Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin is still trying to get on the same page with Kobe Bryant 15 games into his purple-and-gold career. And so far, the Asian-American star has already learned how it is like to play with the Black Mamba, the hard way.
During a timeout before a crucial ball possession in Sunday’s 101-94 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Bryant was seen on National TV lambasting a helpless Lin, who apparently infuriated the Lakers superstar for asking him to move the ball for an open shooter.
Despite leading the league in scoring at 26.4 points per outing, the 36-year old Bryant is shooting a career low 38 percent from the field on 23 shots per game.
These numbers are certainly head-scratching to most NBA analysts, but there seems no stopping the Lakers star from taking almost half of the team’s shot attempt in each game, not even his head coach.
In a recent interview with Serena Winters of Lakers Nation, purple-and-gold coach Byron Scott claimed that there’s nothing wrong with Bryant’s shot selection as he even believed that the Black Mamba is starting to get his teammates involved.
The former NBA MVP was surprisingly a bit passive in Wednesday’s 99-93 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies, finishing the game with just 22 points on 15 shot attempts. He also did not take a single shot until the final three minutes of the game.
As for Lin, his current situation is far from what he expected after he was acquired by the Lakers in a trade with the Houston Rockets last summer.
The 26-year old playmaker was supposed to have a bounce-back year this season with Steve Nash sitting out for the entire year due to bad back. Instead, he’s facing the same situation he had with another ball-dominant winger in James Harden.
The Asian-American star is still putting up decent numbers, averaging 12.3 points and 4.9 assists in 30 minutes per game. Then again, it’s clear as crystal that he’s really not comfortable sharing the same backcourt with Bryant, making it safe to predict that Lin's stay in Los Angeles won't last long.
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