Game Recap: 3 Thoughts On Suns Defeating Lakers 112-106
By Blair Hicks
1. Kobe Bryant is doing way too much – and that’s a good sign over the long haul this season!
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Kobe Bryant took a whopping 37 shots tonight in a losing effort, finishing 14-37 overall. Carlos Boozer was next with 13 attempts. Jeremy Lin only had 8 shots. For those that love to hate Bryant and assign a perceived bullying nature to Bryant’s on-court behavior toward lesser players, tonight is their Zapruder film.
He chased the ball all night, at times disrupting Lin to the point of distraction. He took good shots, ill-advised shots, and unnecessary shots. If you want to blame the Lakers 0-5 start on Bryant and his gunning, the stat sheet would be your ally. But you would be wrong.
Bryant’s excessive shooting is emblematic of him being engaged with this team and playing to win. Right now 37 shots from Bryant is better than 17 shots coming from anyone else on the roster.
Its also an indictment of a starting unit that is not a good match for Bryant. All four of the Lakers other starters are either deferring to Bryant too much or struggling with their offense. This empowers him to dominate the ball even more.
Long time Lakers fans have seen Bryant be obviously passive on a struggling team and they’ve seen the domineering Bryant trying to will the team to victory. The domineering Bryant always gave way to teammates that began to assert themselves and be decisive away from him. He has openly challenged Lin to stand up to him and to assert himself in the offense. This will continue until Nick Young returns and the Lakers offense will gain equilibrium.