Orange County Register

EL SEGUNDO
Kobe Bryant scored 41 points against Atlanta. He had 31 points against Oklahoma City and 41 against Houston the following night.

The Lakers guard then scored 41 point against Memphis on Friday on an efficient 19 of 30 from the floor. That’s 154 points in six days.

For many players, scoring that much would be taxing, tiring and overwhelming. For Bryant, though, it’s just another day on the court.

Bryant said the reason he isn’t fatigued is two-fold. One, he took a large chunk of the summer off; he didn’t pick up a basketball for a month, which allowed all his niggling injuries to heal.

Two, he said he has better teammates this season.

“They can make decisions with the ball. They understand the offense,” said Bryant, who is averaging 34.5 points through the first six games this season, best in the NBA. “We’ve been playing together for a while. It’s not like I have to go get it on the perimeter and then try to beat three or four guys.

“You look at the points I’m getting, they’re almost all from below the free throw line. It’s almost silly to think about it. I never would have had those opportunities in the past. I have guys who I’m playing with who are threats, who can make 3s.

“The defense has to honor them and I can post up. It makes it a lot easier. You look back then and I had to beat three or four guys (to score 81 points) against the Raptors and the Raptors were (terrible) that year (2005-06).

“Think about it, it’s crazy. It’s stuff I don’t have to do now. It’s stuff I had to do just to keep us competitive.”

Phil Jackson said normally he doesn’t want to see Bryant — or any player — take on that much scoring. But with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on the sideline because of injuries, someone has to carry the team and there’s no one better.

“We’re down a couple players, so yeah, it’s necessary that he comes out and plays like that for us right now,” Jackson said. “But I think he enjoys it. He loves having that opportunity.”

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