Kobe Bryant: Everyone Overreacting to Shooting, Criticism Unwarranted

After his abysmal back to back games against Denver in which Kobe Bryant shot just 12-for-46 from the field, there's been a general chorus of criticism that he's shooting too much. As with all things Bryant this is yet another case of overreaction.

Yes, Kobe Bryant has a wrist injury. It was the same wrist injury he had before facing in Denver in consecutive games. Before playing the Nuggets he was shooting .481 from the field. 

Additionally he's actually passing the ball more, and better than he's ever done before. His assists per 36 minutes is at a a career high 6.2. His overall assists per game is at a second best 6.0. His assist percentage is 34.5 percent, again, a career high. 

The argument is that Kobe is hurting the team by shooting when he should be passing, but the evidence points to a different conclusion—that he's actually passing more and better than he ever has before. 

Head coach Mike Brown sat down with Bryant on the plane and reviewed the entire game. After the film session Brown said, 

"

When you look at (6-for-28 in the box score), you think 'Oh my gosh, there's got to be a ton of bad shots, but if you go back and watch the game you see some of the shots he took, there were a lot of shots he took -- (I know) because I coached against him -- he normally makes.

"

In other words, so what. 

This really is a case of just having a couple of bad games. If it were the wrist injury, it seems to be only affecting him when he plays Denver and is guarded by Arron Afflalo, who coincidentally is one of the best in the NBA at guarding the jump shot. Last year he yielded just .87 points per play on the jumper, and yielded an opponent field goal percentage of 32.3 percent. 

Just going out on a limb here (pun intended) but maybe people need to stop overreacting to all things Kobe. Of course if he goes 15-for-20 in his next game, the same folks will be writing about how he came back from the dead to do so. 

I know this, because when it comes to Kobe Bryant, for every overreaction there's an equal and opposite over re-reaction.