I’m getting a bit worried of late. Teams are getting physical on the Lakers. This is the second game in a row that the opposing team has used 80s Pistons-like thuggery. Kobe said a couple weeks back that this wasn’t the 80s. Well, sorry Kobe. From here on out, teams will be gunning for that injured hand of yours. It’s the only realistic way of stopping you.
Exhibit A: The Dallas Mavericks made their game against the Lakers a down and dirty affair. The Mavs had 29 fouls and sent the Lakers to the line 50 times. That’s right. 50 times. Kobe had 27 by himself, a couple including some hard fouls by Erick Dampier who ended up fouling out.
Exhibit B: Last night against the Kings the Lakers went to the freethrow line 40 times. Kobe had 16 of those. Again, the big brute in the middle for the opposing team got physical with Kobe. Brad Miller unloaded a couple of his five fouls onto Bryant. In fact, Udrih and Artest also had five fouls. No starter for the Kings had less than three.
The beautiful thing is, while the Lakers as a team have seemed out of sink in the first couple of quarters of overly-physical basketball, the team has responded by winning both games. The main factor behind these victories has been Kobe’s late game heroics. He scored 30 of his 52 in the fourth and overtime against the Mavs, then dropped 17 points in the fourth quarter against the Kings to seal a Lakers victory after trailing the entire game.
Amazing closer. The game’s best. Let’s just hope the increased physical play doesn’t get the best of him.
