Time to put some RESPECK on Kobe's name...(Going back to back ain't so easy is it?)

[Wolfgang630]

Jamal Murray is injured so idk why we need to put respect on Kobe’s name. Denver ain’t some super team

[Fencer reregistered]

You can thank KG's injury for that back to back.

For the second one add injuries to Perkins and Ray Allen.

Yes, Allen played through his, but shot horribly with it. Perkins' limited his whole subsequent career, knocked him out of the Finals, and contributed heavily to the Celtics losing a 3-2 lead.

[Jedi32]

He had a stacked team that no team could matchup with size wise. He lucked out with the Perkins injury in the '10 Finals. When he finally ran into a team that had size to matchup with his team's twin towers in the '11 Mavs he got swept out of the playoffs.

Those Lakers team strategy was Kobe shoots a bunch of bricks, but they have Gasol, Odom, Bynum to clean up his bricks with countless offensive rebounds. Eventually after shooting a bunch of bricks Kobe then gets hot and the Lakers win the game. Rinse and repeat from '08-'10.

Kobe's killer instinct was pretty much useless unless he had a dominate big in Shaq to cover up his bricks or a trio of all-star caliber bigs in Gasol, Bynum, Odom to clean up his bricks. I still remember Kobe shooting 8-24 in game 7 of the 2010 finals only to be bailed out by Gasol.

Not taking anything away from from Dallas, but the Lakers had been to three straight finals, and won 2 chips by the time they played that mavs team. They were worn out. For you to say something foolish like the Lakers strategy was for Kobe to shoot bricks, when it's been proven he was not inefficient makes the rest of your post read like jibberish.

[Castle Black]

Kobe has too many haters on this board for people to give him serious credit

Your favorite player needed a superteam to go back to back. Duncan and his stacked spurs with the supposed greatest coach of all time couldn’t even do it. Kobe & Pau were definitely a problem

“Stacked Spurs”

Spurs’ Big 3 were never in their primes at the same time, so not sure “stacked” is the right word there. But more importantly, the Spurs had some insanely bad luck during their dynastic run between Derek Fisher’s 0.4 shot in 2004, Manu’s And-1 foul on Dirk in Game 7 of the 2006 WCF, and Ray Allen’s miracle 3 to send Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals into OT. They likely repeat multiple times if not for those 3 historically insane shots.

[carlquincy]

There's a reason why 09 Lakers are ranked so highly in team rankings. It's a shame that even an enthusiast forum can't appreciate how special that accomplishment was.

[Handlez]

Kobe was a beast.

No one here wants to admit it, but he was.

Agreed. Definitely a top 25 all-time player.

Well yes, of course he's top 25.

Just like Jordan. Or Bird. Or Kareem.

All top 25.

[Handlez]

Jamal Murray is injured so idk why we need to put respect on Kobe’s name. Denver ain’t some super team

Then what's Jokic's excuse?

[LakerLegend]

You can thank KG's injury for that back to back.

For the second one add injuries to Perkins and Ray Allen.

Yes, Allen played through his, but shot horribly with it. Perkins' limited his whole subsequent career, knocked him out of the Finals, and contributed heavily to the Celtics losing a 3-2 lead.

If Bynum and Ariza were healthy to play in the 08 Finals and Kobe wasn't playing on one knee in 2010 it's an easy 3 peat.

[One_and_Done]

Kobe was a beast.

No one here wants to admit it, but he was.

Agreed. Definitely a top 25 all-time player.

Well yes, of course he's top 25.

Just like Jordan. Or Bird. Or Kareem.

All top 25.

No, those guys are top 10. Top 3 in Kareem's case. Kobe isn't in that rarefied air.

[One_and_Done]

You can thank KG's injury for that back to back.

For the second one add injuries to Perkins and Ray Allen.

Yes, Allen played through his, but shot horribly with it. Perkins' limited his whole subsequent career, knocked him out of the Finals, and contributed heavily to the Celtics losing a 3-2 lead.

