Kobe Bryant and O'Neal teamed up to win a three-game winning streak for the Lakers, when Kobe Bryant could only serve as the Shark's deputy. After the Sharks traveled east to Miami, the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant entered a period of struggle, and after the Lakers got Gasol, Kobe bryant finally led the team to the Finals in the 07-08 season. So how did Bryant perform on his first Finals trip in the post-O'Neal era? This article will be an objective and fair analysis, taking you into the good times of the NBA together.
First of all, let's briefly take stock of the Lakers' 07-08 playoff trip.
In the 07-08 season, the Lakers swept the Nuggets 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs, won the Jazz 4-2 in the second round, and the Spurs in the Western Conference final 4-1. Lost 2-4 to Celtic in the finals.
Let's take a closer look at the 07-08 Finals.
The Lakers encountered the newly formed Green Army Big Three, and finally the two sides fought 6 games, and the Lakers lost. FMVP is Pierce. Let's take a closer look at these 6 games.
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G1 Lakers 88-98 Celtics
Both teams played more restrained, the end of the first half, the Lakers led by 5 points at 51-46, the second half was easy to fight again, the storm suddenly changed, the Lakers lost 9 points and 6 points respectively, and finally lost the first away game with a 10-point difference.
Bryant played 42 minutes and shot 9-of-26 from the field, 0-of-3 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line, with 24 points, three rebounds and six assists
G2 Lakers 102-108 Celtics
The Lakers trailed by 12 points at 42-54 in the first half, lost another 10 points in the third quarter, and entered the fourth quarter with a huge 22-point difference, and although they won 16 points in a single quarter, they still couldn't get back to heaven. The Lakers have lost two consecutive away games.
Bryant played 40 minutes and shot 11-of-23 from the field, 1-of-3 from three-point range and 7-of-7 from the free throw line, with 30 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists
G3 Celtics 81-87 Lakers
Returning to staples centres in the game, both teams played extra carefully, with both sides slowly controlling the pace of attack and setting new lows for both teams. At half-time, the Lakers led with a slight advantage of 43-37, and in the second half, the Celtics began to threaten, and the third quarter was 25-17, but the counter-attack was dominant, entering the fourth quarter with a 2-point advantage. In the fourth quarter, the big three were physically weak, coupled with Kobe Bryant's bravery, and finally the Lakers won the game.
Bryant played 45 minutes and shot 12-of-20 from the field, 1-of-2 from three-point range and 11-of-18 from the free throw line, and had 36 points, 7 rebounds and 1 assist
G4 Celtics 97-91 Lakers
The Lakers continued to play at home, and the Lakers came up with a devastating offensive performance, leading the Green Army 35-14 in the first quarter and leading by 18 points at 58-40 in the first half. But in the second half, the storm suddenly changed, the three giants of the green army continued to threaten, the third quarter pulled back 16 points, only 2 points behind the Lakers, the fourth quarter of the green army is still unstoppable, the fourth quarter won 8 points, taking away the victory. Both sides played half-time, and the Lakers fell from heaven to hell. After this game, the Green Army led the Lakers 3-1.
Bryant played 43 minutes, shooting 6-of-19 from the field, 0-of-2 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line, and had just 17 points, four rebounds and 10 assists. Behind teammate Odom, who scored 19 points on 8-of-11.
G5 Celtics 98-103 Lakers
The Lakers have no way to retreat, "win or go home." This game is still the home of the Lakers. The Lakers, as in the last game, gave the Green Army a head slap as soon as they came up, and the three armies used their lives to win 17 points 39-22 in a single quarter, but the Green Army won back 14 points in the second quarter, and the Big Three were too powerful. Entering the second half, the Lakers and the Green Army were deadlocked, the two teams played hard to score, the shooting rate was not high, and finally the Lakers defended the home field and pulled the big score back 2-3.
Bryant played 44 minutes and shot 8-of-21 from the field, 4-of-9 from three-point range and 5-of-7 from the free throw line, with 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
G6 Lakers 92-131 Celtics
Returning to Boston, no one expected this game to be a one-sided situation. The Green Army came up with a winning momentum, winning 23 points in the first half at 58-35. The Lakers do not have much to do about this, the opposite big three is really no solution, the third quarter of the Lakers lost 6 points, with a huge difference of 29 points into the fourth quarter, the game basically reduced to garbage time. In the end, the Green Army won the Lakers with a super score of 131-92. The Celtics also won the championship 4-2 by a large margin. The FMVP was awarded to Pierce, who averaged 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game.
Bryant played 43 minutes and shot 7-of-22 from the field, 3-of-9 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the free throw line, with 22 points, three rebounds and one assist.
It can be seen that in addition to the G6 Lakers' fiasco of 39 points, the other 5 games are within 10 points, and the two teams are not high in score, and the game is very tragic.
Let's take a closer look at the finals performances of the main players. For ease of viewing, I have organized the main data into a table as follows:
First, the score
Bryant averaged 25.7 points per game, the highest score among the major core players on both sides, and the Green Army's highest score was Pierce, with only 21.8 points. But in terms of the number of shots, Bryant's number of shots stood out from the crowd, reaching 21.8, far higher than the 10.3 times and Odom's 10 times of the other two core players of the Lakers, and also far higher than the 14.7 times of Pierce and Garnett's 17.5 times. In terms of shooting percentage, Bryant only had 40.5, the lowest of the six.
Second, rebounds + assists
Kobe Bryant is only ahead of Ray Allen in rebounds + assists, behind the remaining four. Garnett averaged 13 rebounds per game, basically dominating the interior.
Third, the shooting rate of each shot
It can be clearly seen that Ray Allen entered the "180 Club" in the Finals, and the three-point shooting rate reached a staggering 52.4! It was followed by Pierce, followed by Kobe Bryant. (It needs to be stated here that since Garnett and Gasol basically did not shoot three-pointers, the statistics of three-point shooting rate are recorded as 0, which lowers the overall shooting rate of the two)
Fourth, the situation outside the data
Judging from the above data, can it be concluded that Kobe Bryant's performance is very average? Objectively speaking, Kobe Bryant's performance is not good, but fans who have watched this series should know that although the Green Army Big Three has just been formed, it has been fully run-in in the regular season, Garnett is mainly responsible for defense (Garnett's defense at that time was the top one in the league, there is no one, DPOY is the best proof), Pierce is responsible for the autonomous attack, Ray Allen is responsible for receiving shots and part of the defense. The three of them performed their respective duties and complemented each other. As far as the core configuration of the team is concerned, it is better than the Lakers.
On the Lakers side, Gasol and Odom were beaten by Garnett in the Finals to doubt life, and basically did not have the ability to continuously output. And Kobe Bryant under the rotation of Tony Allen, James Posey, Ray Allen, the offensive efficiency is also greatly reduced. Objectively speaking, in this round of the finals, Kobe Bryant did not show a dominant performance.
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