Kobe Bryant isn't thrilled. (USATSI)
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant doesn't want to shoot this often. That's what he told reporters, at least, after his team's embarrassing 136-115 loss -- it was 115-79 after three quarters -- to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
From the Orange County Register:
“I'm more than willing to sit back,” Bryant said. “If you think I want to shoot this many times and be as aggressive at 36 years old, you're freaking crazy.”
And from ESPN:
"Obviously I'd rather get guys involved early, but if a purse gets stolen in front of you, how many blocks are you going to let the guy run?" he asked.
…
"I'd always rather get guys involved and play," Bryant said. "That's always the intent at the start of the ball game. But [when] you're 10, 12 points in the hole, I've got to try to keep us in the ball game at some point. But it's tough. It's tough.
"This responsibility, it's on me. When things go good, it's us. When things go bad, it's me."
…"I'd rather not have to do that," Bryant said, "but you can't just sit back and watch crime happen in front of you."
Scott described the Lakers' Bryant-heavy offense as a "double-edged sword."
"We've got to find that happy medium," he added.
The Lakers have one win in 10 games, which is the worst start in franchise history. They are surrendering 117.8 points per 100 possessions, per Basketball-Reference, which is easily last in the league. You take an aging superstar who doesn't appear to trust his teammates, you add an old-school coach who has a defense-averse roster, and this is what you get, I guess. Bryant scored 44 points against the Warriors, but shot 15-for-34 from the field -- and he didn't even play in the fourth quarter. On an average night, he goes 9-for-24.
Let's see what Jack Nicholson thinks about all this:
@netw3rk I believe he is. pic.twitter.com/2w2gFRqZJU
— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) November 17, 2014Every game, this situation is getting more reminiscent of Michael Jordan's stint with the Washington Wizards. This team, though, is worse. Does that mean Bryant is justified in jacking all these shots? Uh … that's complicated. If the Lakers were to have any success, you'd imagine they'd need to play in such a way that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. That's not going to happen with Bryant playing like this. There aren't a lot of great ball movers or creators on his team, though, so I'm not sure any system could have much of an impact. I'll buy that he's doing this because he thinks it's what's best for Los Angeles, even if I'm not sure if that's correct. Bryant's always had the mentality that he'll try to shoot his team back into games when they're down, and they've been down pretty much all the time. That's unlikely to change soon.
ESPN's Dave McMenamin had this to say, by the way:
League source suggested to me Kobe is making sure he passes MJ in career points while he's healthy & once he does will settle into team ball
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 17, 2014Bryant has 31,973 career points. Michael Jordan retired (for the last time) with 32,292. Just for fun, let's do some math: that means he's on pace to pass Jordan in about three weeks, or 284 shots from now.
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Jeff Green with the huge fast break throw-down on Marcus Morris (VIDEO)
This was a huge play from Boston’s Jeff Green late in Monday’s contest against Phoenix, stealing the ball and then going in for a monster and-1 fast break slam over Marcus Morris.
Green converted the free throw to put the Celtics up two with 57 seconds remaining, after they had trailed by as many as 14 points.
But the Suns proved to be too much. A beautiful play out of the timeout allowed Goran Dragic to get loose off a screen to convert a layup inside, and Eric Bledsoe came away with a steal and a fast break slam on the ensuing possession to put Phoenix up for good on the way to the 118-114 victory.
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