LA Laker Press Conference (Post Game)

[thegrahamcrackr]

Phil Jackson - "I highly doubt I will be back. Loosing this may be enough to make me step away. I have heavy pursuasion to stay, but I am not prepared to answer that now"

Kobe Bryant - "I loved playing for Phil. I learned so much from playing with him. With Shaquille to. So no, I would say I could play with them for the rest of my life, but I don't know. It's not up to me."

Notice how Kobe made it sound like it was definite one of them was gone....

 

[sly fly]

Phil Jackson - "I highly doubt I will be back. Loosing this may be enough to make me step away. I have heavy pursuasion to stay, but I am not prepared to answer that now"

Kobe Bryant - "I loved playing for Phil. I learned so much from playing with him. With Shaquille to. So no, I would say I could play with them for the rest of my life, but I don't know. It's not up to me."

Notice how Kobe made it sound like it was definite one of them was gone....

It's up to the jury.

 

[BradMannTX]

It's up to the jury.

Whatever...does this organization want to deal with the player who single-handedly cost the Lakers another ring? Good Lord, I hope not. This wasn't the Pistons beating the Lakers, this is the Lakers beating the Lakers.

 

[elindholm]

Whatever...does this organization want to deal with player who single-handedly cost the Lakers another ring?

Robert Horry?

Oh, I get it, you mean this year...

 

[Chaplin]

Whatever...does this organization want to deal with the player who single-handedly cost the Lakers another ring? Good Lord, I hope not. This wasn't the Pistons beating the Lakers, this is the Lakers beating the Lakers.

Give me a break. The Lakers weren't beat by the Lakers, they were beat by a better team in the Pistons. Period. The Lakers really didn't play horribly, they were just overmatched and outclassed by a better team.

 

[scotsman13]

chap, kobe shoot 30% for the finals. didnt pass the ball, didnt rebound and took some of the worst shoots in the whole playoffs. this finals will go down as one of the biggest chokes in nba history, everyone and their dog thought that the lakers were going to walk away with it all easy. well that didnt happen. kobe and shaq fought for control of the team and in the end the team was gone and the only thing left was "I" want to do this or "you" should have done that.

 

[Chaplin]

chap, kobe shoot 30% for the finals. didnt pass the ball, didnt rebound and took some of the worst shoots in the whole playoffs. this finals will go down as one of the biggest chokes in nba history, everyone and their dog thought that the lakers were going to walk away with it all easy. well that didnt happen. kobe and shaq fought for control of the team and in the end the team was gone and the only thing left was "I" want to do this or "you" should have done that.

<sigh>

It's kinda sad that your only reason for bringing this up is to give yourself justification for your opinion that we should not sign Kobe Bryant.

Did it ever occur to you ONCE to give Tayshaun Prince some credit for his defense on Kobe Bryant? Kobe did not play well, there's no question of that, but to compare his numbers to Shaq, who consistently got the ball right under his basket, is asinine.

There were far more reasons for this loss--Larry Brown outcoaching Phil Jackson, complimentary players on the Lakers not making shots, Detroit's smothering defense, including not double-teaming Shaq, Detroit's defense on Kobe Bryant, Rip Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, offensive rebounds--there are tons of reasons why the Pistons won this series--and Kobe's performance is one of the lesser ones.

 

[slinslin]

Doh.

Kobe was the only reason they were not swept.
Kobe was the only reason they got the #2 seed first of all.

 

[sly fly]

Whatever...does this organization want to deal with the player who single-handedly cost the Lakers another ring? Good Lord, I hope not. This wasn't the Pistons beating the Lakers, this is the Lakers beating the Lakers.

Wow. Can't believe you just said that.

Didn't you watch? The Pistons didn't win this on their own merits?

The better team won. After all, isn't this what you're hoping to see? I though you would give DET a little more credit, since after reading a few of your posts slamming the NBA in general.

The Lakers were lucky to get as much out of Kobe all year long. It was remarkable to see some of his games after traveling back and forth to Denver.

 

[scotsman13]

kobe was also the main reason that they lost games 1,3,4 and 5. he shoot 30% for the finals and didnt rebound or pass the ball. both of you blasted marion for not carry over his reg stats to the playoffs. now that it is kobe and he didnt carry them over you think that it is time to give him a brake. you cant have it both ways.

 

[fordronken]

kobe was also the main reason that they lost games 1,3,4 and 5. he shoot 30% for the finals and didnt rebound or pass the ball. both of you blasted marion for not carry over his reg stats to the playoffs. now that it is kobe and he didnt carry them over you think that it is time to give him a brake. you cant have it both ways.

