kobe's outstanding performanceover the years

Kobe Bryant is about to make his sixth NBA Finals appearance in the past decade, more than Shaquille O'Neal (five) or Tim Duncan (three since 2000, four overall). If Bryant's L.A. Lakers win the championship he will own more rings (four) than Larry Bird (three) and only trail Magic Johnson (five) by one. Here is a look at Bryant's NBA Finals resume:

Kobe Bryant's NBA Finals Resume


The first appearance of Kobe on NBA Finals in the yeaR
2000 WHERE L.A. Lakers defeat Indiana Pacers, 4-2

Bryant's numbers: 15.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.2 apg; Bryant ranked second on the Lakers in scoring and assists and third in rebounding.

Note: The Lakers would not have made it to the Finals in the first place without Bryant's epic performance in game seven of the Western Conference Finals versus Portland: he led the Lakers in points (25), rebounds (11), assists (seven) and blocked shots (four), Kobe was a;ways been a leading scorer of his team.

2001 NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers defeat Philadelphia 76ers, 4-1

Bryant's numbers: 24.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 5.8 apg; Bryant ranked second on the Lakers in scoring and rebounding and led the team in assists.


Bryant (32 points) and O'Neal (30 points) again provided a devastating one-two punch in a 96-91 game three victory. O'Neal handled the brunt of the scoring load in game four (34 points) while Bryant just missed posting a rare Finals triple double (19 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists) in a comfortable 100-86 win.

The Lakers closed out the series in game five with O'Neal (29 points) and Bryant (26 points) again leading the way, though Rick Fox (20 points) and Derek Fisher (18 points) provided some timely scoring as well.

2002 NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers defeat New Jersey Nets, 4-0

Bryant's numbers: 26.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.3 apg; Bryant ranked second on the Lakers in scoring, fourth in rebounding and first in assists.

The backstory: Bryant hit a short jumper with 19 seconds remaining to put the Lakers up 104-100 and that proved to be the decisive basket, though Jason Kidd answered with a three pointer and Fox closed out the scoring by making two free throws. 2004 NBA Finals: Detroit Pistons defeat L.A. Lakers, 4-1


Bryant's numbers: 22.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 4.4 apg; Bryant ranked second on the Lakers in scoring and tied for the team lead in assists.

Note: Scoop Jackson recently called game two of the 2004 Finals "the game where many Laker insiders now admit the decision was eventually made to keep Kobe and exit everyone else." O'Neal wanted the Lakers to re-sign him for maximum dollars and maximum years but there were plenty of sensible reasons not to do this (just read Winter's critiques cited above). Bryant had established himself as an All-NBA First Team player, an All-Defensive First Team member and a perennial top five finisher in the MVP race, so the Lakers decided to build the team around him.


In the wake of their Finals loss, the Lakers traded O'Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a first round draft pick. After one season the Lakers shipped Butler to the Washington Wizards to acquire Kwame Brown, who they eventually dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies to obtain Pau Gasol. The Lakers missed the playoffs in 2004-05, mainly because Bryant played in only 66 games due to injury (Odom also missed 18 games). In 2006 and 2007 Bryant almost singlehandedly kept the Lakers competitive, winning two scoring titles while also making the All-Defensive First Team each year. Finally, the Lakers upgraded his supporting cast, with the biggest move being the addition of Gasol. Bryant no longer had to go into gun battles with "butter knives"; he promptly led the Lakers to the number one seed in the West in 2008 and averaged 31.9 ppg, 5.8 apg, 6.1 rpg, 3.1 tpg, .509 field goal shooting and .814 free throw shooting in 15 Western Conference playoff games as the Lakers returned to the NBA Finals.

2008 NBA Finals: Boston Celtics defeat L.A. Lakers, 4-2

Bryant's numbers: 25.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 5.0 apg; Bryant led the Lakers in scoring and assists and ranked fourth on the team in rebounding.
During this game there is outstanding combination of Gasol and Kobe on their offensive play. But the Celtics play aggresively and most of their team members are
playing aggressively to the basket. There is a strong offensive play from the boston's part due to the presence of Kevin Garnett,Paul Pierce and Rey Allen.

