Became the youngest player to hit 15,000 career points recently, beating Wilt Chamberlain.

Maybe he can channel all that anger into a championship for the Lakers, instead of directing it at Lamar Odom (example). Wonder if he can beat six championship rings MJ had lol.

31..sure, because Kobe is the only professional sportsmen who ever got angry at a teamate. Ever.

Well Jasmine he is human, but there are other players in the NBA who are more human than he is and play better team basketball. Scoring 98 points in two games and your team being 4th in your division doesn't do wonders for a championship ring.

Yes 31 I'm sure Kobe traded Shaq, and for Kwame Brown. Im sure he single handledy picked every member of the roster and coaches the team. If i was an NBA GM i probably wouldnt sign an all-star shooting guard for 130 million dollars if i wanted him to make sure he gets all of his teammates an equal share of the ball. Seriously this guy could score 100 points on 50/50 shooting and people would still say yeh but he didnt get an assist. The Lakers pay Kobe Bryant to put the ball in the basket and that is what he does. I guarentee that you replace Kobe Bryant with any other shooting guard in the NBA and they would still be 4th in their division. Yes he shoots the ball alot and does take some wild shots but in case you hadnt noticed he's leading the nba in scoring with 33 a game. He's not the only player in the NBA who takes shots that arent there. Not to mention he's a past all defensive team member and the best clutch shooter in the NBA hands down.

And without him they would be last in the NBA. i think 50 points helps your team no matter what!

I agree with everything m dizzle has said, give Kobe a break. How bout only bag Kobe if you can do any better? :)

In case you guys missed this, basketball is a TEAM game, and any club that aspires to win the championship needs a TEAM, players to work with each other rather than someone scoring all the points all the time. Why do you think Detroit are doing so well? They play as a TEAM!

Who is leading the Laker's division? The Suns. Why? They play as a TEAM. Detroit play as a TEAM, San Antonio play as a TEAM, Dallas play as a TEAM, Miami play as a TEAM.

Kobe Bryant's individual talents are without doubt mind-boggling to say the least. Yes he scores lots of points and if you took him out of the Lakers they WOULD run last. The Lakers won't win another championship till they adopt a team-oriented attitude instead of as you guys say, pay one player to score the bulk of the scoring.

And 52? Can you do better?

Anon...well, the NBA record is 63 and the Lakers record is 55.

So, probably not.

But why is it Kobe's fault that the Lakers have constructed a team where he is the clearly the primary offensive option? Im the first to admit the Lakers have an un balanced roster but the way it is structured Kobe Bryant needs to be scoring 30+ a game for them to win, and you can't do that only taking open shots.

m dizzle...exactly. The Lakers are in rebuilding mode, or retooling mode, or whatever you want to call it. But yet whenever Kobe goes on a scoring spree all I hear is "your not going to win a championship that way." Championship? These Lakers that have Smush Parker as the starting point guard (although I do like him) and had Brian Cook starting for about half of the season so far. Does this sound like a championship team to anyone? I love the Lakers, but any talk of the Lakers and a title in the next 2-3 years is crazy.

The expectations should therefore match the talent on the team. The 2005-06 Lakers season will be a success if they make the playoffs and they would have had a GREAT season if they somehow manage to get to the second round. That's the extent of it.

Jasmine and m dizzle are on the money. it may be a TEAM game, but this TEAM wont WIN without kobe doing what hes doing.

Do you Kobe lovers actually know why the Lakers team is as crap as it is? You go on about how it's not Kobe's fault the roster is so bad. Well, actually it is.
Why do you think Shaq demanded a trade? Why do you think Phil left in the first place? Why do you think the Lakers lost the Championship against Detroit?
Kobe pissed Shaq off so much he wanted to leave. Phil called Kobe uncoachable(which Kobe isn't helping second time around) and had enough of him. Kobe hogged the ball in the Finals, and didn't seem to care he had teammates.
Even damn Derek Fisher left because Shaq wasn't going to stay in LA. Kobe is not the sort of player other stars want to play with.
Just look at Gary Payton. Where is he now? He is with a player who makes his teams better and did that with LA, he's with Shaq, part of a team contesting for some rings.
Kobe is just trying to prove that he can take a team by himself to the playoffs and failling.
I was a Lakers fan, a Kobe fan, but he has an ego bigger than the stadium he plays in and I've had enough of him.

twenty four&That is getting rather old now. Try and think for yourself instead of what the columnists keep telling you. Here is the other side to these stories that you might want to consider. It might prove the world is indeed complicated and not black and white, but give it a shot.

1) Why did Shaq demand a trade? I'm sure I know why you think he did but how about to save face because he new he was gone? Shaq was going to be traded, whether Kobe came back or not. He was traded because Lakers management decided they were not going to extend Shaq for 3 years at $25 mil a year when he had become an out of shape malcontent on the downward slope of his career. Did you see the shape Shaq was in last year? He was in spectacular shape, so why was he out of shape for the last 4 years as a Laker? If he had stayed in shape and treated management with an ounce of respect, he probably would have still been a Laker.

