Kobe Bryant: Lakers Need to Be Concerned If Star Must Score 40 to Win on Road

The Los Angeles Lakers finally won a road game last night, something that has haunted them since their second game in Sacramento, where they were upset by nine points to a lowly Kings team.

The team needs to be concerned about their road woes still, even after picking up a 90-87 win last night in Utah, one of the harder places to play.

It took overtime and a 40-point explosion from Kobe Bryant to get the win, and even then the game wasn’t safe until the final 0.7 seconds, when the Black Mamba iced two free throws and then blocked Devin Harris’ long three-point attempt to tie.

The most impressive part of Kobe’s performance is that it was their third game in four nights and he had just gone off for 48 at home against Phoenix the previous evening.

It’s great that the superstar guard is playing like an NBA MVP again, but will he break down if newly-installed head coach Mike Brown keeps piling on minutes to the 15-year-veteran’s banged up knees and wrist?

That is something that former coach Phil Jackson was unable to risk and would rather lose a game in the regular season rather than work Kobe into the ground.

Come playoff time, they will need these types of performances on a regular basis. Having No. 24 on the bench injured or not at 100 percent is going to spell disaster for the Lakers.

Other players must learn to step up on the road this season, and stars like Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum need to add more than 14 and 12 points respectively.

The bench also needs to find a way to contribute, as the team was only able to get 11 points out of the five players that saw minutes.

It’s great the Lakers won, because there is no doubting that road wins are important, but they need to make sure they take a lesson from the victory or risk sliding down a slippery slope.