Kobe Bryant struggled with his shot in the first half but he made seven of his 16 field goal attempts in the second half and he poured in 18 fourth quarter points, including 14 consecutive points from the 5:29 mark to the 2:10 mark to ensure that the high-powered Nuggets would not mount a late comeback. Bryant finished with 32 points, three rebounds, one assist, two blocked shots and one steal, shooting 9-26 from the field and 13-14 from the free throw line.
The Nuggets' entire defensive game plan focused on trying to contain Bryant; they started out the game by putting forward Kenyon Martin on Bryant, resulting in strange cross matches all over the court, including 6-0 (a generous listing) guard Allen Iverson checking 6-10 forward Vladimir Radmanovic. Martin, wary of being beaten off of the dribble by Bryant, gave him plenty of air space but Bryant missed several shots that he normally makes. Mark Jackson mentioned a few times that he thought that Bryant settled too much for the jump shot, though from speaking to Bryant on several occasions I know how he would answer that charge: any time a defender backs off of him or has his hands down Bryant is going to fire because that is a "money shot" for him (as he described it today to Michele Tafoya).
Bryant is a very good outside shooter but it did seem like there were a few opportunities where he could have driven the ball. However, most of the shots he took are ones he normally takes and makes--and when the chips were down in the fourth quarter the ball was in his hands and he produced. The Nuggets also used a zone defense to try to clog Bryant's driving lanes but the net result of all of these gimmicks was that Gasol had a lot of opportunities to roam in the paint to catch and finish; late in the game, the Nuggets put Martin on Gasol and had J.R. Smith check Bryant but Smith is too small and too inexperienced to guard Bryant, who beat Smith every which way but loose, catching backdoor lobs, shooting jumpers over him and eventually fouling him out of the game (Bryant drew three fouls on Smith during his fourth quarter scoring outburst).
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What about the fact that Bryant attempted 26 shots but only had one assist? Doesn't that prove that Bryant is a selfish gunner? This is why it is vitally important to actually watch basketball games to understand them. The Nuggets focused their defense on Bryant in the early stages of the game. When Bryant passed the ball the defense rotated to the recipient of his pass, who then passed the ball again, often to Gasol. As Hubie Brown always says, if you make the second pass out of the trap then you will get a wide open shot; the Lakers did that all game long. The Lakers' chemistry is obviously fantastic and that starts with Bryant, the best player, who sets the tone offensively and defensively. In contrast, look at Carmelo Anthony, one of the Nuggets' two All-Stars. Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy repeatedly pointed out how poor his defense is, adding that a team will follow whatever its leader does. Right after the Lakers isolated Lamar Odom on Anthony and drew a foul, Jackson said that Anthony must take more pride in his defense, recognize that teams view him as a weak link there and do everything he can to prove them wrong. Instead, on the next possession, Anthony drove into the teeth of the defense and forced up a shot against three players, trying to make up for his bad defense by scoring points. He drew a foul but Van Gundy observed that Linas Kleiza was wide open in the corner for a three point shot.
