What's up basketball fans! I am here again @dwin0603 to give you another exciting basketball discussion for another episode of NBA Talk, and today we will talk about the several times Kobe Bryant was robbed of the MVP award. Let's begin!
Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest players of all-time, one of the deadliest scorer ever, the only player that has that killer instinct that MJ has and considered the GOAT by some NBA fans, but his haters criticize him his whole career because he only won 1 MVP throughout the 20 seasons he has played. So the Black Mamba doesn't have a really strong case of being the Greatest of All-time when we consider MVP awards compared to LeBron James who has 4. That's maybe one reason why people see LBJ as the greater player than the Black Mamba. Now, I'll tell you something important and think of this, if we look back in the past and you're big NBA fan, you know clearly that Kobe was robbed of the MVP award several times and today I am going to break that down to you folks.
Steve Nash stole Kobe's MVPs two times
The first time Steve Nash stole Kobe's MVP award is on the 2004-2005 season where Nash averaged 15.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 11.5 assists, 1.0 steals shooting 50%, 40% and 88% from the field, from the three-point line, and from the free throw line respectively while Kobe has an outstanding 27.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks shooting 43%, 31%, and 83%. It's true that Steve Nash was terrific that season because of his floor general skills that led his team to a 62-20 record but I think an MVP with only 15.5 points per game should be questionable. They won 60 games because they had a better team than Kobe's 2004-2005 Lakers. I think that fact that the Lakers only had a record of 34-48 cost him to lose the MVP award.
The second time was on the 2005-2006 season. Yes, the following season after Nash won his first MVP. Look at this, Nash averaged 18.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 10.5 assists, 0.8 steals shooting 51%, 43%, and 91% while Kobe averaged 35.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.8 steals shooting 45%, 48%, and 85%. Can you imagine that? 35.4 points a game? Wow! That was one of the best scoring season ever in the history of the NBA. But then again, the record cost him again the MVP award and it went to Steve Nash again for the second consecutive time. Kobe again has lacked in supporting cast that could help him win while Nash had better teammates that season finishing with a 54-28 record way better than Kobe and the Lakers' 45-37. But this year it should be clear that Kobe had the better season not just because of the scoring but because he made it to both All-NBA first team and All-Defense first team. That is not an easy task to do, playing at a high level defensively while still averaging 35 a game.
Dirk Stole it from Kobe
In the 2006-2007 season, Dirk won his MVP averaging 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.8 blocks shooting 50%, 41%, and 90% while Kobe finished the season with 31.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.4 steals shooting 46%, 34%, and 86%. And it happened again, another bad record takes away the MVP award from Kobe after the Lakers end the season with a poor 42-40 record while Dirk's Dallas Mavericks finished with a 67-15 record. Kobe and his Lakers finished as the 7th seed in the West only to lose to the Phoenix Suns in the first round. But Kobe won his second scoring title and again made it both to the All-Defense first team and All-NBA first team. I think that's enough to award him the MVP award but the outstanding season from the Mavericks made Nowitzki the MVP.
It's truly hard to judge who deserves the MVP award considering all the success from the team and individually. But for me, it's just the player who brings more impact in the game and I am not thinking of the record as long as the team makes it to the playoffs. Because sometimes, the whole team is just too good and sometimes only one player makes a real impact and lift up the team to win games and make it to the playoffs even if his whole team is struggling.
That is all for today folks! What do you think? Do you agree with my take? Let me know if I'm missing something here and I would be glad to hear your opinions about this article so drop your comments now and let's have some basketball talk! :)
I'll leave you with some Kobe Bryant highlights. Enjoy!
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