awww someone's got a case of the bitters

can't wait to taste your sweet sweet tears when kobe gets mvp2 and bynum returns for the championship run

Vujacic looks like he's gonna cry!

Are you going to cry, Number 2??

uhhh...actually kobe always has big games at MSG. a lot of players do, im willing to bet lebron is gonna try to have a big game on wednesday too.
as for flopping, everybody does it ,as lame as it is. it has (sadly) become part of the game. i dont think there is a single player currently playing who has never flopped or exaggerated to get the call.
thats just some seriously bad luck...i mean what are the odds that bynum gets another knee injury against the same team in the same month, and gets the same time window for recovery?? both injuries were also initially declared as sprains too. kinda creepy...

doesn't look like he flopped or was fouled. looks like he had to step in front of mayo on his drive and then had to jump backwards to get in front of the basket.

That coordinated lack of coordination at the post strikes me as one of the lamest superstar moves of all time.

Great post. Lost in all the groupie fanfare going on today is that Kobe continues to be the selfish, egotistical player he's always been. His negatives attract some good karma to him. This whole 61 point game was a perfect example of him lacking class and staying in a game ONLY to score points and break a record. MJ's 55 were in a 2 point, grind it out game against a much slower tempo and greater defensive Knicks team. Kobe's other stats tonight? ZERO rebounds and 3 assists. Most of his 15 4th quarter points were with a big lead and he even took some 3 pointers with only 2 mins left and something like a 16 point lead. I hope he continues to have horrible luck and never reaches another title. All his asterisk 'records' wont mean much then. Tonight's blatant chase of a record with no regard to HOW you break it was almost as bad as his 81 point game and all the last minute 3 pointers he chucked up.

Seems more like a Dwayne Wade-esque falling circus shot to me rather than a flop. Just saying.

Looked as if Kobe was actually concerned for Bynum, but that look also spells "Man I f*cked up big time".

BTW, no more "Word for the day"s?

ET, I know you really hate the Lakers and all, but you're reaching here. Players hit the deck on drives to the hole all the time, and it's not about flopping and trying to draw the foul. Kobe just did something that virtually every slasher in the game does, and an accident happened, it wasn't Kobe's evil oozing out all over the court or something. He made a real sharp cut and tried to get to the other side of the rim and was just off balance when he shot it and stumbled.

You seem pretty happy about Bynum's injury though (or peeved that Kobe scored 61 in MSG tonight, I don't know which). Since Jameer Nelson dislocated his shoulder tonight should we be expecting a similarly happy post about how Orlando's hopes of getting the top seed in the East are now looking shaky? Maybe as a bonus you could cheerily speculate on how Rondo or Ray Allen could take Nelson's spot in the All Star game.

flop? streeeeeeeeeeetching the truth is always so funny :) but this is crazy! kobe wasn't looking for foul, simply fell like most of the high flyers after crazy layups. this time you're just a hater :)

Or it was a baseline drive where he jumped backwards from underneath the basket causing him to lose a little bit of balance which is enough to cause someone to fall (regardless of whether the person is fouled or not). And when your starting center is screaming in pain on the ground clutching onto his knee, its probably not the time to argue for a foul.

Wow. I do feel bad for bynum getting injured, but the majority of me feels glad about anything which hurts the lakers.

All of the lakers players' reactions were their typical stereotypical reactions:
Kobe seemed to be rolling his eyes at bynum's lack of strength (a way of pushing blame off of him and onto the kid)
Sasha was tearing up
Odom was looking confused and was poking bynum probably to ask if he can borrow his ipod
I hope bynum is fine, but maybe he'll need extra recovery time again and will miss the playoffs.

See, and if this happened to Oden people would be all over the blazers and oden. Happens to bynum and people are all over kobe... some things will just never change

Looks to me like he took an off-balance shot and fell over, no foul but it didn't look like a flop either. I don't understand why the bench would be screaming for a foul even if there was one? I'd definitely be more worried about Bynum's knee than any foul but then the Lakers are to a man souless.

