Lakers Work Kobe Off The Ball, Get A Game Clinching Basket
A lot has been made about whether or not Kobe Bryant is a great clutch player or not. I have kept out of these discussions, but my personal opinion is that I will take a good shot a good set play over an ISO 100 out of 100 times, no matter who the ISO is run for, including Kobe. Does this mean that I don’t think Kobe Bryant is clutch? No. I just think that when the Lakers run an ISO for him, they are not getting the best shot that they could in late game situations. I still want Bryant taking that shot, but I’d rather it be coming off of a set play in rhythm than it coming after Kobe pounds his dribble for five to ten seconds. To me, the ISO is why Kobe Bryant’s late game numbers aren’t that good, and I don’t think he turns into this terrible basketball player when there is less than five minutes in the game (whether this is because of Kobe’s personality or not, wanting to take that final shot out of the ISO, who knows).
The reason I bring this up is because of what we saw in overtime of the Rockets-Lakers game last night. The Lakers were up by two points and had the basketball with 45 seconds left in the game. Instead of letting Kobe Bryant be the primary ball handler or running an ISO for him at the elbow, Phil Jackson had the Lakers run a simple play that resulted in a good look for Bryant:
As Steve Blake brings up the basketball, Lamar Odom sets up on the elbow and sets a backscreen for Derek Fisher, who cuts to the baseline off of it. On the opposite side, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol stack up, with Pau on top.
After Odom sets the backscreen, Steve Blake enters it to him at the elbow. Blake then cuts off of Odom, faking like he is going to receive a handoff. As this is happening, Kobe Bryant (who is hidden here) curls off of Pau Gasol.
Odom hits Kobe as he is curling off of Gasol. Now, instead of a situation where all five defenders are focused on him (which is what would happen working out of the ISO), you have the defense spread out when Kobe has the ball at the top of the key with an open lane.
Bryant is able to take that lane, get into the paint, and finish at the rim for the game clinching basket. Here is the play in real time:
With Kobe Bryant working off of the basketball like this, he becomes so much harder to defend. The main reason is because a defense can’t load up on him off of the basketball like they can when Kobe is ISO’d at the top of the key. If I was a Laker fan, these are the types of shots that I would want Kobe Bryant taking.
