GT: Lakers @ Mavericks. Sat/24/11/2012 8:30 PM ET

[chefy]

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter 2 minutes ago
Kobe: "If our shots aren’t going in then I have to take more of the offensive load and that makes it a lot tougher to win games.”

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter 3 minutes ago
Kobe: "I’ll be scoring a lot more when Nash gets back. I won’t have to facilitate as much and it will allow me to do what I do best."
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Makes sense.

**** no!

we have:

dwight
pau
nash

share the ball. they know how to score too!

and when nash gets back hes not just going pass the ball to kobe and not attempt to score. hes going to get his 10 fga and 12-15 points a night too.

[desertlakerfan]

Well doesn't help when your bench players are used wrongly as well and before the last two games Jamison was lucky to get 15 minutes of playing time. Despite that it's hardly as horrible as people think. A lot of it can be attributed to the lack of minutes they get when the Lakers have the best starting lineup out there. It's always easy to look at bench points of opposing teams to ours when they play twice as many minutes. Having said that sure, i'd love for it to be better, but i'm not going to complain with a bench rotation of Jamison, Hill, Meeks, Blake(Morris) come playoff time.

Very well said. People judging our bench off their Mike Brown era performance are really being unfair. Since the coaching change and since D'antoni took to the sideline in particular they have played very well as a unit and have been improving each game.

That's with us being 2 PGs down and playing Duhon major minutes. Chris has had a few good moments and hit some open 3s but he's a huge liability defensively and he can't run a offense. I think if Morris can continue to improve on his decision making he'll lock up the backup PG minutes behind Nash and our bench will continue to improve with a shot creator on the court while Kobe(and Nash) rest. Right now the Duhon and Meeks backcourt is just brutal to watch, neither can create for others off the dribble with any regular success.

[dockingsched]

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter 2 minutes ago
Kobe: "If our shots aren’t going in then I have to take more of the offensive load and that makes it a lot tougher to win games.”

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter 3 minutes ago
Kobe: "I’ll be scoring a lot more when Nash gets back. I won’t have to facilitate as much and it will allow me to do what I do best."
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lol, kobe gonna be kobe.

[Michael Lucky]

Well at least he's worked on his catch and shoot this offseason. I think he's wrong if he thinks he's going to get more shots this way though. Then again I could see Nash overcompensating for him.

[semi-sentient]

A lot more than 27 per game?

Kobe's scoring is actually going to drop once Nash returns (or at least it should), assuming we run the offense properly. I'm really not sure why Kobe thinks his scoring is going to increase. His efficiency should increase, sure, but scoring?

I'd expect Howard's scoring to go up if anything. If Kobe is leading the league in scoring by the end of the year then something is very wrong.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter 2 minutes ago
Kobe: "If our shots aren’t going in then I have to take more of the offensive load and that makes it a lot tougher to win games.”

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter 3 minutes ago
Kobe: "I’ll be scoring a lot more when Nash gets back. I won’t have to facilitate as much and it will allow me to do what I do best."
Reply Retweet Favorite

lol, kobe gonna be kobe.

....and haters gonna hate lol

[dockingsched]

i don't think its hate to laugh at kobe thinking he's going to score a lot more than 27 ppg. he's already leading the league last time i checked. anywhoo, semi breaks it down perfectly.

[iamworthy]

I can easily see Kobe avg more points when Steve Nash gets back. As far as the offense goes, what offense? This is a if your open you will get the ball offense. Outside of the PnR of course. Nobody plays better off the ball on the lakers than Kobe. From the eye test we all have agreed that Kobe seems to be a better catch and shoot player than off the dribble, or at least when it comes to the three. And if Steve is getting into the paint Kobe is going to be wide open.

[The Skyhook]

The offense under D'Antoni is going to look great. Nash is going to have the freedom to do whatever the hell he wants with the options he has . Kobe is going to be a nightmare for opposing teams while he looks to score off the ball. Gasol and Howard are going to be hard to stop as well. Especially if Gasol can improve his midrange jumper.

[leeprettyp]

smh its amazing how this guy has been around so long and people cant realize he's one of the greatest scorers ever. He's gonna find a way to avg +25ppg period. And with being required to be a facilitator and more as a finisher and shooter dont be surprised to see his avg +27ppg. The Kobe hate is amazing to me. The most successful player in the league currently and people think they know more about whats going on than him. Dwight and Pau will eat and get there baskets dont worry

[semi-sentient]

Sounds like some of you are a little too emotionally attached to Kobe.

It's OK to call him out every now and then. Really. There aren't any Kobe haters here. That type of childish accusation belongs on the General Board.

This is a team sport, and we have enough offensive firepower such that Kobe doesn't need to average "a lot more than 27 ppg". Kobe is definitely one of the greatest scorers ever but he's also one of the dumbest shot-takers ever. If he takes what's given to him then he's not going to average "a lot more" than what he's averaging now because Nash will be spreading the wealth while getting his own opportunities. That's kind of like what he does, you know?

[Optms]

Nash can pass the ball to Kobe 30 times a night for all I care.

As long as the ball is in Steve's hands and that's what he feels is right for the team, I'm fine with that. Steve Nash can do no wrong on offense.

[crazy8ights]

in mamba we trust

[Slava]

I can see some sense in his words though, if they pack the paint and play a zone, the only guy on the roster that can create off the dribble is Kobe. He needs to draw some attention out of the paint to get the bigs have some space to work.

His pull up heat check 3s are the plays that are a bit embarrassing to watch when he brings us close to 6 or 7 only to have the opposition score off a fast break basket and blow the game.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Kobe will get his, but I expect a good number of blow out well balanced games that he ends up with like 18 points on 7-12 shooting, mainly due to the rest of the team doing so well. A lot like the Dallas game actually

[Run-MKE 311]

This was a great win to get, should hopefully settle things for a few days.

I am excited for Nash to return so that Kobe can cycle out of facilitator mode.

[kblo247]

Metta the past 5 games