Kobe Bryant Discussion: Mamba Out!

Still Iike to see him dial it back a bit, 24 shots is a lot (and I'd like to see 25 mins vs 35, this is going to lead to injury), but that's closer to what I want to see. He took much more shots Inside the 3. Many more shots in the offense, some nice passes, and his shots to close the game were less predictable. He hit a 3, but then we were tied and didn't need another 3, so he drove closer and got to his sweet spot, that's what I want to see. Don't jack threes because you made one, mix it up, he's smart enough to know this. So much fun to see him close a game out like old times.

 

No his shooting motion looked much more like old Kobe. He's still not getting off the floor like he used to but it was much closer than it's been since pre-season.

 

Just so ridiculously happy to see him have a game like this again. I thought honestly we'd never see that again from him. What a great great game and great moment.

I'm sure he's going to be tight for a few weeks now, but I couldn't help but smile at this game. I feel like I just watched Rocky VI.

 

I'd say it has to be partly that, but that doesn't account for the "F it" threes, threes with 12/14 seconds on the shot clock still. Poor shooting can be accounted for by age, mileage, dead legs. Bad shot selection is him not playing smart though. I can excuse missed shots if he stops at a certain point, but not bad shot after bad shot when he's ice cold and has no legs, and isn't playing within the offense or team concept.

 

No honestly I'm not Chill. This is one of those things that comes with age. Every now and then you have a night where you feel fantastic and young again, but then you go back to feeling like you've got nothing left in your legs. Tonight he was getting solid lift on his shots, but tomorrow? He might not get any lift at all.

I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll have a couple more nights like this, but definitely not a consistent basis. I would much much rather he come in and work mid-range more often, but that's predicated on his ability to beat his man and we've seen he has a really hard time with that.

 

Kobe's simply too young and too skilled from a footwork/form point of view.

He'll get it worked out and reconsider his retirement.

Bold prediction.

 

Just one of those things. Some days you wake up with a bunch of energy and some days you feel like you got a piano dropped on you. Tomorrow I'm going to assume it'll be the latter.