Bryant Defense Has Fallen Off

Kobe Bryant has been an NBA all-defensive team member the last five seasons. The streak very well could end there.

Bryant has not been immune to the defensive problems that have attached themselves to the Lakers this season.

In the last two games alone, ordinary players have hit Bryant for season-highs: Reserve guard Ronald Murray had 25 points Sunday for the Seattle SuperSonics and Gordan Giricek scored 22 Tuesday for the Utah Jazz.

Bryant often is guilty of reaching for the ball instead of sliding his feet. He has also gambled and gone for steals, unsuccessfully, more often than in the past.

“He just kind of shakes his head or says he was trying to get something going or whatever,” Coach Frank Hamblen said. “There are times to gamble and times when not to gamble.”

Bryant’s gambles haven’t paid off. He is averaging 1.32 steals this season, down from 1.75 last season and 2.21 in 2002-03.

Against Utah, Bryant had 25 points in the first half, but Giricek had 14. Giricek had been averaging 8.3 a game before Tuesday.

“It’s never about mano-a-mano, especially against a team like Utah,” Bryant said. “Somebody’s down screening, somebody back-picks, [other players] have got to be able to read what’s coming.”

The Laker defense has suffered as a whole.

“We watch film and we talk about it,” Hamblen said. “It’s just a mind-set. In the past ... one of the reasons why we were so successful winning, we had guys that played defense and covered for another. If a guy gambled, if a guy made a mistake, then there was always somebody there. We always had Shaquille [O’Neal] in the middle. We don’t have that now.”

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Forward Lamar Odom, who has sat out two games because of an injured left shoulder, will be reevaluated today. “He was getting better every day, then [Tuesday] was kind of a plateau day,” Hamblen said. “It was about the same.”