Against the Memphis Grizzlies Monday, when Kobe Bryant took 28 shots on his way to becoming the Lakers all-time leading scorer, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum combined to get just 10 shots. The Lakers lost.
And after the game, the usually polite Pau Gasol said about the most aggravated thing he said all season.
Gasol was asked about Bryant’s new record and offered politically correct – and believably authentic – commentary (“I’m proud of him; I congratulate him”) before adding the kicker: “Now we can focus on winning games again.”
Phil Jackson said basically the same thing.
"At halftime, we said, 'Get Kobe the ball quickly so we can get over that record and we can move ahead.' "
The Lakers offense this season is not what it was. Last season the Lakers had the best offense in the Association and won games simply by knowing other teams couldn’t stop them. When they bothered to play defense, it was good enough to win a title.
This season, the Lakers offense is just above average (it’s the defense that has them with the best record in the West). And suddenly Kobe — who has gone on a recent spurt of shooting a lot — is getting a lot of blame for that.
But that blame is misplaced. Kobe is just being Kobe — he is taking almost the exact same amount of shots per game this year as last. His overall shooting percentage is about the same on the season. 46.3% to 46.7% (although he is not shooting as well from three). Gasol and Jackson's comments came after a Memphis game when Kobe shot 57%. He is the same Kobe he always has been — when he sees his team struggling he tries to take on more and will them to victory.
And lately he has had to take on more because the Lakers offense has become stagnant, and at times looks like a 1990s isolation-offense replay on ESPN Classic. Jackson’s beloved triangle offense is based on player and ball movement, but current players like Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest and Jordan Farmar (and yes, Kobe) love to take on players one-on-one. Gasol may be the only willing passer out there. The result is that when one player gets the ball — not just Kobe but almost any Laker — there is a lot of standing around and spectating. Then the offense bogs down and is easier to defend. Then Lakers struggle, so Kobe tries to step in and rescue them. And he takes more shots.
If Gasol and Jackson want less Kobe, then they need to get their teammates moving, making plays and hitting their shots. Because Kobe has won a lot of games for the Lakers by just taking over. If you don’t want Kobe to take over the game, make more plays yourself.