Kobe's just a fucking prick, which is why he shouldn't ever win an MVP. He doesn't look contrite -- as stated above, he looks like he wants to call Bynum a pussy. How about some compassion for the guy, for his teammate? Isn't Phil teaching this as part of his Zen for Dummies course? I mean, your half-ass Ginobili just cost the dude 6-8 weeks, Black Snake Moan. I guarantee that Big Ticket would've had his teammate's back. Seriously, there needs to be more genuinely decent human beings in the league. That doesn't make a player soft. "The NBA Cares" ... on TV commercials.

Yams and others,

Frankly, I've never, ever thought I was reaching LESS in my entire life about my assertion. This post has absolutely nothing to do with being a Laker-hater and everything to do with being a flop hater. The fact that a flop (and an OBVIOUS one at that) resulted in a serious injury to a player's own teammate is, to me, a great moment for anti-flopdom. I would be equally annoyed and critical if this were Paul Pierce flailing needlessly into KG.

And for those who are trying to justify the way Kobe hits the deck aren't being intellectually honest with themselves. The manner in which Kobe's legs collapse uselessly beneath him is an all-too-common "draw a foul" move that has plagued the entire league, not just Mamba.

"Off balance"? Dwayne Wade-like? (this comment actually MAKES my point - Wade's a flop-master too) Puh-lease.

Arlen - "People" aren't all over your beloved Kobe. I haven't heard anyone say this but me.

To all the Kobe fans: look past your fandom and see this for what it is - a critique of a super-bonehead move and a prime example of basketbawfulness. The fact that I get to criticize Kobe in the process is just icing on the cake.

ET

Looks like he tripped over himself or was off balance to me, especially in the slow mo replay. When you flop, it's usually a smooth fall and in the replay you can kinda see his movement stutter. And as for point 2, I think it's because Bynum is looking at the basket.

"I will always be in favor of the idea that that NBA officials should review game tape and administer fines for obvious (and sometimes dangerous) flopping."

This would be nice, but it would require the NBA admitting that its refs aren't perfect, something the NBA would never do. And didn't they say they'd fine players for flopping this year already though? Haven't seen any.

LOL! Keep reachin' ET, Keep reachin'.

/non kobe-lakers fan

ET, when you play pick up do you never hit the deck or do you and everyone you play with have Tobiasesque cat like reflexes? In my non-puma pick up games I hit the deck a couple of times a game on forays to the basket and I'm neither a big slasher or a highly athletic jumper so it just seems normal to me when Ginobli, Wade, Kobe et al. lose balance on much more explosive and frequent drives.

Honestly if Pierce does that to KG give the guy a break, unless KG slips a disc carrying Pierce off the court with a 'knee injury' of course... ;)

ps. The last pierce thing was just a dig, I don't have a problem with what he did in the finals. Just like there are times when I've hit the deck there are times when I've thought I was pretty badly injured when I wasn't at all. Just last weekend in fact...:P

the greates thing about this video is, that memphis actually fails to score... playing 5 ond 3...

Even if he was not flopping, he made a dumb "fall to the deck"- he must feel like shit for what he did, and the "me-first" performance at MSG just shows how guilty he is feeling.... how do I email you guys something?

Wow. It wasn't a flop. Whoever says it was a flop is simply a blind hater.

"Looks like he tripped over himself or was off balance" is the same old "gray area" ham sandwich that has allowed flopping to flourish in this league (that, combined with incompetant refs - as I watched this year's badly officiated Superbowl, I had to press the "info" button on my Comcast to make sure I wasn't watching an NBA game).

JR - I've played plenty of ball, and I've hit the deck once or twice. And I play enough to know a "draw the call / take a dive" phony offensive collapse when I see one (for further reference, see the general play of: Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Chris Paul). That's what happened here, and frankly I don't even think it's a close call. The proverbial nail has been struck on the proverbial head on this one.

The fact that it's Kobe is bringing anger out of the woodwork, and that's to be expected.

ET

WillC, appreciate the analysis, i didn't know that part about kobe chucking up 3balls to run up his scoring total. Makes me love the "greatness" that is kobe even more.

