April 25th: "Put It Up or Shut Up?" "Report: Kobe To Change To 24"

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:41 am    Post subject: April 25th: "Put It Up or Shut Up?" "Report: Kobe To Change To 24"

Put It Up or Shut Up?
Bryant's diminished shot total is a hot topic a day after Game 1 loss, but Laker plan against Suns may not change much.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 25, 2006

The knot on the forehead had disappeared by Monday afternoon, but the questions about Kobe Bryant's inactivity in Game 1 lingered.

The Laker guard took 21 shots, more than six below his regular-season average, a disparity large enough to elicit plenty of questions a day after the Lakers' 107-102 loss to Phoenix in their playoff opener.

The Lakers made good on their promise to pound the ball down low to Kwame Brown, but an unusual byproduct was the glaringly reduced scoring role of Bryant, who had 22 points after averaging 42.5 in four games against the Suns this season.

Bryant said he did as he was told, carrying out the game plan and helping all five Laker starters score in double figures for only the fourth time this season. But a loss is a loss, another in a series against the Suns the last two seasons, a main reason Bryant was prodded Monday, again and again, about being passive.

"I listen to the big guy, that's all," he said. "That's who I play for. If he says go out there and shoot 60 times, that's what I'm going to do. I just follow his orders, follow his lead and try to play the way that he wants me to play to the best of my abilities and we just go from there."


Last edited by Phil on Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Phil
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:43 am    Post subject:

Lakers: Plan is to stick with involved process
L.A. also considers how to blend in Bryant's scoring prowess
BY ROSS SILER, Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - Never forget that the Lakers were 1-0 in the regular season when Kobe Bryant scored 80 points or more.

As outlandish as it sounds, they were 2-0 when he scored at least 60. They were 4-2 when he scored at least 50 and 18-9 when he scored at least 40. When Bryant scored fewer than 40 points, however, the Lakers were 27-28.

The more Bryant has scored this season, the more the Lakers have won. Now, they trail the Phoenix Suns 1-0 in their first-round playoff series after a reserved game out of Bryant in which he finished with just 22 points on 7-of-21 shooting.

"I thought he was going to be a little more aggressive off the bat," center Kwame Brown said. "It's a long series. I think he's going to come out more aggressive the next game."

There was no need for Lakers coach Phil Jackson to worry about his team relying on Bryant to score 40 points in Sunday's opener. Bryant played nearly 47 minutes yet totaled fewer points than he has in some quarters this season.

The Lakers nevertheless nearly came away with a victory. They reconvened at practice Monday to consider Bryant's place as a scorer in Jackson's scheme for beating the Suns that concentrates on slowing the game and getting the ball inside.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:46 am    Post subject:

Kobe forced to take his lump

Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

This is the story of the "Magic Lump."

That would be the mysterious welt that Suns forward Tim Thomas allegedly raised on the left side of Kobe Bryant's forehead Sunday.

Bryant claimed it as Exhibit A that the Lakers were robbed because a foul should have been called on his drive to the basket late in the game with Los Angeles trailing 101-97.
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He showed the lump to the referees. Then when reporters asked him about the play, he replied, "No comment necessary. You can see the knot."

The thing is, the lump was on the left side of Bryant's head. Given that Thomas was located to Kobe's right when the alleged misdeed occurred, some folks were wondering Monday how it could possibly happen.

That's why we're here. Think of The Heat Index as sort of a hoops version of the Warren Commission.

First, we interrogated Suns Vice President for Player Personnel David Griffin about what he saw. Grif walked us through the play and speculated that Thomas might have gotten Kobe on the head as he swiped for the ball.

As he reconstructed the play, we demonstrated how it would be impossible for a player on Bryant's right to reach the left side of his head.

