Everybody’s talking about Pau’s monster game. ESPN’s JA Adande is reminding folks about the legacy of Lakers’ big men. A 36-point, 16-rebound, 8-assist, 3-block game will get people to notice. Kobe dropped 32 but shot a putrid 9-26. After the game, #24 talked about how he was the decoy and how the Lakers have a vicious 1-2 punch.
I hope Mr. Bryant isn’t forgetting Lamar. Maybe LO likes being low-key, not getting any attention, and if that’s the case, then perhaps I shouldn’t be trying to get him noticed. His game was phenomenal as well, 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists with only a single turnover. He had some great dishes to Pau, who, to be fair, was set up a great deal by all of his teammates (33 assists on 45 field goals).
What’s worrisome to me is that Kobe seemed to slow down the offense and try and get his points. It was obvious he wasn’t having a good night, but he kept forcing up shots. Maybe it was the monster game Chris Paul put up the other night 34, 10 and 4 steals. Maybe he didn’t like getting balled on by J.R. Smith. Maybe it was just him getting too juiced up about this being the playoffs.
Whatever the reason, Kobe reverted back to his shoot-first mentality in the second half—like he needed to start getting his points. In fact, if you watch when the Lakers made their run to put things away, Mr. Bryant was on the bench. Now, I’m not in any way insinuating that the Lakers are better without him on the floor, it just goes back to the point I’ve been trying to make about Kobe this season, in that he still has a lot of growth left in his game.
He’s had several games this season where he’s let the team take over, which has been great to see. He’ll facilitate or lock down defensively, or whatever. But that was the regular season and this is the playoffs. I didn’t see that whatever-it-takes to win mentality. I mean, he let J.R. Smith score a flurry of baskets on him in the second quarter and he even let Anthony Carter whiz by for an unconstested layup. Sure, he was in a bit of foul trouble (that one on Melo was ludicrous), and he did do a good job on AI, but Kobe still seemed more into getting his points, which he eventually did. Just on 26 shots. He settled for too many jumpers, and slowed the flow. There were a couple times, when Martin was on him, that he would shoot a jumper, that resulted in long rebounds and Nuggets’ fast breaks, and he would be the second or third guy back.
Of course, I’m nit-picking. The Lakers took down the Nuggets with relative ease in the second half. But what does worry me is that now that this is the playoffs, is Kobe going to trust his teammates as much as he had during the regular season? Is he going to know when it’s not his night? When to let his teammates shine without having to get his?
Only time will tell. All I can say for certain, is that the Nuggets will not have it any easier this coming Wednesday. It’s pretty unlikely that Pau will have another monster game like that, although it could happen against Denver’s porous defense.
What I do know is that there’s no way in hell Kobe’s shooting another 9-26 this time around. Good luck Denver. You’re going to need it. Badly. Very badly.
Keywords: AI, Allen Iverson, Anthony Carter, Denver Nuggets, J.R. Smith, Kobe Bryant, Lakers, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol
