Kobe Bryant: Clutch Play Hurting the Los Angeles Lakers?

If you flip on your television and check out one of the Los Angeles Lakers games that aren't decided by a wide margin these days, you'll likely see something you would expect; Kobe Bryant taking the game over.

However, if you watch him in 2012 and compare him to say, any of the past four years and you'll notice something quite different; Kobe isn't taking over games in a good way.

Thanks to the great people over at 82games.com (I'm surprised they didn't grab the 66games.com domain name as a joke for this season) we have a pretty good idea of the various situational stats throughout a game without getting too much into the mathy basketball sabermetrics that I still see as underdeveloped and raw.

Checking out the clutch stats for this season (which is defined as production in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime in which the score is within five points) you'll see that Kobe is averaging 33.8 points per 48 minutes of "clutch" time. A quick jaunt on over to basketball-reference's shot finder and you'll see that Kobe has made 17 "clutch" shots this year. Not bad, right? Well, wrong.

Out of 52 people that have attempted at least 20 shots in "clutch" time, Kobe's shooting percentage is 47th at a meager 27.9 percent. His 61 attempts are second most after Kevin Durant, but the big fella in Oklahoma City is at least putting them in at a 42 percent clip.

Kobe's clutch offensive game has been terrible this year compared to years past. Since 2007, Bryant has seen his clutch field goal percentage dip below 44 percent just once, which just so happened to be last season.

So what happened to the Lakers from last year to this year for Kobe to take that hit and, more importantly, what happened to the team from two years ago to this year for Kobe to drop from 44 to 40 to 30 percent?

The easy answer there is the departure of a Kardashian and her man. Lamar Odom was the Lakers best clutch player (percentage wise) in both 2010 and 2011, peaking last year when he shot 62 percent for the Lakers. Odom added a dimension to the offense late in games that nobody has been able to replace.

Last season when the Lakers were in a close game, Kobe obviously was the main choice, but they still had at least one big man in the post and Odom hanging around for a mid-range shot. Kobe would try to create something for himself and if he couldn't he would dump it to Gasol or Odom, who had an assister on 70 percent of those clutch shots.

This year, Kobe has taken 45 percent of the Lakers clutch shots. Last year, he took 45 percent of their clutch shots. So what's the deal? Kobe is no more likely to shoot it this year compared to last year, but he's shooting terribly.

The answer is quite easy, Kobe still has Derek Fisher (or Steve Blake) to dish it off to for a long-range shot and Pau Gasol for a little low-post finesse or Andrew Bynum for an overpowering move from five feet out—but Odom is gone. There's nobody there to provide an inside-outside threat like Odom.

This has led to increased pressure on Kobe by his defender, as the defense can almost completely disregard the mid-range threat with Metta World Peace or Matt Barnes out there.

Of the 39 clutch shots Odom took last season, 17 of them were from 15 feet or farther while 17 of them were from six feet or closer. He only shot the ball 39 times, but he was the only true unpredictable clutch player on the floor. There was no way of knowing what shot Odom was going to take if he took a shot.

Now, the Lakers clutch offense is either inside with their bigs or a jumper from Kobe, a guard or (heaven forbid) World Peace. Gasol has a jumper but his main game, as everyone knows, is in the post.

It seems that this is going to continue to be a problem for the Lakers unless they address it at the trade deadline. With such a predictable late-game strategy, Los Angeles could end up missing out on a deep playoff run.

I think it's fitting that Bryant is now rocking the face mask. This season it seems that Kobe isn't the hero the Lakers need, but rather the hero that the Lakers deserve.