The ‘scary' version of Bryant hits New Orleans
Kobe drops 60 on Memphis Thursday night. Hornets are next.
The ‘scary' version of Bryant hits New Orleans

By Darnell Mayberry

Published: March 23, 2007

There was an image of a misty-eyed Kobe Bryant, caught sulking on the Los Angeles Lakers bench in the closing minutes of last Thursday's nationally televised 27-point road loss to the Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers' star guard helplessly watched the Nuggets throw garbage-time alley-oops that only added embarrassment to what ultimately resulted in the team's seventh straight loss and 13th defeat in 16 games.

The next night Bryant erupted for 65 points in a 116-111 overtime win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

He scored 24 in the fourth quarter. He had nine in overtime. He played 50 of the game's 53 minutes.

He had enough of the losing.

"I had to come out aggressive and assert myself, just because our confidence was a little shaky,” Bryant told reporters following the game. "We needed a breakout game. And it's my job as a leader to kind of read what we need as a team. And sometimes, me taking over games like this instills confidence in us all.”

And fear in opponents.

The Hornets enter tonight's game against the Lakers hoping Bryant doesn't peel off yet another embarrassing performance in what will be the final game of the season inside New Orleans Arena.

After all, one game after his season-high, 65-point effort, Bryant posted 50 against the Minnesota Timberwolves while leading the Lakers to a 109-102 victory.

He scored 60 Thursday night in Memphis, leading the Lakers to a 121-119 victory over the Grizzlies.

That's a 58.3-point average in his last three games. He became the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in three straight games, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Michael Jordan.

When asked during an on-court interview immediately after Thursday's performance if he could score 50 or more again in 21 hours against the Hornets, Bryant, with a sly grin, said, "You gotta love it.”

"He's in playoff mode and he is focused and he's determined,” said Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "And that's scary.

"He knows that this is the time of the year to start stepping it up. That's just being a veteran and being one of the best players, or like I say, the best player in this league.”

Bryant enters tonight's game as the league's leading scorer at 30.0 points per game. But with his team's recent tumble in the playoff standings, Bryant has reverted to his old ways of looking for his own offense instead of deferring to his teammates. It's led to three straight wins, a figure it took the Lakers 16 tries to accomplish with the more passive Bryant.

But which is a more dangerous Bryant? Set-up man, or scorer?

"I think this Kobe is more dangerous right now,” Scott said. "I think the facilitator Kobe understood earlier in the season that he had to show trust and faith in those guys and keep them involved as much as possible.

"But I think the aggressive type Kobe, which is the playoff-type Kobe now, is the type of guy that wants to rip your heart out. That's his bottom line right now. He wants to defeat you in the worst way. And his way of doing that is putting a ton of points on you.”

Mason said all he is sure of entering tonight's game is that Bryant is going to shoot a lot. He added that he can't worry about how many points Bryant has scored recently, or what his mindset might be going into the game.

"If you go in there thinking like that then you're going to be on your heels all game,” Mason said. "You're going to try to guess what he's doing. If you go out with too much on your mind, then you're going to struggle.”

Hornets guard Jannero Pargo, who was a rookie teammate of Bryant's when he scored 40 points or more in nine straight games during the 2002-03 season, advised his teammates to make somebody else beat them.

"You don't want to get beat by one guy,” Pargo said. "If three guys have a great game and they beat you that's fine. But you don't want to lose a game to one guy just dominating the whole game.”

Pargo also thinks both of Bryant's approaches can be equally dangerous.

"If he's getting everybody involved and the game is close in the end, you know he's going to try to take over and do his thing,” Pargo said. "If he just takes the game over from beginning to end, they're still going to be a tough team because he can do that and he can win ball games that way.”

Perhaps giving the Hornets confidence, however, is that they've won the season's first two meetings with the Lakers this season. Then again, Bryant was slowed by a sprained ankle on Dec. 6, yet still scored 24 points in a 16-point loss in L.A.

The Hornets then took advantage of the more selfless Bryant in a 113-103 victory on Jan. 20 inside the Ford Center. Bryant scored just three points on three shot attempts by halftime and finished with 23 points.

"We know we can play with them,” Scott said. "We know we can beat them, we've done it twice. But right now they're a different team. They've got everybody back healthy, and they've got a guy on a mission.”