Laker fans already got enough bad news earlier today. The verdict courtesy of Mr. MRI: Andrew Bynum is out for at least 2 months. But a loss at Seattle would have been devastating. Until Bynum went down the Lakers had been applauded for their depth and the fact that Kobe decided to start sharing the ball. Tonight shows that perhaps the majority of their success had to do with Bynum and the 13 and 10 he brought every night.
We should have seen this Kobe thing coming.
The Lakers barely pulled out a 123-121 overtime win in Seattle. And I mean barely. Kobe Bryant finished the game with 48 points after shooting 44 shots and attempting 7 free throws. Yikes, I thought the Kobe Show got cancelled when he stopped wanting to go to Chicago. (When I refer to the Kobe Show, I mean games where Kobe really just tries to take over. I mean…really) In my brain maybe he was trying to sabotage Durant’s career by saying ‘Hey, look you can win games just gunning’ but more than likely no.
(Speaking of Durant…tonight showed the obvious that he has a lot of learning to do. 6/26 on the night. He nailed a clutch three in regulation to tie it at 115, so just as you give him his props for the ice in his veins and see the flashes of brilliance…he makes it go kaput with his next decision. Tied at 115 with 21 seconds left and the ball…at home…Basketball 101 says take the last shot before the red lights come on. Kobe pressured Durant (who caught the ball almost immediately, I would blame PJ but if they had given it to Ridnour to dribble, I’m almost 99.9 percent sure Kobe would’ve denied KD with ease) who ended up shooting a fadeaway with 7 seconds left. Luckily Kobe got stripped by Earl Watson, but that could have been bad news.)
(One more, slightly quicker side-thought. Kobe hit the game winner with 4.3 seconds left, and I don’t want to disrespect MJ but Kobe looked so in control it was not even funny. I don’t know if you’ll be able to catch the full grasp on any sort of highlight, but Kobe treated Jeff Green as if he didn’t even exist. He dribbled back to half court, calmly looked at the clock for a couple seconds, then attacked left and pulled up. I’m not even sure the dictionary has all the words to describe just how easy he made it look.)
Back to the Lakers. It was common sense that the Lakers would have a rough time without Bynum. Honestly, if I were to simply type that out and pass that off as knowledge I should be banned from speaking of the game ever again. That’s up there with hometown announcers saying ‘(insert team’s name) really needs a bucket here’ as they try to get a game-winner. I mean the Lakers had it made. They finally had a low post threat, someone not named Shaq who was giving them double-doubles on a nightly basis. And he was young and homegrown. More importantly a big man who seemed to have gained Kobe’s respect and trust. I don’t know how he did it almost overnight, maybe he threatened to finally release pictures of that girl who accused him of rape. (How do I still not know what she looks like? Was she that ugly? Did David Stern have her beat up? Like Bill Cosby and Leonard Part 6, do we pretend she doesn’t exist? Just watching the Lakers play one could tell Kobe felt comfortable penetrating and dishing to Bynum or just throwing it into him in the post because he knew he could finish. Bynum’s the reason the Lakers killed the Suns. You think he’s going to dump it to Kwame Brown so he can bobble the ball, miss a layup, get blocked or get an offensive foul? Not so much. Tonight’s game against the Sonics gave some heavy insight into just how far reaching the loss of Bynum will be.
True the Lakers won the game but take a deeper look. Tonight against a Seattle team full of solid inside players but no elite post player (like pretty much every West team has), the Lakers got beat up. Seattle outrebounded the Lakers 55-45, including 14 offensive rebounds. Nick Collison had a field day inside (24 pts, 18 rebounds, 7 of those offensive), Kurt Thomas was right behind him (14 pts and 9 rebounds) and Chris Wilcox played only 17 minutes but managed to have 12 and 9 (3 offensive rebounds). More importantly than that, the Sonics actually attacked the rim/looked inside. The lack of Bynum’s shot blocking presence (1oth in the league with 2.1 a game) and the sight of Kwame and Turiaf in the paint will make opposing guards and post players smell blood. I mean honestly answer me this, who is afraid they cant finish over or against Brown or Ronny Turiaf? Not too many players in the NBA I’ll tell you that much.
On the other end of the floor…I’m not sure if tonight was Kobe trying to say “We’re going to be ok” and making it a one night thing, or he saw Odom/Walton struggling. No one knows the answer. Over the coming weeks it will be interesting to see if Kobe decides now is the time to takeover again. And not just take over, but start forcing shots. I will give the man credit for really playing a different came this year. The stats don’t lie: coming into tonight Kobe was averaging his lowest shots attempted per game (20.4) and points per game (27.0) since 2004-05. 44 shots if a tiny bit of an indication that we’re back to the Kobe Show for a couple months. Which if you’re a Laker fan you can deal with, but you should be slightly weary of.
Check this out. In this 07-08 season Kobe had only attempted 30+ field goals in one game: LA’s opening night loss at home to Houston, which if you remember was one of Kobe’s worst performances (when he was caught in between his competitveness and pulling something even VC couldn’t think of). Tonight was also only the second game this season where Kobe has scored 40+ points. The other? That same Houston game. Now wrap your brains around this.
Kobe attempted 30+ field goals 11 times last year. The Lakers went 5-6 in those games, although 4 of those wins came during that week in March when he was the greatest basketball player ever for like a week
24 times in 05-06…the Lakers went 12-12
Only 5 times in 04-05… but the Lakers went 1-4
If I was a Lakers fan I would be worried. History does not look as if it is by your side, Bynum won’t be having surgery and will be back before the playoffs start, but if tonight was a preview of what is to come…the future looks very much like .500 basketball as long as the Kobe Show is on. I’m not sure he’s going to be jacking up 30 shots a game (the Lakers shot 102 on the night) but just a perspective to follow. Especially since the Lakers were hitting a rough stretch on the calendar anyways. The Phoenix game on Thursday becomes much more interesting: do the Lakers look like they did on Christmas? Or do they regress to the same strategy that got them owned by Phoenix over the past few years. Only time will tell. At the end of the day he’s still the #2 best player on the planet, the Lakers are still 26-11 and I doubt that would be too unhappy to be like 40-25 when Bynum comes back. Just somethhing to wrap the brain around.