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Bryant eagerly waits for shot at redemption
By Marc Stein
Special to ESPN.com
LOS ANGELES -- History, apparently, will only remember them as The Greatest
Team Of All-Time That Lost Game 1 In The Finals.
And that's only if they win Game 2.
|  | | Kobe Bryant will face more tough defense by Eric Snow and the Sixers. |
Only if Shaquille O'Neal's idol comes back as the Kobe Bryant everyone
remembers. The Kobe from those long-ago Western Conference finals.
He doesn't have to be a Next Jordan to pacify the Pacific Coast Lakers and
their suddenly sullen fans, but the Bryant they got Wednesday night was less
than insufficient. He made only seven baskets. He committed six turnovers.
He missed 15 shots and settled for 15 points, less than half his playoff
average of 31.6
"He's got something to prove," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who fanned
all the Next Mike hubbub in the San Antonio series by fawning over Bryant's
end-to-end brilliance.
One game into the championship round, against the team his father played
for, Kobe Bryant has already fumbled some of that mystique. Jackson and
Bryant both acknowledged that No. 8 will be handling the ball less in
Friday's Game 2 to negate the effect of Philly's full-court pressure. Which
also somewhat negates Zen Master Jackson's earlier statements about Bryant
playing "the best I've seen a player of mine play with an overall court
game."
Seems that, now that the Lakers are down a game in a playoff series for the
first time since Jackson came to coach them, L.A. can't afford to worry
about how it ranks with the greatest juggernauts of all-time. Or whether
Bryant can continue "jumping over the top" of the high bar Jackson has set
for him. The focus has shifted solely to tying the series, before the Finals
shift to Philly, after three sweeps past 50-win powers that saw Kobe
moonlight as a playmaker.
Things have turned so unexpectedly for the heavy favorites that
Jackson might also have to deviate from his trusted triangle offense even
more than he did against the Spurs. He wants Derek Fisher and Tyronn Lue
bringing the ball upcourt, instead of Bryant, and he'll undoubtedly consider
running more screen-rolls to get Bryant some open looks.
Everything he flung was contested in the opener. That's largely because
Larry Brown opted to let Dikembe Mutombo absorb O'Neal alone down low,
leaving Bryant with lots of company on the perimeter and in the paint. In
perhaps the most stunning statistic of a ground-shaking upset, Kobe
sprinkled zero dunks into that 7-for-22 shooting. Surely you've seen the
oft-replayed highlight of Mutombo rejecting Bryant at the rim.
Question is, in response, will Bryant try to do too much to make up for the
shaky start?
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If there's a positive that can come out
of Game 1, it's the fact that we had an opportunity to win the game and we
didn't play anywhere close to our best basketball. Some of the
credit has to go to Philly for that, but we're also at fault for that.
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— Kobe Bryant |
"I think he'll play within the game," Jackson said. "He's the kind of guy
that's going to say, "I've got to step this up here and find a way to
overcome the pressure that they're applying.' "
Said Bryant: "We have to be pleased. If there's a positive that can come out
of Game 1, it's the fact that we had an opportunity to win the game and we
didn't play anywhere close to our best basketball. Some of the
credit has to go to Philly for that, but we're also at fault for that.
"... As far as having a poor shooting game, I don't think about stuff. In
the past, I might have tried to force the issue. Now I just stay within the
context of the game and let the game flow."
Bryant makes an undeniable point up there. The Lakers definitely should be
up 1-nil in spite of his struggles and Allen Iverson's 48-point detonation.
Remember that they recovered from Bryant's ill-advised drive late in
regulation -- a flashback to his too-wild days, barreling into the teeth
of three defenders on a go-ahead possession -- to craft a five-point
lead in OT with less than 90 ticks left.
It wasn't just Bryant, either. Looking like they had become last spring's
Lakers during that nine-day layoff, L.A. dredged up a few ills long thought
purged from its system -- most notably O'Neal's free-throw woes. Shaq
shanked seven of his last 10 attempts from the line and 12 of 22 overall.
Combined with the inability to stomp on the Sixers, early in regulation and
again in the extra session, the flaws proved fatal.
Little wonder, then, that the Sixers -- for all their admirable
resilience in winning another seemingly hopeless cause -- are already
bracing for the retribution. They know Bryant has ripened too much in these
playoffs to stay sub-par.
"I think Kobe is as good as it gets," said Sixers coach Larry Brown. "You
can guard anyone for a little while."
Aaron McKie was equally respectful, refusing to gloat after surviving Round
1 with Kobe. Doesn't matter that McKie is just three more wins, one closer
than the Greatest Team Of All-Time To Sport A 1-0 Finals Deficit, from
adding Bryant's name to his impressive list of scalps.
The list: Reggie Miller, Jalen Rose, Vince Carter, Dell Curry, Ray Allen and
Glenn Robinson.
"If guys are making shots, then it's going to be, 'This guy had a great
game,' " McKie said. "(If) he shot the ball well, there's no answer for him.
"So you can't win with (gloating). It just wasn't (Bryant's) night. He
wasn't making shots."
Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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