Kobe Stars as Reluctant Virtuoso

Kobe Bryant had three stitches taken out of his mouth Monday, and he couldn’t wait to get to Dallas so he could get into a weight room, and his eyes were bright enough to be taken for hopeful.

This sudden phenomenon where his teammates can’t make an open jump shot is a bit wearing for him, and the defense, well, Yao Ming, for crying out loud, and that’s all he’d have to say about that. And, he might be reluctant to admit it, but it seems the Dallas Mavericks will win the NBA championship of November, they being 10-0, with the 3-7 and very vulnerable Lakers next up at American Airlines Center. If they were the Sacramento Kings, they’d consider raising a banner.

These are still the Lakers, half-game out of last place though they may be. They often speak with the perspective of the last three NBA titles.

Recently, in the hallways of Staples Center, a visiting NBA coach compared his raft of injuries to the Lakers’. The difference, he said: “They’ve got the cavalry coming.” So far, though, Bryant has gone it largely alone.

In 10 games of heavy lifting, Bryant leads the team in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, minutes, lip sutures, hammer dunks and referee glares. He has taken three times as many shots as anyone else.

A tri-captain alongside one who has missed every game (Shaquille O’Neal) and another who missed the first six (Rick Fox), Bryant has scolded teammates and ignored them and challenged them privately and publicly. He has passed to them without conscience and frozen them out, all of them, for quarters at a time.

The national media -- well, one judgmental soul -- buried him for the 29 shots he took in the Lakers’ first game, and Bryant has taken 37 or more three times since, without a care.

Not only do his teammates not blame him for his aggression, Bryant said, “I’ve gotten a couple of apologies.”

So they get where he’s coming from? He laughed.

“I don’t really care that they understand how I feel,” he said. “I want them to knock down open shots. No, honestly, we’ll be a much better team because of this.”

Asked if he were disappointed in his teammates -- Brian Shaw is the notable exception to the otherwise roster-wide shooting issues -- Bryant said, “I think we can play much better. We’re not. Am I disappointed? Yeah, I’m disappointed. But there’s nothing I can do about it, nothing we can do about it but move on to the next game and try to enjoy playing. Just relax and shots will go down for us.”

With O’Neal aiming for a Friday return against Chicago at Staples Center, it would seem there is no November problem that can’t be solved in December, January and February.

If Bryant has alienated a teammate or two with his make-a-jumper-or-stand-back crusade, it isn’t evident, and he probably wouldn’t care. The man’s leaving pieces of tooth on the floor and in Antawn Jamison’s scalp.

Still, Bryant understands. It’s not that he’s forgotten the men around him, he simply believes that it may not be their time.

“This team is built to be able to play around Shaquille O’Neal,” he said. “Outside of myself. I just kind of developed into my own a little bit. But everybody here is orchestrated to play around the big fella. That’s why we’re so good when he’s here. Are we vulnerable now that he’s out? Absolutely. But when he gets back, all of a sudden the people you look at as being vulnerable, now they’re strengths. They come to the forefront.

“I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to keep us in ballgames. If guys are hitting shots I’m going to keep going to them. If not, obviously I have to be more aggressive to try to keep us in the game.”

One gets the impression Coach Phil Jackson at times misses the old triple-double Bryant, but doesn’t have the heart to reel him back in, either. After all, the 11 guys other than Bryant are shooting 37.6%, including Shaw’s 46.3% and Slava Medvedenko’s 44.6%.

“Kobe’s trying to make us competitive,” Jackson said. “But a lot of guys are doing their job rebounding, trying to do the job defensively, that process. Kobe, who went from being a playmaker triple threat just a week ago, has really felt like he’s had to shoulder a lot of responsibility shooting the ball and scoring for us. That’s a whole different set of works there, because it makes it difficult to play alongside of him, as a teammate.”

It seems Bryant won’t worry about that. Before this season, they were at least a .500 team in the games O’Neal missed. Now, they’re hovering just above the Golden State Warriors, Bryant with a handful of guys who can’t create their own shots, in an offense that by definition is supposed to produce open shots.

As he walked away on Monday afternoon, Bryant seemed inspired by the whole thing. “I feel good,” he said, grinning. “I feel like a monster.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Go-To Guys

*--* The percentage of each NBA team’s offense provided by its leading scorer this season: Kobe Bryant Lakers 34.4 Tracy McGrady Orlando 31.1 Steve Francis Houston 30.9 Allen Iverson Philadelphia 27.9 Antawn Jameson Golden State 25.9 Allan Houston New York 25.8 Jerry Stackhouse Washington 25.6 Paul Pierce Boston 24.8 Richard Hamilton Detroit 24.8 Ricky Davis Cleveland 24.6 Jalen Rose Chicago 24.4 Shawn Marion Phoenix 23.2 Glenn Robinson Atlanta 23.2 Gary Payton Seattle 22.6 Ray Allen Milwaukee 22.5 Jamal Mashburn New Orleans 22.4 Chris Webber Sacramento 22.2 Kevin Garnett Minnesota 21.9 Jason Kidd New Jersey 21.8 Tim Duncan San Antonio 21.4 Dirk Nowitzki Dallas 21.4 James Posey Denver 20.5 Karl Malone Utah 20.3 Pau Gasol Memphis 20.0 Rasheed Wallace Portland 19.8 Jermaine O’Neal Indiana 19.7 Eddie Jones Miami 19.5 Andre Miller Clippers 18.5 Alvin Williams Toronto 17.6

*--*