After taking a one hour twelve minute flight west, (-91 degrees from north), 318 miles, the (16-63) Los Angeles Lakers are in H-Town the most populous city in the state of Texas, Houston, for Kobe Bryant’s final game against the (38-41) Rockets at the Toyota Center. Three games remain in the Kobe Bryant farewell tour.
Kobe Bryant, on the second stop of his final NBA road trip, has faced the Houston Rockets 60 times, in the regular season posting on average producing 26.5 points on 43.9-percent shooting, 5.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists.
In the first place tonight marks Kobe’s 35th game in Houston posting a record of 19 wins and 16 losses additionally Bryant has a 46-30 career record against the Rockets, although Kobe Bryant and company have lost six of the past seven games against the Rockets.
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At the very least, despite the win-loss record and the team’s subpar performance the sports world has showered Kobe Bryant with adoration befitting one of the NBA’s greatest players and the ubiquitous Laker fan base had the opportunity to provide a Laker a proper sendoff in addition to painfully witnessing the team hold onto their top three pick in the NBA lottery.
Interestingly enough Bryant’s first run in Houston on November 12, 1996 occurred in the sixth game of his illustrious career when Kobe scored two points in five minutes off the bench.
Ironically, existing Lakers Head Coach, Byron Scott, logged forty minutes in that game scoring seven points in a 126-115 double-overtime Lakers win. Speaking of memories, Kobe Bryant and company have beaten the Rockets three times in the postseason; 1999 First Round 3-1, 2004 First Round 4-1 and 2009 Semi-Finals
His team is winning, and he’s the main reason why. It’s not that Kyrie hasn’t been great, but he obviously isn’t the main reason why Cleveland is winning, and to be fair, the Cavs have been a little disappointing in their championship defense. Another overlooked player is Paul Millsap. Although Jimmy Butler and Giannis Antetokounmpo have been better statistically speaking, Millsap has been solid and the Hawks have a winning record. R Bholat (): Every upcoming All-Star weekend gives us a few snubs about the big mid-season game that gets fans all over the world ranting to anyone who will listen.
Minneopolis Lakers of the early 1950’s were a dominant team of that era. The team was led by
The University of Houston, ranked number 1, met the University of Louisville, ranked number 2, in the semifinals of the 1983 NCAA playoffs. At the half the Louisville Cardinals was leading 41-36. Houston had 14 dunks before the game ended in a 94-81 with the Cougars coming out on top. Hakeem had an awesome game, he had 21 points, 22 rebounds, and 8 shots blocked. By the spring of 1983 Hakeem was recognized as one of the finest shot blockers and dunkers in college basketball.
The NBA is well known for the number of amazing professional athletes it has had over the years. Some of the most gifted and talented individuals come through the NBA and one of the better-known superstars is none other than Kobe Bryant. For years people have wondered what makes Bryant so successful. The main contributors that lead to Kobe Bryant’s success is his hard work and dedication, his mindset, his natural ability’s and talent, and the people that have helped him throughout his life. Kobe Bryant was very successful in the NBA because of the amount of hard work he has put in, the people in his life, his relentless determination and his god given natural abilities.
During Michael’s second season it was cut short. He had broke his foot in the third game of the season. The injury caused him to miss to 64 games that season. During that time the bulls had the fifth worst record of any NBA team to qualify for the playoffs. Jordan recovered in time to play in the playoffs. He played very well upon his return from his injury. Michael set a record with 63 points in a playoff game.
Kobe spent years trying to mimic everything about Michael Jordan including his footwork, shooting form etc. and it definitely payed off . Kobe has the 3rd most points scored of all time and he is the all time Lakers points leader. However, Kobe’s success is his but his influence is not, it belongs to Michael Jordan as it was Kobe who mimicked Jordan. The points scored by Kobe have an often unseen angle, Kobe also has the missed the most shots ever (Nba.com)). LeBron, on the other hand, is currently the youngest player to reach 20,000 points even though Kobe has played 6 more seasons than LeBron has out-rebounded, out-assisted, out-stole and out-blocked Kobe Bryant (nba.com). While doing so LeBron changed what constitutes all 5 positions, for example before LeBron, the point guard was the smallest player on the court who can dribble, but after LeBron’s arrival where he has dominated every position with his 6’8 280 pound frame and his incredible basketball IQ, the point guard has become the composer of the symphony that is an offensive possession in a game of basketball"LeBron James." Stats, Video, Bio,
Kobe Bryant vs Michael Jordan? This is a controversial question in the NBA league. Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest basketball players of all time who was approaching or even goes beyond Michael Jordan. Both player are well-known to the world and as well as their basketball skills. As a similarity, both players are playing shooting guard and with similar play-style. I grew up with Kobe Bryant as a personal hero and barely knew who Michael Jordan was, now that I have examined the two players objectively. I concede that Michael Jordan’s skills are superior.
