Letters to the Editor
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Kobe
King, you said that he scored against World Class atheletes.
Let's remember, he was playing the Raptors, who put Calderon and Rose on him for large parts of the second half. If the Raps have a midway competent coach, Kobe 'only' scores 60.
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I guess for Wilt it never ends
Why must Wilt Chamberlain never receive any respect? His whole career-- his whole life-- he was villified and ignored for having a physical edge on the competition. He was actively rooted against his entire career by casual fans and is criticized for "only" winnning two championships. And now that he's gone, the media insists on using Kobe's 81 point (2 assist) game to attack him once again. What was Wilt supposed to do, not score as many points? You point to Kobe's statistical output and say "Wow, look at that!" But when anyone talks about Wilt, it's "You know, you can't really judge Wilt by the numbers..." What?
Do you reserve the same criticisms of Shaq-- that his physical dominance alone is the reason he is so dominant? Why does Shaq receive such fawning, while Wilt is regulated to constant criticism? To suggest that Wilt enjoyed a better physical edge on his opposition in his career than Shaq does is ridiculous-- when Dale Davis is considered a quality defensive matchup on Shaq I think you'll agree there is a dearth of big man talent in the game. Shaq has played two quality centers at their prime-- David Robinson (who I would argue was never that good) and Hakeem Olajuwon (who absolutely embarrassed Shaq during Olajuwon's peak). Wilt, meanwhile, played against both Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russell, arguably the two best centers not named Wilt Chamberlain.
It's not enough he gets it in his life.
Does he have to be so disrespected after he's gone, too?
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Least Persuasive Argument
Writes King: "What do I see? The greatest scoring performance in NBA history. Playing a pre-modern game, Chamberlain enjoyed a dominant physical advantage over his ordinary-guy foes."
So Chamberlain's achievements weren't as impressive as Kobe's because Wilt was just so much more dominant than Kobe was? I don't get that argument. I really don't. Kobe's physical talents are much better than, say, Matt Harpring's. Does that make Kobe's 36 points per game this season less of an accomplishment than Harpring's 11.2? I mean, Harpring doesn't "enjoy" the advantage over his peers that Bryant does. Maybe if Bryant only had Harpring's physical skills he'd only be scoring 10 points a game.
And "pre-modern" cuts both ways. Remember that the rules were changed in Wilt's day to make it harder for him to score, while subsequent rule changes have been to make it easier for guards like Jordan and Bryant to score.
Last I heard, 100 was greater than 81. By quite a bit, actually. Why should math be subjective?
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Kobe leads NBA in shots attempted
King, I was hoping you would write about this today. I am not a fan of Kobe Bryant, and for that reason, as soon as I saw the headlines, I started looking for data to prove that his feat was purely an egotistical one.
I found that on USA Today's season leader page (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/stats/leaders0506.htm), that the only stat that Kobe leads in is scoring average. In field goal percentage, three point percentage, free throws, he is not even in the top ten. Only total points, where he is number one.
Of course, since he takes more shots, he ends up taking harder shots, which deflate the shooting percentages. But should he be taking those shots at all? Is it beneficial to the team? A simplistic argument says that it would be much better for other players to shoot the ball, taking better shots, and thereby increase the team's overall shooting percentage. I would be interested to look at more statistics on this, and to hear what other people think.
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Not a Selfish Game
As someone firmly in the anti-Kobe camp, I still have to say that this was not an egomaniacal selfish 81 points. The game turned into a blowout for the Lakers, it looked like it was going to be a blowout victory for the woeful Raptors. The Lakers not only don't route the Raptors in the 4th quarter, they probably lose the game if Kobe doesn't go nuts and score 81 points. So I think that makes this game even more special, and also agree with King that this is even more impressive a feat than Wilt's 100 point game.
And also, I need to disagree with King on another point. The Lakers are not the Spurs or the Pistons or the Mavs. They are currently the number 7 squad. 2 games ahead of the Jazz/Wolves for the final spot, and 1.5 games away from the number 6 seed. What's the difference between a 6 and 7 seed? If they move up to the 6 seed, they play the Nuggets and probably advance to the next round. If they are the 7 seed, they get a matchup with the Suns and are doomed to a first round exit.
Like in baseball, even though there are a heck of alot of games, it is uncanny how often 1 game separates the playoff teams from the lottery picks, or a favorable playoff matchup to a brutal playoff matchup.
As fans, we can't invest in a single regular season game like we do in a football season, but that's more self-defense than lack of importance. For a team like the Lakers, every game will be crucial.
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The Illustrious 81
Kobe's 81 points on Sunday would've been much more impressive if it came as part of a season in which Kobe had been playing inclusive ball, looking to dominate when needed. Instead, he's ALWAYS looking to dominate, to the detriment of his team. It's analogous to a batter going up to the plate each and every time swinging for the fences. One day, he's churning on all cylinders and goes off for five homers. An amazing feat, surely the best offensive onslaught in history! But that attitude will more often than not (almost always) hurt his team. Was Kobe's performance mind boggling? Definitely. On a pure athletic level, I'd watch him all day. He's a freakishly gifted player. But I'm not watching my team solely to see a player go off. I'm watching to see my team win, and, in the long run, this is not a formula that allows that to happen. (As a Bulls fan all my life, believe me, it was of little solace to have the greatest player in the universe wow and awe when we kept getting bounced from the playoffs. And speaking of God: do you think Kobe makes that game-winning dish were he in MJ's shoes the night of his 55-point comeback in Madison Square Garden? Or does he try to score? Hmmmm....)