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Kobe Bryant Archives January 2008
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Kobe Bryant Archives
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January 2008
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KOBE BRYANT POWERS OVER THE KNICKS WITH HELP FROM LAKERS
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January 30, 2008
- Kobe Bryant had 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists and Lamar Odom added 22 points and 12 rebounds, but it was Vujacic who provided the Lakers what they needed down the stretch. "He's continued to work hard. He's been diligent at it,'' Bryant said. "It seems his time has come.''
Then, Bryant added with a smile: "He was a 12:30 guy for a while.'' Bryant referred to Vujacic's difficulty carrying over his accurate shooting in practice to when it counted at night in the games.
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"He can make shots,'' said Derek Fisher, who scored 17 points. "Even when he's struggled making shots, everybody knows that's his strength. It was great seeing him make shots. He had an impact at the defensive end as well.'' The Lakers trailed 100-91 when Vujacic made a pair of 3-pointers
to get them going. A jumper by Bryant with 5:07 left snapped a 104-all tie and put Los Angeles (28-15) ahead for good. Zach Randolph's basket with 3:10 left drew the Knicks within two points before the Lakers scored the next 10 points to clinch the victory.
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Eddy Curry was limited to 10 1/2 first-half minutes because of foul trouble, and picked up his fifth just 71 seconds into the third quarter. A frustrated Bryant picked up a technical foul shortly thereafter, and Crawford's foul shot gave the Knicks a 66-60 lead. That seemed to get Bryant
going. He had only four points at that stage, but scored 11 during the remainder of the third quarter, which ended with the Knicks on top 87-85. - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT LOSES THE FACE OFF AGAINST LEBRON JAMES
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January 28, 2008
- LeBron James won his personal matchup with Kobe Bryant in a duel of the NBA's leading scorers, tallying 14 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Los Angeles 98-95 Sunday for their fifth straight win over the Lakers. After James' two free throws with
nine seconds to play gave Cleveland a three-point lead, the Lakers took a timeout to formulate strategy. The Cavaliers, of course, focused their defense on Bryant.
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"That's really what you want. You want to not allow Kobe to get a clean look from the start of the play, make those guys make a couple passes, which we did, and not let them get a clean look,'' Cleveland's Larry Hughes said. "Nobody wanted to shoot it.'' "We ran our last-second play,
I was hoping to get the shot off,'' said Walton, who shot 4-for-8 for nine points and also had five rebounds, five assists and four steals. "I kind of fumbled the ball a little bit, wasn't aware the clock was as low as it was, and as soon as I passed it back to Kobe, I realized that
that was a mistake, and unfortunately it cost us big.''
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Bryant scored nine of his 33 points in the final period, and also had 12 rebounds and six assists, but it wouldn't be enough to keep the Lakers from losing their third straight to match their longest losing streak of the season. "It was designed for me to come up from the top of the
floor and get a good look at a 3,'' Bryant said regarding the last play. "We had to run a dribble weave in that situation and they both came with me, so I kicked it out. I don't know if he had a clear look at the basket. I think they rotated to him pretty quickly. There's always other
options.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT COULDN'T MATERIALIZE A WIN FOR THE LAKERS
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January 27, 2008
- Kobe Bryant was coming off a third quarter to forget. He made one shot. He went down hard on consecutive plays, and on the second one of those he was called for a foul. The fourth quarter opened with a backup center failing to get him the ball on a handoff. Then his bad night
got better, he got back into a groove, and the Dallas Mavericks had to hold off Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Bryant scored 16 points in the final period -- including the Lakers' final 10 -- but it was only enough to make things interesting against Dallas. Despite Bryant's 40 points, the Mavs beat the Lakers 112-105 Friday night for their 10th win in 12 games. "We did a great job of battling
back and actually having an opportunity to do some damage there,'' Bryant said. "It just never materialized for us.''
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After Bryant got Los Angeles within five points in the final minutes, Harris made a layup off a wraparound pass to Erick Dampier that bounced off the center and ricocheted back to the point guard. Harris also had a three-point play off a tough driving bank shot from the right wing and
set up Jason Terry for a victory-sealing 3-pointer. "They cut (the lead) but we stayed aggressive at the end and finished it off,'' said Harris, who had 18 points. - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT COULDN'T HOLD ON TO A 3RD QUARTER LEAD
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January 24, 2008
- Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Ronny Turiaf scored 14 points. Sasha Vujacic and Lamar Odom added 11 points apiece. The Lakers still beat the Spurs off the glass (48-35) and in the paint (44-30), but they had a costly 22 turnovers -- Bryant
had nine of those -- to give up 27 points. "I'm not going to fault Kobe at all. He had the turnovers; they were credited to him. But it was other things that went on there,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
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With his team down nine points at halftime, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went with an intellectual, rather than emotional, appeal on Wednesday night. "'You have to participate in your recovery,''' recounted guard Brent Barry. "I think that stuck with us. When things
aren't going well, and you're not playing well, you can't sulk.'' Something in Popovich's address must have clicked for the Spurs, because their second half against the Los Angeles Lakers looked a lot better than their first in a 103-91 win.
