<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">t's too bad for Frank Hamblen's mental well-being that he has to watch Laker games as a coach and not as a fan. Because you get the feeling that he didn't enjoy Kobe Bryant's freakishly accurate marksmanship Tuesday night nearly as much as the Delta Center crowd. Bryant, who rang up 38 points in his last visit to Utah, and 40 more when the teams met in Los Angeles last month, seemed to be playing his own personal carnival game this time, making four of his jumpshots in the first quarter, then stepping back further and further from the hoop to splash one three-pointer after another. "He was amazing," said forward Brian Grant, who could at least enjoy the spectacle. "He kept us in the game." Kept the crowd rapt, too. By the end of the third quarter, Bryant's numbers were the sort that would seem unrealistic on an X-Box video game, much less an NBA stat sheet: 14-for-17 from the field, including an other-worldly 9-for-11 from three-point range, for 39 points. With another 12 minutes to go, the crowd was abuzz with speculation - would he collect 50? Would he start nailing shots from halfcourt? Was this some sort of optical illusion? Hamblen's kill-joy coach's mentality, though, was prompting a few more pointed questions, though. Like, is anybody else planning to help? And, will we ever bother to guard anybody? "It takes you out of some of your stuff when a guy shoots 15 threes," Hamblen harrumphed afterward. "They just keep looking for him and looking for him and looking for him as the shot clock's going down, standing around. So it hurts you also." </div> Source
Kobe kills me on nights like this, its fun to watch. But it means nothing if the lakers dont get the W....and they didnt.
Kobe's hot shooting will never be enough until the Lakers learn to play D again. I've been able to watch some of the past few games (all losses, sigh...) and what kills me is when the Lakers all stand around while some no-name players continually slash to the rim, get fouled, make the 3pt play, and go on to have season highs in scoring. So, even when Kobe gets on fire and brings the team back from the 20 point deficits and such, our team always falls short because they're not playing good defense. And sometimes they don't rebound well at the most critical junctures of the game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bigdaddy:</div><div class="quote_post">that's why nowadays in the NBA you don't build around a sg</div> You can still build around a SG...especially when its Kobe. But you need the right players around him. If he is the only one scoring and trying to play defense...things will be bad. He needs solid players around him, and someone to come off the bench to play a few minutes that wont give up a lead (yeah, at this point I admit a Lakers lead is a stretch). I believe Dr. Buss will get some people to make it work. It was tough when he had to unload Shaq because of a trade demand. He didnt get the value back he should have. I believe next year will be different. Heck, they Lakers should have made the playoffs this year.
