<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DALLAS -- Asked what he remembered about Kobe Bryant scoring 62 points against the Mavericks almost a year ago, former Lakers teammate Devean George admitted his memory of that night was a little fuzzy. "It's kind of a blur," George said Tuesday. Funny, Bryant must have looked like a blur to the Mavs. Bryant's explosion in Los Angeles -- accomplished in just three quarters -- might have been the most disturbing individual performance against the Mavs last season. If not for Dwyane Wade in the NBA Finals. The Mavs (14-7) get their first look at Bryant and the improved Lakers (15-6) tonight at American Airlines Center. Los Angeles won two of three against the Mavs last season. Visions of Wade, Bryant and Tracy McGrady gutting the Mavs' defense, under Avery Johnson's watch, led to a deliberate plan of action. More help was needed. Management knew Josh Howard wasn't enough to slow down the league's top swingmen. Three off-season acquisitions -- George, Greg Buckner and Anthony Johnson -- fit the profile of physical defenders who don't mind mixing it up with the NBA's glamour boys. "More times than not, their teams depend on them to get the ball and score, so they're going to fight you to get the ball," said Anthony Johnson, no stranger to physical play after having spent most of his career in the Eastern Conference. "If you can force them to fight you as far away from the basket as possible, that will help things." So if Bryant is calling for the ball 15 feet out, push him out to 18 or 20 feet. Forcing another dribble or two out of Bryant might give the defense the extra second it needs to react or get a double team. And a jump shot is always preferable to a dunk. "With those guys being tremendous scorers, it's going to take team defense," Johnson said. "With the rules nowadays, it's hard to really stop people individually. "You've got to get into their legs. Anything hands-on or upper-body stuff is going to be a foul. So try to get into their legs, just get a low center of gravity, lower than those guys, and get into the passing lanes." And if that doesn't work? "You've got to go to total deny, and if they're still getting it done, you've just got to tip your hat to them," Johnson said. Bryant had that kind of night Dec. 20, 2005, as the Lakers beat Dallas 112-90. He outscored the Mavs by himself (62-61) before the start of the fourth quarter and the performance stands as the most points scored against the team by an individual in franchise history. "They didn't really have an answer for him," George said.</div> Source
Hopefully Kobe can come up with a similar night tonight, maybe he'll jar Devean's memory, haha. On a serious note though, Kobe does need to come up huge tonight. It's our first game without Lamar, so I'd look for Kobe to want to take over early and often without him in the lineup.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Source</div> Aparrently now Kobe is getting Wilt Chamberlian status! They are now thinking of changing rules to combat him. This is great!
