Kobe Bryant's NBA Finals Choke? Boston Celtics and Kevin Garnett on pace for title

But to be honest, to call Kobe Bryant's performance in the 2008 NBA Finals a choke is not fair. Kobe Bryant is still a clutch player and a championship-caliber closer.

Kobe Bryant might not be on the level of Michael Jordan as some have suggested but he still is an elite player and a Hall-of-Famer. Through Game Four Kobe Bryant has shot just 43% from the field. Good but not great for a player of his talent.

Some people say throw around the words "Kobe Bryant" and "choke" because he hasn't lived up to the expectations he set for himself but that's just not realistic because the Boston Celtics have already proven to the be the best team in the NBA Finals.

The Boston Celtics are deeper, quicker, more athletic, and better on defense. Kobe Bryant can't do it all no matter how good he is and that's why his performance can't be a called a "choke."

Now, if Kobe Bryant has a wide-open shot to win Game Five of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center and misses, you could call that a bit of a choke. But if Kobe Bryant had better teammates in the NBA Finals like Paul Pierce does such as Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, he would have much better all-around stats.

Kobe Bryant hasn't "choked" because the Celtics play defense unlike anything he saw in the Western Conference. The San Antonio Spurs are sound and smart but not nearly as athletic as the possible NBA Champion Boston Celtics are right now.

Those who say Kobe Bryant is a choke artist probably have other motives when throwing that term around regarding the 2008 NBA Finals because Bryant has always attracted his fair share of doubters off the court due to the rape case and things like that.

The 2008 LA Lakers just don't have a whole lot of talent around Kobe Bryant right now and the Boston Celtics have made life tough on Bryant all series long. They're forcing him into tough shots every time down in the 2008 NBA Finals. Granted, Kobe Bryant can make most of these shots with ease at times but to ask Bryant to keep making them over and over again isn't realistic.

Kobe Bryant is still probably the best basketball player in the NBA despite his problems (you could argue LeBron James too), but even so, the NBA Finals are usually won by great big men and Kevin Garnett is about to continue that trend in the 2008 NBA Finals for the Boston Celtics.

Kobe Bryant has now one to help him on the inside against Garnett, as Pau Gasol has been horrible in the 2008 NBA Finals and Andrew Bynum is still too hurt to play until next season. To say Kobe Bryant has been a choke artist in the NBA Finals isn't right because his teammates haven't given him much help at all.

Of course, that makes you wonder why so many people picked the LA Lakers to win the NBA Finals in the first place. The analysts should have seen that the Boston Celtics have a much better all-around team and play better defense. But Kobe Bryant has been so good in the NBA playoffs for so long that people just expected him to take over and win it for the Lakers by himself.

That's not going to happen in the 2008 NBA Finals, but to call it a "Kobe Bryant choke" is just not true.

The copyright of the article Kobe Bryant's NBA Finals Choke? in NBA is owned by Nick Meyer. Permission to republish Kobe Bryant's NBA Finals Choke? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jun 19, 2008 11:10 AM

Steven A. Gilley :

It's not necessarily a choke job but it is a poor performance by a high caliber player who is suppose to be the best in the game. Although his teammates played bad, he did just as bad and your team is suppose to follow the superstar's lead.

The same teammates that played "So Well" during the Western Conference Playoffs and the same teammates that are the reason Kobe got his First MVP. I don't like it when Kobe plays bad, his teammates get blamed because they weren't helping him out but when Kobe plays well, he had to carry his team or they did good.

That's inaccurate, unfair and nothing but an excuse. A superstar makes his teammates better and a superstar gets his points. A superstar gets the glory when his teammates do well because he drew double teams and gave them open opportunities but a superstar doesn't get blamed when he plays bad and his teammates play bad too. That's the situation with Kobe.

Jun 22, 2008 6:08 PM

Aaron Doherty :

I don't buy into the team-mates played bad excuse.
Since the Gasol trade the lakers were pretty much touted to come out of the west.
They had a good enough team to win the West, get through the playoffs pretty much unscathed and then when they stumbled at the final hurdle it's their fault.
Choke Job isn't entirely accurate but it's something that should be thrown around. Kobe played terrible in some of the finals games, 4 and 6 especially.
He's far too talented for him to not find some way to contribute when he's being defended the way he was and unfortunately he didn't do it enough and the Celtics tore them apart.
Choke might be harsh but he wasn't an MVP during that series.