Letters to the Editor
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Kobe's team was in on it
King,
To say that the Lakers weren't in on Kobe's accomplishment overlooks what actually happened at the end of the game. Granted, I didn't see the game, but a check of the play-by-play shows that, throughout the 4th quarter, there were exactly 3 field goal attempts by Lakers not named Kobe Bryant (plus, nobody else even got fouled, so there were only three shots even attempted by non-Kobe Lakers), and one of those was a three-point shot in the waning seconds. In the final 6:31, Kobe took every shot for the Lakers (excluding the last-second heave), which by my count was 13 shots (field goal attempts plus times fouled when shooting). In this final 6:31, Kobe scored 23 points. It seems to me, then, that the Lakers knew what was going on, and did all they could to give Kobe the ball so he could shoot and score.
Not to say this still isn't impressive, but it seems unfair to discount Wilt's performance because of his teammates' complicity, but overlook that Kobe's teammates were apparently doing the same thing.
Eric