I hope kobe breaks the rest of his fingers so he'll learn how to pass.

I miss MJ. Now he was no primadonna like mamba.

I agree that he hit the deck on purpose, but is this a flop? I thought that flop referred to taking a charge? (see Vlade Divac) It seems more imported players do this more IMO.

Flopping seems to be less called by the officials these days and Divac would not be able to play defense at all.

I am a Bulls fan, and watching Derrick Rose every night, he gets HAMMERED in a way that Kobe never is or if he is, he is at the free throw line.

So I definately agree that there is an issue, and this new flopping should be addressed as the old flopping was.

ET, I'm glad someone else noticed that Bynum made no effort to get out of Kobe's way. In similar instances when I play any sport, I avoid injury by dodging somebody falling like that. Aren't athletes (Mark Blount aside) somewhat coordinated? It's not like Kobe was coming from his blind side is it? Or is Bynum just so tall he has no peripheral vision at knee level?

I think this explains the Gerald Wallace injury in that Bynum must have extremely slow reflexes, and once he commits, or doesn't commit to a motion, that's that. Perhaps he plans out alley oops 5 minutes in advance. Again, I can only imagine what its like to be 7 feet tall.


Also Kobe flopped

ET, the only anger it's bringing out is your own. I suggest you go look for some other angles of the replay so you can see that Kobe just shot an off balance shot and stumbled. He didn't flop, he wasn't looking for a foul. Also, the look on Kobe's face is frustration and exasperation of knowing that Bynum clutching his knee and yelling like that is a really bad sign for his team, nothing more. It's quite obvious you didn't watch this game and instead just caught the highlights, cause there were lots of shots of the whole Laker team just looking shell-shocked for most of the first half after that happened.

The lengths that some people go to to hate on the guy is incredible. He wants to win the championship this year, and knows that he needs Bynum to do it. He sees what happened and without knowing the extent of the injury, he imagines the worst and sees the season slipping away from him, so he's stunned and frustrated. Is that so odd or wrong? Would the Celtics react any differently to seeing Garnett writhing around on the floor clutching his knee and yelling like that?

Then some people are all over Kobe for scoring 61 points in a Laker win in MSG? He only took 31 shots, which is not a lot at all when you're hitting over 60% of them. When a guy is that hot, he should keep shooting. Kobe haters are just as ridiculous as Kobe lovers are, the only difference is that the haters think he can do no right while the lovers think he can do no wrong. There are many times Kobe makes a lot of mistakes on the court, and when he does I'll rip him apart over it. But stumbling on a drive to the basket and accidentally falling like he did in Memphis was not some malicious thing that he needs to be taken to task for, and neither is shooting 19-31 in leading his team to a big road win, especially on a day when his team might have needed a boost to put the whole Bynum thing in the rearview mirror. Root against the Lakers if you want, but when you say things like you're saying above and in this post, you're really no different than the "OMG KOBE RULZ" idiots.

That wasn't a flop. Watch it carefully. At around 55 seconds, he tries to stop himself by putting his left foot down but it bumps into his right foot. I have to agree, you're really reaching with this article.

im the biggest kobe fan ever. but i agree with you 100%.

I hate Kobe. I really do, to the point of wishing he would retire, break his ankle, etc. But come on dude he just fell.

""Looks like he tripped over himself or was off balance" is the same old "gray area" ham sandwich that has allowed flopping to flourish in this league"

I'm a little confused. What are you implying here? I'm not sure what a player tripping and getting a noncall has to do with getting flop calls. I figure refs justify the whistles by saying the player fell because of illegal contact and just give a no call if they believe the guy fell over himself. Too bad they seem too incompetent to figure out which is which though.

The depth of some people's Kobe hate sure stretches the limits of rationality. Everyone who watched the Memphis game saw how upset and remorseful Kobe was, and how upset the entire Laker team was. In the space of ten minutes, the Lakers went from up three to down fifteen...against Memphis!

