It really sickens me that even today, on the last game of the career of an undebiable all time great, people still need to hunt for excuses to hate on Kobe and undermine his accomplishments.
....
People - Kobe Bryant is 37 years of age. When was the last time you saw a 37 year old score 60 points, under ANY circumstances, in an NBA game, against NBA defence?
Has it ever happened? If so it can't have been many times.
Yes, by all means, let's worship an accomplishment of dumbfounding ball-hoggery.
50 shots by a single player really shouldn't ever happen. There's no way the Lakers are a better team with Kobe taking all of those shots.
And really, I don't look at it in the context of one game. Kobe has throttled that team the last few years by playing exactly like he did last night, just with less gusto. They've been in limbo, and they've made no progress in actually building a real team, because of his continued presence on that roster. Because he had no interest in transitioning to a role less than the absolute focal point, end-all be-all of the Lakers.
Last night was his last hurrah, and [dang]ed if anybody but him was going to get any of the spotlight.
That's Kobe. Good riddance.
Kobe is the greatest player ever to consistently not elevate his team, and even less often elevate his teammates.
Kobe won 5 titles. At least one of those times he was probably the best player on his team. He had a great career.
Still, I'll take Tim Duncan, or even Steve Nash, any day of the week.
Kobe might be the only great player who was smart enough and experienced enough to understand "the secret," only to say, "Nah!" and keep playing the way he wanted anyway.
How many Kobe teams were better than the sum of their parts?
You wanna talk about how Kobe ended his career, how about the fact that his presence effectively ensured the two worst seasons in Lakers history? Why should 60 points on 50 shots in a meaningless game in April change that?