"You're arms aren't as long as his," Grif said, pointing to Thomas, who could possibly tie his shoes without bending over.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:48 am    Post subject:

Suns made a serious run to sign Kobe

John Gambadoro

John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Apr. 24, 2006 08:30 AM

They booed him every time he touched the ball. They booed the few fans in the stands who wore his jersey. And they cheered every time he missed a shot. The Suns fans really let Kobe Bryant have it Sunday at US Airways Center. But only two years ago, those same fans were clamoring for the organization to spend the $100-plus million to sign Bryant after he had opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Only Bryant himself will know for sure how close he came to signing with Phoenix but he clearly had interest and the feeling was mutual. In fact, the Suns had spent the better part of that season freeing up enough money to make a run at the Lakers superstar. They had cleared some $130 million in salary with the trade of Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks. They were going into free agency with the third lowest payroll in the league and an open checkbook. And with the notion that Bryant wanted to play for them. Maybe it was posturing by Bryant or maybe he just wanted to be courted, but Phoenix believed that they were one of three teams, including the Lakers and the Clippers, that had a chance to sign him. The Suns had thought that the recent hiring of Mike D'Antoni as head coach could have been the key to luring Bryant, who admired D'Antoni as a player when he was growing up as a child in Italy.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:50 am    Post subject:

Marion, Odom fill vital roles

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

• Suns-Lakers playoff schedule

Coaches often emphasize the idea that the game is decided by the players on the floor.

To that end, nobody will be more responsible for this Suns-Lakers playoff series than Shawn Marion and Lamar Odom, if Sunday's Game 1 is any indication.
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Each versatile forward played all but two minutes of Phoenix's 107-102 win, and Odom's role may be enhanced for Wednesday's Game 2 in Phoenix.

Odom is not only a playmaker - he's adept as a point guard - but he also is taller, longer and bulkier than Marion.

That is nothing new for Marion, who frequently has covered post players the past two years with success. They were rarely as multitalented and athletic as Odom. His game can take Marion away from the rebounding region, and his size and speed counter some of Marion's opportunistic offense.

Odom scored 21 points Sunday but missed three shots near the rim in the first half against his former Olympic teammate.

"He's the guy that's a handful," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said of Odom. "Shawn did a great job, but at the same time, the guy is 7 feet (listed at 6-10). He's a big lug in there. We'll make little adjustments here and there, but we're not going to go crazy yet."
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:51 am    Post subject:

Lakers' plan may not fit with Kobe's

Dan Bickley
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

At the moment, Kobe Bryant is a coiled rattlesnake. He is a danger to everyone in the immediate vicinity.

He could strike the Suns in Game 2, giving the Lakers the lift they need to make this a legitimate series. Or he could poison his own team, creating another untenable situation for his head coach.

"Kobe is missing out by not finding a way to become part of a system that involves giving to something larger than himself," Lakers coach Phil Jackson wrote after the 2003-04 season.
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Old news? Perhaps. The answer will come shortly after Wednesday's tip-off.

Alas, the problem for the Lakers is a familiar one, even though it's not officially a problem just yet.

Most of the country is applauding Jackson's strategy in Game 1, where he received balanced contributions from his starters and mercilessly exploited the Suns' lack of interior defense, but it's not the message Bryant is hearing.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:55 am    Post subject:

Odom a handful for Marion
By Matt Simpson, Tribune
April 25, 2006
If Kobe Bryant is going to insist on feeding the ball to the post rather than shooting, then Shawn Marion is going to need some help. That much seemed clear during the Suns’ playoff-opening 107-102 win over the Lakers Sunday, when Los Angeles forward Lamar Odom used his size advantage over Marion to provide his team with a consistent inside scoring presence.
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Odom missed a few gimmes — including four of eight free throws — and still managed to score 21 points and collect 14 rebounds.

“Odom’s a handful — and Shawn did a great job on him. But at the same time the guy’s (6-foot-10). He’s a big lug in there,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’ll make little adjustments here and there but we’re not going to go crazy yet.”

That could mean more weakside help or doubleteams for Marion, who gives up three inches to Odom. Though Marion is considered a strong defender, he’s at his best defending on the perimeter.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:57 am    Post subject:

Kobe's the best in world, deserves NBA MVP
BY TIM POVTAK
The Orlando Sentinel

Kobe Bryant is the best basketball player in the world today. He deserves to be the NBA Most Valuable Player.

In any other season, LeBron James or Steve Nash or Dirk Nowitzki could be a deserving winner, but anyone other than Bryant this season would be a real injustice.

