- 37,440
- 12,883
Dirk had just won the MVP award & won the most games of any team since the '96 Bulls.
That isn't comparable to what happened to Duncan or Kobe in those years at all.
Neither one of those guys ever lost in the first round in their primes with homecourt advantage.
Duncan was 34 years old & far far away from his peak, particularly in that year, & those Laker teams were only competitive because Kobe had the most prolific scoring season since Jordan in '88, and even with that they were still only a 7th seed.
I'm not disagreeing with you. That laker team was bad. Duncan was old and ginobili was injured.
But blowing a 3-1 lead and tanking the second half of game 7 is as bad as Dirk against the Warriors IMO.
I'm not calling Kobe overrated. I'm arguing that individually you can make a case for dirk and Duncan being as good or better that decade.
They were down 31-15 after the 1st quarter though... THAT's not tanking.
Down 60-45. Kobe had 23 points at half.
Clearly him scoring at high volumes wasn't going to do it. They had to change up their approach.
After 3 they were down 90-65. It's a lost cause there.
He scored 50 in Game 6. Shooting 20-35. They lost.
Game 5. 29 they lost.
Game 4 Kobe saved the day. Twice.
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