Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  69 responses

Kobe Bryant Upset By Fourth Quarter Benching


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

As the Memphis Grizzlies were running circles around the Lakers on their home floor last night, things took a strange turn for LA. Head coach Mike Brown benched Kobe Bryant midway through the fourth quarter, to the amazement of everyone in the building.

According to the national TV broadcast, Metta World Peace had to be told twice to enter the game for Bryant because he was so surprised by the move. Mike Brown offered little explanation, other than cryptically telling reporters postgame that he felt a sub was needed for Kobe at the time.

The Lakers’ superstar guard admitted that he was upset with the benching, but refused to criticize his coach. From the LA Times:

When a reporter asked if it was correct to assume he was upset over the benching, Bryant said “of course I was. That’s an astute observation.” But Bryant refused to criticize Brown. “It’s his decision to make. He’s the coach. If you guys are looking for a story, I’m not going to contribute to it,” Bryant said. “I can’t sit here and criticize his decisions. Leading this ball club, that’s not something I can afford to do. I had his back the whole season. I can’t start doing something crazy now. It would make no sense.”

Meanwhile, Brown said three variances of “I just decided to make a sub” and offered little explanation on why he benched Bryant in favor of Metta World Peace. “There was not one particular thing,” Brown said. “I just made the sub, went with Metta, sat [Bryant] for a couple of minutes and tried to go back to him. But it didn’t work.”

With fans chanting his name, Kobe Bryant returned to the game with just under two minutes remaining, but could not help the Lakers pull out a win.

The loss was frustrating on many levels for LA: they played shoddy defense, their rebounding was abysmal, and the team seemed to lack the energy needed to keep up with the hungry Grizzlies.

Benching Kobe Bryant — who, granted, didn’t play particularly well last night — late in the fourth quarter did little to help matters, and created an unnecessary dramatic subplot going forward.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , ,

← Older Comments
  • OTB

    @Michael. Perhaps I messed up the order of his shots. I know he took a terrible fadeaway over 2 guys that lead to the 0-3 break, but he also had a shot where for no reason he just launched a 3 with like 15 on the shot clock. I’m not sure if this was before or after he was benched, but I remember them being bad shots. There was one possession where he was ball stopping to the point that Bynum got a 3 seconds cause he was anticipating Kobe’s shot (instead he just jabbed around). Pondexter and Allen completely overworked him, especially Allen. He also failed to close out on Allen when he checked back into the game and the score was (I believe) 98-91. When he let Allen hit that shot, the game was essentially over.

    Bryant plays zero defense; he treats everyone like they are Rondo. Its getting annoying.

  • Hugbug

    Mike Brown knows now he messed up and if he fails to get to Lakers to the finals I would really be surprised if he’s there next year…Bottom line M. Brown really can’t coach, just listen to him and if it wasn’t for L.James where would he be…Maybe L.James would had stayed in Cleveland if he had a real coach…I bet my house M.Brown will never pull that crap again on Kobe again…NEVER…

  • http://www.nba.com Red

    I watched that game, Kobe was on fire. That was dumb, if he was being played tight, then run plays with Kobe as a decoy stupid.

  • OTB

    Kobe was on fire in the 3rd. The Lakers as a team were terrible in the 4th. The Grizzlies took the game by the b@lls when Kobe made that stupid foul on Allen for a 3 point play.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com albie1kenobi

    I’m a queer

  • http://bleacherreport nikita johnson-woods

    I don’t feel there is a story here either,all above comments holds some truth :first I agree that mike brown has to prove himself period. I lived and went to lakers games era at the forum and the most impressive attribute that lakerland followers possess is that they support their players 101% and if you’re trying to hard to fit in a position that does not work well for you or them and integrity of our lakers they will let you know! my opinion from a spectator/have a real sense of the game, point of view, is he, (mike brown) is struggling a bit,not utilizing his players to the best of their abilities and not having common sense to logical match ups. for his sake he would hope to there next season. As, as far the leader of the team ,kobe, you either like him or you don’t but one thing undeniable is Kobe is the greatest in the game I do not care if you do not like his style of play the boy is fire!!!!! I am first to say I am a true blue laker follower from the days of the forum, magic,kareem,nixon,cooper,wilkes,worthy,reign, and even magic had some haters when first landed in la-la land so all the good and the bad goes with the territory.with all this being said it is going to be interesting to see how mike brown step up to the plate with his infamous defense tactic(s) which quite frankly it should not be such a difficult plan of plays to execute,yet I feel his chemistry with this team will be the game plan at the end of the day-word to the wise!

