Kobe Bryant on 3-of-20 Performance: ‘I Couldn’t Make a Shot’

Kobe Bryant was gawd-awful last night as the Utah Jazz upset the Lakers in LA, as he missed 17 of 20 shot attempts. He had no explanation for the woeful shooting. From the LA Times: “The Lakers’ 103-99 loss Sunday to the Utah Jazz remained mystifying for Bryant who posted 15 points, missed 17 shots from the field, including one-of-six shooting from three-point range, and committed seven turnovers. ‘I had some nice looks,’ Bryant said. ‘But I couldn’t make a shot.’ […] It became one of those nights when Bryant couldn’t help but remain sarcastic about whether he lacked confidence on the final shot (‘extremely’), if he liked his shot selection (‘are you kidding?’) or if Utah did anything defensively on him (‘not at all’). OK, so Bryant wasn’t completely foretelling on the last answer. Utah forward Paul Millsap blocked Bryant’s eight-foot jumper in the first quarter. Other than that, however, Bryant took shots he’d normally make even if he tried to miss them. ‘The shots he took, he’s our guy,’ Lakers Coach Mike Brown said. ‘I’ll play that game all over again and have him shoot the same ones and if he goes three for 20, then he goes three for 20.’ However justified Bryant’s shots were, he could’ve repeated the scenario in another way. Andrew Bynum and Gasol combined for 51 points on an efficient 20-of-26 shooting. Aside from their 10 turnovers, it’s fair to reason that a few less of Bryant’s shots could’ve resulted in more frontline production. ‘There’s plenty of things to pay attention to about than my shot selection,’ said Bryant. ‘I didnt force anything. It was all easy looks. I only took 20 shots.'”