On Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, Kobe Bryant put on an absolute clinic in every sense of the word on both ends of the floor, playing every single minute of the game, as the Los Angeles Lakers played for its postseason life.
If you don’t believe me, just take a look at his stat-line: 47 points on 14-of-27 shooting, 18-of-18 free throws, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, four blocks and one turnover in 48 minutes of play. That’s what you call a game for the ages.
You would think that his teammates would be absolutely mesmerized by what he did to help keep the Lakers hopes alive to make the playoffs, and they were. However, they also had some constructive criticism about the whole thing – Pau Gasol in particular. See why he felt what Kobe did was bittersweet, from Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles:
“It’s bittersweet,” Pau Gasol said when asked about Bryant’s dominating performance against the Blazers, in which he played all 48 minutes in a non-overtime road game for the first time in his career. “Because, I think it’s spectacular and it’s very impressive and it’s remarkable to be able to play 48 minutes and score 47 points. That’s incredible. On the other hand, I’m a player that likes to see a little bit more ball movement and better balance. I’ve always been [like that]. That’s just how I perceive this game.”But again, he was incredible tonight. He scored a tremendous amount of points that I never scored in my life. So, like I said, it was very impressive and it’s not something that you do every night, of course.”
“I just always like to see a little more ball movement because he attracts so much attention,” Gasol said. “He attracts so much double-teams off pick-and-rolls, off isolations, and he’s made great plays, great passes down the stretch. But he was extra aggressive tonight. It’s interesting to see how [Tuesday] he was not aggressive for three quarters [and then scored 23 in the fourth]. Today, he was aggressive for four quarters. What’s the reason behind it? I don’t know. To me it’s interesting as a player and as a teammate what goes through his mind.”
Gasol is not usually the type to say something of this nature about Kobe, but he certainly has a point. With the power forward stepping up his level of play since returning from injury and Dwight Howard really starting to round into form, it may not be necessary for Kobe to go gung ho every game. Team play and great ball movement would make the Lakers an awfully difficult team to stop, given the amount of talent they have.
Still, when a scorer like Kobe goes on the kind of run he did on Wednesday, sometimes you just have to give him the ball and move the hell out of his way.
Here is Metta World Peace’s piece about the team’s need to play basketball and not get so caught up about Kobe:
World Peace joined in the chorus the night before after the win against New Orleans, when he was yelling at his teammates from the bench in the fourth quarter to not just get swept up by Bryant’s aura. “At the end of the game, Pau was looking for Kobe, and I’m like, ‘What the hell are you looking for Kobe for? Go to work. You don’t have time for spectating. Everybody, what the f— are you looking for Kobe for? Go to work. Everybody go to work,'” World Peace said Tuesday. “The five guys that are on that floor? We go to work. We’re not watching. We don’t take pictures. That’s what you guys [in the media] are for, you take pictures. We’re not taking pictures out there. We can’t even bring a camera on the floor if we had a chance.”
I understand the need to emphasize ball movement, especially under a Mike D’Antoni offense, but talking about it on nights after winning games because of what Kobe was able to do? Peculiar decision.
Onto other news from around the league: