And football and boxing and other
For my 2nd addition of versus i compare who was more important to the Lakers success in recent years Gasol or Kobe. These comparisons are by the information that anyone can find. I try to be 100% accurate. The results of these comparisons sometimes surprise me because of the perception of players and reality are often quite different. I start this comparison by looking at how well they shot in the 3 championship series they played together.
FINALS GASOL VS KOBE
Gasol 07/08 33-62 .532 Kobe 07/08 53-131 .405
Gasol 08/09 36-60 .600 Kobe 08/09 58-135 .430
Gasol 09/10 43-90 .478 Kobe 09/10 66-163 .405
Totals 112-212 .528 177-429 .413
Once again like Shack vs Kobe Gasol shooting much better. Really surprised again at how poorly Kobe shooting. Pretty much on par with previous years. So it isn't a fluke. The problem seems to be too many shots in general and poor shot selection. The ball needs to go thru Gasol more. Particularly in 07/08 when they lost this final.
LAST GAME FINALS GASOL VS KOBE
Gasol 07/08 4-7 .571 Kobe 07/08 7-22 .318
Gasol 08/09 6-9 .666 Kobe 08/09 10-23 .438
Gasol 09/10 6-16 .375 Kobe 09/10 6-24 .250
Totals 16-32 .500 23-69 .333
Ouch!!! How can they win with this shooting? This is suppose to be a great shooter. A great clutch shooter. He was consistent throughout the Shack and Gasol era. Consistently bad. Gasol should of been MVP of both championships. I will break down all the numbers in this comparison. Could you imagine if some of the guys from other championships would of put up all these stinkers, they wouldn't have won. Lucky for him he had the best team around him for nine years. They carried him to 5 championships, but they couldn't overcome this on other years to make up for this. Lets look at Gasols numbers in the finals he played with Lakers.
Player Year FG FT RB AST BLK PTS
Gasol 07/08 6-11 3-4 8 4 1 15
Gasol 07/08 8-12 1-1 10 4 0 17
Gasol 07/08 3-9 3-8 12 2 0 9
Gasol 07/08 6-13 5-7 10 2 0 17
Gasol 07/08 6-10 7-10 13 6 2 19
Gasol 07/08 4-7 3-4 8 2 0 11
totals 33-62 22-34 61 20 3 88
Avg .532 .647 10.2 3.33 .5 14.67
Gasol 08/09 7-12 2-2 8 3 2 16
Gasol 08/09 7-14 10-11 10 3 1 24
Gasol 08/09 9-11 5-6 3 1 2 23
Gasol 08/09 7-14 2-4 10 1 0 16
Gasol 08/09 6-9 2-4 15 3 4 14
totals 36-60 21-27 46 11 9 93
Avg .600 .778 9.2 2.2 1.8 18.6
Gasol 09/10 FG FT RB AST BLK PTS
Gasol game1 8-14 7-10 14 3 3 23
Gasol game2 7-10 11-13 8 6 3 25
Gasol game3 5-11 3-6 10 4 2 13
Gasol game4 6-13 9-10 6 3 2 21
Gasol game5 5-12 2-3 12 0 0 12
Gasol game6 6-14 5-6 13 9 3 17
Gasol game7 6-16 7-13 18 4 2 19
Totals 43-90 44-61 81 26 18 130
Avg .478 .721 11.57 3.71 2.57 21.67
Now when i look at Gasols numbers and compare them to Kobe i believe that Gasol was the true MVP of the two finals they won. He didn't get to shoot as much but was much more efficient. But Gasol played great all around games. He scored, rebounded, blocked shots and got assists. He really was the backbone of the back to back championships. When i watched these especially the 09/10 series i said Gasol MVP, then they announced the MVP and i knew this was wrong. It was popularity vs performance and popularity won.
Now lets look at all the finals Kobe has played with Shack and Gasol.
Year FGM FGA % Results MVP
99/00 33 90 .367 Won Shack
00/01 44 106 .415 Won Shack
01/02 36 70 .514 Won Shack
03/04 43 113 .381 Lost
07/08 53 131 .405 Lost
08/09 58 135 .430 Won Kobe
09/10 66 163 .405 Won Kobe
Totals 333 808 .412
KOBE LAST GAME OF FINALS
99/00 8 27 .296 Won
00/01 7 18 .389 Won
01/02 7 16 .438 Won
03/04 7 21 .333 Lost
07/08 7 22 .318 Lost
08/09 10 23 .435 Won
09/10 6 24 .250 Won
Totals 52 151 .344 Ouch!!!
Can someone show me in modern era anyone who has shot so badly so often. There are guys who never won a championship but played great. And people who played poorly and won. That's why i don't rank this stat as high as others. Teams win not people, its being on right team right time.