Kobe Bryant: At the Top of His Game

Kobe Bryant is 30 years old. In August, he'll be 31. In basketball years, that's getting pretty high up there, and as a result, the consensus among sports writers is somewhere between "he is not the player he once was" and "he can't continue to play at this level for much longer." The problem? He's been as good as ever, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

I believe the problem here is that people are evaluating Kobe based on expectations, rather than reality. It's like a referee who expects a foul to occur in a certain situation; when that situation occurs, he immediately calls the foul – not because there was one, but because he was already predisposed, be it consciously or subconsciously, to the idea that a foul would occur in that situation. Much like that ref, who is officiating based on expectations rather than based on what he sees in front of him, many in the sports world are judging Kobe Bryant based on their expectation that his performance should be declining, if not now then soon.

But what is right there in front of their eyes tells a very different story. And not only is Kobe Bryant playing amazing basketball in his own right, but even when compared to LeBron James (whose individual performance has fans, bloggers, and media types raving) Kobe Bryant has been better — both in terms of individual performance and end result.

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Let's review, shall we? We'll breeze right on through the first two rounds of the playoffs, where Kobe was "just" pretty great, and then spend some time on the Western Conference Finals, where he was truly magnificent.

In the first round, Bryant started slowly. He took only two shots in the first quarters of each of the first two games, and an average of only five shots by half. In the third game, he shot poorly, as did most of his teammates. In Game 4, however, Kobe changed his approach. He had been looking to facilitate his teammates early in the game, looking for his shot more and more later on. In that fourth game, he took eight shots in the first quarter, making six of them, and then hit four of five shots in the second quarter. He went into the half with 24 points on 10-13 shooting. He finished the game with 38 points on 16-24 shooting (67%), along with six rebounds and two steals. His True Shooting Percentage (TS%) for that game was an astounding 72.5%. In the next game, he scored 31 points on an excellent 62.1% True Shooting, adding four steals and four assists, to lead the Lakers to an 11-point win to close out the series.

A slow start, perhaps, but after a necessary adjustment, I'd say that's not too shabby.

In the second round, Bryant faced the defensive duo of Shane Battier and Ron Artest. In these two players, the Rockets had what no other team has ever been able to throw at Bryant: not one, but two elite perimeter defenders on the court at the same time, whose primary purpose was to make Kobe's life difficult for 48 "minutes" every other day. Rarely has Kobe has to work so hard on the offensive end, and yet, this was nothing like LeBron James vs. Boston. Artest and Battier "held" Bryant to 27.4 points on 45.3% shooting (just 1.4% below his season average), 34.4% from distance, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. Not exactly basement-dwelling numbers. In addition, Kobe turned the ball over only 1.57 times per game, while collecting 2.0 steals per game on the other end.

Not his best series ever, but when that's the best that two premier perimeter defenders can do against Kobe, it seems counter intuitive to suggest that Bryant is playing anything other than excellent basketball.

And now we get to the good stuff, because the Western Conference Finals against Denver was one of Kobe Bryant's best series ever. He didn't waste any time, dropping 40 points on the Nuggets, on 59.3% True Shooting, along with six rebounds, four assists, and only one turnover. Most importantly, the Lakers won, and mostly thanks to Bryant. In a two-point victory, Kobe scored the Lakers' final six points. He scored a total 18 points in the fourth quarter, coolly hitting all nine of his free throws along the way. He also doled out two assists in the final frame, making him responsible for 23 of the Lakers' 31 fourth quarter points.

In Game 2, another contest decided by a single possession, the Lakers lost, but Kobe Bryant still continued to perform. He scored 32 points on only 20 shots, good for 65.6% True Shooting. He also had five rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal, and by (questionable) design, he never got the chance to take potential game-tying shot.

In Game 3, Kobe Bryant continued his otherworldly performance, scoring 41 points on only 24 shots, continuing his incredible efficiency with 65.1% True Shooting accuracy. He added six rebounds, five assists, and two steals, versus only one turnover, as he led the Lakers to a closely contested come-from-behind win. Not surprisingly, Kobe scored 10 of the Lakers final 13 points.

Game 4 was a Nuggets' blowout, and while Bryant never gave up, I have come around to ascribe Chris's theory that Phil Jackson intentionally conceeded this game in exchange for much needed rest – leaving Kobe Bryant, never one to simply surrender, to go into desperation mode, throwing up tough, low-percentage shots in an unlikely effort to shoot the Lakers back into the game. Even still, Bryant shot a very decent 53.6% True Shooting, adding seven rebounds and five assists to go with only a single turnover.

In Game 5, the Lakers came back with a vengeance, and Kobe Bryant led the charge – but not in the way you'd expect. He scored 22 points, but he took only 13 shots in the game (an impressive average of 1.7 points per shot), but it was his passing that secured yet another hard-fought win for the Lakers. In this game, the Nuggets double teamed and trapped Bryant more aggressively than they ever had before, and he made them pay. With the game on the line, he resisted the urge to do it all himself, instead making every right decision. He let the double team come, and rather than passing out early, he made them commit. As a result, his passes out of the double teams were unbelievably difficult, but he hit them with precision and made them look easy. With two Nuggets fully committed to Bryant, his teammates were left to play 4-on-3, and they took advantage of their numbers over and over again.

If Bryant was brilliant in Game 5 – and he was, even without posting gaudy individual numbers – he was godlike in Game 6. The Lakers absolutely dominated this game, and once again, it started with Kobe. He scored 35 points on only 20 shots (1.75 points per shot), posting an absolutely unbelievable True Shooting Percentage of 73%. He also had 10 assists, six rebounds, one huge block, and yet again, only one turnover.

Once again, the Nuggets aggressively trapped Bryant in Game 6, and once again, he made all of the right decisions. He never forced his shot, never attempted to play one-on-many, and consistently found the open man for an easy score. Along the way, he provided some very solid leadership, encouraging Gasol to be aggressive with his own shot, diagramming plays during timeouts, and instructing players like Shannon Brown during free throw breaks. As a result, the Lakers rolled to a 27-point blowout to close out the series.

In the six games of the Western Conference Finals, Kobe Bryant made 48.1% of his shots from the floor, averaging 34 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game. Very importantly (as we will soon see), he shot 93.1% from the free throw line, making 67 of 72 attempts. He was incredibly efficient with his own shot, averaging 1.56 points per shot and scoring at an insanely great clip of 62.7% True Shooting over six games.

Throughout the Conference Finals – and even now that they are over – the general consensus has been that Kobe Bryant has been "not bad," and LeBron James has been incredible. Clearly, Bryant's performance by itself should be regarded as truly incredible. But beyond that, the disparity in how Bryant and James were seen in their respective Conference Finals series demonstrates the different predispositions with which people evaluate each player.

by Josh Tucker