duncan228
11-23-2008, 01:37 PM
Bryant has Lakers' back (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bryant-lakers-game-2238174-one-points)
Even with all of their talent, the team remains reliant on their star in their quest for a title.
Kevin Ding
LOS ANGELES – The Lakers' victories are starting to pile up into a heap of clean laundry that is too much to sort and fold. When any team gets so good, its fans can get a little spoiled. But there is one thing no one should take for granted here: Kobe Bryant's basketball genius.
He is better than anyone else and he is better than he has ever been.
The Lakers' blowout victory Friday night over Denver reflected that, even though you know Bryant doesn't play for the glory of innocuous November games.
His postgame summation might sound utterly blasé, but the subtext shows the single-mindedness: “It's about taking care of business. That's how we approach it. Go out there, punch the clock, move on.”
The reality, however, is that not all the Lakers were ready for business Friday night. With Chauncey Billups stabilizing the 8-4 Nuggets, Lakers coach Phil Jackson had reason for concern after playing late in Phoenix on Thursday night and flying home for a third game in four nights.
“I was just reading the team and I didn't think they had real good energy,” Jackson said. “Kobe did. He came out and played really hard. His energy was great.
"It's easy to get complacent and think you're on your home court and you're going to win the game — it's just going to happen — and not that you have to work it out and do it.”
That assumption of victory happened one week earlier when the deeply talented Lakers came home after back-to-back victories in Dallas and New Orleans.
Teams in all sports regularly let down upon returning home after meaningful road success, and the Lakers did against visiting Detroit. They never recovered in their lone loss of the season.
Not again, Bryant said.
“I wanted to get a little bit more assertive, especially in this particular game,” Bryant said. “This is one of those sleeper games where you come out and have a slow start and all of a sudden you find yourself in a pretty serious fight, so I wanted to come out and get us going.”
Bryant also knew he could do it against outclassed Dahntay Jones and the always-sketchy Denver team defense. So Bryant locked into jet-fighter mode right from the start.
He hit a shot after a shimmy-shake move on Jones that was such lightning that Sasha Vujacic poked Luke Walton on the Lakers' bench to bring extra attention to it, then poked Lamar Odom, who smiled and tried to imitate Bryant right then and there.
Bryant seamlessly alternated between silky and solid. He shot 12 for 18 from the field, scoring 29 points in 29:42 of action. He consistently took whatever the Nuggets gave him — hitting a jumper when Nene didn't get out far enough to help at the elbow, lobbing an alley-oop for Andrew Bynum when Nene crept just a few steps away from Bynum toward Bryant, then storming in for a dunk when Nene was late helping plug the paint.
The Lakers never trailed and had their lead up to 27 points before halftime. When Denver pushed back in the second half to 14 and later 11 points, Bryant seized momentum back both times with plays that showed his will to win and sense of timing — and validated Phoenix coach Terry Porter's words in the East Valley Tribune about Bryant: “There's no doubt he's the best player in the game. No doubt in my mind. In every basketball situation, if I had one pick … it would be Kobe. To stop somebody, to score against somebody, to get that rebound, that steal, last shot of the game — it would be Kobe.”
The thing is, Bryant's great play isn't where the story ends anymore. He has always been relentless, but he can now channel it like the master as well as the student.
The only Laker to stay on the court from tipoff, Bryant was finally subbed out with 26.7 seconds left in the first quarter. Without him, the Lakers' last possession came up empty. The Lakers were still up by 15 points, but that wasn't enough for Bryant. At quarter's end, he got up and went to Odom for a consultation about that last possession and how Odom rushed through what wound up a 21-foot air ball.
With Bryant still on the bench in the second quarter, the Lakers caught a break when Sasha Vujacic's bad pass toward Bynum bounced around the lane and rolled right to Bynum for a dunk and a foul. Everyone smiled about it entering the ensuing timeout. Bryant approached Vujacic, who had gotten stuck in the air and under the basket with no passing angle, with suggestions on how to be good rather than just lucky next time.
With a victory tonight over Sacramento, the Lakers would be 11-1 — actually better than the 10-2 start of the 1995-96 Bulls, who wound up 72-10.
These Lakers will have to exceed their existing levels of experience and mental toughness to rival the greatest regular season in NBA history, but there is a reason they can dream about it: The Lakers have a leader with all the game and all the grit, too.