If Bynum and Ariza were healthy to play in the 08 Finals and Kobe wasn't playing on one knee in 2010 it's an easy 3 peat.

And if KG never gets hurt in 09, after which he is never the same, then the Celtics win 3 titles in a row and Kobe has zero titles as the lead dog, and 3 as Shaq's coat tail rider.

[RoyceDa59]

I agree, the 2009 / 2010 Kobe titles were very impressive and easily his absolute peak in terms of career arc.

[LakerLegend]

For the second one add injuries to Perkins and Ray Allen.

Yes, Allen played through his, but shot horribly with it. Perkins' limited his whole subsequent career, knocked him out of the Finals, and contributed heavily to the Celtics losing a 3-2 lead.

If Bynum and Ariza were healthy to play in the 08 Finals and Kobe wasn't playing on one knee in 2010 it's an easy 3 peat.

And if KG never gets hurt in 09, after which he is never the same, then the Celtics win 3 titles in a row and Kobe has zero titles as the lead dog, and 3 as Shaq's coat tail rider.

The Lakers would have beat the Celtics in 08 if Bynum and Ariza weren't injured and would have beat them in 09 and 2010 if both teams were fully healthy.

The Lakers beat the Celtics both times in 2009 and KG played in both games.

[One_and_Done]

If Bynum and Ariza were healthy to play in the 08 Finals and Kobe wasn't playing on one knee in 2010 it's an easy 3 peat.

And if KG never gets hurt in 09, after which he is never the same, then the Celtics win 3 titles in a row and Kobe has zero titles as the lead dog, and 3 as Shaq's coat tail rider.

The Lakers would have beat the Celtics in 08 if Bynum and Ariza weren't injured and would have beat them in 09 and 2010 if both teams were fully healthy.

The Lakers beat the Celtics both times in 2009 and KG played in both games.

Nah. The Celtics were clearly the best team until KGs injury.

[LakerLegend]

And if KG never gets hurt in 09, after which he is never the same, then the Celtics win 3 titles in a row and Kobe has zero titles as the lead dog, and 3 as Shaq's coat tail rider.

The Lakers would have beat the Celtics in 08 if Bynum and Ariza weren't injured and would have beat them in 09 and 2010 if both teams were fully healthy.

The Lakers beat the Celtics both times in 2009 and KG played in both games.

Nah. The Celtics were clearly the best team until KGs injury.

Lakers beat them both times in 2009, nothing you say can change that.

[One_and_Done]

The Lakers would have beat the Celtics in 08 if Bynum and Ariza weren't injured and would have beat them in 09 and 2010 if both teams were fully healthy.

The Lakers beat the Celtics both times in 2009 and KG played in both games.

Nah. The Celtics were clearly the best team until KGs injury.

Lakers beat them both times in 2009, nothing you say can change that.

Regular. Season.

[LakerLegend]

Nah. The Celtics were clearly the best team until KGs injury.

Lakers beat them both times in 2009, nothing you say can change that.

Regular. Season.

Like I said, nothing you say will change the fact that the Lakers won both games when both teams were healthy with their complete rosters.

[One_and_Done]

Regular. Season.

[MambaVenom24]

I was wondering where the one and bum bronsexual was when I was scrolling the first page ...

It took almost to the end of 2nd page for him to appear and troll the topic.

[One_and_Done]

Lakers beat them both times in 2009, nothing you say can change that.

Regular. Season.

Like I said, nothing you say will change the fact that the Lakers won both games when both teams were healthy with their complete rosters.

The Celtics were 101-27 in 08 and 09 in games KG played, a 65 win pace, and looked basically unstoppable by advanced stats. The Lakers were basically steamrolled in the 08 finals. Then KG gets hurt and history is changed.

[naabzor]

I mean the last team listed is very very strong... Kobe, Pau, Odom, Artest and Bynum... crazy good team.