Thread by @antimccockiner

Kobe Bryant’s 2010 playoff run is one of the most impressive runs we’ve ever seen. In honor of Mamba Day, let’s take a deep dive into how Kobe got his 5th championship. #MambaMentality

In typical Kobe fashion, this run started with adversity. Kobe had a swollen knee heading into their first round matchup against OKC, which led to him not being himself for most of the series. He only averaged 21.8 PPG and 3.4 RPG on 38.9% shooting from the field from G1 to G5.

Then he got his knee drained and turned into a completely different monster. He immediately had a 6 game streak of scoring 30+ PTS in which he averaged:

33.3 PTS
52.2% FG
40.9% 3PT
86% FT
58.6% eFG
62.1% TS

Then as soon as he finished up a 30+ PT game streak, this man had the audacity to have a 3 game streak of 10+ assists in which he averaged:

31.7 PTS
11.3 AST
55.4% FG
45% 3PT
87.5% FT
69.1% eFG
65.9% TS

He then dropped 30 with 11 REB to make it 4 straight doubles.

Overall, after the knee drain, Kobe put up:

31.2 PTS
6.7 REB
5.7 AST
47.4% FG
37.4% 3PT
87.1% FT
56.7% eFG
58.4% TS

How ridiculous was that statline? No player in history has ever matched or exceeded those numbers over a 15+ game playoff stretch. 1993 Jordan and 2017-18 LeBron fall just short.

It gets better. If we add on his 18 healthy 2010 playoff games to his 2008 and 2009 runs, he’d be sitting at:

62 Games
30.5 PTS
5.9 REB
5.6 AST
57.4% TS

The only other players with that type of production in 3 consecutive Finals runs? 1991-93 Jordan and 2016-18 LeBron.

Happy Mamba Day, #LLKobe 🕊.