2) Why did Phil leave? He had a bad relationship with Kobe, all you have to do is read his book to see that, and that obviously played a major role in his leaving. However, Phil's poor relationship with Kobe is well documented because Phil likes to write books. If Tex Winter would write a book about his Lakers days, he would probably have as many bad things to say about Shaq. What's the difference? Either way, if Kobe was that "uncoachable" as Phil said, all the money in the world couldn't drag him back for another 3 years of Kobe when he could have coached pretty much any team with a coaching vacancy. You say Kobe isn't helping the second time around. I say you pulled that out of thin air and would have absolutely no idea where the two stand with each other now.

3) Why did the Lakers lose to the Pistons in the finals? The appropriate question really is how the hell did that team make it that far in the first place? You forget that the Lakers of 03-04 were a dysfunctional lot that had zero chemistry for the majority of the year. Would you blame that fact alone on Kobe? Of course you would. But it would be ignorance.

3)Derek Fisher left because of Shaq leaving? He loved Shaq and loved winning so much he couldn't stand to lose in LA, so he signed with the then defending champion Pistons. No wait, it was the Spurs. No, now I remember, it was the Golden State Warriors!! Fisher chased the money to Golden State and good on him. Unbelievably, the Warriors are now decent, but certainly were not when he signed. Good on him, Fisher deserved the money and the fact remains he was one of the closet to Kobe during their time in LA, but don't let facts get in the way.

4)Don't even start with Gary Payton, you are just proving your ignorance. Payton was crap with the Lakers. Total crap. Myself and thousands of Lakers fans were thankful when he was traded after his poor performances in the playoffs and his endless complaining about the triangle offence. I liked Payton before he was a Laker and wish him all the best, but I don't see what his signing with the Heat has do with Kobe, he wasn't traded to the Celtics because of Kobe and he didn't play horrible basketball for the Lakers because of Kobe. He is a veteran player with only a handful of seasons left signing with a title contender as a last shot to win a title. Good on him, I have no problem with that, after all that is why he ended up with the Lakers in the first place!

5) So you are not a Laker fan anymore? Were you between 1991 and 1996? Are you a fan of the Heat now, or maybe the Pistons? Maybe the Spurs? Will you ever be a Laker fan again? Maybe in 3-4 years? Don't peg yourself in now. Make sure to keep your options open.

Hey 24

Last time i checked Kobe and the Lakers were in 7th after todays win

Fisher Left LA because he wanted to start and the Lakers were going to re-sign Payton

Also.....if Kobe was SO uncoachable, as Jackson said...why would he come back for a second stint......And dont say money

There were several teams out there that would have had Jackson as coach

AND finally if you were a TRUE Laker Fan....you wouldnt bag your team or its players

Umm.. Kobe Bryant the first person since Wilt Chamberlain to score 45+ points a game 4 games in a row...

And 31, obviously not I can do better, I merely said that to try and keep the haters quiet lol :P

Jasmine, between 1991 and 1996 I was too young to even know where LA was, yet alone support the Lakers. And if you must know, I think I used to go for the Magic, because at the time, I thought that their hats looked the best. So no I wasn't a Lakers fan between 91 and 96.
The Lakers were however, my first real favourite team in the NBA. Shaq became my favourite player, and as you can tell by now I don't go for Kobe. So yes I do now like the Heat. But I did like them before anyway.
Now to Phil. Last time I checked, none of the other teams he could've coached were owned by his partners dad, and yes money would've played a part in it.
And I know Shaq wanted more money, but don't you think that if he wanted to stay and play with LA he would've tried to negotiate? He has taken a pay-cut at Miami, were he likes it, that says alot.
Fezlington, I said I WAS a Laker fan, even so, I like the players on the roster and not I'm bagging them, I'm bagging Kobe.
Finally to the finals, I watched them and yes, the team wasn't as much of a TEAM as Detroit was, but Kobe didn't look for anyone else.
He went 43 for 113(38%)and averaged 26.5 per.
Now lets compare that to Shaq, who went 52 for 84(63%) at 26.5 per. Now am I wrong in saying that Kobe should've thrown the ball into Shaq more?

Actually my bad, Kobe averaged 22.6 per.

twenty four...So the fact that Phil is having a relationship with Jeanie Buss, who is a grown woman capable of having a relationship with a man not working for her father's business (as far as I know she wasn't sleeping with Rudy T or Frank Hamblen) means that he would return to coach Kobe despite their problems. Then, why did he leave in the first place? He was with Jeanie Buss when he "quit." Money wouldn't have been a factor, not when you think about it. The Lakers are not paying Phil much more than most teams would pay him. He is one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time. That fact isn't lost on the rest of the league.

