Grant Hill's Very Good Defense on Kobe Bryant

I liked Grant’s D and thought it was born out in the stats, but too lazy to go figure it out.
With a different ref, he may do much better at staying on the floor. Crawford isn’t really intimidated by stars or crowds so it may be a good night for Grant.

That Kobe D he is doing is very much the way Shane plays Kobe. Grant needs some hand in the face practice, but otherwise solid. And still some nights, Kobe will be Kobe.

i was pointing this out right after game 1. i thought grant did an incredible job limiting kobe’s options. kobe didn’t have a superstar night until grant was out of the game.

there are plenty of other places this game was lost, but it’s still tough to watch our one bright spot of the game be taken out by unwarranted fouls.

as a team we need to play perfectly just to compete with LA. it sucks we’re playing two teams at once.

if the suns will play Earl Clark in his place, he’s a good long defender they can use on kobe(he seems much quicker them Dudley, or on Odom, and keep Amare on Gasol.

i almost feel like saying, if we’re going to get called for fouls, LETS FOUL.

anyone…..
http://justgivemethestats.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/kobe-raja.jpg

you, you handsome devil, are welcome.

Grant Hill did play great defense on Kobe, but he just got baited. Kobe might be the most cerebral player in the league, even Raja Bell recently said so. What Kobe noticed was that the Refs were calling the game loosely in post up situations and they favored the offensive player this time around. He went to the post on most of the plays against Grant and Grant kept bodying him up and being physical with him to deny him the position. After a few seconds of this Grant would be called for the foul. Credit Kobe for adjusting to the refs and using Grant’s physicality to take him out of the game. You can bet if Kobe gets two offensive fouls while posting up players that are questionable (see Boston Finals 2008 game 2) he won’t get a third. The other Grant Hill foul in the third quarter was him “impeding the progress” of Kobe trying to cut through to get to his position. Impeding the progress is a foul in today’s NBA, has been for years.

Grant Hill even blamed himself for not adjusting to how the game was being called. They weren’t hard fouls, they were definitely touch fouls, but he got baited by Kobe, plain and simple.

Also, the best way to stop Kobe’s jumper is to foul him. Plain and simple, Kobe gets hit on his right arm at the top of his release, or he gets hit while bringing the ball up for a shot on most of the shots that he misses. I know that sounds like fanboyism, but I watch every laker game and the FSW crew makes it a point to slow-motion show how often kobe gets fouled in his jumpshot without being called for it. Even when Shane Battier was putting his hands to block Kobe’s face, at least 30-40% of the time he’d actually make contact with Kobe’s face.

Grant Hill needs to trust his defensive ability and not be so adamant in playing Kobe so physical BEFORE he gets the ball if the Refs are calling it that way.

Also, just as a sidenote. There is no such thing as a Kobe stopper. Lots of people have been called that, they don’t exist. Shane Battier was a Kobe Stopper so was Ron Artest except Kobe torched them all last year and into the playoffs. Bruce Bowen is a Kobe stopper but he couldn’t do a thing against Kobe in the 2008 WCF. In fact Kobe has a higher PPG against the Spurs than any other active player, and that’s always been a phenomenal defensive team. The Celtics stopped him in 2008 for 4 of the 6 games but haven’t been able to do anything against him the last 2 years. Lakers are 3-0 against the Celtics when Kobe’s played in the last 2 seasons.

Grant Hill is a good defender, but he’s not going to slow Kobe down much.