Staples Center - Los Angeles
LA Lakers 103, Washington 94
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"You know Kobe is going to want to play great," the Washington coach said. "The bigger the stage, the bigger he'll play. I have the ultimate respect for him." |
Collins, who watched Bryant carefully when he was broadcasting on NBC, also thinks the 23-year-old has a lot of the same traits as his celebrated elder.
"Kobe
has so many of the mannerisms, to the way he dresses, to the interviews he gives
the day of the game," Collins said. "There are times when I close my
eyes, and I think I'm talking to Michael."
"As a player, he has the same kind of package. He's explosive, he can post
up, he can shoot it. Plus the thing he has is the thing Michael had and few do.
He can miss 10 in a row and want the next one because he knows the 11th one is
going in. I love Kobe. And I think he respects the game."
-Lakers vs Wizards- ESPN Recap-
Kobe Bryant felt embarrassed.
After a huge buildup, the Los Angeles Lakers were being routed by Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards early in the third quarter.
Embarrassed, but not discouraged.
"Not at all," Bryant said after the Lakers rallied for a 103-94 victory over the Wizards on Tuesday night after trailing by as many as 20 points in the second half. "We're fighting, we're world champs.
"People see us having these gold uniforms on and think we're soft. I looked at that as a chance to show the world what we could do. I'm going to fight until the final buzzer goes off, for 48 minutes."
Bryant scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half, and also had 11 rebounds and a career-high 15 assists for his third NBA triple-double.
The Lakers took command by outscoring the Wizards 43-11 to turn a 63-43 deficit with 7:50 left in the third quarter into an 86-74 lead with 8:03 remaining in the fourth.
Bryant shot 9-of-20 and, just as he promised, got his teammates involved -- especially in the third period.
And when it came time to score, he scored.
With a little over a minute to play and the Lakers leading 97-89, Bryant hit from outside over Jordan, drawing one of the loudest cheers of the night from the Staples Center crowd of 18,997. Jordan left the game for good a few seconds later.
The loss also snapped Washington's 13-game winning streak in games played by Richard Hamilton, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the first quarter.
The Wizards led 48-35 at halftime, and outscored the Lakers 15-8 to start the third quarter for their 20-point lead.
Suddenly, the Lakers got it together at both ends of the court, outscoring the Wizards 34-11 to finish the period for a 77-74 lead.
Their 42 points in the quarter were a season-high.
Bryant played a major role. He stole the ball from Jordan to set up a three-point play with one minute left in the quarter, and fed Brian Shaw for a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in the period to give the Lakers their first lead since the opening five minutes.
The Lakers then scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to put the Wizards away.
Jordan and Bryant hugged at midcourt before the game. Then, it was all business.
The Lakers shot only 7-of-24 in the opening period and 2-of-10 to start the second quarter, but trailed by only eight points because the Wizards weren't doing much better.
The Lakers' 35 first-half points tied a season-low
"Playing without Shaquille we're already at a huge disadvantage," Bryant said. "Then being down 20 points to Michael and the Wizards, it was a big all-around effort by everybody."
Bryant,
who was held to five points in the first half, led Los Angeles on a 43-11 run
over the next 11 minutes.
"It
was fun coming back from 20 down," Bryant said. "The fact that there
was so much hype surrounding the game, we had to come out fighting. We're
fighters, we're World Champs. I'm going to do whatever it takes to win."
Bryant
scored 10 points as the Lakers closed the third quarter with a 34-11 burst.
"He played extremely well, especially in the third quarter," Jordan said. "Phil just opened up the court and (Bryant) basically created everything. We really could not contain his activity in terms of him getting everybody involved from his penetration to just getting the ball to the right people."
