That was two selfish shots kobe took… should've been attacking basket like he did when the game was over

Those were good shots given who it was. Kobe knew those could have changed the momentum of the game and unfortunately they didn't go in. If there were 2:00 left the quick shots would have been dumb but there was only room for one or 2 plays left if they were lucky so I say go to the gym and practice those bomb daggers and try again next close one

It seems pretty obvious our opinions on those shots are going to be biased heavily by how we feel about Kobe Bryant. Since I don't like him all that much, the way I try to look at it unbaised-ly is by considering what we'd think if he made one of those shots: “Damn, there's Kobe hitting insane late game shots again”, which means that his decision makes sense.

Kobe's made those kinds of shots before. Maybe if the game was closer, and he had a chance to send it to overtime or get the win with just one shot, it would have gone in. That's just how it seems to work for Kobe.

Going 2-for-1 is a hell of a lot smarter than fouling, at least against the Suns. And Kobe is the one you want with the ball in those kinds of situations, which are basically “make or go home”.

That was two selfish shots kobe took… should’ve been attacking basket like he did when the game was over

Those were good shots given who it was. Kobe knew those could have changed the momentum of the game and unfortunately they didn’t go in. If there were 2:00 left the quick shots would have been dumb but there was only room for one or 2 plays left if they were lucky so I say go to the gym and practice those bomb daggers and try again next close one

It seems pretty obvious our opinions on those shots are going to be biased heavily by how we feel about Kobe Bryant. Since I don’t like him all that much, the way I try to look at it unbaised-ly is by considering what we’d think if he made one of those shots: “Damn, there’s Kobe hitting insane late game shots again”, which means that his decision makes sense.

Kobe’s made those kinds of shots before. Maybe if the game was closer, and he had a chance to send it to overtime or get the win with just one shot, it would have gone in. That’s just how it seems to work for Kobe.

Going 2-for-1 is a hell of a lot smarter than fouling, at least against the Suns. And Kobe is the one you want with the ball in those kinds of situations, which are basically “make or go home”.

I don't think you can afford to throw up bad shots at the end of close games, no matter the intention. Sure, you want to go 2-for-1 and avoid fouling (especially against a clutch FT shooter like Steve Nash) but giving away a possession on a bad shot just doesn't make sense.

I think that it's the right play, but just a bit too far out. Because of Nash, the probability of winning while fouling is extremely low. Trying to bring the lead down to 3 was the right play.

This is the NBA. You let your superstar do whatever he wanted to do in closing seconds.

I don’t think you can afford to throw up bad shots at the end of close games, no matter the intention. Sure, you want to go 2-for-1 and avoid fouling (especially against a clutch FT shooter like Steve Nash) but giving away a possession on a bad shot just doesn’t make sense.

I think that it’s the right play, but just a bit too far out. Because of Nash, the probability of winning while fouling is extremely low. Trying to bring the lead down to 3 was the right play.

A couple thoughts on this:

1. You don't want to be behind by more than 3 to Phoenix with less than a minute to go, period. They can put 4 good ball handlers on the floor and four who shoot 80% or better from the stripe. Makes it awful tough to come back from a 2 possession deficit with 60 seconds or less remaining.
2. Look at the lineup on the floor for Los Suns offensively (player (FT%)): Nash (90%), Richardson (71%), Hill (77%), Turkoglu (80%), Frye (80%). Hill has finished the last 3 better than 80% from the stripe as well, so there's really only one guy you can foul, and the Lakers succeeded in doing just that. If Gentry was smart, he would have put Dragic in the game offensively, swapping him with Richardson in an offense/defense matchup like he was doing with Turkoglu/Frye and Warrick in the last minute.

Considering the above two points, I think that Kobe jacking up two threes there is justified. Now, could he have gotten better looks? Sure, but it's not like he hasn't hit tough shots like that before. The strategy is sound, though.

In a way, it's not unlike the Pats-Steelers game last night: Pittsburgh is down by 13 points with 50 seconds left and the ball on the Patriot 40 yard line. As Collinsworth said on the broadcast, you should be taking shots at the end-zone even though they are low percentage plays, because you still need time to recover the onside kick and score again to tie the game. If you don't score, who cares?!?! It worked for the Jags on the Hail Mary play before OT. When you have nothing to lose, you might as well do the one thing that can help you win, regardless of what it looks like fundamentally.

This is the NBA. You let your superstar do whatever he wanted to do in closing seconds.

A couple thoughts on this:

1. You don’t want to be behind by more than 3 to Phoenix with less than a minute to go, period. They can put 4 good ball handlers on the floor and four who shoot 80% or better from the stripe. Makes it awful tough to come back from a 2 possession deficit with 60 seconds or less remaining.
2. Look at the lineup on the floor for Los Suns offensively (player (FT%)): Nash (90%), Richardson (71%), Hill (77%), Turkoglu (80%), Frye (80%). Hill has finished the last 3 better than 80% from the stripe as well, so there’s really only one guy you can foul, and the Lakers succeeded in doing just that. If Gentry was smart, he would have put Dragic in the game offensively, swapping him with Richardson in an offense/defense matchup like he was doing with Turkoglu/Frye and Warrick in the last minute.

Considering the above two points, I think that Kobe jacking up two threes there is justified. Now, could he have gotten better looks? Sure, but it’s not like he hasn’t hit tough shots like that before. The strategy is sound, though.

