Maybe he should start LetGasolShoot.com. That seems to work.

Kobe Bryant was relatively pleased after the Lakers loss to Orlando, saying that after a couple of sloppy efforts the Lakers really turned it on in this one and were just a couple of breaks away from the win.

Of course he thought that — he took all the shots down the stretch (too many with his toe on the line). As he did in Miami on Thursday. when the game gets close, the Lakers go into isolation for Kobe mode and a triangle just becomes something they try to teach kids about on Sesame Street.

Pau Gasol’s pretty sick of it. he wants the damn ball.

“We haven’t been playing with a good flow out there offensively and it takes a lot of people out of their rhythm,” Gasol said. “We need to figure out how to move the ball a lot more so there’s a flow out there, there’s a rhythm.”

When Gasol was pointedly asked if the offense was being bogged down by how many shots Bryant has been attempting. he answered, “I don’t know” at first, but then made the point…

“Kobe’s a great player,” Gasol said. “We have to find balance as a team, as a unit out there. Kobe’s a great player and he’s probably the best offensive player out there. We understand that … But at the same time, we need to find that balance and we need to find balance with our interior game developing, it a little more and using it a little more and moving the ball and changing sides more because, that’s the triangle, that’s what it does … We need to get focused on that a little more. to find that balance, to find that flow.”

Maybe you were expecting Drill Sergeant like yelling and frustration. Not going to happen. You need to be around the mild mannered, thoughtful Gasol for a while to know that is him pretty much yelling. and he knows he has to be careful about speaking out against Kobe on the Lakers, this is still his team. Messing with Kobe rarely ends well.

But Gasol has a point — Bryant took 16 shots in the fourth quarter against Orlando, Gasol just four. and three of those four came on putbacks off offensive rebounds.

Kobe Bryant is the best closer in the NBA, despite that fact the Lakers become easier to defend down the stretch of games because of all the isolation. when the Lakers did run plays, it was to get Kobe the ball coming off screens. there becomes little variety to what the Lakers do late, they just have the talent to get away with it.

There’s a myriad of issues slowing the Lakers offense down (Orlando’s defense was one of them) but not running the offense properly, not spacing the floor well, being able to get passes into the post, not cutting and moving without the ball, not hitting outside shots so that defenses can collapse on Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Getting Gasol some crunch-time touches doesn’t solve all of these issues. But it’s a start.

• Email
• Print
• Comments

‘); document.write(”); } else if ( show_gigya ) { document.write(’

‘); function showShareUI(){ var H = {APIKey:”2_B48MVBl19K9CQj72UVrAqLh7VSAyZDfMkclkt8foSSRaAbdWu36H_N3Ky_ERWhDG”, enabledProviders: “facebook,twitter”, cid:”ESPN.Story”}; var I = new gigya.services.socialize.UserAction(); var containerID = “gigyacontainer”; var D=”Test “; var a = {}; I.setUserMessage(”"); if (jQuery(”:header:first”).length > 0) { I.setTitle(jQuery(”.article”).find(”:header:first”).text()); } else { I.setTitle(decodeURIComponent(”McMenamin:%20Lakers%20are%20middle%20of%20the%20road”)); } I.setLinkBack(”sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/columns/story?id=4967547″); if (jQuery(”#videoInfo”).length > 0) { I.setDescription(jQuery(”.article p:not(div.beta-opt p):first”).text()); } else { I.setDescription(jQuery(”p:first”).text()); } if (jQuery(”.article .image, .headshot”).length > 0) { var theimage = (jQuery(”.article .image, .headshot”).find(”img”).attr(”src”)); I.addMediaItem( { type: ‘image’, src: theimage }); } a.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showShareUI(H,A); return false; } }By Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com
Archive

MIAMI — after the Heat’s 114-111 overtime win over the Lakers on Thursday, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team is dangerous because they aren’t “afraid of the moment.”

Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles locker room about 100 yards down the hall in the cavernous American Airlines Arena, Kobe Bryant basically said his team is suspect because it waits around for “the moment” to arrive instead of making it happen from the start of the game.

“We got to pick it up energy-wise,” Bryant said. “We’re so used to winning games at the end that we kind of coast and coast and coast as opposed to kind of turning it up the moment it’s there.”

In the first game of a ruthless road schedule that sends the Lakers away from Staples Center for 11 of their next 15 games, L.a. played well enough to win. Two late plays were crucial.

There was a no-call on a Bryant miss with 28.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter. “I’m sure he didn’t shoot an air ball,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “That’s unconscionable that that call can’t be made at that point in the game.”

Then there was a charge call on a Bryant drive with 18.7 seconds left in overtime. “Maybe it was a good play, maybe it wasn’t,” Bryant said. “I really don’t know.”

More on the Lakers

For more news, notes and analysis of the Lakers, check out the Land O’ Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky Brothers. Blog

But if the defending champion Lakers had played like the first-place team in the West from the tip, they wouldn’t have found themselves in a one-possession game with the eighth-place team from the East at the end.

“It’s disappointing that we aren’t setting a tone or establishing the way the game is going to be played from the beginning with a certain mindset, a certain toughness and a certain level of efficiency,” Derek Fisher said. “If we could do that at the beginning of the game and really let teams know how tough it’s going to be to win, I definitely think that would serve us much better.”

It is great to have clutch players on your roster, just like it’s great to know you have a fire extinguisher under your sink in case there’s a grease fire in the kitchen, but it’s never a good idea to start relying on the extinguisher instead of just minding what’s cooking on the range.

Bryant hit another one of those shots that only he hits, tying the game with a pull-up jumper from 12 feet out and 3.3 seconds left on the clock to force the OT, but if the Lakers had treated the Heat — a team in an inferior conference with 15 fewer wins — like a doormat instead of a sparring partner, they never would have had to leave the game to chance in the extra session.

