December 16, 2009

Kobe: What Injury?



When news of Kobe Bryant's fractured finger came out, I'm sure the Lakers faithful were anticipating the worst. (Well, something along the lines of Greg Oden's injury).

But after the game against the Chicago Bulls, the fears were definitely allayed.

Not only did the Los Angeles Lakers win, but Kobe scored a game-high 42 points. Yeah, Kobe has had over a hundred 40-point games in the past, but to illustrate the significance of this, the two top scorers of the Bulls for that game (Derrick Rose and Luol Deng) combined for 42 points.

Even more amazing is that Kobe scored 42 more efficiently even though it's his shooting hand that's injured. He needed only 26 shot attempts and shot at a 58% success rate. The Bulls duo needed 42 shots between them to amass 42 points.

One final thing-- I observed that Kobe's post game is continuing to evolve as his footwork in the post enabled him to get to a better position to score or draw a foul. After the Chicago game, Kobe is shooting a career-high 48% from the field and has been relying less on the three-point shot.


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