Also, 61 points on 31 shots? That's efficiency. And, the Laker front line was pulling down all the rebounds. It's amazing how some people look at the stats for ONE GAME, see no rebounds for Kobe, and take that as evidence he's not a team player. In addition, the way Kobe plays means that a lot of assists for which his teammates get credit are the result of reversing the ball to an open shooter after he has initiated the attack and drawn a double or triple team.

Balamon, before you get too appreciative of WillC's "analysis", you should know he just made it up. Kobe attempted only one three in the 4th quarter last night, with 4 minutes to go, and that one was really just to draw the foul. It was a classic case of a guy holding his arm out while defending, so Kobe just swung his arms through and got the easy call. Tim Duncan does that particular move a lot as well. The truth is Kobe got 11 of his 15 4th quarter points from the free throw line last night. Just like in the game where he scored 81, by the 4th quarter the opponent was no longer going to give him any room at all, even beyond the 3-pt line, so they crowded him and tried extra hard to guard him as aggressively as possible, and Kobe just used that to sucker them into a bunch of fouls.

A couple final thoughts on last night's game: for all the people who thought that Kobe's 61 points either didn't help the Lakers or was at the expense of his teammates, consider that they won a game on the road pretty handily, something which is always good, no matter who the opponent is; and that Pau Gasol also had a monster game with 31 points and 14 boards. Also keep in mind that Kobe didn't play huge minutes last night, only going 37, while Gasol & Odom played more (41 & 38, respectively), so it wasn't like Kobe was milking it or anything. He was just on fire last night, there's nothing more to it.

Evil Ted, i must disagree.

i don't ofcourse intend to say that there was a foul, but saying bryant flopped is an overstatement too.

the one that i'd blame for the situation is the guy under the basket, darrel arthur? and the accusation i'd put on him is.. trying to play to clean ;)

the guy was going into kobe's way... so kobe making the jump must have been sure he's gonna bounce into him after the landing. But the defender moved forward and turned around. instead of having someone to stop on, kobe just bounced of the guy who was suddenly on his left. no balance, he set his foot down on the ground (and you can see him failing to establish some sure footing, he nearly broke his own ankle (notyourancles.com aaight? ;) ), tripped the other over the first one, and the only thing he could do then is to kiss the floor. unfortunetely Andrew 'StrongKnees' Bynum was in the way.

don't know bout you, but i play a lot and i know how a little bounce while airborn can make you do a triple tooloop (or whatever is the correct spelling of that). when you go up, you make quick assumptions about the contacts you are gonna encounter, you get ready for them, so that you can still have balance afterwards. any unsuspected touch can send you head down.


and os for the look on kobe's face? i believe EVERY baller will have such face when seeind someone with a severe damage to the knee. especially when someone already had one. even more when he is your teammate. so that does not proove a thing.

Wild Yams is right on the money.
This pathetic, psychotic rants about kobe, put Evil Ted in the exact category of the guys that think kobe is the second incarnation of christ.

The way Evil Ted goes completely out of his way to bang on Kobe is utterly ridiculous, to the point where you don't know if you should ignore him or feel sorry for him.

I mean, kobe is not my favourite player in the world, but even I (a Spurs fan by the way) can recognize his greatness and everything he has acomplished in the NBA.

From a neutral standpoint the only conclusion I can reach is that ET is either: in love with kobe, but refuses to admit he's gay, so he is trying to convince himself that kobe is evil for putting that kind of toughts in his head, or a person that has too many time on his hands, so developded a fixation with a basketball player and swore to himself that he would ruin his life via blog entries.
It also could be that, knowing kobe is the NBA player that draws more love and hate frome the fans, ET develops this absurds discutions in order to attract more people to the blog. Who knows?



This last part goes to basketbawful also:
There is more to the NBA than Kobe Bryant. This is a really funny site, wich I read whenever it's updated. Some of the jabs you throw at kobe are right on the money and well deserved, but there are also plenty that are so far-fetched that they look like a 12 year old wrote them.

Ladies and gentlemen, Evil Ted has been OWNED.