He might not be the politically correct choice - Eagle, Colo., never will go away - but the award is not about the past or about potential.

It's about now. And no one does more for his team than Bryant does.

Anyone who can carry a team with as little talent as the Los Angeles Lakers have into the playoffs - something that stars such as Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce and Tracy McGrady failed to do - deserves his due. It's not his fault the Lakers also start Smush Parker, Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm. To win 45 games - 10 more than last year - is a major accomplishment with Luke Walton as a scoring option.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:01 am    Post subject:

Lakers not likely to abandon balanced approach

By David Lassen, dlassen [ at ] VenturaCountyStar.com
April 25, 2006

EL SEGUNDO — Since that inside-game and offensive-balance stuff didn't quite work for the Los Angeles Lakers, does that mean it's time to go back to Plan B: All Kobe, all the time? Probably not, said Bryant and the Lakers on Monday, in the wake of Sunday's 107-102 loss to the Suns in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series.

"Our offensive thrust was to get the ball inside a little bit," said Bryant, who finished with 22 points on 7-of-21 shooting. "I think we did a good job of that, punishing them down low, so that's part of the game plan, really."

Some members of the Suns were quoted as saying Bryant looked "passive" in the series opener, and even Lakers coach Phil Jackson believed the Lakers star "never got into a rhythm where he got enough touches to feel like he really got comfortable. And then when he started going at the end, I felt that his shot wasn't in rhythm, so it was all drives.

"We win that ballgame, everybody's saying it's a great ploy. But it didn't happen."

And so, there figures to be some adjustment, if not necessarily a wholesale abandonment of the original approach.

"I think we balance it out a little bit," said Bryant, who admitted it would not be easy for the team to use a different offensive approach in the playoffs than it did in the regular season.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:38 pm    Post subject:

Which Kobe Will Show Up for Game 2?

By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX
Kobe Bryant insists he won't be firing up one shot after another when the Los Angeles Lakers play the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of their playoff series Wednesday night.

"Nah, I think we just stick to the game plan," Bryant said after the Lakers' practice on Tuesday, "and the shots that I got in Game 1 were very makable shots for me. I got some really good looks. I've just got to put them down."

But coach Phil Jackson has made it clear to his superstar that he must take a bigger offensive load if the Lakers are to avoid going down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Who would have thought that anyone would ever have to persuade Bryant to shoot more?
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:40 pm    Post subject:

Bryant will hang up his No. 8 jersey, sources say
By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

Kobe Bryant's fans might have to buy another jersey next season. That's because multiple sources have told ESPN.com that Bryant will change his number to 24 next season.

Kobe Bryant
Shooting Guard
Los Angeles Lakers

Profile
2006 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
80 35.4 5.3 4.5 .450 .850

Bryant began his career at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa., wearing No. 24. But by 1996 -- the year he led the school to the state championship -- he had switched to No. 33, the number his father Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant wore in high school.

In order for a player to change jersey numbers at will, he either has to change teams or have the team inform the league of the decision more than six months in advance. Players who stay with the same team must have worn the same number for four seasons or longer. Sources say the Lakers informed the league of Bryant's wish to change his number by this year's March 3 deadline.

Calls placed to Bryant's agent Rob Pelinka and the Lakers were not immediately returned.

Over the past few months, Kobe Bryant's popularity has been on the rise again. His jersey was the fourth-best seller this season, up one spot from last year's position, according to sales at the NBA Store in Manhattan and on NBA.com.

When Bryant came into the league, he couldn't take the No. 33 because it had been retired seven years earlier by the Lakers in honor of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Bryant arrived at the No. 8 for two reasons. It was the number he wore when he was a kid playing in Italy. It also tied into the number he wore at Adidas' ABCD Camp, 143. The numbers add up to 8.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:30 pm    Post subject:

Report: Kobe To Change To 24
25th April, 2006 - 10:30 pm
ESPN - After 10 seasons of wearing the #8 Lakers' jersey, it is being reported by Darren Rovell of ESPN that the Lakers have informed the league that Kobe Bryant will wear the number 24 next year. 24 was the number worn by Bryant for part of his high school career, until he changed it to 33 to honor his father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant.
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