Kobe Bryant took 23 shots in 27 minutes last night (it was actually 27:59, but it makes the headline better), and he made 10 of them. He dropped 27 points in those minutes, and his Lakers lost by 33. While we’re pretty confident Kobe will humiliate Carlos Boozer in LA’s next practice, lets marvel at the Mamba’s possible return to a scoring apex he achieved during his 81-point-game season.
We’re dangerously close to beating a dead horse here, but the Lakers are going to stink this season and it has nothing to do with Kobe. The Mamba poured in 27 points last night on an unremarkable 43.7 percent shooting and 53.7 percent (7/13) from the charity stripe. With the Lakers so bad, it’s possible Kobe continues to seek out Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list, where it’s conceivable he passes MJ’s career total in Chicago this season.
The last time one of Kobe’s teams was this bad came during the infamous Smush Parker year, and we all know what a scoring fiend he became when he felt — which, retroactively speaking, feels justified — an open teammate had less of a chance to knock down a shot than he did while contested by a couple players.
Even though Kobe took 23 shots in 27:59 of game time, and Boozer was his next-closest teammate with 15 attempts, Bryant also led the team with four dimes; one of those assists was the pseudo no-look to Boozer before the Chicago transplant’s unfortunate muscle beach moment.
Kobe’s gonna be attacking all year, ESPN rank be damned. So keep your eyes open for some scoring bonanza’s before the season’s done.
(video via Basketball Orbit)
How many PPG will Kobe average this season?
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