Nah, he's right. GP was getting torched by Chauncey and Malone was hurt. GP was getting done so bad that Phil switched Kobe onto Chauncey to cool him off and when he did Rip started going off, it was quite pathetic. Kobe did chuck a bit, but I honestly think if Malone hadn't have gotten hurt we would have won that series.
Once again I am not absolving the role players. However that series belongs squarely on the shoulders of Shaq and Kobe. It's not like they both balled out and the role players just let them down. Them nikkas did not ball out anywhere near the level we had seem them perform at during the previous years.