Thanks Wild Yams, Bacigalupe and other rational people!

Anon posted: "uhhh...actually kobe always has big games at MSG."

Actually....this is true. Past 4 games in MSG (all games in the post-Shaq era) were 61, 39, 40, 30 pts. Sorry ET, I'll watch the video at home. LeBron's numbers aren't bad either, not counting 2004.

Yams - There's no anger here. Anger is being manufactured by commenters. You're right - not only did I not watch the highlights, I only watched the play itself, which is why I only commented on the play itself. The commentary is ONLY relegated to what takes place on that play. I'm not saying Kobe's a bad guy or malicious or mean or selfish or anything - those replying to the post, including yourself, have instilled that sentiment into the exchange. The observations about Kobe in this instance assume only ONE negative thing - that he hit the deck needlessly on that particular play, something which I hate and has become all too common.

And why do you think I consider him scoring 61 in the follow-up game a NEGATIVE? I merely consider a hyped-up and outstanding performance to be a logical human reaction to guilt and shame, which as an intense competitor, I'm sure Kobe feels for accidentally hitting the deck into Bynum's knee.

Honestly, Yams, I've read enough from you to expect a more reasoned analysis, and a better grasp of my point. And I don't say that to be demeaning, I say it as a sign of respect to someone whose commentary is regularly more insightful.

Bacigalupe - Did you just call me "gay" and follow that with the comment that I write like a 12-year old? ... and in a post that includes the phrase "this absurds discutions"? Precious. That's Hall Of Fame ignorance right there.

And I don't need to resort to absurds discutions to attract people to this blog. They're here already.

ET, my comments about people ripping Kobe's 61 point game were more directed at the above comments, not at you and your post. However, your post is really way off in your conclusion that Kobe was trying to flop to get a call. Players practice how to fall from very early on so that they can take off balance shots without worrying about landing on their feet. Players do it while attempting jump shots on the move, and slashers especially do it when driving to the hole. It is not about trying to draw the foul, it is just about trying to get the best angle to get the shot up without worrying about staying on your feet.

The YouTube video you linked to only showed very quickly and from a bad angle the shot Kobe took, then all the replays picked up the tail end of it because they were focusing on the collision; but if you find yourself a better replay (I've got one at home on my Tivo I could probably upload tonight), you can see that Kobe just drove baseline from one side of the basket, did a quick cut and jumped to attempt a reverse layup and stumbled because it was a rather awkward shot. If he hadn't crashed into Bynum the play would have been immediately forgotten and no rational fan would have thought Kobe was looking for the foul.

Watch any NBA game and you'll see a lot of plays like this, where a guy drives to the hole and throws up a shot while off balance and falls on the landing, not because he's looking for the foul, but because it's safer to land on your back than to try to land on your feet after contorting like that. Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about: go to about 10 seconds into the video on last night's recap of the Knicks-Lakers game and you'll see Kobe dive to the hole and throw up a shot where he ends up on his back underneath the basket. He's not looking for the foul, it's just the only way he could safely land while attempting that shot. Players do this all the time in the NBA, so I'm surprised to see you not recognize this. I guess since you only watched that one replay that might be why you misinterpreted the play so badly.

You know, I can't get this video clip out of my head. It really doesn't matter if Kobe flopped or not. The point is that you have a 7-ft. manchild laying on the ground screaming in what must have been horrific pain. It makes me want to vomit. Any comment about Vujacic crying, etc. -- just stupid. And good for him if he was. This simply isn't funny. It's sad. This kid was just coming into his prime, and now he's got another busted stick for 8-12 weeks. Too often pro sports in this culture takes on the verbiage of warfare, and it needs to stop.

I think he went to the basket recklessly but I don't think he flopped at all.

You can watch his right foot as he lands and you can tell hes close to turning it, or it's just really badly planted. Best reaction you can have in that case is to just go with the fall instead of trying to stop it otherwise you end up with a worse sprain.

I agree that this injury was all Kobes fault ,but please do not tell me your buying into all that hype about if Bynum was healthy the Lakers would be NBA Champions crap that people give me.