Shaq had been negotiating for a year with the Lakers about the extension. The negotiating included repeatedly yelling "Pay Me" to Buss as he watched a game during the pre-season to the 03-04 season. Classy stuff. I just hope that the Heat management are thankful to Shaq for taking the 'pay cut' to play for $25 mil a year instead of what he was asking for. In 2 years time I'm sure he will still be worth $25 mil and it won't be choking the team out of finical flexibility. I'm sure Buss never thought of that either.

Why don't you look at the stats from the other three rounds? Kobe was more a factor in the first three rounds than Shaq, who at times played some of the worst basketball of his career, but Shaq had been semi-asleep for the previous 18 months or so. Kobe played poorly in the Finals, no doubt about it, but widen your lens. No one was complaining about Kobe's style of play against the Rockets, Spurs and T-Wolves. A healthy Karl Malone would have helped in the Finals and a Payton who wasn't counting down the days until he was away from Jackson. Oh, it's complicated isn't. But it's easier to think of Kobe as evil, Shaq as a saint, Jackson the wise master, Buss as the pimp master, bla bla bla.

Jasmine - 1
Twenty Four - 0

Anon...true, my maths is appalling!

I would actually like to see what Miami actually does when Shaq is outta contract.....Will they extend his contract??

I dont believe they will

I reckon they will let him go, to free up cash to resign Wade in 2007

24 you could be barracking for Toronto next.....LOL

Twenty-four, i feel sorry for you mate. All the Kobe lovers ambushin you like that.

I know I would rather build a team around a quality play-making point guard, a big mobile big man, and a multi-talented swingman than a clutch shooter. Of course they all have to be top class.

Yes 52 i am aware of what you were pointing out. Jasmine do you have Kobe posters on your wall by any chance? Or some shrine to the man the way you carry on about him.

Miami work well because of Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, Dwyane Wade and Shaq, with a good support cast. They are a TEAM. Detroit have Billups, the Wallace boys, McDyess, Prince, Hamilton with a fair support cast. They are a TEAM.

San Antonio have Tony Parker, Finley, Duncan, Bowen, Ginobli etc and ARE a TEAM.

The Suns have Nash, Marion Thomas and Stoudemire (when he gets back) with a support cast of Diaw, House, Jones, Bell, Barbosa (when he gets back too), players whom you wouldn't associate with All-Star status but seem to somehow, gel as a TEAM.

The Lakers have Bryant as their offensive option, Odom as their defensive option mostly with Smush Parker. They aren't a team because of Bryant's presence. He probably intimidates the others by him being around and scoring so profusely. They may have beaten Indiana (who can't?), but take away at least half of Kobe's points, and boom nothin.

Sign an All-Star forward to the Lakers to lure players there then boot out Kobe so he can go back to one on ones THEN they can be considered something not to laugh at.

31...It's been a long time since the "Kobe Haters" were outnumbered by the "Kobe Lovers."

No, I don't have any posters of Kobe or anyone else. In fact I haven't had a poster on any wall since my poster of Bono in his hat and leather vest from the Joshua Tree days. I don't have a shrine either, to Kobe or Bono. Do you have a poster of Kobe on a dart board, or just a poster of your boy Shawn Marion?

I really don't think I'm going on about Kobe so much as I am going on about the Lakers and the break-up of the championship team. Twenty Four has certainly posted his/her fair share of anti-Kobe posts, it nice to see the pro-Kobe posts finally balancing them out! It's easy, very easy, to think simplistically about things, but this situation like most in life simply isn't as black and white and those spoon fed by ESPN.com or trolls on newsgroups think.

Finally, why do you insist on comparing the Lakers to the Pistons, Heat, Spurs and the NBA's elite team? The Lakers don't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as those teams. The Lakers are rebuilding and looking to the future. For the Pistons, Heat & Spurs the time is now. If you are going to compare the Lakers to these teams, you have to include the other .500 clubs in the NBA as well. Even then, the conversation is pointless.

No Jasmine i don't have a poster of Shawn Marion on my wall, only a swingman jersey to wear.

If the Lakers are re-building as you say Jasmine, shouldn't they look to the most successful teams over the last couple of years as a guide to what they need to achieve?

For the Lakers to rebuild, they need to get rid of Kobe Bryant. Use whatever salary he has to bring in some high quality players to gel as a team. There are some pretty decent players around who aren't All-Stars. Figure out a playing style that involves team-orientation and the Lakers will get back up again.

Until then, while they continue with Kobe as their sole star offensive option, they won't make any ground not only on the elite teams but on the next tier of teams either.

By the way, i don't hate Kobe Bryant, may seem like it, i don't. It's his attitude not his ability that annoys me. He is in the top 10 players, individually easily. Can't ask too many players to carry a team, but still, attitude change or club change or both, THEN I will look on him with a little more generosity.