Kobe Bryant News L.A. Lakers
Sloan on Bryant's big game
SALT LAKE CITY — It's hard enough trying to shut down Kobe Bryant by sending defenders in waves to try to deny him the ball or deny him a lane, or simply hack him.
But it has to be excruciating to stand there and watch Kobe Bryant stand in the one spot where a defender can't get to him, the free-throw line. Utah Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan watched that sight all Monday night, as Kobe Bryant went to the line 24 times and scored 21 of his 35 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 102-94 victory.
Sloan reacted during the game enough to draw a technical foul. So did Utah guard Gordan Giricek, the man assigned to guard Kobe Bryant, or at least serve as his personal speed bump much of the night.
But when Sloan talked to reporters afterward, he couldn't have been more complimentary about Kobe Bryant. "When it comes to driving to the basket, he's the best in the game," Sloan said.
And all the fouls that were called?
"Those are the rules," he said.
But Sloan wasn't done yet, wasn't about to go meekly into the night. He had some feelings to vent, some fingers to point … at his own players.
"We didn't come to do our job [Monday night] at the start," Sloan said. "When the other team shoots [well] in somebody else's building, then you know [the home team] is not playing too hard."
Sloan was asked if he missed guard Deron Williams, out because of a strained groin.
"I miss my guys not competing hard," he said. "That's what I miss."
The Jazz coach, a tough, tenacious defender in his playing days, said he would have liked to have seen his players seal off the inside against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"If I whack you once and you stay outside," he said, "then I've done my job."
The one member of the Jazz best prepared to guard Bryant is Derek Fisher, who guarded him every day in practice over the eight years they were Los Angeles Lakers teammates.
"Yeah we banged heads so many times in practice," Fisher said, "that I can sometimes read his body language. I'm not saying I know what he's going to do before he does it, but pretty close. But that doesn't necessarily mean I can stop him.
"When I know we are going to play the Los Angeles Lakers, thinking about defending Kobe is already going through my brain two weeks in advance."
And Fisher probably will think about Monday night's loss for the next two weeks.
[More at www.latimes.com]
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