Its been a rough week for Skip Bayless :skip:

Spiritual Stratocaster

Spiritual Stratocaster

Jesus is KING
Supporter
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
38,606
Reputation
7,355
Daps
149,723
hiphopprofessor15 said:
Yeah personally but he won't admit it on air. He will just dance around it all (which is why he is great at the type of show he does). Or find some excuse to make himself feel better and make Stephen A pissed

He is the troll of the century
Click to expand...
He truly is..

People hate this guy so much that they're bamboozled into supporting c00nin' A Smith...
 
Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus

Veteran
Poster of the Year
Supporter
Joined
Jan 5, 2015
Messages
51,331
Reputation
19,940
Daps
204,112
Reppin
the ether
the cac mamba said:
ive seen kobe take some of the most ridiculous fukkin end of game shots:mjlol: hell have like 4 guys in his face and still not swing it :wow:
Click to expand...
Come on man, no way, he ain't never done that shyt. :mjpls:

nba_g_kbryant1_576.jpg


:leon::mindblown::russ:


At the end of Game 2 of the 2009 Finals, the Magic knew who to guard, and got the block.

Ask pundits. Ask general managers. Ask players. Ask almost anybody.

Who would you like to have take the last shot with the game on the line?

Kobe Bryant wins by a country mile. Every time. (In a general-manager poll this season, he earned 79 percent of the vote, his ninth consecutive blowout.)

There is not really any other serious candidate.

Ask me, though (as Ryen Russillo did last week and Mike Trudell the other day), and I'll tell you I don't know who's the best, but with all due respect to Bryant's amazing abilities scoring the ball, there's zero chance he's the king of crunch time.

The sin of predictability

Bryant makes crunch-time defense easy for opponents by shooting just about every time he touches the ball (over a five-year period, he mustered 56 clutch shots, to go with one assist).

Fans of his raw machismo howl that such criticism misses the point, but the point is that when Bryant gets the ball in crunch time, it's a virtual certainty that he'll shoot it, and it's better than 2-1 odds that he'll miss.

In 1997, he famously air-balled two shots that could have beat the Jazz; instead, the Jazz won the series. In 1999, he whiffed on a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied Game 2 against the Spurs. In Game 4 against the Kings in 2002, he missed a 2-pointer that would have tied the game (before the ball was tipped out to Robert Horry for the winning 3). In Game 7 of that same series, Bryant missed a tip that would have won the game in regulation. In Game 3 against the Timberwolves in 2003, he missed two key shots in the last seconds of overtime, and the Lakers lost.

I'll spare you the entire list, but it's long. In the final 24 seconds of playoff games, Bryant has racked up almost as many air balls as makes, making just below 30 percent of game-tying or go-ahead shots. He hasn't hit such a shot in a playoff game, in fact, since 2008, including key misses in the closing moments against the Jazz and Magic in 2009, and the Thunder and Suns last spring. He made one of his four shots in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of last year's Finals.

No matter how you define crunch time -- from the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime to the last 24 seconds -- and no matter how you define production -- field goal percentage, offensive efficiency, David Berri's Wins Produced, the results tell the same story: Bryant is about as likely to hit the big shot as any player.

ESPN Stats & Information's Alok Pattani dug through 15 years of NBA data (see table below) -- Bryant's entire career, regular season and playoffs -- and found that Bryant has attempted 115 shots in the final 24 seconds of a game in which the Lakers were tied or trailed by two or fewer points. He connected on 36, and missed 79 times.

One shot for all the cookies. And the NBA is nearly unanimous that this is the guy to take it, even though he has more than twice as many misses as makes?

His crunch-time production is slightly higher in the first half of this season, but still certainly not the best in the league. And analyzing any large number of games, one year, five years or 15 years, and defining crunch time a number of different ways, shows the same pattern. (There are many ways this has beensliced.)

Bryant shoots more than most, passes less and racks up misses at an all-time rate. There is no measure, other than YouTube highlights and folklore, by which he's the best scorer in crunch time.

