stick to futebol. the defense in this game was brutal. the Lakers missed a lot of freethrows and Kobe had a bad shooting night, but he was doubleteamed all the time. his 15 rebounds was an important contribution, and he played excellent D.
It's stunning that the Lakers won despite having the worst Finals shooting percentage for a winning team in the shot-clock era (32.5%) Rebounding and free-throws...
i'll agree with both statements, but what's the real point? was Bryant the Finals MVP? Jackson said Artest was the MVP of Gm 7, but he certainly doesn't qualify for the MVP of the series. Pierce? Rondo? i don't think so.
Purely statistically, it's Gasol. Game 1: 23-14-3-3 Game 2: 25-8-3-6 Game 3: 13-10-4-2 Game 4: 21-6-3-2 Game 5: 12-12-0-0 Game 6: 17-13-9-3 Game 7: 19-18-4-2 So he averaged a 19-12-4-2 for the series.
the trouble with this simplistic analysis is that you don't take into account the wins and losses. in Game 5, where the Lakers lost, Gasol didn't play well and was outscored by Garnett by 12 points. in Game 2, Gasol played better than Bryant, but it was a Laker loss, the Ray Allen game. Gasol's statistics are meaningless there. in Gm 6, it was a team victory. Gasol doesn't deserve more credit than Bryant. in Gm 7, Gasol missed 6 of 13 freethrows. Kobe had 15 rebounds. but Ron Artest reeled in the victory. Phil Jackson said as much.
The Lakers also lost Kobe Bryant's best game of the series, so I don't see how that improves his case for MVP. FWIW, I'm not sure there really was anyone worthy of the MVP this year, but if you can make the case for Bryant, than surely you can also make it for Gasol.
It should be playoffs MVP. Which, if it were that, Kobe has it in the bag easily. Besides we all know they give it to the superstar of the winning team.
Or, atleast for two years. Kobe 2010 Finals/Playoffs 28.6ppg 8.0rpg 3.9apg 0.405 0.883 2.1spg 0.7bpg 3.9TOpg 29.2ppg 6.0rpg 5.5apg 0.458 0.842 1.3spg 0.7bpg 3.4TOpg Pierce 2008 Finals/Playoffs 21.8ppg 4.5rpg 6.3apg 0.432 0.830 1.1spg 0.3bpg 3.7TOpg 19.7ppg 5.0rpg 4.6apg 0.441 0.802 1.0spg 0.3bpg 3.2TOpg I actually didn't think this comparison would be so loopsided considering the defenses. Has there ever been a worse Finals MVP then Pierce in any sport at any time in the history of mankind? I have my doubts. He should feel lucky KG got him that ring or he'd never even be mentioned to get into the HOF. The Duck is back.