NBA Insider with Ken Berger

I was happy to see my Sunday column on Kobe Bryant generated so many intelligent comments from readers.

So many of you took the time to post comments on the article that I thought it was only fair to respond.

I appreciate Danny's assertion -- "Ken Berger, you are an idiot" -- and the assessment of Andi from Los Angeles that I need therapy, but was especially intrigued that the article prompted someone as far away as London to offer his two cents. Thanks for reading, Uzair.

Though some used more colorful language than others, you all essentially made the same point: That I failed to point out that Jordan -- unlike Kobe -- did not have to face zone defenses. Very fair point, and something I should have included in my analysis.

But rather than further aggravate you with my own analysis, I posed the Kobe-Jordan question to David Thorpe of Scouts Inc. today when I was speaking with him for a different upcoming column. Here is what he said when I asked him to evaluate Jordan's and Kobe's 50-point streaks in light of the two rules changes that have taken effect in the past few years:

"Here is how you do it," Thorpe said. "Jordan’s the only guy of his generation to do what he did. With the new rules, against zone defenses and quicker whistles, no one else has done it. In fact, no one’s come close to doing it.
In the last two years with the new rules interpretations and zone defenses being allowed, who else has even done two in a row?"

I took Thorpe's advice and called Elias, which reported that since zone defenses were allowed in the NBA starting with the 2001-02 season, there had been only one other instance of consecutive 50-point games before Bryant's four in a row. Allen Iverson had two in a row in 2004.

This period includes the rules interpretation I emphasized in the column, no hand-checking or impeding on the perimeter, which began last season.

"Because of rule differences, it really becomes apples and oranges," Thorpe said. "You could argue that it was tougher for Jordan. I probably would agree with that. But I'm not sure that it’s relevant. What’s relevant is, in the last three years, no one’s done back to back 50s and he did four of them. So in its own time, it is the best there is."

So there you have it. Thanks for all your comments, and hopefully that clears things up.