cview;661493 wrote:In the 2009-2010 NBA regaular season, Kobe had six game winners. If he does not make those shots, the Lakers finish with 51 wins and are the 5 seed in the Western conference. LA would have played Utah in Round 1, and given the way they handled the Jazz I think they would have won that series. Round two would have been the Dallas/OKC winner. Given the way the LA/OKC series played out, I'm not sure LA wins. And I definitely think Phoenix takes out LA if they have home court. There is a reason teams do not generally win a ton of road series' on their way to the championship. Without Kobe's "clutchness" last year, LA does not get that ring. If NBA players, coaches, and GMs were polled regarding which player they would least like to face in a tie game with 10 ticks left on the clock, I am pretty confident Kobe Bryant would be the runaway winner. Personally, there are about 5 guys that would scare me to death in that scenario- in no particular order- Kobe, Melo, Durant, Wade, and LeBron. I'd take Kobe, but I think all 5 would give any team a great chance to win.
2000: 22.5
2001: 28.5
2002: 25.2
2009: 26.8
2010: 27.0
Those are Kobe's scoring averages during his 5 chamionship seasons. He was first team All Defense in 2000, 2009, and 2010. In 2001 and 2002 he was second team. The insinuation that he has ridden anyone's coattails to his championships is asinine. Team after team after team has shown that it requires at least two stars to win. Kobe does not win without Shaq or Pau Gasol. Shaq and Pau Gasol do not win without Kobe. End of story.
So wait, it takes a good team to win in the NBA? Who Knew!!!!