Only, it isn’t a slump.
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“Obviously, he’s struggling with his shot”, Lakers coach Byron Scott said about Bryant on Wednesday.
But the 37-year-old Bryant is shooting only 31.1 percent from the field and 19.5 percent from three-point range. Through their first 16 games, the Warriors’ 15.6-point average margin of victory is the NBA’s highest since the 1996-97 Bulls outscored opponents by 16.0 per game.
“I am not really anxious about it, honestly”, he told ESPN. “That’s not an option whatsoever”.
TNT analyst Charles Barkley insists the Lakers veteran needs to retire, according to the Los Angeles Times. Whether it’s to come into Oracle and get a win, or protect their home court against the Warriors, it’s a big deal, so if we’re not on our game, it’ll show really quickly, because it’s a big game every time we play. Hopefully, this can turn around and Kobe can in fact go out like the true champion he is, but it will take time.
“I was just frustrated tonight and it took me out of my mental focus”.
Barkley singled out Kobe’s over-reliance on his signature (and much imitated) pump fake as the reason why Kobe can’t seem to get a bucket this season. “I got faith in Kobe that he’ll be okay”. He can’t go around people to get layups. Relatively young. A collective unit in Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle make up the realistic dreams of championship pursuits down the line, but right now it’s a nightmare.
In the past, Bryant has been known as a great and clutch shooter but this season, which is his 20th in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and with the Lakers, it has been one area of his game that has been a continuous issue. Especially since Bryant matched his career-worst 1/14 shooting performance against the Golden State Warriors last night.
The only thing that hasn’t changed is that Bryant still leads the team in shots per game (16.4), playing over 30 minutes per game. He has handled the entire situation in Los Angeles the wrong way and doesn’t realize how wrong he is by sticking with Kobe Bryant as his starting shooting guard/small forward and focal point of the offense.
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“Yeah, I’ve seen him play and it’s disgusting”, he said.
