yeah I thought that was funny, when I was talking with some LA fans I said that KG and Paul were basically not there last night, and they came back by saying "well neither were lamar or pau" but I think that's a little off because there is nothing to suggest that pau or lamar will EVER get it going, they're just overmatched. And even if all four show up, the advantage goes to the celtics. Paul and KG on thier game is better than Pau and Lamar on thiers.
Last night it became clear to me that against a defense like the Celtics', Kobe is revealed to be a limited player in some ways. Yes, he was a spectacular shooter last night, but he did nothing to get Gasol or Odom involved. The only notable setup he had was that behind-the-back pass to Gasol, which was athletically amazing but not a good pass because the spacing was terrible, and Garnett promptly blocked it. Overall, I thought Kobe played better in the fourth quarter of game 2 because he got his teammates going. Last night was the Kobe show, and his teammates suffered for it.
Put another way: People blame Kobe's teammates for not "stepping up." But it's becoming clearer, to me at least, that the real problem is that Kobe doesn't seem capable of being a scorer and someone who gets his team going
at the same time. He can do one or the other, but not both. Unlike Bird, Magic, Jordan, and, I would argue, Pierce, among others.