Kobe Bryant: Shades of a Young Mamba (video)

Kobe Bryant scored 39 points in the game against the Phoenix Suns.  He took 37 shots to get there.  There were times last night where he looked like his younger self.

Kobe Bryant took a high volume of shots.  It’s a miracle in itself that Kobe Bryant, at age 36, coming off of multiple injuries, is able to create that many shots.  He’s not necessarily asked to be the primary playmaker for the Lakers anymore. He is getting paid to score.

Watch the video.  These aren’t shots from the post area where he’s pounding the basketball.  The Laker team would otherwise stand there and watch.  These are shots created from catch-and-shoot situations, off-of-screens, and with very little ball-pounding.  In fact, there were a few shots that looked reminiscent of his 55 point game against Michael Jordan of the Washington Wizards.  He hit a few heat-check shots.  It started at the 0:53 mark.  The 1:00 mark is a mirror image of Kobe against Larry Hughes at the three-point corner.  Only this time, he missed.

Another quick-release shot occured at 1:53.  The best shot occured at the 3:06 mark. It’s a reverse layup taken straight out of a past Houston Rockets game.

Disappointingly, he shot 8 of 24 through the first three quarters, but shot his career percentage, 6 of 13 in the fourth quarter.  After the 5:30 mark of the video, it’s clear that its Mamba-time.  Not only did he hit a couple of mid-range jumpshots, but he took P.J. Tucker off-the-dribble to draw an And-1.  Another mid-range jumper and made three-point shot later, Kobe was out of gas.

He never really had his legs throughout the entire game.

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If there is a silver lining, it is the fact that the younger Kobe Bryant’s abilities are still clear in his mind.  He took guys off-the-dribble, hit contested shots, and took it to another level in the fourth quarter.  Slowly but surely, he is getting his legs under him, and it has only gotten better since the beginning of the preseason.

Yes, the loss to the Phoenix Suns stung a bit.  The game against the Golden State Warriors was close, but this win looked attainable.  While it ended in a loss, Laker fans can look to a better mid-season, knowing that Kobe can still step it up and take over a quarter if he needs to.

Just think, if a few foul calls went his way, we would be watching Kobe Bryant approach a 50-point game.

It’s only a matter of time before he reaches 50 points one more time.