Oh Bionic, why do you ask to be abused so?
Jordan's averages from each Detroit-Chicago playoff series from '87-88 through '90-91:
'87-88: 27.4 points, 4.6 assists, 8.9 rebounds
'88-89: 29.7 points, 6.5 assists, 6.5 rebounds
'89-90: 32.1 points, 6.3 assists, 7.2 rebounds
'90-91: 29.8 points, 7.0 assists, 5.3 rebounds
I couldn't find any site at all that showed the FG% breakdown per series for each player, but I can almost
guarantee you that Jordan never shot below 46% for any of those Detroit series (which would have been atrocious for him, and 5-6% below his season FG% average, which is a testament to Detroit's defense).
Kobe's Finals stats? Well:
22.6 points (38.4% FG-- blech!
), 4.3 assists, 2.8 rebounds
Now tell me exactly which of these series even
approaches Kobe's putrid Finals showing this past season? And these were Jordan's WORST playoff series ever, when the team's
entire focus was to stop him with double and triple teams on traps, and they had two of the top 4 defensive players in the league in Dumars and Rodman to take turns on him. Kobe faced nowhere
near the same pressure during the Detroit series (he was only "double-teamed" when he got into the lane below free-throw line extended, which is standard team defense, nothing special devised just for him), and besides, Prince is no Rodman or Dumars defensively (though he's a good defender).
Nobody is saying that Kobe won't bounce back, or that all of his playoff performances were as dismal as this past Finals (far from it-- he's the best playoff performer in the league right now, along with Duncan imo), but
please do not try to compare Kobe's Finals to any of Jordan's playoff series (nevermind his Finals stats, which are just insane).
TSC TSC Bionic-- you should know better than to force my hand.
Doh! There goes all my stuying lol. I'll have to try and do most of it before 10:30. I caught some of the LA/Sac game on NBA TV earlier this week, and I really like LA's new up-tempo style (Chris Mihm was impressive); I'd be
very surprised if Kobe didn't average at least 6.5 assists this season-- he had like 3 or 4 just off outlet passes that game. Hopefully teams remember how to play transition D.
EDIT:
And you call yourself a fan...
I like watching most pro games, unless it's like Atlanta versus the Celtics or something.