Yams, this is getting silly now. The shot in the video you reference is yet another case of hitting the deck for effect...why? Because there's a defender approaching Kobe from behind who he thinks is going to come in contact with him. He's not sure he'll be able to make the difficult shot, so he contorts himself (note the Reggie Miller leg kick) in an attempt to exaggerate the potential contact and draw a foul call if he misses the shot. Doesn't make him a bad player...it makes him just like everyone else who pulls the crap that officials fall for and the league tolerates.

Produce all the special TiVo angles you like. I'll be glad to watch them with an open mind.

"Players practice how to fall from very early on"? Since when? THAT's the video I'd love to see you produce ...

I just love it when people with an agenda accuse me of having an agenda.

Joe,

The appearance of badly planted feet is the biggest clue to a flop...or hitting the deck needlessly, or whatever you want to call it.

It's amazing how many of the greatest athletes in the world plant their feet badly on their approach to the basket (and yet arise without injury), isn't it...?

Seriously, people. This is not even a close call. I can't wait to see what "special angle" Yams comes up with to make me eat my words...

I see no blatant flop. We can argue all day on how he planted his feet or whatnot but its a matter of perception and Ted you seem to be the minority in that regard

ET,

I live in LA but I'm not Laker fan. In fact, I dislike Kobe, very much. He's a selfish prick who is a complete suckup while cursing his teammates under his breath.

That being said, people do fall all the time, WITHOUT wanting a call. I do it all the time. I have no idea as to your athleticism, but as a quick 20 year old, I often fall after reverse layups where I have to have my body sideways sometimes in order to get my hand under the basket to have a shot. You can't land on your feet after that in many cases and for you to just so quickly dismiss that is ridiculous. You've never taken a shot that required you to move your body in a way that wasn't conducive to an easy landing on both feet?? When you can't, you do a controlled fall; Roll away from it and get up quickly, no drawn foul call intended.

Platinum,

Just because you're a clutz doesn't mean that the greatest athlete on earth is one too. Watch the video Yams posted in a vain effort to make his point - Kobe makes a number of high-difficulty circus shots while maintaining his balance. Players "lose control" of their bodies selectively when they want to draw a foul, and in my opinion Kobe did it in this instance. In fact, it seems obvious to me.

And it doesn't mean anything if you "hate Kobe." I'm no a Laker fan, but appreciate Kobe's incredible athleticism. My assertions on this post come from observation and experience, not from allegiance to any team.

Kazam - So does being in the minority make me wrong?

When Kobe admits in an interview or a tell-all book 20 years from now that he was hamming it up on that play, I'll be expecting a written apology from every single one of you. And Yams will need to write his in calligraphy on special 80 lb. paper.

Evil Ted, sorry about my english.
You're right i am very ignorant. But that's not the point here is it?
By the way, I was born and raised in Argentina... but that's obviously no excuse.

He obviously hit the deck on purpose.

I don't buy that an athlete as coordinated and skilled as Kobe just fell over like that when there was clearly no hard contact with the Memphis defenders.

Kobe routinely makes plays even more athletic than that without awkwardly falling to the floor.

Good call, Ted.

Geez, talk about thick-headed-ness.

Kobe did it on purpose that's what we are saying. Not trying to earn a foul, but trying to land in the least dangerous way.

It's not difficult to grasp it. On purpose does not mean flopping. And yes, there is no (really: not a single one) player, pick-up or otherwise, who hasn;t opted to land more safely on his back, than to put weiht on badly placed legs.

I'm not a Kobe hater, but every time you posted stg negative on him i could actually see your point. This time though... damn man, there's something wrong with you.

Unrelated to basketbawful's successful attempt at Kobe baiting and thus get more page views but related to their love fest of the Celtics.