In a way, it’s not unlike the Pats-Steelers game last night: Pittsburgh is down by 13 points with 50 seconds left and the ball on the Patriot 40 yard line. As Collinsworth said on the broadcast, you should be taking shots at the end-zone even though they are low percentage plays, because you still need time to recover the onside kick and score again to tie the game. If you don’t score, who cares?!?! It worked for the Jags on the Hail Mary play before OT. When you have nothing to lose, you might as well do the one thing that can help you win, regardless of what it looks like fundamentally.

Maybe Phil Jackson could have come up with something different (Boston seems especially adept at drawing up plays for catch and shoot treys), but I really can't fault Bryant here. Once he has the ball, he has the option of shooting a quick and deep 3 with space, or using his dribble to get closer but ultimately having a defender on his hip who's willing to concede the drive because his only objective is to disrupt the three point shot. Kobe knew this and adjusted accordingly by taking the first open look available; the Lakers were actually able to have their best shooter release the ball smoothly from his shooting pocket both times, which is about as good as you're going to get in this situation.

First of all, this issue would not be as controversial IF Kobe had actually drained those 3-pointers… nobody would be saying that he “shouldn't have taken them”.. they would've just said that it's another clutch shot from one of the best players that have ever played the game. Besides the fact that he COULD HAVE gotten a better look, and also COULD HAVE swung the ball outside and rotate to a wide-open look, he did what any superstar in his position had to do: Attempt to bail out his team. Although i could agree with the point that maybe a player like Shannon Brown who HAD been hotter from downtown than Kobe was last night, or D-Fish being a Veteran of the team could have also taken that type of shot, i do agree with the fact that the Suns are a very good FT shooting team, and you def do not wanna be down by 6 anywhere near the last couple mins against them because they'll just kill it from the stripe, so at 34 seconds, you def gotta get the ball in possession of your star clutch player and let him go to work… it just won't fall every time. I was at the game last night and although it was a fun and nerve wrecking, i also noticed a lot of bad chemistry amongst the Lakers especially with Kobe and Phil Jackson which def does not help a team win…

Maybe Phil Jackson could have come up with something different (Boston seems especially adept at drawing up plays for catch and shoot treys), but I really can’t fault Bryant here. Once he has the ball, he has the option of shooting a quick and deep 3 with space, or using his dribble to get closer but ultimately having a defender on his hip who’s willing to concede the drive because his only objective is to disrupt the three point shot. Kobe knew this and adjusted accordingly by taking the first open look available; the Lakers were actually able to have their best shooter release the ball smoothly from his shooting pocket both times, which is about as good as you’re going to get in this situation.

Maybe Phil Jackson could have come up with something different (Boston seems especially adept at drawing up plays for catch and shoot treys), but I really can't fault Bryant here. Once he has the ball, he has the option of shooting a quick and deep 3 with space, or using his dribble to get closer but ultimately having a defender on his hip who's willing to concede the drive because his only objective is to disrupt the three point shot. Kobe knew this and adjusted accordingly by taking the first open look available; the Lakers were actually able to have their best shooter release the ball smoothly from his shooting pocket both times, which is about as good as you're going to get in this situation.

[...] attempts with L.A. down by six and 34.7 seconds on the clock Sunday. Sebastian Pruiti takes a look at the video and lends some insight into what Kobe might have been [...]

First of all, this issue would not be as controversial IF Kobe had actually drained those 3-pointers… nobody would be saying that he “shouldn’t have taken them”.. they would’ve just said that it’s another clutch shot from one of the best players that have ever played the game. Besides the fact that he COULD HAVE gotten a better look, and also COULD HAVE swung the ball outside and rotate to a wide-open look, he did what any superstar in his position had to do: Attempt to bail out his team. Although i could agree with the point that maybe a player like Shannon Brown who HAD been hotter from downtown than Kobe was last night, or D-Fish being a Veteran of the team could have also taken that type of shot, i do agree with the fact that the Suns are a very good FT shooting team, and you def do not wanna be down by 6 anywhere near the last couple mins against them because they’ll just kill it from the stripe, so at 34 seconds, you def gotta get the ball in possession of your star clutch player and let him go to work… it just won’t fall every time. I was at the game last night and although it was a fun and nerve wrecking, i also noticed a lot of bad chemistry amongst the Lakers especially with Kobe and Phil Jackson which def does not help a team win…

First of all, this issue would not be as controversial IF Kobe had actually drained those 3-pointers… nobody would be saying that he “shouldn't have taken them”.. they would've just said that it's another clutch shot from one of the best players that have ever played the game. Besides the fact that he COULD HAVE gotten a better look, and also COULD HAVE swung the ball outside and rotate to a wide-open look, he did what any superstar in his position had to do: Attempt to bail out his team. Although i could agree with the point that maybe a player like Shannon Brown who HAD been hotter from downtown than Kobe was last night, or D-Fish being a Veteran of the team could have also taken that type of shot, i do agree with the fact that the Suns are a very good FT shooting team, and you def do not wanna be down by 6 anywhere near the last couple mins against them because they'll just kill it from the stripe, so at 34 seconds, you def gotta get the ball in possession of your star clutch player and let him go to work… it just won't fall every time. I was at the game last night and although it was a fun and nerve wrecking, i also noticed a lot of bad chemistry amongst the Lakers especially with Kobe and Phil Jackson which def does not help a team win…

[...] have defended Kobe Bryant in the past when he has made some strange decisions regarding shot selection.  I don’t think I can here, except for the fact that he made it.  There are just so many [...]

[...] Sebastian Pruiti on Kobe's quick threes in the final minute against the Suns. [...]