Kobe and Hornets Advance
Feb 16, 2014 20:30:01 GMT
Post by runsNgoses on Feb 16, 2014 20:30:01 GMT
Kobe and Hornets Advance
Atlanta, GA
Going into this series, we all knew this was going to be a great one, despite the Hornets not having one of their top players in Dirk Nowitzki. Perhaps, with the injury of Nowitzki, the Hornets might have captured the division title. But it wasn't like the Atlanta Hawks didn't go a couple of months without defensive anchor Nene (although Andrew Bogut was also down at the same time as Dirk with the Hornets having just traded pure scorer Danny Granger for defense). "Going into this series, I was a bit worried about it. I know that Goikiri is great at getting the most out of his guys. When we took game 1 on the road, I was ecstatic, but then they took a game from us at home...classic Goikiri in my opinion, never giving up." GM runsNgoses said.
Going into this series, we all knew this was going to be a great one, despite the Hornets not having one of their top players in Dirk Nowitzki. Perhaps, with the injury of Nowitzki, the Hornets might have captured the division title. But it wasn't like the Atlanta Hawks didn't go a couple of months without defensive anchor Nene (although Andrew Bogut was also down at the same time as Dirk with the Hornets having just traded pure scorer Danny Granger for defense). "Going into this series, I was a bit worried about it. I know that Goikiri is great at getting the most out of his guys. When we took game 1 on the road, I was ecstatic, but then they took a game from us at home...classic Goikiri in my opinion, never giving up." GM runsNgoses said.
Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in a classic duel to the finish...Bryant and the Hornets came out on top in the end.
"My strategy in this series, was to get the best defensive presence on the court. I wanted to stop Anthony and Kobe came to me and said that he would take Anthony, he wanted to guard him the series. He told me, "If we're going down because of Melo going off on us, I want it to be because he got through me.", so we [Coach Winters] agreed to it." GM runsNgoses said.
And what a series it was between the two. Kobe averaged 28.4ppg, 6.7rpg, 3.5apg on 46.2 shooting from the floor while Anthony put up 23.4ppg, 6.7rpg, 2.2apg, 2.5spg on 41.3 shooting from the floor. Very similar numbers but as you can see, Kobe's defense on Anthony bothered him a little bit during the series. At the beginning of the series, a quick change to the starting five saw Marcus Camby go to the bench and entered Jason Kidd as the shooting guard. Kidd, who was originally drafted to be the starting point guard of the season, saw himself go back and fourth between the bench and the lineup. But was a key defensive presence and provided great veteran leadership.
After the grueling series with the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets will now take on the best team in the East, the Boston Celtics, who won the season series, 2-1. And of course, it was the team captain who spoke out about the Celtics, saying that he would take on the challenge of guarding the best player in the league in LeBron James. "I'm gonna take LeBron. This team is on my shoulders right now, and like I said with Anthony and the Hawks, I want it to fall on my shoulders" Bryant said, as he takes on his second challenge of the 2003 draft class.
Click here to read the Atlanta Hawks end season analysis
And what a series it was between the two. Kobe averaged 28.4ppg, 6.7rpg, 3.5apg on 46.2 shooting from the floor while Anthony put up 23.4ppg, 6.7rpg, 2.2apg, 2.5spg on 41.3 shooting from the floor. Very similar numbers but as you can see, Kobe's defense on Anthony bothered him a little bit during the series. At the beginning of the series, a quick change to the starting five saw Marcus Camby go to the bench and entered Jason Kidd as the shooting guard. Kidd, who was originally drafted to be the starting point guard of the season, saw himself go back and fourth between the bench and the lineup. But was a key defensive presence and provided great veteran leadership.
After the grueling series with the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets will now take on the best team in the East, the Boston Celtics, who won the season series, 2-1. And of course, it was the team captain who spoke out about the Celtics, saying that he would take on the challenge of guarding the best player in the league in LeBron James. "I'm gonna take LeBron. This team is on my shoulders right now, and like I said with Anthony and the Hawks, I want it to fall on my shoulders" Bryant said, as he takes on his second challenge of the 2003 draft class.
Click here to read the Atlanta Hawks end season analysis