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Kobe has already made history in the last week, becoming only the second player ever in the NBA to score 50 or more points in four straight games. Not so coincidentally, those were four Laker wins.
The way he’s playing, there’s no reason the streak can’t reach six games.
First up tonight is the Golden State Warriors (6:30 p.m. on Fox Sports) -- the team that plays at the fastest pace in the NBA. Under new coach Don Nelson (the architect of the current best in the NBA Dallas Mavericks), the Warriors have gotten out and ran like it was 1984. They average three more trips up and down the court a game than the poster boys of the current up-tempo NBA trend, the Phoenix Suns. Plus, Golden State plays shitty defense. So, let’s review: Kobe will get more chances on offense against a bad defense. Scoring 50 seems reasonable.
Next after that, thee Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday -- the same Memphis team that Kobe hung 60 on last week.
That would extend the streak to six. The bad news is to get to seven -- to tie Wilt Chamberlain for the all-time streak -- would require scoring 50 against the best defensive team in the NBA, the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have one of the best man-on-man defenders in the league in Shane Battier, then when he gets tired there is Tracy McGrady. Get past them and it’s Yao Ming or Dikembe Mutombo — two of the best shot blockers in the game — guarding the paint. Nobody can “stop” Kobe, but the Rockets will not let him get to 50.
Well, unless Kobe has a superhuman game. So maybe we shouldn’t count it out.
AP photo by Alex Brandon
