Kobe Bryant and the season's first 48

Through a bum wrist, a bad knee, and years of mileage, Kobe Bryant slapped the Phoenix Suns with 48 points. The general reaction is praise for Bryant, his work ethic, and his killer instinct. Although, upon second look, those vintage scoring binges by Kobe may not be as great as we think.

The stats have been pounded into the ground concerning the Lakers success when Kobe limits himself to 21 or fewer shots (they play VERY well). Now with Andrew Bynum establishing himself as a top 2 center in the league, the focus (now more than ever) should be for everyone to feed the young fella. Yet, Kobe continues to take a high number of shots, even with teammates very capable of helping him in that department.

Throughout each of his books, Phil Jackson stressed that the triangle offense and his entire philosophy was about making each player feel worthwhile and part of the team's whole. Only at the end of games and in rough stretches should creative scorers (Jordan, Kobe, etc.) force the action.

Don't think that him scoring at this rate is good for the team. More than anything, it seems to be that despite age, Bryant refuses to give up his love for shooting the ball. This was the same guy that forced shots when he had an in-his-prime-Shaq on his team. After Tuesday's display Bryant exclaimed "not bad for the 7th best player in the league". That shows me that he's trying to prove himself almost as much as he's trying to win.

Good run by Bryant, but I'd like to see where his team is in April if he tries to keep this up.