Is Kobe Bryant actually Pau Gasol’s sidekick?
Think about it…Pau Gasol is averaging 18.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in the playoffs, and is shooting a scintillating 58.1% from the field. One of the best gauges of overall offensive efficiency is points per shot (PPS), which is simply the total points scored divided by the number of field goal attempts. Gasol’s PPS is 1.54, which is outstanding.
Then you have Kobe. Sure, he’s averaging 30.1 points, but he has to shoot almost 23 shots per game to get those points. (He’s also averaging 5.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds.) His PPS is 1.33, which is still good, but is almost 14% less than Gasol’s.
Kobe is so determined to win a title this season for one reason — he wants to dispel the notion that he can only win a championship as Shaq’s sidekick. If the Lakers do manage to eliminate the Magic and Kobe does indeed get his fourth ring, he will have accomplished this feat…as Pau Gasol’s sidekick.
Now before any Kobe apologists start pounding furiously at their keyboards, I don’t actually believe this to be true. Kobe is the better player, but these numbers beg the question — why aren’t the Lakers using Gasol more?
Against the Magic, Gasol has made 23 of his 37 field goal attempts (62%). Against the Nuggets, he shot 63% from the field. The Spaniard is on such a roll right now that the Lakers should be feeding him the ball until the Magic find a way to stop him. Anytime Andrew Bynum is in the game, Rashard Lewis has to cover Gasol, and he’s no match for Pau in the post. Heck, even when Bynum goes to the bench, Gasol is scoring at will on Dwight Howard, the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year. Gasol was 9 of 11 from the field in Game 3, yet it was Kobe who took the most shots (11 of 25, 44%), even when he was clearly struggling down the stretch.
Mark my words, if Gasol keeps this production up and the Lakers go on to lose this series, it will be because Kobe took too many shots.
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Posted in: NBA, NBA Finals
Tags: 2009 NBA Finals, 2009 NBA Playoffs, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Finals, NBA Playoffs, Orlando Magic, Pau Gasol
Look closely pal, Pau’s shots were mostly a result of doubling off of Kobe. Pau can’t really create for himself, he’s not that type of player as proven when he was still back in Memphis.
Kobe has a scorer’s mentality, even after misses he always believes the next shot will go in thus the volume of shots reflects such. He does pass when he sees open teammates (he passed to D-Fish for the winning 3 when Jameer Nelson doubled on him in OT of Game 4).
Numbers don’t tell the whole story. Kobe’s work ethic inspires his teammates to do better on the floor. His determination sets the tone for his team, it makes teammates contribute even when under tremendous pressure.
I think your use of Memphis as proof of your hypothesis is weak, Celeste. We all know that Gasol wasn’t truly tested in Memphis, because it simply wasn’t a good team.
You do sound like a Kobe apologist, to use John’s term. It’s time that more people realized that part of being a great leader is learning how to delegate when necessary. Kobe is good at that, but that, too, could use some work on his part.
Orlando did a better job of defending Gasol in Game 4, but in the first three games most of his shots (or at least a very good portion of them) were post up scores, not shots created off of Kobe double-teams. Pal.
As Celeste said, numbers don’t tell the whole story. But… looking at the two players and their usage rates (basketball-reference.com), Bryant is the only Laker this year who uses significantly more than his share of the Lakers’ possessions. Gasol’s usage rate is around 20% – average. Yet, Gasol has been the Lakers’ most efficient player all season, and it’s possible to argue that, statistically, he’s been their most valuable player as well. (Heresy? Perhaps; I don’t care. Bryant is simultaneously the most overrated and underrated player in the league. A topic for another day. I digress.)
To answer the original question, no, Bryant isn’t Gasol’s sidekick, but Gasol hasn’t received nearly as much credit for the Lakers’ success this year as he should have. Gasol ought to get the ball more, and it should be Bryant’s responsibility to make sure he gets it.
Pau gasol looks like the love child of a cross between a LLama/alpaca, and a wild ostrich