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"They knock down two big 3s that gave them a cushion that they were able to play from the rest of the game,'' Bryant said. "Tonight is a good lesson for us in terms of how quickly momentum can change. ... We did OK outside of those last minutes in the third quarter when they got
a cushion. I thought we played hard.'' Jackson said the burst "really took the wind out of our sails.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT GETS AN IMPORTANT WIN AGAINST THE NUGGETS
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January 23, 2008
- A year ago at this time, the Los Angeles Lakers were flying high after a 100-96 victory over the Spurs at San Antonio, raising their record to 26-13. That's when a series of injuries and other misfortunes contributed to a slide in which the Lakers lost 27 of their
last 43 regular-season games before being eliminated 4-1 by Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs. While the timing of significant injuries to Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza in a week's time and a difficult upcoming schedule might be a cause for deja vu, the Lakers
are determined to avoid a similar collapse this season.
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That being the case, they considered a decisive 116-99 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night a most important win. "Absolutely. You have Andrew go down, you have Trevor go down, you get that vibe that, 'Here we go again,''' said Kobe Bryant, who had 17 points and
a season-high 11 assists. "This was a win we really needed to get some momentum back going on the road,'' said Derek Fisher, who shot 10-for-16 including 6-for-7 from 3-point range in scoring a season-high 28 points -- one off his career high.
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Jordan Farmar scored 19 points and Lamar Odom added 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers (27-12), who outscored the Nuggets 31-8 to finish the third period and start the fourth to take a 108-87 lead. "It's a good win for us,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
"We just can't make too much out of anything and stay really close into what we're trying to do -- try to force every game to be an opportunity to win, don't give anything away. We know we're going to have to work hard to get some wins.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH TO PASS THE SUNS
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January 18, 2008
- Many fans booed Brown every time he touched the ball for several minutes before he came out for good after committing his fifth foul with 3:50 left in the third period. He had eight points and six rebounds. "I thought it was terrible,'' said Kobe Bryant, who
led the Lakers with 30 points and seven rebounds. "If they want to do that, they can stay home. He's going to be our guy here for two months. He's going to do fine, he's going to play well the next game.
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"Kwame's sensitive. You boo him, it's going to affect him. I told him I've got his back.'' Other teammates were upset as well. "That's tough for anybody. For a guy who wants to play the right way, it's even tougher,'' said Lamar Odom, who had 19 points and matched his
career high with 19 rebounds. "We all stand behind him, we have faith in him,'' said Jordan Farmar, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter. "That's just not right. If you're a Laker fan, you should support your team through the good, the bad, the ugly.''
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With Bryant on the bench, Sasha Vujacic scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and Odom added a basket to cut Phoenix's lead to 79-71. But that was as close as the Lakers would get until the final minute. It was 89-80 when Barbosa made a layup and Bell added
a 3-pointer, giving the Suns a 14-point lead with 4:44 left. Odom made two free throws with 46 1/2 seconds remaining to cut Phoenix's lead to 102-96, but a jumper by Diaw as the shot clock ran down clinched the victory.
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KOBE BRYANT SCORES A SEASON-HIGH 48 POINTS IN WIN VS SONICS
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January 15, 2008
- They hope it doesn't take 48 points and an overtime game-winner from Kobe Bryant every night to survive for the next eight weeks without Bynum. Bryant capped his season-best offensive outburst by swishing an 18-footer with 4.3 seconds left in overtime to help
the Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics 123-121 on Monday night.
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"This is a tough one,'' a tired-looking Bryant said. "Tonight was one of those nights where I kind of had to read the mood of the team. Us kind of being a little deflated with (Bynum) going down, being a back-to-back, coming in on the road, it was one of those
things where I just kind of wanted to be a lot more assertive.'' How assertive? Bryant scored the final six points of overtime. He took 44 shots, just three off his career high of 47.
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Before the game, Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said he wouldn't mind if Bryant went off just as long as he was forced to take a lot of shots. Carlesimo just didn't count on Bryant making nearly half of his attempts, making 21 field goals.
