Do you think Perk was giving them 13 & 8 in a low scoring G7? Perk never balled in the playoffs, he was just a body that provided toughness. Never a great rebounder or shot blocker. Boston wasn't beating us in G6. We went into Boston knowing we had to steal one & we did.
Just say you don't remember the series or didn't watch it. Are you younger than 21? Anybody who watched that series should remember it well, it wasn't that long ago...
2009 Nuggets were WAY BETTER than the 2009 Magic. Ask any Lakers fan. You're just a Bron stan trying to gas up the team that eliminated him.
I'm a Kobe fan. I found his 2009 Finals to be so-so. He expended so much energy to beat the Nuggets (who were far tougher) that I don't think he quite had his legs under him that series. If you remember watching that Nuggets series, Kobe could barely stand for his postgame interviews with Doris Burke. A more rested Kobe sweeps that sorry Magic squad in 2009. The stats in the 09 Finals look nice but Kobe could have played much better in just about every game that series except for Game 6.
2010 was a different story. Kobe couldn't have played better for 6 of the 7 games. First of all, the 2010 Celtics were worlds better than the 2009 Magic. So you have to take the quality of opponent into account. And Kobe was incredible for 6 of those 7 games. He just played so bad in Game 7 people wanna forget his stellar games before that. In Game 1 he powered the Lakers to victory. In Game 3 he shot poorly but had an incredible all-around game that has to be watched to be appreciated. Then in Games 4 and 5 he was spectacular but they came in losing efforts so most people forget. Oh yeah and he did all of this with an arthritic knee that had to be drained every couple of weeks.
Kobe's 2010 Finals was WAY MORE IMPRESSIVE than his 2009 Finals when you take all of this into account.
nikka why the fukk you keep mentioning LeBron? I don't give a fukk about Orlando beating him in '09. You dudes stay interjecting him into any thread and the other weird cats like yall act like they don't see it and blame it on guys that like LeBron. The conversation I'm having has nothing to do with LeBron...
'09 was probably Kobe's strongest front-to-back playoff run and certainly his strongest front-to-back Finals. The fact that he could have played better is inconsequential to the point that when he played his toughest matchups and opponents in The Finals, he often wasn't at peak performance---->but he was in '09...
The '10 Finals is one of my favorite playoff series ever, I consider it a classic and maybe I have more of an affinity for it than most people. It was impressive that the Lakers climbed out of the 3-2 hole and whoever won G7 would have deserved it, that game was anybody's and it's easy to see how Perk would have been the difference. This isn't a new talking point and was spoken about ad nauseam back then in real time...
Kobe was not incredible for 6 of the 7 '10 Finals and two of his three best games of that Finals came in losing efforts in G4 and G5, in those games he tried to shoot the Lakers to victories and almost did it. He played arguably his two
worst games of the series in G6 and G7, though as I said in my earlier post, his tenacity particularly on the boards (for a guy who wasn't typically a dominant rebounder) was impressive, and he played strong defense while looking exhausted...
This is more just a difference of opinion, so I don't have an issue with you saying '10 Finals was more impressive if it's based on resiliency. His quality of play was much better in the '09 Finals though, I really don't see how that's arguable...
All of this just underscores my original point which is a fact, for the most part his best work didn't come in The Finals and a)he's not the only All-Timer that can be said about, and b)but he has to be judged along the same standards of greatness the other GOATs are as well. Kobe had many strengths and positives on his resume, this particular topic isn't one that holds well in comparison to a number of his GOAT competitors, though...
Lakers didn't have Bynum or Ariza all of the 2008 Finals and I've never heard Kobe fans use that as an excuse for why we lost.
Its funny how losing Perk for one game has turned into such an excuse.
I don't think it's an excuse, I just think people realized Perk's absence changed the complexion of the series...
I'm simply talking as a Lakers fan.
You're a Lakers fan now? What happened to "I'm only a fan of players, not teams"?