How come no one is talking about the "accidental" (intentional) "foul" (assault) by Kendrick Perkins on Maxiell? On top of that as Maxiell trys to get up Garnett shoves him! Maxiell gets a T for shoving Perkins but nothing for Garnett. Nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TztA_DLyqUQ

dunkfu -- Just to clear up a few things, since you appear (via your comment) to be reading-impaired, I didn't author this post nor was it published to "get more page views." And, to be quite frank, I hardly need to bait Kobe fans to get people to visit this site. Plus, to be even franker, I personally tend to try and avoid so-called Kobe baiting because I hate the annoying bleating that results from it. Which explains why, until your comment, I've avoided having anything to do with this.

That said, before you get all high and mighty, you might try actually reading this site before leveling your unfounded accusations. I've done far more criticizing of the Celtics this season than the Lakers. And, in fact smart guy, why don't you check out Monday's Worst of the Weekend post. You'll notice that the second item is a sound criticism of Perkins complete with video of the foul.

But thanks for your late and unneeded contribution.

"Kazam - So does being in the minority make me wrong?"



what I'm trying to get at is no one can be right or wrong in this particular debate for the aforementioned reasons

"No one can be right or wrong in this particular debate..."

- Nah. I can be right.

ET, the worst blindness is that of whom doesn't want to see.

And all the idiots that follow your pray should stop giving their/your's opinions.

i really find it funny when you make fun of kobe, and really hate the guys that don't see those jokes as jokes. but saying what you said in this post is just ignorant! and that's all you have to know.

ET, you're clearly not even open to the possibility that what the majority of people here are saying might be correct, but nevertheless here's the video with three different angles of the injury. There's no point in debating someone who won't even consider the other side of the argument, so that's the last I'll say about this. Hate away :)

Laker fans are so sensitive. This is one tiny little corner of the internet dedicated to basketball that isn't all about kobe worship, and u guys go crazy. I love it. Gonna love it even more when the lakers get embarrassed in the playoffs like always. Why is it when the lakers get eliminated from the playoffs it's usually a blowout? Because if aint close, they can't cheat.

1.) As I count up the agrees vs. disagrees in this string, I see enough agrees to validate that I'm not nuts, not by any stretch.

2.) Thanks to Yams for the additional video footage above, which further confirms my point. The final, baseline camera replay shows Kobe intentionally and needlessly forcing his left knee into the defender in an attempt to intiate contact and "forcing" him off balance. Ironically, Yams' video is titled "knee," which I supposed could reference Kobe's Reggie Miller-like leg flail as he moves to the hoop. This video seals it for me. I'm positive now that I am correct. Kudos to Yams for the additional footage.

"There's no point in debating someone who won't even consider the other side of the argument..."

I feel exactly the same way, Yams. Exactly the same way.

3.) The only regret I have about this post is using the word "flop." I would now rather refer to it as "needlessly hitting the deck in an attempt to draw a foul call." Other than that, I am very confident I am on the money with my analysis.

4.) Posters have a habit of asserting that they "love Kobe, but I disagree with you..." or they "hate Kobe, but I agree with you..." They are saying this (whether truthfully or not) in an attempt to validate their opinions. What they fail to understand is that this is not Kobe Bryant hater post. It is a post against the regularity of overacting in the NBA on the level of a goddamn soccer game (anything that makes your sport more like soccer should be banned immediately).

I'm a Celtics fan, and when they play the Lakers, I love the rivalry of every clash, especially when both teams are at full strength. If the Celtics and Lakers meet in the finals, I want both teams to be at full strength. It makes each win more validating and satisfying.

So...when Kobe hurts a teammate with a bonehead move, it's a loss to basketball, and something that, frankly, needs to be discussed on a blog that focuses on bad basketball.

For all those who want to just say "you're a hater," please, I beg you to think a little longer and harder about your comments about my supposed "motivation." Yes, I'm a hater - of bad basketball.

"needlessly hitting the deck in an attempt to draw a foul call." is definetely much more arguable and you could be right but I still don't see it.

Watch the previous YouTube video and pause at :14 you can see he landed on one foot at a weird angle and thus fell down.

The weird angle occurred because Kobe drove left, the defender came over and cut the baseline off so Kobe jumped back to his right to shoot the shot, landed on one foot lost balance and fell into Bynum.