It was Bryant's 87th career 40-point game, one behind Elgin Baylor for third all-time in league history. - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT TAKES OVER THE GAME AFTER BYNUM IS INJURED
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January 14, 2008
- Kobe Bryant scored 37 points, and Kwame Brown made a foul shot with 9.2 seconds remaining as the Lakers extended their winning streak to six, their longest since they won 11 straight late in the 2003-04 season before going on to reach the NBA finals.
They haven't won a playoff series since that time. Andrew Bynum, a key factor in the team's ascent to elite status at this stage of the season, sprained his left knee early in the third quarter of Sunday night's 100-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies,
and will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.
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"It's unfortunate. It's part of the game,'' Bryant said. "It happens to all of us. It's going to change our rhythm up a lot. The next couple games or a week or so might be a little shaky. That's good that he's walking. The important thing is to stay on top of it.''
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The 20-year-old center expressed the opinion as he left Staples Center following the game that his injury isn't serious, but perhaps that's simply wishful thinking. "I feel all right,'' he said, walking under his own power, although limping slightly, with a brace on
his left leg while personal trainer Sean Zarzana carried a pair of crutches. "It's on the top of the kneecap, and a little on the right,'' Bynum said. "I was pretty scared. But the X-rays were negative. I never heard a pop. Just when I bend it, it hurts. I'm feeling
fine, it's not as bad as I thought. I put ice on it, and it felt better right away.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT SCORES 37 POINTS IN A WIN OVER THE BUCKS
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January 13, 2008
- Kobe Bryant scored 16 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter despite a viral upper respiratory infection, Andrew Bynum had 25 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 110-105 Friday night
for their season-high fifth straight victory. Bryant's under-the-weather performance wasn't quite as over-the-top or as significant as Michael Jordan's in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals against the Utah Jazz, when the flu-ridden Jordan got
out of a sick bed to shoot 13-for-27 and score 38 points in 44 minutes to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 90-88 win. But it was impressive nonetheless.
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Bryant shot 12-for-25 in 37 minutes and made five 3-pointers, leaving him one trey shy of 1,000 for his career. He also had seven assists and five rebounds and converted all eight free throws. Bryant played the entire first quarter, scoring
his first 16 points during the final 4:34 of the period before taking a breather early in the second. His first three baskets came on 3-point shots during a 62-second span, and he capped that scoring binge by flying under the basket past 7-foot
center Andrew Bogut and making a reverse layup.
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During every rest period on the bench, Bryant wore a towel over his head to keep the chill from the refrigerated hockey rink underneath the court at a minimum - while his healthy teammates managed to maintain their slim lead though the rest of the
first half. Bryant sat out the final 3 minutes of the half after picking up his third foul. He got his fourth with 10:39 left in the third quarter and the Lakers ahead 56-50, but the Bucks trailed the rest of the way. Bryant capped the rally with a
14-foot turnaround jumper, and Milwaukee got no closer than the final outcome. - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT FEELS THAT HIS ROLE AS A LAKER HAS CHANGED
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January 10, 2008
- Kobe Bryant appears to be getting comfortable with the idea that he doesn't even need to score 20 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers win. Bryant scored 19 points, Andrew Bynum added 17 and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth
straight game, 109-80 over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.
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"My role now has changed,'' said Bryant, whose scoring average is down from 31.6 points per game last season to 26.4 through 34 games this season. "I'm not the guy who has to go out and score 35-something points. They come to me to get
buckets when we need a little boost here and there and that's as it should be.''
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Los Angeles' reserves outscored the Hornets' bench 42-9. The Lakers also outrebounded New Orleans 45-40. "We're doing a great job getting the spacing, knocking down shots and making teams pay,'' Bryant said.
"We just come out and play with a lot of energy. We moved the ball very well and it's tough for teams to match up with and to guard because everybody's moving.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT & DEREK FISHER TEAM UP TO BEAT GRIZZLIES
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January 9, 2008
- Kobe Bryant glanced at the stat sheet and claimed there was a mistake. Derek Fisher scored 26 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 117-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, making 10 of 11 shots from the field. Or so
the stats read. "He was actually 10-for-10,'' Bryant said. "They need to take away that one miss they gave him. That was a lob to Andrew (Bynum). It wasn't a shot.''
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Bryant added 25 points in the Lakers' 13th win in 16 games. The have won six of their last eight road games. The 26 points were Fisher's highest total since he scored 27 against San Antonio nearly two seasons ago. "That was a great show
by Derek,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He was terrific.''
