None of that matters to the Black Mamba.
Through all the turmoil and distractions, Kobe Bryant has been playing some of the best basketball of his career—not the fantasy basketball, huge-point-totals kind of “best,” but the kind of basketball that ensures his team will keep winning games.
The Lakers have won five of their last six contests, and despite being four games under .500, Los Angeles is the only team not currently in the playoff race with a positive point differential (+1.5). During that span of wins, Bryant hasn’t scored more than 21 points, failing to top 17 points four times.
Bryant hasn’t needed to score a lot of points for the Lakers to win. In fact, he has taken on the role teammate Steve Nash has had locked down for his entire career. He’s been a facilitator.
This tweet from ESPN Stats and Info highlights the exact reason for the Lakers’ recent success:
Bryant has scored more than 30,000 points in his career—a milestone he reached in December of this season (via ESPN). He’s always been one of the most prolific scorers in the league, and no one doubts his ability to take over a game. And maybe Bryant relished that role enough to have a hard time relinquishing it at times, but that seems to be ancient history now.
As the Lakers continue to deal with rumors of potential trades involving Pau Gasol (via ESPN) and Dwight Howard (via Yahoo Sports), pressure continues to build, and the expectation that they should be winning at a more furious pace is ever-present in Los Angeles. The toxic situation that has formed has made creating chemistry...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
