Yesterday’s triple overtime win against the Phoenix Suns showed exactly why the greatest player in the world has earned the title as the greatest closer in the game despite being mediocre at it. The final moments displayed heroic efforts by Channing Frye, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Pau Gasol, and Ron Artest and some awful decision making by Kobe Bryant. The Lakers came away with the win because he has awesome teammates that can bail him out and the Suns simply are not good. This is why the Lakers were up by 21 in the 3rd and ultimately went on to win the game. It would be quite fun to talk about how good this team is and how with Bynum's recent surge, they will likely crush whoever they see in the finals, but we are here to talk about something completely different today, so we'll fast forward towards the end of the game and Bryant's first of five bad crunch time moves.
Let’s begin with 1:10 left in regulation with The Lakers up by 3(112-109). Bryant drives in, gets stuck just outside the block, and passes it back to Fisher with 6 seconds on the shot clock. He calls for the ball back but Fisher is forced to throw up a tough shot and the Lakers are called for a shot clock violation.
Bad move #1- Putting a teammate in a tough position with the opportunity to close out a game. Bryant did not have a lot of options but even a tough shot by Bryant in this situation does not sound so bad.
Grant Hill goes on to tie up the game and Bryant subsequently misses the go ahead bucket as the Lakers were yet again unable to get a good shot after using the full 24 second shot clock.
Bad move #2- Not being able to get a good shot in two straight possessions despite having the all the ability in the World. I would think the best closer in the game would be able to get his team at least one decent shot in two important possessions with the game on the line. That said, Bryant has not really looked bad in all of this, maybe the Lakers just had a couple bad offensive sets at an inopportune time? Let’s continue on to find out.
Phoenix gets one more shot but when one of your key players is lazier than Charlie Sheen’s publicist, it is hard to get anyone open and Vince Carter throws up a three that misses. While fast forwarding to 36 seconds left in the first overtime, we see the Lakers commit 2 more shot clock violations and a 0-3 Bryant. Despite this, the Lakers manage to have a 1 point lead and the ball, a perfect situation for their superstar to put the nail in the coffin for these pesky Suns. In typical Kobe fashion, he throws up a 28 foot three point shot while double teamed.
Bad move #3- Awful shot selection. Now understand that 30% of the time, Kobe nails this shot, and it shows up all over sports center the next day, and he gets loads of praise, the rest of time, no one remembers this happening at all. If he did not have such great teammates, he just put his team in a very tough position.
Luckily, his teammates bail him out as Odom grabs an offensive rebound that could have saved the game. Derek fisher knocks down a couple clutch free throws, Channing Frye on the other end drains three HUGE free throws after a shooting foul and off we go to overtime number 2. In second overtime Kobe takes over a little bit more but loses the ball once and nearly loses it a second time. The move here is his wonderfully aggressive drive to the basket with 35 seconds left and down by 2(128-130). The two time finals MVP gets stuffed.
Bad move #4- Getting stuffed when your team absolutely needs a bucket. 'nuf said.
But, after Nash misses a contested layup and Pau Gasol sinks two crunch time free throws, we continue the story in triple overtime. Here Kobe does make a great three point shot and is forced into a tough shot later. He also draws the most clutch two fouls of the game when he forces Hill to get fouled out. This allows Artest to turn a great steal into a ferocious dunk and sink as easy two point jumper after putting the moves on Vince Carter who entered the game for Grant Hill(Yes, you read this right, Ron “The cautious dribbler” Artest got an open 1 on 1 shot against another National Basketball Association Player). The suns miss a shot which puts the Lakers up by 2, with the ball, and 24 seconds on the clock. Make sure you understand the situation here, the shot clock is essentially off, as a Laker you get the ball to Kobe or Fish, drain a couple free throws, and go home to watch reruns of Odom eating a bunch of candy with Khloe and the fam. Instead Bryant, with his infinite knowledge of the game, throws up a floater from outside the block with 14 seconds left and makes it.
Bad move #5- Not taking the free throws!! Refer to Bad move #3, where if he makes the ill-advised shot, he is hailed a hero and a closer. This play is still as boneheaded as they come. If he somehow gets bumped without a call, gets blocked again, or the ball just rims out, the Suns come back with a chance to tie or even win the game.
There you have it, 5 objectively bad moves during crunch time in a single game. He gets bailed out cause of his wonderful teammates, coaching, and occasional made shot. I understand that this is just one game and he did perform well at the end of the biggest NBA of the decade last year, but check the related article listed below that gives statistics confirming that this is not just a one-time issue. The successes are in fact the minority.
I will not argue against the fact that Kobe had a great game and is the best player in the NBA right now. He nearly had a triple double, and is poised to lead his team to a 3rd straight NBA title, and 6 overall. The man is a legend. Let’s just please stop with the whole greatest closer in the game talk. The questions “Well who else would you rather have in the last few minutes to get a victory?” or “Who would you like to have to take the last shot with the game on the line?” would only be relevant if the last minutes of every NBA game was played 1 on 1. The truth is that smart team-oriented players, defense, and good shots has and will always be the best strategy whether it is at the beginning or end of the game. Give me the Lakers team with a team-oriented forth quarter strategy, and I'll promise you even better results. As for now, Bryant’s teammates will continue to help him get results at the end of games whether it is clutch rebounds and defense like Artest and Gasol this game, or unnoticed performances like the finals game 7 when Gasol topped off his 18 rebounds with 9 fourth quarter points on 100% shooting. The Lakers will continue winning, and Bryant will continue to reap the late game glory despite his mediocre late game decision making.
Related article with statistical backing: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/24200/the-truth-about-kobe-bryant-in-crunch-time