The un-clutch Lakers

One of the key arguments in his favor is that he draws double-teams, which allows other Lakers to score. But that doesn't seem to happen much. Over Bryant's 15-year career, the Lakers have had the NBA's best offense, and second-best won-loss record. No other team can match their mighty 109 points per 100 possessions over the entire period.

You'd expect Los Angeles to also have one of the league's best offenses in crunch time, right? Especially with the ball in the hands of the player most suited to those moments.

That's not what happens, though. In the final 24 seconds of close games the Lakers offense regresses horribly, managing just 82 points per 100 possessions. And it's not a simple case of every team having a hard time scoring in crunch time. Over Bryant's career, 11 teams have had better crunch-time offenses, led by the Hornets with a shocking 107 points per 100 possessions in crunch time, a huge credit to Chris Paul.

The Lakers are not among the league leaders in crunch-time offense -- instead, they're just about average, scoring 82.35 points per 100 possessions in a league that averages 80.03. They are, however, among the league leaders in how much worse their offense declines in crunch time.

When Bryant is on the floor in crunch time, Bryant's Lakers are actually outscored by their opponents.

A great offensive team performing at average levels, with a star setting records for number of shots attempted.Teammates left wide open. Evidence, even, that Bryant's play puts his team into nailbiters that needn't be so close.

That, my friends, is a ball hog.
Click to expand...

Here's a lot more where that came from: The truth about Kobe Bryant in crunch time
 
Mantis Toboggan M.D.

Mantis Toboggan M.D.

I’m here for the scraps
Joined
Mar 18, 2014
Messages
33,692
Reputation
10,059
Daps
111,401
Reppin
Brooklyn
The Dankster said:
Come on man, no way, he ain't never done that shyt. :mjpls:

nba_g_kbryant1_576.jpg


:leon::mindblown::russ:




Here's a lot more where that came from: The truth about Kobe Bryant in crunch time
Click to expand...
I read that years ago. Refuses to pass in the clutch. I think now he's 39/166 with the game on the line. :dead: at that five year stretch of 56 shot attempts to ONE assist and even has said he's only looking for himself at that point. Basically in crunch time he turns into Dion Waiters :mjlol:
 
LogicFirst

LogicFirst

Banned
Joined
Jul 6, 2012
Messages
11,693
Reputation
-2,787
Daps
14,732
Reppin
Los Angeles
The Dankster said:
You're just naming one shot. Horry hit a grip of huge shots in his carrer. Just in the Lakers portion...

Remember the Kings game, game 4 in the WCF? Huge three with 6:33 left to cut it to 4, huge three with 1:39 left to cut it to 3, hit the three at the buzzer to win the game. Had 18 points on 5-7 shooting, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, scored 11 in the 4th quarter. Kobe, meanwhile, missed a 7-foot bunny with 3 seconds left that should have lost the game if not for Shaq and Horry's rebounds and Horry's shot.

Or the Philly game, game 3 in the NBA Finals. Hit the huge three with 47 seconds left in a 1-point game, then hit 4 clutch free throws to save the game after Iverson cut the lead to 1 again. 15 points on 4-5 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 assists.

Or the Blazer game, game 3 in the 1st round. Hit the game-winning three off a pass from Kobe with 2 seconds left to win the game. That wasn't the best game though - just 8 points, 5 boards, 4 assists on 3-9 shooting.

But yeah, only superstars can hit last-second shots, and Kobe never passed the ball away with a chance to win. :francis:
Click to expand...
I was just talking specifically about that Spurs win. Nikka was like 2-12 that night. Smh
 
BreezyH

BreezyH

All Star
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,541
Reputation
350
Daps
4,021
Reppin
Brooklyn
it'd be an L if he actually got paid to be right about things. he gets paid to have dudes tune in one way or the other :skip:
 
AJtheOne

AJtheOne

Nets/Giants/Yankees
Joined
Nov 5, 2013
Messages
34,703
Reputation
16,890
Daps
129,410
Reppin
N.E.W. Jerz/#TNT
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top