Kobe in Hero Mode

Posted by Brian Robb on Jun 15, 2010 879215 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F06%2F15%2Fkobe-in-hero-mode%2FKobe+in+Hero+Mode2010-06-15+18%3A43%3A35Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D8792

Sunday night, Kobe Bryant made 13 of 27 shots in a well intentioned effort to carry his team to victory. He failed in that endeavor, but his shouldering of the scoring load and its effects on his team have been well debated since the loss. What people have failed to realize in the last couple days is just how often Kobe has thrown up that number of shots this postseason, especially on the road, to pick up the scoring slack for his teammates.

Through his 11 postseason road contests, if you discount game 4 of the Oklahoma City series in which LA was blown out and Kobe played just 32 minutes, Kobe has taken a whopping 24.9 shots per game. For some perspective, Kevin Durant led the NBA this year taking 20.3 shots per game. The Lakers have been sub .500 in those road contests (5-6)

Now we could argue all day about whether or not Kobe doesn’t have a choice in having to shoulder that heavy a scoring load. Role players and especially outside shooters clearly perform better within the cozy confines of the Staples Center. It’s worth noting though, that when Kobe goes into alpha dog mode, it clearly plays right into the Celtics hands. Listen to what a candid Glen Davis had to say n the topic after game 5:

“Kobe took a lot of shots; so we were hoping he’d take a lot of shots to take away from everyone else so that’s what happened. A lot of guys didn’t have the ball in their hands because Kobe had the ball in his hands. If he can score, we’ll let him score. But we’ll make sure we try to hold everyone else defensively.”

Kevin Garnett was a bit more calculated than Baby in his comments, but he indirectly inferred the same ideas when asked about Kobe’s shooting display.

“From the standpoint that he’s providing points for his team and he’s in a rhythm, it’s a bit dangerous.  But for the rhythm of his team, then it works in our favor.”

I tried to prod KG a little more on the issue later on in the press conference, but he wasn’t biting. However, he once again made a similar point about how Kobe got the Lakers away from their regular offense when he goes into scoring mode.

“I thought Kobe for the most part provided a lot of the offense. He provided a lot of scoring. They usually run the triangle, and it really wasn’t typical for what they did tonight.”

Looking at this situation as a whole throughout the postseason, a lot is clear. Bryant has the talent to get away with improvising within the offense against weaker defenses like the Jazz and Suns with great success, enough so to lead his team to victories.

The Celtics though have spent much of this postseason refining their defensive gameplans against one man shows in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, letting both of those guys get their points, while shutting down the rest of their respective teams.

Kobe has a better supporting cast than either of those players, but still has shown the tendency to take over at every opportunity, leaving their offense, which is predicated on ball movement in the triangle out of rhythm.

The problem for the Celtics is Kobe is a lot less likely to go into this shoot first mentality mode at home. He has averaged just 20.9 shots/game this postseason. The Lakers have been a dominant 9-1 in those contests. Their assist numbers also shoot up from 18/game on the road to 23/game at home so sharing the ball is clearly less of an issue.

Thus, they key tonight for Boston will be jumping on the Lakers early to take them out of their comfort zone, which should encourage Kobe to go alpha dog and abandon the offense, to play right into the Celtics hands. Only one man (Dwyane Wade) has taken over a game like that with any success against the C’s this postseason and that was when the Heat were already down 3-0 in the series.

Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom. These are the guys that have stepped up in the Laker wins this series. If the C’s can continue to put the clamps on them tonight, they will be bringing some hardware home after tonight.