Basketball and Shooting Hot Streaks

The months of March through May are just crazy for me. My life is taken up by nothing but basketball. I put my friends and my inept social life on hold for a two hour game. Last night, Saturday night, was an ordinary weekend evening in the month of April, no friends, just hoops. This gives me a lot of time to reflect on the game (yeah its senseless and meaningless but its my hobby).

So the other day, after watching Kobe go something like 15-18 against the Lakers before finishing 16-24, I was wondering what made this guy so good on the court, and why he rarely missed throughout most of the game. It looks like a couple of guys did a study on player shooting, just to find the answer:

[ PDF slideshow via Sportsmetricians Consulting ]
[ & Detailed Rough Summary ]