Lakers Need Even More From Their Star

In Game 2, Bryant's 30 Points Fall Short

BOSTON, June 8 -- Perhaps the first moment when Kobe Bryant resembled Kobe Bryant on Sunday came in the opening minutes of the third quarter. To that point, the Los Angeles Lakers' offense had run around Bryant more than through him, and it was clear that if the Lakers were to have a chance against the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Bryant would need to, at the very least, appear.

So he spun away from guard Ray Allen and then somehow around the help that came in the form of center Kendrick Perkins. And when the ensuing shot fell through -- Bryant finally performing a reasonable impersonation of himself -- he turned to official Dan Crawford and screamed. Instantly, the opportunity to turn his evening around instead turned into a technical foul. In effect, he traded two points for one. Thus, his frustration increased rather than abated.

"We just had to make a stand a little bit," Bryant said. "Guys were getting hit going to the basket and not always being called."

Now, with only Bryant to lead them, the Lakers must make an even stronger stand. Is it possible for a player to score 30 points -- more than anyone else on the court -- and still be a reason his team lost, 108-102, to fall behind two-games-to-none in the Finals? Bryant may have demonstrated how that can happen Sunday night. His most effective moments came late, after the Celtics had all but run the Lakers back to the West Coast. And when he could have helped prevent the Celtics from blowing the game open -- a lead that reached 24 before the Lakers whittled it all the way back to two -- Bryant was alternately passive and off-the-mark.

"There's some things that we did I wasn't pleased with in the first half," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said when asked about Bryant's performance through three quarters, when he missed 9 of 16 shots. "We got anxious. We got out of our offense. . . . We tried to post Kobe too much. The situation got us out of the rhythm of our offense."

In four games against the Celtics this year -- two in the Finals -- Bryant is shooting 36.8 percent. The larger perspective is this: Bryant is the best player not only in this series, but in the league, the NBA's MVP. Before the series, he was drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan, and a seminal performance in the Finals would only enhance that discussion. It's possible that only Bryant could make 11 of 23 shots and have people still wonder: What's wrong?

"We expect a lot from him," forward Vladimir Radmanovic said.

Take one key chunk from this game, right when the Lakers had whittled a 16-point deficit to a manageable 68-59 with four minutes left in the third. In a three-possession span, Bryant took a long jumper -- an air ball, of all things. He then launched a three-pointer after the Lakers had made one pass, and finally flung an errant alley-oop pass to Pau Gasol. Instead of helping the Lakers close the gap, the Celtics scored 13 straight points.

Bryant, thus, was left to mull over the reasons for the Lakers' predicament. "A free throw or two wouldn't hurt," he joked, noting the Lakers took only 10 foul shots. But he also laid into his teammates in the huddle in the fourth quarter.

"Play 'beep' harder," he said he told them. "It's beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. 'Eddie Murphy Raw' times 10."

Even that didn't turn his team around -- enough. Down four with 20 seconds left, Bryant didn't get the Lakers' shot, Radmanovic did. He missed.

"You can't lose your aggressiveness," Bryant said. "You still got to go through it and you just do your best."

Bryant's best is better than anyone else's. In order to stay in the series, the Lakers need it to show up, and quick.