Kobe Scores 52, Then Cracks One-Liners
Kobe Bryant had it all goin' on Sunday.
He scored an NBA season-high 52 points as the Lakers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 108-104 in overtime before the (again) reliably noisy Staples Center capacity crowd.
Bryant had 22 in the fourth quarter and 30 in the second half, also NBA season highs. And he passed Walt Bellamy for 25th on the all-time scoring list (with 20,941 points).
When it was over, he still had energy enough for a couple of witticisms.
Asked about teammate Sasha "The Machine" Vujacic and Slovenian Sniper's 1-for-10 shooting performance, Kobe said, "The Machine need some new batteries. I’ll pick up some tomorrow. We’ll be fine."
Quizzed on his own early free-throw woes, when he missed seven of his first 10, he said, "If it’s golf, I tell you, my clubs would have been in the water."
He made his final 17 consecutive, and finished 20-of-27. And his clubs were still in the bag.
Kobe was in a good mood, because it was a victory over a quality opponent.
"Every game is pretty much a statement game for us, especially when you match up against Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, teams like that," he said. "We want to send a message that we're for real and we’re going to compete and hopefully we’ll have to be dealt with."