Kobe didn't have one open look the entire series, except that break away dunk in game five. They smothered him and gave some open shots to the other Lakers, who missed them. The Pistons did everything right in this series and the Lakers' flaws were exposed. Even in the series' the Lakers won this year, their flaws were evident, but no team had the discipline, the coaching or the personnel to use them to their advantage enough to win the series.

The Lakers didn't play defense. Not because Kobe shot too much, or didn't pass enough. But because they just didn't have the drive or sustained effort on defense.

The people who won't acknowledge the Pistons in this series(heck, every Laker from Fisher to Shaq said the Lakers were outplayed by a better team) piss me off. Right down to my Laker fan friends who blame officiating on a 26 point defecit in the fourth quarter. The Lakers got outplayed not only in every game, but on every posession. The Pistons did everything to make the other team look bad. And the Lakers looked awful. People were saying the same about the Pacers. "Artest can't get his offense anymore. It's just bad offense. The Pacers aren't a good team." That's bull. The Pistons played playoff basketball the right way on every single play on both ends of the floor. It's not pretty all the time and it's hardly ever glamorous, but it makes other teams look awful, too. Then people lose sight of who deserves the credit.

Are the Pistons gonna win next year? I wouldn't bet on it. It's an incredibly rare thing to watch an entire team play that consistently, all the time, every time, for a whole playoff run. But this was a special team at a special time, and the Lakers just got flat out beat. Outplayed as a team in every aspect. Deal with it.

 

[frdbtr]

Kobe didn't have one open look the entire series, except that break away dunk in game five. They smothered him and gave some open shots to the other Lakers, who missed them. The Pistons did everything right in this series and the Lakers' flaws were exposed. Even in the series' the Lakers won this year, their flaws were evident, but no team had the discipline, the coaching or the personnel to use them to their advantage enough to win the series.

The Lakers didn't play defense. Not because Kobe shot too much, or didn't pass enough. But because they just didn't have the drive or sustained effort on defense.

The people who won't acknowledge the Pistons in this series(heck, every Laker from Fisher to Shaq said the Lakers were outplayed by a better team) piss me off. Right down to my Laker fan friends who blame officiating on a 26 point defecit in the fourth quarter. The Lakers got outplayed not only in every game, but on every posession. The Pistons did everything to make the other team look bad. And the Lakers looked awful. People were saying the same about the Pacers. "Artest can't get his offense anymore. It's just bad offense. The Pacers aren't a good team." That's bull. The Pistons played playoff basketball the right way on every single play on both ends of the floor. It's not pretty all the time and it's hardly ever glamorous, but it makes other teams look awful, too. Then people lose sight of who deserves the credit.

Are the Pistons gonna win next year? I wouldn't bet on it. It's an incredibly rare thing to watch an entire team play that consistently, all the time, every time, for a whole playoff run. But this was a special team at a special time, and the Lakers just got flat out beat. Outplayed as a team in every aspect. Deal with it.

I agree with you, the Pistons played like a team and the Lakers were in complete disaray. Why was this? My opinion is because the lakers had a couple of guys who are more worried about who's team it is, then who can get the whole team involved. If Kobe really wants to be like Mike, then he is going to have to learn how to elevate the play of everyone on the team. If he ever starts to understand that, watch out. I am not sold on the fact that he ever will.

 

[Joe Mama]

Kobe Bryant did not have great series over all, but I don't think it's fared all to blame him for the Lakers' loss. The Pistons defensive game plan was to throw everybody at him. Tayshaun Prince did a great job with his length. When Kobe got past him he would have two or three other Pistons coming at him.

I still believe the injury to Karl Malone was a big factor in this series. I don't think the Lakers should use it as an excuse, but the fact is they are a much, much better team with a healthy Malone. That was proven during the regular season.

Joe Mama

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Comparison's about KObe lifting his team like Mike is irrelevent.

Mike was the uncontested main guy on the team. It was his and ONLY his job to win the game for the team, as well as push his teammates into playing better.

Kobe is NOT the main focus of the Lakers offensive or defensive scheme. Give Kobe his own team, and after a year or two then we can talk.......

 

[slinslin]

Kobe also was put on the hottest guy on the Pistons every game and got smothered offensively.

It is not Kobe's fault at all. Some plays he made were just totally unbelievable with all the energy he spent on defense and how he was defended.