bryant and these Lakers have been through a long, long grind. Long seasons, long pushes into the playoffs, into Games 6’s and 7’s of the NBA Finals.

His shoe off, Bryant’s left ankle was exposed on the floor on Wednesday. The Lakers trainer had delivered several minutes of electric stimulation treatment and wrapped it. When asked the source of the problem, Bryant shrugged.

“Fifteen years,” he said.

Fifteen years and that’s taken a toll on his body, if not his spirit. Among his ankle, knees and fingers, Bryant and these Lakers are no longer constructed to run roughshod through the regular season. Nevertheless, it’s February and the Lakers have still struggled to beat the league’s elite. This is a season without a signature victory, with a dicey proposition of past performance as the greater indicator of future success.

FULL ARTICLE: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...belakers021011

[StacksOnDeck]

He's right. If you had to choose between Marion and Kobe, you're not gonna pick Marion cause his % is higher.

[Glide2keva]

He said that because his stats don't measure up when you look at them.

[Disaprine]

[kaiiu]

shots fired in this b!tch

[shallehalle]

without Shaq, but with Gasol, Odom and Artest who bailed the Lakers out in game 7

[LAClipsFan33]

Damn this dude is so f*ckin terrible

[kaiiu]

Damn this dude is so f*ckin terrible

he was hollin on this doe

[GreatHILL]

without Shaq, but with Gasol, Odom and Artest who bailed the Lakers out in game 7

so true

[bond10]

without Shaq, but with Gasol, Odom and Artest who bailed the Lakers out in game 7

This.

[PurpleChuck]

[QUOTE=Kobe Bryant]

[Stuckey]

i use to be a huge Kobe hater, but no matter how much hate you have for this guy, you have to respect what he's accomplished, especially in recent years, if you dont, you are not a true knowledgeable sports/basketball fan

the thing that bothers me most, and probably will for a long time is how the lakers got pau gasol, that irks me and probably will take years off my life

[crisoner]

LOL

THIS!!!

[Jacks3]

[KenneBell]

[QUOTE]