I just don't see how he lands that shot and doesn't fall down. I suppose your argument is he could have landed the shot on 2 feet and thus not fallen and that he purposely landed off balance to try and get the call. I don't see it but yeah sure maybe.

ET, I don't know how you came up with the statistic of “agree and disagree”, but if you are one vote away from being called nuts, then here you go, YOU ARE NUTS.

You brought up the whole tirade addressing Andrew's injury was caused by Kobe's "needless flopping", and then you "sort of" apologize by saying you regretted using the word “flop”, remember? "FLOP" was your main focus? Am I missing the point here? Then instead of admitting you are WRONG about your post, you quickly shift people’s attention from "needless flopping" to “needless knee kicking”, it’s just way for you to taint the fact that you were wrong the whole time. What kind of person does that, ET? A coward does that. If you are wrong, just say you are wrong, I’m asking you to man up a little.

One thing I have to praise you on is that, you are certainly a glib talker by constantly using the phrases “I’m not a Lakers-hater, I’m just a bad basketball hater”, “If Paul Pierce does that do KG, I’m gonna say the same thing”, “I agree with you on…” and so forth, your purpose is simply let people believe you are still rational after making an irrational statement. Whatever you are quibbling don’t prove you are not a Kobe-hater, if you are not, and certainly you were wrong about the “flopping”, then why you kept on attacking Kobe by caviling his every single motion for this “less-than-2-second” incident? Ok, let me state some facts, or you are gonna start your passive-aggressive attack on me for not to do so.

Kobe drove from the left to the basket, when he saw one defender got in front of him, he immediately tried to jump to the right with his right leg to AVOID contact. What happens when you put that much pressure on that right leg? You inevitably bend your left knee, and then his knee got caught up in the air, so he was off-balance, what happen here is, you would try to stretch your leg try to maintain balance. All these happened within TWO seconds, and you played slow motion again and again, you start to put way too much thought into this. You mentioned time after time when you play ball, you do or do not do this or that, not to point out that I’m an Asian and I can take you one-on-one any time, but, naturally, when you jump up in the air, I believe for most of the ballers, your focus will be putting the ball into the basket. If you get hit, you will still be thinking throw the ball up and try to avoid the contact and land on the floor safely, those are already a lot for a normal human being to consider in less than 2 seconds. However, you sit yourself in front of computer replay the movie back & forth for half an hour and came up with the idea of “flop-then-not-flop-but-knee-kicking” methodology, for me, probably I’m more stupid than most of people, but that’s too much for me to consider when I shot the ball.

Additionally, Bacigalupe, please don’t say ET is a gay, I actually show his turd to a homosexual friend, to be honest with you, he is a very nice and rational person, he thinks ET is on pud. Saying he’s gay is really a humiliation of homosexual people. By the way, I’m just saying, I’m not a Kobe fan, I’m a Spurs fan, and let me state it clearly, I don’t like the Celtics, and a person like you just made me hate the Celtics even more. It’s gonna be the Lakers or the Spurs to kick their ass.

Let's see, I get chewed out when I stick to my guns for being intractable, and this last jobber is angry because I made a logical concession over terminology. It appears I can't win.

Bawful gave me the option to accept or reject Hillsolo's wackdoodle rant (even by Bawful's liberal standards, this is borderline with its needless and bizarre insults). I decided to post it because even though he's rude and seems imbalanced, he's undeniably passionate...about whatever it is he's saying.

To be honest, I didn't really process most of it. Like what usually happens with this stuff (particularly when it comes to Kobe), people just get irrationally upset, and barrage of anger becomes tiresome.

What I processed and most enjoyed:

1.) Yet another "I'm not a Kobe fan..." statement

2.) The long-winded attempt to explain the physics of Kobe's maneuver.

3.) That he's "showing my turd" to a homosexual friend (there's a powerful visual for you), and that this friend thinks I'm "on pud."

4.) Telling me to "man up." People still use that term?

Anyway, to all those who disagree with me, I think you've just found your spokesman.