Kobe's Eleven

Kobe Bryant, as noted here last night, scored 30 points in a quarter against the Jazz, and made a total of 11 shots in a row. Here's a summary of those 11 shots and what they looked like, and afterwards, a handy video.

Shot 1: Sort of a secondary fast break, with Kirilenko contesting the shot near the rim. Kobe puts up an asburd one handed scoop shot off the glass from a strange angle. Not going to make the "Plays of the Year" or anything, but the level of difficulty on that was off the charts.

Shot 2: Guarded on the perimeter by C.J. Miles, gets a screen from Rony Turiaf, Carlos Boozer completely indecisive on the switch, and Kobe slices through the entire Jazz defense and ends up posterizing Andrei Kirilenko again, who was not in a position to do anything about it.

Shot 3: Kobe catches the ball at about the free throw line in what looks like a Utah zone. They don't collapse on him, and he dunks the bejeezus out of the ball, right in Mehmet Okur's unslightly grill.

Shot 4: Catch and shoot turnaround jumper with a hand in his face. Zone again. Zone not working.

Shot 5: Is handed the ball by a Lakers big man, then shields the defenders with his back, and forces up a shot from underneath the backboard.

Shot 6: Your standard Kobe-created Kobe jumpshot, going to his left with pretty good defensive position from Andrei Kirlenko, who also had a hand in his face.

Shot 7: From the perimeter, sets Kirilenko up with a few dribbes between his legs, then just steps back and shoots over him. Again, Kirilenko in good position.

Shot 8: One dribble to his right, and again, from the perimeter, the jumpshot buried in Kirilenko's eye.

Shot 9: Catch and shoot, three pointer.

Shot 10: Kobe again from three. Gordon Giricek on the defense, solid hand in his face. Steve Kerr awards Kobe Bryant the MVP award.

Shot 11: Giricek on the defense again, not quite the quality of Kirilenko's, but not bad. Dribbles left, gets Giricek moving backwards, steps back, pops the jumper, it hits no him.

For many of these, no defense on the planet could have stopped him from scoring. When Kobe Bryant is feeling like Kobe Bryant felt last night, there's just no defense for it. Short of signing Charles Oakley to a 10-day contract and instructing him to break Kobe's legs, there's nothing the opponent can do about it.