Written by: Steve Buerge
When you have a superstar at the level of Kobe Bryant, inevitably his performance has a huge impact on most games. He can be the dominant force willing the Lakers to a victory or he can come up short of his usual performance and the result is usually a disappointing loss.
There has been endless discussion over Kobe’s career regarding his style of play. One game he’s “the facilitator,” the next he’s “the scorer,” the next he’s a “ball hog” and then he’s “the savior” as he drops in a game winning shot. For many Lakers fans it seems that if he could just settle into being “the TEAMmate” the Lakers would never lose.
Some have said that being “The Teammate” doesn’t work if the rest of the team doesn’t show up. This is very true, but to me the key definition of a superstar is making your teammates better. And Kobe has become better and better at this over the years, and especially over these past two championship years. When Kobe is “The Teammate” he can bring out the “Black Mamba” just when they need him to strike, or finish off a wounded opponent while still keeping his teammates involved and actually energizing them to greater feats.
In a game like Sunday’s game against the Celtics, I’ve heard some say that the Lakers “Bigs” let the team down (Lakers were out-rebounded 43-30), or that the Lakers defense disappeared at times (Celtics shot over 60%). Sure Kobe scored 41 points in 38 minutes. And some of those shots were certainly amazing. He was the high scorer with reserve forward Lamar Odom a distant second with 15. No other Lakers starter had more than 12. This is very unbalanced scoring and has proven over the years not to be the recipe for a victory against a top tier team like the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics.
Next: Black Mamba vs. Black Hole
In my watching the game, I saw two different Kobe Bryant’s at different times. Both scored and worked relentlessly, but when the team gets left out, the “Black Mamba” becomes the “Black Hole”. This was very well portrayed in two different critical stretches of Sunday’s game.
In the second quarter the “Black Mamba” started to strike. The Wikipedia description of “Black Mamba” includes, “the black mamba will strike repeatedly, injecting large amounts of venom and is the fastest snake in the world.” After the Lakers fell behind by 9 (40-31) they clearly needed something extra. Kobe then made a jump shot, followed a minute later by a layup and a foul, and then after a Fisher layup and foul Bryant got a big offensive rebound and a nice jumper to pull the Lakers to within 1. Kobe’s next shot was a three that gave the Lakers the lead.
During that stretch he shot 6 for 8. But note also that the comeback included Gasol and Fisher also scoring, and Artest and Bynum each had a shot. Everyone was involved. The Lakers’ “Black Mamba” is deadly when he is part of the team.
Let’s look at the fourth quarter where Kobe again tried to bring out the “Black Mamba”, but instead we got the “Black Hole.” Wikipedia describes a “Black Hole” this way, “A black hole is a region of space from which nothing, not even light, can escape.” When the ball goes in, it never comes out. The Lakers found themselves down by 9 (89-80) with 7:14 left. For the next 11, yes ELEVEN trips down the court every time Kobe got the ball he went into isolation mode and tried to make an amazing move to score. He was 5 for 10 with a turnover.
With 1:44 left Gasol tried to tip in a Kobe miss, the first shot attempt by any Laker other than Kobe in 6.5 minutes and 11 possessions. The “Black Hole” had struck and sucked the life out of the rest of the Lakers, and eliminated the chance for victory against a very team oriented group of Celtics.
Next: What the Lakers Need From Kobe
Granted, some of those shots down that stretch were amazing, some of the younger, very athletic, “wow, how did he do that” moves flashed as he tried to carry the team to the finish line. But against a good team it always falls short. It always has, and always will because one can’t beat five (unless that five is the Toronto Raptors).
As amazing as Kobe can be during those stretches he also is putting his teammates in stand-around mode. They’re not involved and they know they won’t get the ball so they don’t cut, and they don’t even try to rebound. All they try to do is give Kobe space to do his thing and then watch. I think it even effects their defense because they get too relaxed rather than being aggressive and working hard, and you can’t play NBA defense unless you’re working hard.
During many games there are times where it looks like Kobe might morph into the “Black Hole” but for the most part he’s gotten much better at bringing the “Mamba” instead. And I’m not even sure if it is always his fault. He wants to win so badly and sometimes you wonder if his teammates want it bad enough and are willing to work hard enough to contribute to a winning effort. So maybe they just fade away creating a “Hole” for Kobe. But, as the leader, Kobe has to resist the urge to go too far and instead force his teammates to stay involved, stay working, stay cutting, rebounding, and shooting.
There were times at the beginning of this year when the Lakers were playing so well together as a team that they looked unbeatable. Cutting and passing, getting layups, dunks and alley oops, wide open threes and hitting on every cylinder and with all five guys on the floor involved. This is when they look like champions. They have very talented players at every position, and when all five are involved a three-peat is well within their grasp. But every time we see the “Black Hole” the light at the end of the tunnel gets very dark.