Derby Trail Forums - Who Had the Better NY Night?

Comparing the stat lines

Bryant.....................................James
19-31..............FG....................17-33
3-6................3pt......................2-7
20-20...............FT....................16-19
61...................Pts......................52
0....................Reb.....................10
3....................Ast......................11
0.....................Stl......................0
1.....................Blk......................2
2.....................TO......................3
36:47............ .Mins...................44:03

I'll take James' night over Kobe's. Couple of things. Obviously, Kobe was more aggressive offensively, taking 31 shots in about 37 minutes. He had no intention of being much of a passer on this night as evidenced by his three assists and he and I had the same number of rebounds for the game. Meanwhile, James was able to get his 52 while not taking anything away from the rest of his game. You don't often see a guy get 11 assists while scoring 52. This is one thing I've always said about him. If he wanted to pass less, he could score way more. But it's not his nature. It's also worth noting that while he was passing so much, he still only had three turnovers for the game. That's impressive. I also note the Kobe had three assists on a night when the rest of his team shot 47% from the field while LeBron got 11 with the rest of his team shooting 43%.

Some other facts from the game:
-LeBron is only the second visiting player ever to hit 50 or more twice in the Garden (Jordan)
-The last player to his at least 50 in a triple-double was Kareem in 1975.
-If you think this was a fluke, he went for 50-8-10 just last year in NY.

Kobe is a brilliant offensive player. What he is the best in the universe and one of the very best in the history of the game at is making difficult shots. There isn't a shot that he can't hit. There isn't a hole in his offensive game. The thing that keeps him from being at the level of LeBron or MJ, at least for me, is that once he gets it going like that, he becomes single-minded. He gets on his scoring binges and the rest of his game suffers. It's not like he can't do those other things. Kobe is as skilled as anyone and I truly believe that if he wanted to get 10 rebounds a game or 10 assists a game, he could with no problems. But that's not his mentality. Whereas Kobe would have to put it in his mind to cut back his scoring game in order to be more of an all-around player, those other guys don't have to change anything, especially LeBron. It's just who he is. I've always said that LeBron would be happier with 20 and 20 assists than with 50 and 5.