Nick Young Thinks the Lakers Rely Too Much on Kobe Bryant

As always, with the game on the line Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers fed Kobe Bryant the ball and got “the f*ck out the way”.

Kobe misfired time and again during the fourth quarter and overtime, as the Denver Nuggets took home an ugly 101-94 win.

Byron Scott didn’t think the Lakers were relying too much on Bryant, something forward Nick Young disagreed with.

Per the LA Daily News:

Have the Lakers become too dependent on Kobe Bryant? […] “Not really,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said. “I thought tonight because of the way they were loading up, they did a great job in forcing them to come at him. When they came at him, he did a great job of finding guys. We just missed shots.”

 

“At times, we fall into relying on No. 24 a lot,” Lakers forward Nick Young said. “We got to believe in ourselves. I believe in everybody on this team. Kobe is going to be Kobe. But we have to find a way to put the ball in the hole with everybody else.”

 

Bryant’s 27 points on 10-of-24 shooting featuring him missing seven of his last eight attempts. And though Scott also cited the Lakers’ woes in the fourth quarter and in overtime both from the foul line (7-of-11) and offensive rebound disparity (9-2), Bryant’s shooting accuracy became a topic of conversation. […] “I feel like I took myself out of rhythm a little bit. In the third quarter, I might have been too passive and let the game get away from me a little bit,” said Bryant, who attempted only one field goal in the third quarter. “I tried to gain it back a little bit. It’s a tough balance.”