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Forum nameOkay Sports
Topic subjectKobe: The ball should be in Steve's hands and Pau's hands (swipe)
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2103859
2103859, Kobe: The ball should be in Steve's hands and Pau's hands (swipe)
Posted by ZooTown74, Sat Jan-05-13 08:24 PM
Can you guys or ESPN pick anything out of this article to quote out of context and get us riled up with, huh you guyse?

latimes.com:

>Kobe Bryant expresses self-doubt about end of career

By Mike Bresnahan
January 5, 2013, 1:45 p.m.

The message popped up on Twitter near midnight, not long after the Lakers lost to the Clippers.

"Thoughts of self doubt...Am I done? Is this how my career will end?? I REFUSE to give in to these thoughts. #strongwill #countonchallenges"

It was from Kobe Bryant. He didn't step back from it 12 hours later while talking to reporters after the Lakers' practice Saturday.

"Everybody has it. I'm human just like everybody else," he said. "I think the way I react to it is probably a little different than anybody else. I don't feed into it. I'm able to face it. I'm able to deal with it. I'm able to roll through it."

Bryant added that he wouldn't "capitulate" to it. Nor was he worried that teammates would see his vulnerable side.

"I think it's good for them, especially for them to know I have those moments as well," said Bryant, who is under contract for one more season (and $30.5 million). "I'm sure they've had them. I don't know how they respond to them. In certain instances, maybe they let the self-doubt get the best of them. I refuse to let that happen."

The Lakers have been beyond vulnerable this season, falling to 15-17 after their 107-102 loss Friday to the Clippers.

Bryant was surprisingly calm afterward and again a day later. He even took a trip down memory lane, painful as it might have been.

It went all the way back to the breakup with Shaquille O'Neal after the 2003-04 season.

"You’re not going to find another duo like that ever," he said. "There are other duos that are better than us. (Scottie) Pippen and (Michael) Jordan. But you'll never find a duo with two dominant personalities. Myself and Shaquille, that was kind of once in a lifetime."

Why couldn't it last a lifetime? Why did it end amid discord and chaos after the Lakers lost to Detroit in five games in the 2004 NBA Finals?

"I'm amazed it went as long as it did. That just wasn’t going to last," Bryant said. "We’re both alpha males. It just wasn’t going to happen. What do you think would happen if you put Jordan with Wilt (Chamberlain)? Not going to happen."

Bryant admitted the Lakers left championships on the table after O'Neal was traded to Miami. But the breakup with O'Neal was inevitable, he said.

"The big thing for me was when he did an interview in ESPN magazine and he said that he felt like I couldn't win without him. I was fine up until that point," Bryant said. "I'd be damned if I retired and you (reporters) said I couldn't win without this guy. After that, the line was drawn in the sand."

Bryant said he deferred to O'Neal plenty of times while the Lakers won consecutive championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

"I sacrificed quite a bit in individual numbers and MVPs and NBA Finals (MVPs) and all this other stuff," Bryant said. "Phil (Jackson) used to come to us as a team and let me take over during the march to the Finals. Then in the Finals, which was mostly Eastern Conference teams that didn't have any centers, we went through Shaq. Those are things I was willing to sacrifice. And you have to have that sacrifice if that dynamic’s going to work."

Bryant wasn't willing to compare his time with O'Neal to his time so far with Dwight Howard.

"It’s not the same thing," he said. "That team it was me and Shaq and a bunch of role players who were excellent role players. Here it’s me, Dwight, Steve (Nash), Pau (Gasol)."

Meanwhile, Bryant continued to defend Gasol, who had two points and four rebounds in 27 minutes against the Clippers. Gasol would have sat out the entire fourth quarter again Friday if Howard hadn't fouled out with 1:07 to play.

"The ball should be in Steve's hands and should be in Pau's hands," Bryant said. "The ball used to be in my hands and we got Steve Nash, who's better at it than I am. He's an incredible facilitator. So is Pau. So we have the two best passers at their respective positions and they need to be the guys that have the ball the majority of the time. Myself and Dwight, we're finishers. I think that's how it should operate.

"I won two championships with (Gasol). We won two championships playing through him, really. I know what he's capable of doing."

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Everybody knows that the best way to Attack The Media Status Quo™ is... by posting on a message board!
2103864, LOL He's got that good PR team on it!
Posted by vik, Sat Jan-05-13 08:33 PM
mamba out.
2103877, "It’s not the same thing," he said. "That team it was me and Shaq and a bunch of role players who were excellent role players. Here it’s me, Dwight, Steve (Nash), Pau (Gasol)."
Posted by The Mac, Sat Jan-05-13 09:08 PM
"It’s not the same thing," he said. "That team it was me and Shaq and a bunch of role players who were excellent role players. Here it’s me, Dwight, Steve (Nash), Pau (Gasol)."


CMON
2103926, *chooses to interpret as massive amounts of dwight shade*
Posted by rob, Sat Jan-05-13 10:45 PM
yeaaah
2103988, Obviously right about Nash but teams dare Pau to beat them
Posted by LA2Philly, Sun Jan-06-13 02:49 AM
They lay off his 15 footer which he consistently clanks and push him completely out of the post when he gets a touch. At that point, dude gets subbed out and turns invisible for the rest of the game.
2104065, he is just busted this year, something is wrong with him
Posted by ConcreteCharlie, Sun Jan-06-13 12:42 PM
beyond what's been said. i wonder if it's something that could improve in a season or just a sign of decline. i've seen guys look pretty bad (e.g. duncan in the memphis series) and come back strong.
2104001, LOL so u pick this line as a header and then typicallly cry about
Posted by rl9, Sun Jan-06-13 04:59 AM
someone else in advance that might pick another line when this interview is laced with classic BS quotes??
tell me why i ain't surprised lol.

so basically he just said he was at least as dominant as shaq during the championship years and shaq was allowed to beast in the finals against EC teams with no center?
this MF.

oh yeah, and he didn't hesitate to tell reporters that while he is human (really?) he is better than everybody else because he has that killer mentality only him, CP3 and i forgot the other dude he usually mentions have.
lol

you're welcome.


2104097, Ineffective Attack Technique
Posted by ZooTown74, Sun Jan-06-13 01:29 PM
You should try another way

Or better yet, shut the fuck up and remain a nobody

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Everybody knows that the best way to Attack The Media Status Quo™ is... by posting on a message board!