And football and boxing and other
I call this page versus because i pit two people against one another to see who performed better in a series or to determine who is the better player. For my first matchup i put Shack against Kobe to determine which one was the most important player in the championships they won and could of won. Let the battle begin. The 1st category is the final playoff series of the year. Who performed at the level that won the championship.
SHACK VS KOBE
Player year fga fgm % results
Shack 96/97 36 69 .522 lost utah
Shack 97/98 51 91 .560 lost utah
Shack 98/99 33 67 .493 lost san antonio
Shack 99/00 96 157 .611 won title
Shack 00/01 63 110 .573 won title
Shack 01/02 50 84 .595 won title
Shack 02/03 57 102 .559 lost san antonio
Shack 03/04 53 84 .631 lost detroit
Totals 439 764 .575
Kobe 96/97 12 38 .316 lost utah
Kobe 97/98 11 30 .367 lost utah
Kobe 98/99 34 76 .447 lost san antonio
Kobe 99/00 33 90 .367 won title
Kobe 00/01 44 106 .415 won title
Kobe 01/02 36 70 .514 won title
Kobe 02/03 69 159 .433 lost san antonio
Kobe 03/04 43 113 .381 lost detroit
Totals 282 682 .413
I can clearly see a trend here. No doubt Shack was the main reason for winning the 3 titles during this era. Easy to see they should of won more. But also it is amazing they won the 1st two titles win Kobe shot a combined .393. They should of starting winning titles in 99/00 as they did. But they should of won many more titles than 3. Probably 6 in 8 years. It is easy to see the formula that won champiobships was when Shack was the 1st option. The 3 titles Shack shot more. With his high shooting % they won. When they began losing Kobe was now shooting more than Shack. They couldn't overcome his low shooting % at 1st option. Shack continued to bring it but he was being bypassed. This angered coach Jackson who knew the winning formula was Shack as option 1. It is amazing at how high of a level Shack played at and how poorly Kobe shot. The perception of him being this great closer doesn't match reality. Also the perception that Kobe performs great in big games seems to be a myth. The other myths are great shooter and clutch.
FINALS SHACK VS KOBE
Shack 99/00 96-157 .611 Kobe 99/00 33-90 .367
Shack 00/01 63-110 .573 Kobe 00/01 44-106 .415
Shack 01/02 50-84 .595 Kobe 01/02 36-70 .514
Shack 03/04 53-84 .631 Kobe 03/04 43-113 .381
Totals 262-435 .602 156-379 .412
Once again Shack dominated while Kobe shot poorly. 01/02 Kobe was a solid #2. The 1st two titles it's amazing they overcame his shooting. Shack saved the day. But when they lost to Detroit in 03/04 Shack was better than ever but they lost because Kobe shot too much at .381. They would of won if Shack was the 1st option. And they should of continued winning 2 or 3 more titles. At least six by 06/07.
LAST GAME FINALS SHACK VS KOBE
Shack 99/00 19-32 .594 Kobe 99/00 8-27 .296
Shack 00/01 10-18 .556 Kobe 00/01 7-18 .389
Shack 01/02 12-20 .600 Kobe 01/02 7-16 .438
Shack 03/04 7-13 .538 Kobe 03/04 7-21 .333
Totals 48-83 .578 29-82 .354
It's easy to see the reason they won was all Shack. Once again amazing they won at all to overcome the poor shooting of Kobe. Pretty easy to see why Phil and Shack had so many issues with Kobe. They knew what it took to win and they tried to implement it. Towards the end Kobe went against designed plays and shot whenever he wanted. the result was they lost championships they should of won. Even though i already knew what the end result would be, i am in shock at how well Shack played and how horribly Kobe shot. The percentages in the finals and especially the final game make Jason Kidd look like a sharp shooter. Now lets take a look at Kobes last game of the playoffs from every year. Surely a clutch shooter would do great in the last game of the year. That's clutch time right?
KOBE LAST GAME OF PLAYOFFS
Year FGM FGA % Result
96/97 4 14 .286 Lost
97/98 2 2 1.0 Lost
98/99 7 16 .438 Lost
99/00 8 27 .296 Won
00/01 7 18 .389 Won
01/02 7 16 .438 Won
02/03 9 19 .474 Lost
03/04 7 21 .333 Lost
04/05 No Shack equals No playoffs
05/06 8 16 .500 Lost
06/07 13 33 .394 Lost
07/08 7 22 .318 Lost
08/09 10 23 .435 Won
09/10 6 24 .250 Won
10/11 7 18 .389 Lost
Totals 102 269 .379 Ouch!!!!
Clutch? Great shooter? I knew it was low, but not this low. Jason Kidd would of won 6 championships on this team. I have never seen anyone shoot so poorly consistently. These teams that won were way better than the competition, especially to overcome shooting like this and still win. Remember this is the last game of every year where move on to next round, go home or win it all. The most clutch situations.
SHACK CARRIED KOBE TO 3 TITLES
WHEN SHACK LEFT KOBE COULDN'T FILL SHACKS SHOES. BUT LAKERS MANAGEMENT BROUGHT IN GASOL, BYNUM AND ODOM AND THE LAKERS WERE IN BUSINESS