WTF? 62 Points For Kobe And He Sits Out 4th Quarter?
 

why would Phil Jackson sit Kobe Bryant the entire 4th quarter when he was on his way to what could have been a legendary game for him - 62 points in 3 quarters! It's freakin' December - the season isn't even half over - and he's protecting his star player from injury? That's ridiculous - there was a chance for an even more magical night that would be one for the ages - for fans and Kobe.

Yeah I would have liked to see him play the whole game, but that would be deliberate running up the score and the bench players need playing time.

after posting I just read an article on ESPN - the writer said exactly what i was thinking - ever hear of a pitcher being yanked at the end of the 7th inning while he's working on a perfect game? I know the way the zen master Phil Jackson thinks - and he's the Grinch on this one - he robbed sports fans,the NBA and Kobe, we'll never know how many he could have scored - magical days/nights are rare.

Yeah I would have liked to see him surpass the Laker franchise record personally, but before it happened I told my buddy who was watching the game with me that PJ would probably pull Kobe out just to "keep him in line" and let him know that he isn't the whole team, though he clearly is most of it, and PJ did indeed pull him out. I have mixed feeling about the decision really. PJ is a good coach though, so I'm not really pissed at him.

Kobe does need to share the ball more, though it's nice to see him put up gaudy numbers like that. He has been better lately about sharing the ball, but not in this game and team basketball is what wins championships, so PJ's decision was probably a good one.

Jordan was a ball hog too though and most people consider him the best ever, so Kobe is drawing parallels to Jordan for his scoring, defense and ball hogging too lol.

i really hate Marc Stein though

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...ilydime-051221

as far as i know the object of the game is to score more points than your opposition - putting the ball in the hands of the the player who has the best change of scoring as much as possible seems pretty sound to me.

killer game eather way

damn Kobe was on fire..

Yeah I was thinking that earlier. Like I say I have mixed feelings. I think the team would be better down the stretch with better team basketball. Before the Lakers current run Kobe was hogging the ball but he was also not making as many shots as he is now. Then at the start of the run he started passing the ball a lot more and that helped win some big games. Recently he's back to ball hogging again and many times he can do it himself, but to win the huge games as well as keep the team chemistry high, he needs to pass more. The team is young too and the younger players (like Bynum) can use the experience. Passing to Odom, Parker, Vujajcic a little more would be better IMO. Though Kobe should have the ball the majority of the time.