“We let a team that we’re better than stay in the game in the first half on the road,” Ron Artest said. “We just have to come out and play hard for the whole game. & Unfortunately, I think we took this game lightly.”

In the Lakers’ last four games, they led Miami by just three at halftime, trailed Indiana by one at the end of the first quarter, trailed Denver by nine at halftime and trailed Philadelphia by one at halftime.

The last three of those games were at home, so L.a. was able to make up for the lack of early energy and consistent execution against the Pacers, Nuggets and Sixers by making a timely run in the second half and riding the hometown buoy of positive emotion all the way to the win column.

It’s not so easy on the road.

Pau Gasol was asked what he was interested in finding out about his team in its Finals rematch with Orlando that’s looming on Sunday, but he was concerned about the more macro issue of how the Lakers will perform against any team when they’re not wearing their home yellows or whites.

“I’m interested in seeing our team getting better and playing stronger on the road and being successful on the road,” Gasol said. “So far we’ve been pretty inconsistent.”

L.a. had the best road record in the league last season and started off 17-11 in away games this year before evening out to just 9-9 as the visiting team since Dec. 26.

After the Denver game, Gasol said he’d like the Lakers to be the aggressors and punish teams for even thinking they can play on the same court as them. Maybe they’ve spent too much time wearing their rings, seeing their championship banner hanging from the rafters or hearing TV and radio station identification tags in Los Angeles that constantly refer to them as the current titleholders.

Last June was nine months away. they need to start proving that they are still that team now and they will continue to be that team for at least the next four months.

Not a moment too soon.

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.

and for you kobe jockers that are gonna say fisher couldn’t win with out kobe …. Fisher lead the Jazz to 54 Wins and the Western Conference Finals w/o Kobe !

Fisher > Kobe

KOBE BRYANT SUCKS !

The Kiss Cam happened fairly early in the Lakers’ 122-99 victory Tuesday over the Indiana Pacers, but it was largely welcomed, particularly with how uninspiring the game started out.

The segment eventually locked in on Sophia Vergara and Ty Burrell, who were filming an episode of ABC’s “Modern Family.” the awkwardness between Burrell and Vergara wasn’t the case of the Kiss Cam locking in on either two people who don’t know each other or who don’t like each other. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant will also be part of the episode, as the crew filmed his cameo appearance after the game. and according to Bryant, let’s just say he’s not obsessing over his lines like he does over his game.

Of course, Bryant is no stranger to television. He’s appeared in shows such as “Sesame Street,” “Moesha,” “In the House” and “Sister, Sister.” So part of his wanting to wing it also may mean he already knows the drill.

Follow the L.a. Times Lakers blog on Twitter. E-mail the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com

Kobe Bryant to appear on ABC’s ‘Modern Family’

Kobe Bryant is one of the most unstoppable basketball forces to have ever graced the hardwood floor, and along with his killer instinct and fierce competitive nature, has earned mention among the NBA’s best ever. you probably know that already, but a far better determinant of how good Kobe Bryant will perform tonight against the Charlotte Bobcats can be evaluated by taking a look at Kobe Bryant’s stats so far in the 2009-2010 NBA season.

Kobe Bryant vs Bobcats

Kobe Bryant has played 56 games this season, starting 56 of them. He’s averaging a solid 38.6 minutes per game, giving him a rank of 3 among shooting guards and 11 among all players in the NBA.

If we look at scoring averages, Kobe Bryant is one of the best at his position and when compared to the rest of the league he is among the NBA elite with his 27.4 points per game. but how efficiently he is shooting the ball also needs to be considered. Kobe Bryant is shooting at a respectable percentage when compared to other shooting guards with his 0.458 accuracy from the field – when we look at it league-wide he can be considered to be not taking the most efficient shots. as for freethrow percentage, Kobe Bryant is shooting at a 0.825 rate, giving him a rank of 97 in the league. as for 3 point % rank among shooting guards, Kobe Bryant is in 45 place with a 0.32 mark from beyond the arc.

In other areas, Kobe Bryant is also performing respectively. He is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game, and 4.8 assists per game – giving him NBA ranks of 84 and 32 respectively. on the defensive hand, Kobe Bryant is responsible for 1.73 steals (ranked 3 among shooting guards) and 0.3 blocks per game (ranked 22 among shooting guards).

Other notable Kobe Bryant stats: 3 turnovers per game (ranked 13 highest in the NBA), 2.5 fouls per game, and 11 technicals. when all is said and done, we can clearly see that Kobe Bryant deserves his spot as one of the premier shooting guards in the NBA with a fine statistical 09-10 NBA season.

Let’s see how Kobe Bryant performs vs the Bobcats tonight.

Tags: kobe bryant, kobe bryant dunks, kobe bryant highlights, kobe bryant news, kobe bryant statistics, kobe bryant stats, kobe stats

Kobe Bryant and Justin Bieber for the singer’s birthday

What’s a normal 16 years old boy’s biggest interest? Girls would hope the answer is:”girls” (of any age), but that is not true. The right answer is: “cars”! And because Justin Bieber is (despite his huge fame) a normal boy, now that he turned 16, he wants a drive licence and a car of his own.
Last month he was seen driving around Miami in Sean Kingston’s Ferrari F430 sportscar. “I think I want a Range Rover”, Bieber told People. he also confirmed that Diddy promised him to offer him a car. “He said when I turn 16 he was going to give me his Lamborghini. But we all know Diddy’s not gonna give me his Lamborghini. He’s all talk”, Bieber joked.