Kobe Bryant is one of those athletes you just watch and your jaw drops, because he'll make shots approximately two or three others in the history of basketball have ever made.That's just someone you want on your team to win basketball games, because he can lift you to victory when the rest of the team isn't finding the range.
Bryant's numbers might be down, but Bryant can come in and make all those same shots when the opposition doesn't have enough defense to muster. With Shawn Marion out and Jason Kidd having to step in and guard Bryant for most of the game (with occasional help from Vince Carter and Lamar Odom), Bryant went off and put up one of his finer performances of the year.
Below are the video highlights for Kobe against the Lakers.
Take a look at some of these shots. The turnaround fadeaway off his pivot foot, the pullup from 20 feet going toward the basket, the catch of the basketball below his knees to drain the wide open three, the ability to pull-up with only a bit of space to operate and nail jumpers from long range. Those are impossible for about 99% of pro basketball players to make on a regular basis, and Bryant can somehow make it look routine. The man has ridiculous skill.
Oh yeah, and we haven't even really gotten to the absurdly impossible no-look alley-oop layup he had to fling in there.
One of the great artists in basketball history is nearing the end of his career, but he's far from tapering off and fading into the sunset. There's still too much greatness still left in Kobe's body to flicker out.
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