Time to give Kobe a Break in Criticism Department

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES - They have gone from a one-man team to one man's team.
The Lakers belong to Kobe Bryant now. They are his team not only to dominate, but to prod and push, to chastise and cajole. And the happy surprise of the season so far in L.A. is that the role seems to agree with him, making him appear more comfortable and relaxed than he has been in years.

Maybe that's why Shaquille O'Neal sought him out for that very public hugfest Monday night.
Their made-for-TV reunion was followed by the kind of snapshots that are becoming familiar at Staples Center these days.

See Bryant grab Devean George and Smush Parker in the heat of a fourth quarter, drape one arm around each at the foul line and whisper encouragement. Watch him tap Chris Mihm playfully on the top of the head as the center heads to the bench after hitting a soft hook in the lane. Listen as he explains how he is trying to help teenager Andrew Bynum adjust to the rigors of banging bodies with someone as formidable as Shaq.

"I told Andrew when I was 17, I was going up against Jordan," Bryant said, smiling. "I was going up against Mike, man ... I'm on him all the time, I'm challenging him (Bynum) every day in practice."

The prevailing national opinion is that Bryant is one of the least liked players in the league. Read the Internet chatter, and it has you believe that most of his teammates think he is selfish and egocentric and that many despise him.

But you go into the Lakers' locker room and you see little evidence of that. You sense more respect than anger, more reverence than hatred.

These are a band of borderline players who depend on him totally, even desperately. Their fragile formula for winning more games than they've lost so far is to scrap and hustle, playing Phil Jackson's tough-as-leather defense while keeping it close for three quarters. Then let Bryant take over.

"He's a phenomenal player," Mihm said. "We know in the fourth quarter that he wants the ball. He's been doing amazing things with it."

Lamar Odom just shrugged and shook his head after Bryant knocked down a series of tightly covered shots late in the game to beat the Cavaliers and LeBron James last week.

"That's one strong-willed dude," he said.

Bryant's rising shot attempts anger a lot of folks who rip him for being too concerned with his point totals. But look at what he is playing with out there. Jackson opened the fourth period against the Heat on Monday night with a lineup featuring Mihm, Odom, George, Luke Walton and Sasha Vujacic.

The lack of talent limits Bryant's options. He doesn't have Kevin Garnett to feed in the paint. He has Kwame Brown.

He doesn't have a Scottie Pippen alongside him, knowing he can depend on a consistent performance night after night. He has Odom, who can play like Pippen one night and like a CBA reject the next. The old Kobe would have been frustrated.

The new one seems to understand.

"The challenge he has," Bryant said of Odom, "is that every game is a different puzzle."

The difference for No.8 is that the pieces always seem to come together in the fourth period. Bryant is spectacular at any time, but in the final 12 minutes of games, he elevates himself to something you only see in the greatest of competitors.

"His will is unbelievable," said Miami's Dwayne Wade, when asked about Bryant's latest fourth-quarter explosion. "You can't play better defense than Gary (Payton) had on him. He can just raise up and jump over you and shoot. You have to tip your hat to a guy like that."

Not since Jerry West has anyone in a Lakers uniform consistently hit so many clutch shots.

"I know a lot of them look impossible to make, but I've seen him hit so many of those," Mihm said. "The (final) one against the Heat was such an unbelievable shot for anyone else to take. But he makes it.

"It's focus and determination. He really seems to will the ball in at the end."

As strong as that will is, it won't take the Lakers to the NBA Finals, or even conference ones. There are too many flaws on this team. Too many difficult games left on the road. Too many reasons why Bryant is reluctant to pass the ball to anyone else in the clutch.

It is interesting to hear all the knocks on him not wanting to share the scoring. But if he had, oh, say Ray Allen and Garnett as teammates, do you think he'd still take those occasional 35-plus shots in a game? No way.

Let's not forgot this guy has three NBA championship rings. He didn't get them by constantly hogging the ball.

Winning, especially winning without O'Neal, remains his primary goal, no matter what anyone else thinks. And that's why he keeps challenging Bynum in practice and railing at Odom when, as is Lamar's wont, his mind starts to wander during a game. It is why he says it's so much fun for him to listen to teammates kid him about having a rabbit's foot in his pocket after yet another big fourth quarter.

"What do I tell them?" he said, grinning. "I tell them, `You want to borrow that rabbit's foot?'"

And it's why he pauses at the podium after yet another home victory and says: "It is important for the city and the fans to get comfortable with the way this team is heading."

It was more important for Bryant to get comfortable. He is now. He should be.

This is his team.
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Does anyone else feel some positive light from the media now?

Source

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">No.

For everyone who is jumping back on the Kobe bandwagon, there will be 10 writers who say that Kobe couldn't have done it without Phil Jackson. They'll say that Kobe was nothing before Phil came the first time, Kobe was nothing in the year that Phil was gone, and now the Lakers are good because Phil is back.

I don't fully agree with that, but that is what a lot of media is going to say.</div>

There is a lot of truth to Phil Jackson's impact on the team. However, I don't see what is negative about it. These are the same writer's who called Kobe uncoachable, bad teammate etc. Yet he's listening to the coach, the Lakers are winning, and all of his teammates are playing better with Kobe. The willingness of Kobe to trust PJax and the coaching staff should be another positive aspect of his maturity and not something holding him back.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">The thing about the article i don't get is that it says Kobe needs a teamate like kevin garnet to really win. Who wouldn't win teamed with KG? dwade or lebron or tmac, ai all would as well. its like anyone teamed with shaq would win also. That says nothing sbout kobe if he needs to constantly have a dominant paint presence to win games with.

Mj did it without a monster in the paint. if kobe can only win teamed up with a KG or shaq then he's not at that high a level as some say.</div>

The writer was just emphasizing how inconsistent Kobe's teammates are and trying to get the readers to understand why he sometimes has to take 30+ shots for this team to win.

MJ did have a monster in the paint, a Three-Headed one, and the reason it worked, was the consistency of those three. The Bulls knew they could count on 'x' amount of production every single game from the center position. Plus they had the constant double/double and defensive post defense of Horace Grant.

With KG you know exactly what to expect from him each night. With Odom you might get the Triple Double Odom, or like he mentioned the CBA reject. This uncertainty from game to game makes it hard for the Lakers and Kobe to find that consistent balance.

Same goes for the Mihm/Kwame combination. These guys have a hard time staying on the court because of foul trouble. So you don't know what type of production you are going to get from the center position.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">No.

For everyone who is jumping back on the Kobe bandwagon, there will be 10 writers who say that Kobe couldn't have done it without Phil Jackson. They'll say that Kobe was nothing before Phil came the first time, Kobe was nothing in the year that Phil was gone, and now the Lakers are good because Phil is back.

I don't fully agree with that, but that is what a lot of media is going to say.</div>

What about MJ? He was never ridiculed for not winning without Phil. It makes no sense, I don't know why Kobe gets so much hate. I can understand a lot of it, but some of it is just unnecissary.