How Resting Kobe Bryant Will Doom Lakers
Kobe Bryant has missed six games this month and is likely to miss at least a seventh against the Golden State Warriors.
His injured shin is showing improvement, but head coach Mike Brown will continue to play it safe with his most iconic and indispensable player. After all, Los Angeles is 4-2 without Bryant and has survived better than many would have predicted.
Sure, the club's missed his 28.1 scoring production and his all-around MVP play, especially in Los Angeles' 112-91 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night. But it also managed to beat those same Spurs 98-84 just a week earlier.
Going forward, however, there's a real risk that Bryant's sparse play could backfire in the early stages of the postseason.
For all the rest it affords him, it also could leave him a bit rusty when it's time to return to action. We'd all like to believe elite players aren't subject to things like rhythm, but Derrick Rose and a host of others suggest otherwise.
Rose has struggled mightily with his shot in his sporadic efforts to return from a series of injuries and back problems. His 1-13 shooting performance against the Miami Heat on April 15 were cause for concern, as were the eight and seven turnovers he committed against New York and Detroit, respectively.
It's presumptuous to believe guys like Rose and Bryant can't return to form in time to salvage an otherwise difficult first-round series—but, it's even more presumptuous to assume they can simply flip a switch and look like their superhuman selves when the intensity of the playoffs works against an already challenging comeback attempt.
Rust aside, there are also chemistry issues that will need to be resolved in short order.
Will Andrew Bynum now feel entitled to 25 shots a game? If the Lakers win a couple more contests without Bryant, will he become convinced that he's entitled to take over the reigns of a championship contender?
Will Metta World Peace remain a consistent offensive weapon when he's no longer called on to attempt 20 field goals (as he did this week against the Dallas Mavericks). Or, will he return to the despondent afterthought to which he resigned himself amidst a roster deep with first, second and third options that don't include him?
Even if one is committed to the stubborn belief that Kobe's prolific shooting has a negligible effect on the Lakers' chemistry, the team itself might come to believe otherwise—especially as it learns what it feels like to get touches, take important shots and make plays without feeling the guilt of knowing "Kobe should be getting the ball more."
If the Lakers continue to win without Bryant, these are the kinds of questions players are bound to ask, particularly when one of those players is Andrew Bynum.
If the Lakers fall to the Warriors or otherwise slide in Kobe's absence, there's the alternative risk that locker room confidence will take a hit and give way to an unhealthy dependence on Bryant.
Yes, the rest is nice. And yes, the Lakers will need Kobe at 100 percent.
That doesn't mean this is a win-win situation, though.