Kobe bryant is the leading scorer of this game averaging 36pts. per game that made Lakers to won two games.

Summary:

Bryant played a key role on three championship teams. Even though he had a subpar performance in the 2004 Finals loss he is the main reason that the Lakers did not get swept and he showed enough during that season and that series to convince the Lakers to rebuild the team around him; Bryant has rewarded that faith by leading the Lakers to the best record in the West for two straight years, culminating in two appearances in the NBA Finals. The only missing line on his Finals resume is a Finals MVP; leading the Lakers to the title while earning that award will forever silence critics who contend that Bryant cannot win a championship without O'Neal.


This years finals kobe used to be all he can ;he is a team leader, a playing coach and he leads the scoring board averaging 40 pts. per game.
Like many simulations on the internet I have the same prediction with them. This will be a game six victory by the lakers and Kobe will be the MVP for this game.Due to his six times appearance on the finals, he's experience will led LALakers to acquire the trophy for this year's NBA finals.

Kobe Bryant Highlights

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Kobe was my favorite NBA player because of his spectacular moves. For me, he is the next Michael Jordan.
Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an NBA basketball player.

Biography

Kobe Bryant is the son of NBA player Joe Jellybean Bryant and his wife Pamela Cox, sister of NBA player John Chubby Cox.

Kobe Bryant entered the NBA at the age of 18 after a spectacular high school career in the Philadelphia Main Line suburb of Lower Merion, and was originally selected by the Charlotte Hornets.

Kobe Bryant never played for the Hornets; within weeks of being drafted, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Though young and somewhat introverted, Bryant's immense talent made an immediate impression with his teammates on the practice court.

Bryant's career trajectory as an NBA player out of high school has been exceptional. By 24 years of age, Bryant had won many individual awards, and had been named to the All-NBA team multiple times. He is regarded as one of the best players in the NBA. Bryant helped the Los Angeles Lakers to three NBA championships.

Bryant's youth, style, good looks and accomplishments on the basketball have made him one of the most popular and most marketable players in the NBA. He speaks fluent Italian and Spanish; he spent much of his childhood in Italy when his father played professional basketball there.

Kobe Bryant married Vanessa Cornejo Ubrieta Laine on April 18, 2001 in Dana Point, California. Kobe's father Joe Jellybean Bryant broke relations with his son because he objected to this marriage on the basis of the bride's race.

Kobe Bryant's daughter Natalia was born on January 19, 2003.

On July 17, 2003, he was charged with s--ual assault by the Eagle County, Colorado District Attorney's Office, after allegedly performing nonconsensual s-- acts on a Colorado woman who was visiting Bryant's hotel room. Bryant was set for a crucial court on October 9, 2003.

Although these charges were eventually dropped in the fall of 2004 and a civil suit that followed was settled, Bryant's tarnished image continued to plummet. His endorsement contracts with McDonald's, Nutella, and Ferrero SpA were terminated. Furthering Bryant's blemished reputation was the public rift through the Laker core of Bryant, O'Neal, and coach Phil Jackson. In well-documented episodes throughout their careers together on the Lakers, mainly over leadership of the team, O'Neal and Bryant have feuded in dramatic fashion. The 2000-era Lakers were built around the dominant center in O'Neal but Bryant seemed to tire of his formal role as "second fiddle" on the team. Bryant and O'Neal would often launch jarring verbal attacks at each other, including O'Neal's allegations of Bryant as a greedy ball-hog and Bryant's maligning of O'Neal as "fat." What is considered to be one of the largest blows to the relationship between Bryant and O'Neal, as well as a serious blow to Bryant's personal reputation among other NBA players, was the release of a police transcript of Bryant being questioned by Colorado police during the s--ual assault investigation. When the transcript was publicly released, it was shown that Bryant had brought up O'Neal's own alleged extramarital affairs in an attempt to deflect questioning from police investigators, as well as detailing the specific s-- acts that Bryant had performed with and requested from Faber during their encounter.