Even with all of their talent, the team remains reliant on their star in their quest for a title.
Kevin Ding
LOS ANGELES – The Lakers' victories are starting to pile up into a heap of clean laundry that is too much to sort and fold. When any team gets so good, its fans can get a little spoiled. But there is one thing no one should take for granted here: Kobe Bryant's basketball genius.
He is better than anyone else and he is better than he has ever been.
The Lakers' blowout victory Friday night over Denver reflected that, even though you know Bryant doesn't play for the glory of innocuous November games.
His postgame summation might sound utterly blasé, but the subtext shows the single-mindedness: “It's about taking care of business. That's how we approach it. Go out there, punch the clock, move on.”
The reality, however, is that not all the Lakers were ready for business Friday night. With Chauncey Billups stabilizing the 8-4 Nuggets, Lakers coach Phil Jackson had reason for concern after playing late in Phoenix on Thursday night and flying home for a third game in four nights.
“I was just reading the team and I didn't think they had real good energy,” Jackson said. “Kobe did. He came out and played really hard. His energy was great.
"It's easy to get complacent and think you're on your home court and you're going to win the game — it's just going to happen — and not that you have to work it out and do it.”
That assumption of victory happened one week earlier when the deeply talented Lakers came home after back-to-back victories in Dallas and New Orleans.
Teams in all sports regularly let down upon returning home after meaningful road success, and the Lakers did against visiting Detroit. They never recovered in their lone loss of the season.
Not again, Bryant said.
“I wanted to get a little bit more assertive, especially in this particular game,” Bryant said. “This is one of those sleeper games where you come out and have a slow start and all of a sudden you find yourself in a pretty serious fight, so I wanted to come out and get us going.”
Bryant also knew he could do it against outclassed Dahntay Jones and the always-sketchy Denver team defense. So Bryant locked into jet-fighter mode right from the start.
He hit a shot after a shimmy-shake move on Jones that was such lightning that Sasha Vujacic poked Luke Walton on the Lakers' bench to bring extra attention to it, then poked Lamar Odom, who smiled and tried to imitate Bryant right then and there.
Bryant seamlessly alternated between silky and solid. He shot 12 for 18 from the field, scoring 29 points in 29:42 of action. He consistently took whatever the Nuggets gave him — hitting a jumper when Nene didn't get out far enough to help at the elbow, lobbing an alley-oop for Andrew Bynum when Nene crept just a few steps away from Bynum toward Bryant, then storming in for a dunk when Nene was late helping plug the paint.
The Lakers never trailed and had their lead up to 27 points before halftime. When Denver pushed back in the second half to 14 and later 11 points, Bryant seized momentum back both times with plays that showed his will to win and sense of timing — and validated Phoenix coach Terry Porter's words in the East Valley Tribune about Bryant: “There's no doubt he's the best player in the game. No doubt in my mind. In every basketball situation, if I had one pick … it would be Kobe. To stop somebody, to score against somebody, to get that rebound, that steal, last shot of the game — it would be Kobe.”
The thing is, Bryant's great play isn't where the story ends anymore. He has always been relentless, but he can now channel it like the master as well as the student.
The only Laker to stay on the court from tipoff, Bryant was finally subbed out with 26.7 seconds left in the first quarter. Without him, the Lakers' last possession came up empty. The Lakers were still up by 15 points, but that wasn't enough for Bryant. At quarter's end, he got up and went to Odom for a consultation about that last possession and how Odom rushed through what wound up a 21-foot air ball.
With Bryant still on the bench in the second quarter, the Lakers caught a break when Sasha Vujacic's bad pass toward Bynum bounced around the lane and rolled right to Bynum for a dunk and a foul. Everyone smiled about it entering the ensuing timeout. Bryant approached Vujacic, who had gotten stuck in the air and under the basket with no passing angle, with suggestions on how to be good rather than just lucky next time.
With a victory tonight over Sacramento, the Lakers would be 11-1 — actually better than the 10-2 start of the 1995-96 Bulls, who wound up 72-10.
These Lakers will have to exceed their existing levels of experience and mental toughness to rival the greatest regular season in NBA history, but there is a reason they can dream about it: The Lakers have a leader with all the game and all the grit, too.