Kobe Bryant wonders, ‘Maybe I’m being too aggressive’

Kobe Bryant’s 44 points against the Golden State Warriors (8-2) on Sunday night was just a drop in a losing bucket.

The Lakers (1-9) didn’t come close to matching the Warriors’ 136 points, falling short by 21.

“It gets to a point where you can’t make excuses,” Bryant said after the loss. “You can’t look at everybody else and point the finger. You have to look at yourself first.”

Bryant said he trusts his teammates and would prefer them to take bigger roles in the offense.

“I’m more than willing to sit back. If you think I want to shoot as many times or as be as aggressive at 36 years old, you’re freaking crazy,” he said.

Bryant likened watching his team fall behind to observing a thief fleeing the scene of the crime.

“When a purse gets stolen in front of you, how many blocks are you going to let the guy run?” he asked.

“Maybe I’m being too aggressive. Maybe I’ve got to let the person run a couple more blocks and let the authorities come. Those are things that I have to evaluate.

“It’s easy to look at everybody else. I’ll look at myself and see if there are other things I can do to keep guys involved and get them better opportunities, and things of that nature -- and hopefully everybody’s doing the same thing.”

The Lakers would like greater team balance but given how poorly the team has played defensively, scoring is far from their primary issue.

“When you’re down 10 or 12 points in the hole, I’ve got to try to keep us in the ballgame at some point,” Bryant said. “The responsibility is on me. When things go good, it’s us -- things go bad, it’s me. That’s the responsibility of being in this seat.”

Bryant bemoaned his team’s effort defensively, primarily for failing to match up in transition.

Coach Byron Scott has a defensive scheme but the Lakers all-star guard noted that opponents are scoring before the Lakers set up.

“We’re not even giving ourselves a chance to play that type of defense, because they’re shooting the ball within five seconds,” he said.

Through 10 games, the Lakers are giving up a league-high average of 112.1 points a night.

The solution isn’t clear, although the Lakers will get scorer Nick Young back from a thumb injury, possibly on Tuesday when the team starts a three-game road trip in Atlanta against the Hawks (5-4).

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus