As the resident Kobe fan of Chasing 23, nothing irks me more than the claim that Kobe has “quit’ on his team several times during his career. No other argument seems more contrary to who Kobe fundamentally is. This line of Kobe bashing came into play once again during the 2011 Finals as folks began to compare Lebron’s performance to the games that Kobe supposedly “quit”.
Exhibit A for this argument against Kobe has traditionally been the 2006 Game 7 Western Conference 1st round match-up between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. Popular opinion states the following:
After taking 13 shots in the 1st half of the game, Kobe checked out and only took 3 shots in the 2nd half (scoring 1 point on an illegal defense free throw)
Kobe was upset with Charles Barkley who had accused him of taking too many shots in the latter part of the series, so was trying to prove a point that this Laker team had no shot of winning if Kobe didn’t try and take over
Kobe played passively and essenti...
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