  • Kilo

    I’m glad he coached the team. If I was Mike Brown I would continue to bench Kobe until he got the ball to one of the bigs in early offense.

  • http://facebook Morris Harris Sr.

    Mike Brown has just disrespected the MAN,who has been the heart and soul of Lakers since Shaq left the team. If he has personal problems dealing with Kobe, he should consult with management before this silly move that he made at a crucial time of the game repeats itself. Kobe has 5 championship rings..he can prove his net worth….coach Brown has nothing to show. He has played relentlessly with broken hands,fractured knees and broken nose.. What else does he have to do to prove that he is a winner. Kobe is the best we have right now…cut him some slack or you’ll lose the best chance you’ve had to become a championship Coach. KOBE deserves more respect than you displayed during crunch time on National TV.

  • Cool Dude

    There was just bad coaching in general. Brown shoulda rested the starters starting the 4th, instead of running a half ass line up and no break between the 3rd and 4th, then subbing random people in with mixed energy.

  • robb

    It’s almost laughable how Mike Brown has no idea.

  • Golakeshow

    Mack are you drunk right now? Kobe is the best player this game has ever seen! He is also the best player in today’s game! Notice how I don’t even use the term arguably!

  • Golakeshow

    I mean mick

  • hugo

    notice that you not using the term arguably makes you sound like a dumbass that doesnt know sh!t bout basketball

  • Justin G.

    cosign Hugo. I also find it funny how Golakeshow is asking if Mack is drunk when he clearly is about 6 beers in right now with making those kinds of comments

  • Karen

    GET RID OF MIKE BROWN NOW!!!! Lakers will NEVER wil a championship with him as coach, stupid Buss Family!

  • anonymous

    this is a foreshadowing of what should happen next season: kobe coming off the bench. hes virtually a 1-D player who refuses to acknowledge bynum/gasol as the catalysts of the offense. the lakers should be playing through the 2 big men yet kobe consistently takes ill-advised shots. nothing is going to change with him and neither the lakers nor kobe are good enough (anymore) to negate his poor shot selection. the lakers have to be more efficient offensively in order to be effective and efficiency begins and ends with post players who can dominate the paint. not with a wing man who dominates the ball and kills seconds off the shot clock.

  • Drig

    OTB, if you wanna accuse Kobe of showing no effort (which is true), the same can be said of Bynum. Look at the game again. It was weird but he wasn’t in ANY hurry to return on D. He made FREAKING Haddidi look good. HADDIDI. Pau was ……… I dunno. I’m kinda lost on Pau right now. Pau had a bad game and Kobe/Bynum had subpar games in their own ways. What really CRIPPLED LAL was the lack of hustle from the bench and the ATROCIOUS D of Blake on Gay/Mayo which led to 2 or 3 straight buckets for the Grizz. And I cannot fathom how you can leave Blake and Metta on the floor and keep Kobe out in a Q4 which could’ve still gone our way unless you wanted to rest him ALL THE WAY like Pop does. But no, not even that??? GTFOH.

  • dee

    The closet the Lakers got to winning that game was in the 3rd when they fought back and had that one point lead. Kobe was the main reason they came back…having said that, he still picks and chooses when he wants to play D. Ever see MJ do that? I’m a Laker fan since the Showtime era and will always love the purple and gold…Mike Brown is not the answer but then again who? The Lakers had Phil Jackson: 11 time NBA Championship coach…and got swept by the Mavericks last year. Maybe it’s the mindset of the players nowadays. They’re spoiled and act like diva’s. Respect the journey instead of thinking the Larry O’Brien trophy supposed to get handed to them.

  • http://greatestfilms.co.uk Greatest Films

    Somebody suggesting Kobe is over the hill is a bit extreme.

← Older Comments
Advertisement