Essentials
- Teams: Los Angeles Lakers (4-13) at Detroit Pistons (3-14)
- Date: December 2
- Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Television: FSD
Get in the Game
The Los Angeles Lakers are evolving before our very eyes, a fact that will make tonight’s contest against the Detroit Pistons all the more intriguing given the teams’ respective records.
Detroit and L.A. are nearly identical in terms of wins and losses, which likely stems from the fact that both lay out the red carpet defensively for opponents. The Lakers rank in the basement of the defensive rankings, and the Pistons aren’t too far out, barely missing the league’s bottom third.
The place where these teams are different is on offense, where the Purple and Gold are only a hair away from making the league’s top 10, and the Pistons are near the bottom of the Association. Los Angeles puts up points, thanks in part to league-leading scorer Kobe Bryant (26.6 points per game).
Interestingly enough, L.A. has begun to alter its identity as a result of a change of focus from Kobe.
Bryant’s been firing away with impunity so far this season, and it’s led to some bad shooting nights. Sure, he’s leading the NBA in points per game, but Kobe is only making 39.2 percent of his shots going into tonight’s game in Detroit.
There were already articles floating around outlining how detrimental (subscription required) Kobe was to the Lakers, but he’s been historically good at shrugging off criticism. However, things took a slight twist after a November 26 contest against the Denver Nuggets.
After scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting in the first three quarters, Bryant torpedoed L.A.’s chances of winning the contest by going 3-of-11 in the decisive period. The Lakers added a defeat in the loss column, and it prompted teammates to speak out.
“Kobe is going to be Kobe, but somehow we’ve gotta find a way to put that ball in the hole with somebody else,” said Lakers guard Nick Young, per ESPNLA’s Baxter Holmes.
Granted, Young is also the same guy who offered this:
The definition of "swag," according to @NickSwagyPYoung: "I leave a presence. I'm like Michael Jackson, Prince, all those other guys."
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) November 20, 2014
Thus, one could certainly understand if Swaggy P.’s comments were to be taken with a few grains of salt. However, Jeremy Lin echoed similar concerns with Holmes:
“He’s a tough shot-taker and a tough shot-maker and he’s a superstar and sometimes you’ve got to give him that freedom to go and be who he is and do what he does — and sometimes you’ve got to find a way to keep the flow and stuff.”
Lin and Young’s words weren’t damning, but they did make it quite clear that Kobe should share the ball a little more. Lo and behold, that’s exactly what he’s done since.
Bryant has stopped forcing shots and has instead looked more for his teammates in the three games since the defeat versus Denver. With a little more help from his teammates, Bryant’s looked like a more complete and efficient player.
NBA.com tells us that Kobe is averaging 26.3 points and 6.3 assists on 45.6 percent shooting since his teammates spoke out. More importantly, the Lakers offense is scoring 113.2 points per 100 possessions during that stretch, a figure that is barely inferior to the league-leading Dallas Mavericks (113.8 points per 100 possessions).
It’s worth noting, Bryant has had stretches like these before in his career, and then he’s inevitably resorted back to his old tricks. It’s fair to say that at age 36, he’s far too set in his ways to change. It’s now only a matter of time before Kobe goes back to chucking up shots.
Will that be tonight?
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