Kobe Bryant Legendary as Los Angeles Lakers Pass Major Road Test in Memphis

Kobe Bryant only missed five minutes in this game.

He got up and failed to hit a potential game-winning shot as time expired in overtime.

Forty-seven minutes, but there was no quitting. He's been hearing all year about how he's peaked and finished. He's also been hurting all season long physically.

The Los Angeles Lakers fell behind by 17 points against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night. There was good reason to think that Kobe and the Lakers would say to themselves, "Here we go again," with regards to their road woes.

Yet he persisted, along with the rest of his Lakers.

Kobe played a whopping 52 minutes, and after a long double-overtime marathon, the Lakers came out on top. Kobe scored 34 points, had nine rebounds, and made 11 of 12 free throws. Most importantly, he shot 44 percent from the field.

It's these types of performances that make us all think that Kobe probably has another decade or more left in his tank. While that's an exaggerated figure, Kobe is definitely far from done.

When asked on KCAL 9 how they were going to handle Kobe's minutes in future games, head coach Mike Brown simply responded, "Kobe will get sleep on the plane tonight."

The best part about Kobe's game in Memphis is that he didn't try to dominate the game; his 34 points didn't even lead his team. He used his teammates. Andrew Bynum led the Lakers with 37 points and 16 rebounds in a true coming-out party for the massive center. 

It's amazing how up until this past summer, there were constant trade rumors circulating around. Now, it seems like acquiring Dwight Howard for Kobe would be a downgrade.

This game was a massive test for the Lakers on the road. They went down by 17 points and, as mentioned before, it would've been easy to throw in the towel. The Lakers, though, ceased turning the ball over and limited Memphis' fast-break points.

Meanwhile, they pounded the ball in to Bynum and had Kobe make some big-time clutch plays, like his running shot with under two minutes left in double-overtime to secure the victory.

This road win will give the team a major confidence boost heading into New Orleans Wednesday night. It would be nice to eventually see this win be the turning point of the Lakers season. Perhaps it'll help them pull off a few consecutive road wins and head into the playoffs on a high note.

The other notable Laker that stepped up in big way was Steve Blake. The Lakers point guard situation has been much talked about all year long. We've heard rumblings about how they need to make a move for Ramon Sessions or Jose Calderon. 

However, Blake showed in Memphis that the point guard situation in LA is just fine. He was a plus-23 for the game in 36 minutes of action. He also had nine points, five rebounds and five assists. 

Looking at the reasons why the Lakers came back and won, we see that they were able to go to the line 29 more times than the Grizzlies. This is because they were driving in the lane and not taking outside shots. 

In the first half, they were just 2-of-10 form the three-point line, but finished the game at 30 percent. The Lakers looked to get more quality shots and succeeded because of it.

We've mentioned how poor three-point shooting and Kobe's selfishness  are two of the main reasons why the Lakers lose on the road so often. Tuesday night, that wasn't the case, and as a result, the Lakers go to the Big Easy with a "W."

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