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As good as Fisher was, the Grizzlies thought the credit belonged to Bryant. "Fisher is a good shooter, but Kobe creates a lot of that,'' Miller said.
"(Bryant) is a great basketball player. He demands a lot of attention. And when you demand a lot of attention, a lot of guys get open shots.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT & ANDREW BYNUM LEAD THEIR TEAM TO VICTORY
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January 7, 2008
- Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, his fellow Los Angeles starters all scored in double figures, and the Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers 112-96 on Sunday night for their 12th win in 15 games. Leading 90-72, the Lakers began the fourth
quarter with four reserves and Lamar Odom on the floor. Odom came out with 8:55 to play, and Jackson hoped to play his backups the rest of the way.
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But the Pacers went on a 13-2 run to start the final period, trimming the Lakers' lead to 92-85 with 6:16 remaining. Jackson took a timeout to put his starters back in the game, and the move paid off. Bryant made two jumpers and
Derek Fisher added three 3-pointers during a 16-0 spurt that clinched the victory. "We play quite a few games here,'' Jackson said. "My outlook is if I can rest some guys, the more the better. Both of my guards (Bryant and Fisher)
have put a lot of miles in during their careers.''
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Bryant said it was important for the Lakers to regain the momentum when the starters returned to the game. "That's my responsibility with this team and I was able to deliver it tonight,'' he said.
"It's more important for us to understand that we took a blow from them -- but I'm going to go out there and throw an uppercut and let them know that this is our game.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT IS CONTENT LETTING HIS TEAMMATES SHINE
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January 5, 2008
- The Los Angeles Lakers didn't make all their shots. It just seemed that way. The Lakers recorded their best shooting percentage in more than 23 years when they went 47-of-72 from the floor (66.2 percent) Friday night in a
124-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. On Nov. 11, 1984, the Lakers shot 67.8 percent in a 130-108 victory over Houston.
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"I enjoy these games because it helps build momentum,'' Kobe Bryant said. Los Angeles' accurate shooting was tops in NBA this season. Dallas shot 65.2 percent in a 21-point victory over Sacramento on Nov. 3. Andrew Bynum dominated
inside with 17 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Lakers, going 6-of-8 from the field. Rookie Javaris Crittenton came off the bench to score a career-best 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Derek Fisher went
7-of-12 for 17 points, and reserve Jordan Farmar was 7-of-10 for 16 points.
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"Putting the ball in their hands, particularly Bynum on the offensive end, the way he scored at will. I think they shot 30-plus layups, and anytime we give up 30-plus layups, we're going to be in trouble.''
Iguodala complimented Bynum's performance, saying, "He scored in a variety of ways in the post - left shoulder, right shoulder. He showed a lot of potential tonight.'' - NBA.com
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KOBE BRYANT ISN'T ENOUGH AGAINST THE BOSTON CELTICS
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January 1, 2008
- Kobe Bryant scored 22 for Los Angeles, going just 6-of-25 from the floor. Lamar Odom had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Pierce scored 33 points and Kevin Garnett had 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists Sunday night to lead the
Boston Celtics to a 110-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it. Each time the Lakers threatened, the Celtics would pull away again.
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The victory in the final of two meetings between the teams this season ran Boston's NBA-best record to 26-3 and extended its winning streak to six straight. It also ended a four-game winning streak by the Lakers, who still have
won 10 of their last 13. The Celtics prevented Lakers coach Phil Jackson from moving ahead of Boston Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach on the career wins ladder. Jackson remained tied with Auerbach for seventh on the all-time list
with 938 victories. Ray Allen added 19 points for Boston and Tony Allen, filling in for Rajon Rondo, had 16.
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There obviously was a lot of emotion during the game -- and a lot of jawing at the referees, who called seven technical fouls over the course of the game: on the Celtics' Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Ray Allen and coach Doc Rivers;
and the Lakers' Bryant, Trevor Ariza and Kwame Brown. Odom also was called for a flagrant foul late in the game, with Ray Allen drawing his technical on the same play. Garnett left the game briefly in the second quarter to get two
stitches above his right eye.
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Los Angeles, which trailed by double digits much of the game, narrowed the gap to 72-66 with 3:17 left in the third quarter, but Pierce scored 10 points in a row to give the Celtics an 82-66 lead at the end of the period. Boston was
up 53-45 at halftime, with Los Angeles narrowing the gap after falling behind by 17, at 45-28, early in the second quarter. Pierce had 16 points for the Celtics and Bryant 16 for the Lakers at the break. Bryant made just three of his
15 shots from the floor, but 10 of 11 from the free throw line. - NBA.com
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