Additionally, Bryant joined the all-star team in just his second season in the league, therefore becoming the single youngest player to be part of the all-star team of all time (“Bryant, Kobe” 1) at just 19 years old (Kobe at 30--Oh, how the years go by 2). Surprisingly, these achievements would not be the only ones he would acquire. By 2003, Bryant had already captured 3 NBA titles for himself (“Bryant, Kobe” 1), winning three titles in a row from 2000 to 2002 (Kobe at 30-- 2), and these would surely not be his last.... ... middle of paper ... ...
To start their first season in the NBA the Bulls were lead by their head coach Jonny “RED” Kerr, a former star in the league. On October 15, 1966 the Chicago Bulls put out a starting cast of Len Chappell, Bob Boozer, Don Kojis, Jerry Sloan, and Guy Rodgers to face off against the St. Louis Hawks. Guy Rogers emerged as a hero when he poured in thirty seven points to help seal Chicago’s first ever win in the NBA. The Bulls went on to win their next three games in a row and finish their first NBA season with a record of 33-48. This as it turns out was the best record a new team had ever achieved (Chicago History).
In his first season with the Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan averaged 28 points a game and voted to the All-Star game, because of all the attention Jordan received his teammates refused to pass him the ball. Instead of letting the freeze-out during the All-Star game deter him he went on to win Rookie of the Year. The following season he would break his foot causing him to miss the rest of the regular season. He would return for the playoffs where in the second game of the series against the Boston Celtics he set the record for most points in a playoff game with 63; however the Celtics would win the series and would later on lose to the Los Angeles Lakers.
He signed the largest rookie contract in the history of sports being forty-one million for seven years. He had won Rookie of the Year in 1992. He went to the finals in 1995 losing to the Houston Rockets. When Shaq was a free agent, he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers with young star Kobe Bryant. “The last time any of their sports teams had won a title was back in 1988, when the Lakers beat the Pistons in the finals and the Dodgers won the World Series (O’Neal 57). Shaq thought the Lakers were good, but needed a little more help to win a championship. He ended up winning three championships with the Lakers in 2000, 2001, 2002. “When I looked out on the crowd, all of the sudden it hit me: We were Champions.” (O’Neal 245) Shaq was very excited he had won and started crying tears of joy. In 2000, the Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers in a 4-2 series. In 2001, the Lakers beat the Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in a 4-1 series. In 2002, the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets in a 4-0 series. Shaq was the Final’s MVP in all three of these finals. He was traded to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler, and a first-round pick in 2004. He won a championship in Miami in 2006 with Dwyane Wade. He then traded to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. The next season he was then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, and second-round
He also led the team to the NBA finals in 1981. In 1984, the “twin tower” who led the team to the 1986 second NBA finals was formed by Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson who are one of the tallest front courts in the NBA. Unfortunately, Houston Rockets was once defeated by the Boston Celtics. But now in 21st century, Rockets team was led by superstars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Unfortunately, in 2011 Rockets have enter the period of reconstruct, completely dismantling and retooling their rooster. Recently, acquisition of the franchise players James Harden and Dwight Howard have launched the Rocket back into championship contention. Rockets have played their games in the San Diego Sports Arena during the four years the Rockets in San Diego which had a capacity of 14400. After they moved to Houston the Rockets did not have their own arena, and they played their first two years at various venues in the city, including the Astrodome, AstroHall, Sam Houston Coliseum and Hofheinz Pavilion. During 2003-04 season, the Rockets moved into new arena, the Toyota Centre with a seating capacity of
Jim Armstrong from Back of the Jersey stated that in November of 2012 alone, Ray Allen beat three teams with game winning shots (Cleveland, Denver & San Antonio) as a member of the Miami Heat. That’s pretty impressive for a 37-year old sixth man to do that in his career, let alone in one month. 32 year old Reggie Miller struggled to hit his big game shots during the finals against the Lakers. Ray was a reliable clutch time performer all throughout his career. By that, Ray Allen was 37 years old and was still hitting game winning shots as a sixth man while Reggie was struggling at age 32. Not only that, but Ray Allen is third in all time game winning shots while Reggie isn't even on the top 15 list. Ray Allen has a 50% rating on shots taken when trailing by one or two points, or tied, in the final 24 seconds of playoff games since 1996-97 (The Top Ten). 50% may not sound high enough but most players are 25-30% when taking clutch shots. Most would agree on how reliable Ray Allen was when there was a shot he would have to take. To sum things up, Ray Allen was more of a dangerous threat when it came to big game
As a Longhorn, Durant started in every game during his freshman year of college, averaging 25.8 points per game (first in the Big 12, fourth in the nation) and 11 rebounds per game in 35 games. He scored 20-plus points 30 times, and put up 30-plus points 11 times (“Kevin Durant”). He was named the Big 12 Tournament's Most Valuable Player after hitting a tournament record of 92 points and leading the Longhorns to the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship. (“Kevin Durant Bio.com”)