Hog season?

I was ready to buy the narrative that held Kobe Bryant has morphed into a savvy veteran eager to share the ball and the spotlight with his teammates -- until I saw his ball-hog act in the Lakers’ first five possessions of the Jan. 22 game against Washington, the night after Andrew Bynum’s breakout 42-point game against the Clippers.

Bynum couldn’t get a sniff of the ball. Shades of Kobe’s behavior with Shaquille O’Neal through much of the 2004 NBA Finals, when he played as if he would rather lose than let Shaq get a fourth Finals MVP by dominating Pistons center Ben Wallace.

This could be Shaq-Kobe in reverse, with Bynum the rising star and Kobe the superstar in slow descent. What did Lakers fans do to deserve such a perverse encore?

C.B. Reed

Rancho Penasquitos

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The Lakers did not lose to the Charlotte Bobcats because Kobe Bryant fouled out. The game was lost because while scoring eight out of the Lakers’ 10 points in the first overtime, Kobe’s ball-hogging took his team out of its offensive rhythm.

Is Kobe the best one-on-one player ever? Absolutely. Most spectacular? Definitely. Best team basketball player? Hardly.

Richard Raffalow

Valley Glen

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If Phil Jackson is the best coach of this generation, how do we characterize Larry Brown, who continues to take a bunch no-names and beat superstar-laden Jackson teams?

In the 2001 NBA Finals, even though they lost the series, Brown’s 76ers gave Phil and his Lakers a run for their money. In the 2004 Finals, Larry embarrassed Phil with his four Hall of Famers. Now with the Bobcats, Larry just high-stepped out of Staples Center with a win.

If this keeps up, David Stern is going to invoke the mercy rule to protect Phil.

Willis Barton

Los Angeles

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I am confused by the NBA experts who say that a team’s win-loss record should be a significant factor in choosing the members of the All-Star team. I thought the league already had an event that rewards team success. It is called the playoffs.

Maury D. B’enemie

Studio City