The Best Man in Basketball
I love watching Kobe, just like I loved watching Shaq, Kareem, Big Game James, and Magic, but if someone is going to knock down a clutch three to win a game in the NBA finals, I’d prefer Derek Fisher to anyone since Michael Cooper that year he had the playoff shooting slump (yeah, Kurt Rambis is a nice guy too, but let’s not stretch reality by imaging him capable of the game winning trey). The announcers noted late in the game that only Michael Jordan and Robert Horry have made more NBA Finals three-pointers than DFish. What a stat.
And Kobe Bryant, the most spoiled, petulant, and entitled athlete of my lifetime, is one of the worst.
— Freddie · Jun 12, 04:49 AM · #
THat game was totally hidious. The magic had it won. If Howard made 1 freethrow, if Nelson actually defended the shot. I hate to see teams choke like that. Especially against the Lakers.
— cw · Jun 12, 04:59 AM · #
The most amazing Fish shot, and one of the most demoralizing crimes ever committed on a home crowd in the history of me, is this shot against San Antonio (interestingly, the comments are evidence that Fish-thoughts are taking place everywhere tonight).
And Kobe Bryant, the most spoiled, petulant, and entitled athlete of my lifetime, is one of the worst.
I also find myself being very critical of Kobe, but the only adjective in your list that really hits is “entitled.”
Not petulant, cocky. And he’s not really spoiled, is he? A better word for it is … impatient, unempathetic, single-minded, abrasive, narcissistic. Overly self-conscience, inadequately self-ware.
He’s a willful genius with singular ambition and no ceiling. That’s what they’re like.
— Sargent · Jun 12, 05:12 AM · #
Oh, and in that video, check out the name on the jersey at 0:16.
— Sargent · Jun 12, 05:16 AM · #
cw, you forgot “if Kobe had been whistled for elbowing Nelson in the jaw prior to Fisher tying the game at the end of regulation”…
— Erik Siegrist · Jun 12, 12:59 PM · #
“cw, you forgot “if Kobe had been whistled for elbowing Nelson in the jaw prior to Fisher tying the game at the end of regulation”…”
I think the elbowing was in overtime to put the lakers up 4 or 5. No matter what, Orlando had control of it’s fate and choked. The series could be 2-2. Not only that, if either of those two shots byt he rookie (forget his name) had gone in, Orlando could be up 3-1. Both those shots were very close and could have been made. That is what has to be killing them. They as good as the Lakers in every way except mentally.
— cw · Jun 12, 02:02 PM · #
Typo: …control of it’s fate…. Should be …control of ITS fate…. Sorry.
— cw · Jun 12, 02:40 PM · #
Been trying to avoid hoops news to watch the 4th quarter on my dvr. This is not where I thought I’d have my ignorance-bubble burst. Then again, maybe I didn’t want to see Fisher three-point the Magic into 1-3 territory just before bedtime. I know that he is a solid, clutch player, but that wild left-hand delivery of his – the flaring elbow, the exaggerated wrist-cock – makes every miss by him seem completely predictable and every make seem like a total accident.
— Matt Feeney · Jun 12, 03:20 PM · #
D’oh. Sorry, Matt — ill timing for my second NBA blog post of the year.
— Conor Friedersdorf · Jun 12, 03:33 PM · #
Wow. So many Laker-haters and Orlando apologists out there. Fans of losing teams always seem to fall back on the could-a, should-a, bad refs, we were robbed sort of statements … while the long time Laker/Kobe/Fish/Ariza/Gasol/Lamar etc. fan in me just smiles. 3 down, 1 to go.
— LJF · Jun 12, 07:11 PM · #
I’m actually rooting for Kobe because I think he’s getting screwed over by all this pressure to win a title without Shaq. Why should he have to win one on his own to prove his “all-time great” status? Shaq needed Wade to win one without Kobe, and going back through recent history most championships were won by teams that had at least two perennial all-star players. He’s been getting kind of a bad rap.
— Nate · Jun 12, 08:16 PM · #
“Wow. So many Laker-haters and Orlando apologists out there”
This is symptomatic of TAS lately. No thought, no reading comprehension skill, just reflexive flailing about with those precious recieved ideas.
— cw · Jun 12, 09:26 PM · #
UALR! Fish is the best in the clutch.
I can’t really watch NBA-But loved watching him in college.
Just how long can he go on?
— tyler Rush · Jun 13, 12:33 AM · #