Teams Mimic Bryant Double-Team

Kobe Bryant has seen just about every possible defense, but the latest trend of double-teaming him far from the basket has caused the Lakers all kinds of problems.

Bryant has continued to make shots but his teammates have not, a primary reason the Lakers went empty-handed against Indiana, Charlotte and New Orleans.

Bryant averaged 32 points and shot 48.5% but the rest of the team shot only 34.1%. Not surprisingly, the Lakers have not had a lead in more than 127 minutes of play.

Teams have dared other Lakers to shoot by double-teaming and trapping Bryant just inside halfcourt or above the three-point line.

“A lot of teams in our league are copycats,” said forward Devean George, who had 21 points Saturday against the Hornets. “They’ll see something kind of working well for another team and how they’re double-teaming Kobe, so until we stop it, until we start capitalizing on making shots and cutting teams up, then they can continue to do that.”

Bryant has done a credible job of finding open teammates, although his turnover level has almost doubled over the last three games, which led to a question of whether he could figure out how to be more effective in breaking double teams single-handedly.

“To say ‘yeah’ would be to say I need to get 45 points to win a game,” Bryant said. “Is that what we need to win ball games?”

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George, a seven-year veteran and a member of three Laker championship teams, has been part of the highest of the highs and, well, the last three games.

“Everything is going wrong,” he said. “We’ve got injuries, we’ve got young guys playing, everybody that’s playing is hurt and we’re feeling sorry for ourselves because we’re a little banged up. We’re not playing hard because we might be achy or beat up a little bit and we’re not playing through it.”

Other than Bryant, the Lakers have not been consistently connecting, although George points to another concern.

“We’re worried about scoring on offense and that’s not the problem,” he said. “It’s our effort on defense -- talking on defense, getting second-chance shots. Offense is not going to be there every night. That’s hit or miss.

“But we can all bring a tough defensive presence, we can all bring rebounding.”

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The Lakers have had poor starts in all five games so far on the trip, trailing by double figures in every game except against New York. They trailed, 18-9, in that game.

“They’re putting themselves in a hole right away to start a ball game,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “They have to come out with better purpose and better energy.”