Kobe - 60 pts

[Endless Paradise]

54% TS isn't terrible. Even still, the guy scored 23 in the final frame, including 15 straight in the last three minutes to bring the Lakers back from a 10-point deficit to taking the lead with a go-ahead bucket with about 30 seconds left. He closed out the game on a perfect 5/5 shooting from the field and 4/4 from the free throw line. He made the clutch assist at the very end to seal the victory. Who cares about how many shots he took total? Nitpicking for the sake of picking nits.

But were the Jazz playing any defense on him (especially in the fourth quarter) or did it have an all star game feel to it?  I didn't get to watch the game.

They were actually playing defense. It wasn't "we need to make the playoffs by any means necessary, so we're willing to kill you"-level defense since they'd already been eliminated, but anyone who's going to say that the Jazz were just letting him shoot is BSing. The Jazz wanted to win. Kobe just emptied the chamber in the final minutes. Not much else they could do at that point.

[Who]

60 points on 50 shots, 12 FTAs and only 2 turnovers for a total of 58 possessions is a well above average mark for scoring efficiency. The key is the low turnovers relative to the number of shots and FTs Kobe took. That brought him up from an average TS% to a well above average overall scoring efficiency once those low turnover numbers are taken into account.

[Rosco917]

60 points on 50 shots, 12 FTAs and only 2 turnovers for a total of 58 possessions is a well above average mark for scoring efficiency. The key is the low turnovers relative to the number of shots and FTs Kobe took. That brought him up from an average TS% to a well above average overall scoring efficiency once those low turnover numbers are taken into account.

When I heard about the 60 points, the first thing I looked at was how many shots did he take.

50 shots is a Laker gift to Kobe.

[Jon]

On one hand, it's a pretty impressive ending.  Kobe has been a shell of his former self most of the year, so the fact he could do this is still pretty extraordinary. 

That said, it's yet another example of Kobe worrying most about Kobe.  As great as he's been most of his career, if he'd been less selfish and not driven Shaq out of town, he'd probably have won 7 or 8 titles. 

[Evantime34]

I'm happy he is retiring. To me he always exemplified my least favorite style of basketball, an offense built around isolation scoring. Give me a team with a good ball movement offense that gets everyone involved all day everyday over an iso heavy offense.

He is probably one of the last of his kinds, because of the rules most teams rely less on isolations and more on ball movement every single year.

[Moranis]

60 points on 50 shots, 12 FTAs and only 2 turnovers for a total of 58 possessions is a well above average mark for scoring efficiency. The key is the low turnovers relative to the number of shots and FTs Kobe took. That brought him up from an average TS% to a well above average overall scoring efficiency once those low turnover numbers are taken into account.

well when you shoot the ball almost immediately upon touching and don't pass at all (only slightly exaggerating) it is hard to commit turnovers.

[Moranis]

On one hand, it's a pretty impressive ending.  Kobe has been a shell of his former self most of the year, so the fact he could do this is still pretty extraordinary. 

That said, it's yet another example of Kobe worrying most about Kobe.  As great as he's been most of his career, if he'd been less selfish and not driven Shaq out of town, he'd probably have won 7 or 8 titles.

That is just silly nonsense.  Shaq was fading pretty fast (he was already 31 in his last year in LA).  I'd bet they would have won at least once in 05 or 06 (maybe both), but after that highly unlikely as Shaq was pretty much toast by then.  It is also highly unlikely that Pau ends up in LA had they kept Shaq (and wouldn't have had Odom since he came over in the trade for Shaq and wouldn't have been bad enough to land Bynum in the draft).

So I think Kobe ended up with more (or possibly the same amount of) titles by Shaq leaving than by Shaq staying.

[kozlodoev]

60 points on 50 shots, 12 FTAs and only 2 turnovers for a total of 58 possessions is a well above average mark for scoring efficiency. The key is the low turnovers relative to the number of shots and FTs Kobe took. That brought him up from an average TS% to a well above average overall scoring efficiency once those low turnover numbers are taken into account.

well when you shoot the ball almost immediately upon touching and don't pass at all (only slightly exaggerating) it is hard to commit turnovers.

It's also not easy to shoot 44% under these circumstances.

[Big333223]

50 shot attempts to score 60 in his final game which is totally meaningless because it
s 2 non-playoff teams playing one another. Kind of gross.

[apc]

Basically everyone on the Lakers team: lets give the ball to Kobe its his last game...
I really hope we can put this whole Kobe-show behind us... forever

[TA9]

50 shot attempts to score 60 in his final game which is totally meaningless because it
s 2 non-playoff teams playing one another. Kind of gross.

If Utah had won the game last night they could have made the 8th seed in the Western conference if Houston lost their game. So it's kind of misleading to call Jazz a "non-playoff" team especially if you put into consideration that they actually played really well this year.

[acieEarl]

50 shots to get 60. Just Kobe being Kobe. All about him. I'm embarrassed if I'm on Utah.

On a side note, the Lakers gotta be happy he's finally gone. As bad as they are, they can finally move on and start rebuilding without dealing with the Kobe side show.

[LilRip]

It was an impressive performance, particularly down the stretch. Plus, he hit clutch shots and clutch FT's to mount the comeback and seal the win. I'm not a fan but he's undeniably one of the greats.

[nickagneta]

Just Kobe being Kobe, which is why he will never be considered a top 10 player of all time.

[incoherent]

I watched this game.
 
The Jazz gave Kobe 4 points.  They basically let him get 2 layups early in the game.  That was it.  Everything else Kobe was highly contested. 

Kobe made a ton of difficult shots.

He hit the final 7 shots to come back from 10 down with 3 minutes to go.