Passing up Passing?

It really pains me to knock a guy who delivered a near triple double with a back that had him, on several occasions, grimacing hands and knees on the floor of the court, but, I just have to knock the guy.

33, 10 and 8 boards with only 3 turnovers is a pretty special game, even if you shoot 13-33 and 1-10 from the three-point line. Especially considering that 5 of those assists came in the last 4 minutes of regulation.

But, what I can’t understand, is why the passing stopped? Kobe should’ve had 14-15 assists, not 10. He should have kept the passing going and kept the Lakers surge, that included 10 points each from Fish and Odom (Odom hitting both game-tying shots) in the fourth quarter—helping to lift a visibly hurting Byrant during a quarter that has usually been his to close. 

I am Kobe’s biggest fan, as well as his biggest critic and I’ve mentioned it here before that he still has a lot to learn. When he is passing, that offense is capable of decimating any defense—that includes you Boston, and you Detroit, and yes, you San Antonio. But, when he goes into one-on-one mode, and forgets his teammates, the offense stalls horribly. Many times, the Lakers are able to ride past these little excursions, because, Kobe can hit a lot of those difficult one-on-one shots he takes.

But when he’s off, like he obviously was in the last two quarters, he needs to give the rock up. He’s got too much talent on his team now to ignore it and try to win the game by himself.

Going 2-13 is unforgivable, especially when his teammates had been so hot. Fish had just hit three consecutive 3s. Odom hit the game tying three and a follow-up layup to Kobe’s miss that sent the game into overtime. 

I’m sure in the back of his mind he kept thinking about game three and how he did everything possible to try and get his team the victory, how he passed to his teammates, how he let Phil call the last play for Fish, or for Walton, or for whoever that was supposed to be for (the one Luke botched into a turnover). I’m sure he was thinking all about that. But he shouldn’t have been.

He should have been thinking how to run the triangle. The same offense that he told Tex Winters during his MVP press conference that he loves because of the freedom it allows and how fluid it is. The same offense that gives everyone a variety of looks. That very same offense that had the Lakers sharing the ball to the tune of 30 plus assists per game in the first six. You know, the same six that saw them win by an average of 12.3 points—
all Lakers’ victories. 

Sure, Kobe had 10 assists, but he also shot the ball 33 times. In the six victories he had been averaging a little more than 21 shots per contest. What happened?

Perhaps this back injury is a blessing in disguise. Hopefully it will force him more than ever to trust his teammates to help carry him. He’s done so much heavy lifting the past three years, it's a wonder his back hasn’t gone out on him before.

The Lakers need to get back to what they do best and that’s move the ball. Kobe is the key to that.

The MVP better relearn that quick—otherwise, the young, hungry and very talented Jazz will be the ones to move on to the Western Conference Finals.