Kobe Bryant has always relished playing on the Madison Square Garden stage, so his eyes grew wide Monday when he talked about the history and the reputation of his favorite arena.
For one night, the Garden will again become the "Mecca of Basketball," if only because the NBA's one-man traveling show stops there.
Eight days after scoring an ethereal 81 points and a day before making his only appearance at the Garden this season, Bryant insisted he was not looking to become the second player, after Wilt Chamberlain, to score 100 points against the Knicks.
"To be honest, I'd much rather go out there and score 25 points and get 10 assists," Bryant said Monday after practice in Manhattan.
And there is a bridge in Brooklyn that will be for sale for Knicks fans.
Bryant, whose career high at the Garden is 46, quickly acknowledged the flipside of Lakers logic this season: "Whatever it takes to win the game, if the rhythm of the game dictates me scoring 40 or 50 points, that's what I'm going to do."
It is a paradox for the Lakers -- they cannot seem to win without Bryant scoring an incredible amount of points. And even then, they do not always win. As the Pistons on Sunday so efficiently showed Bryant -- who had 39 points in the Lakers' 102-93 defeat -- one man is not a team.
Phil Jackson, the Lakers' coach, said he understood the consequences of Bryant's scoring spree. "As a coach, you don't endorse it because you can't -- because you want team play," Jackson said. "But you also have to use it because it's how you win games."
Jackson considered coaching the Knicks last year and met with their president, Isiah Thomas, before returning to the Lakers. Now the Lakers are 23-20, and the Knicks are 14-29 under Larry Brown. Thomas and the organization are reeling from a sexual harassment suit filed against them last week.
Bryant was charged with felony sexual assault in 2003, and the case was dropped a year later. Now he is in position to turn attention away from the Garden's problems -- at least for a night -- with his dazzling skills.
Bryant said this was his image: "A person who's determined, who's focused on being one of the best basketball players, trying to elevate his team to get back to the elite status. Despite whatever challenges, mountains, obstacles that were in his way, he's been able to overcome it and continue to battle through."
Bryant is on a mission of personal redemption that his teammates cannot deny. "Kobe, he has really strong will," Lakers forward Lamar Odom said. "When he's in the zone like that, he's definitely on an island by himself."
At times, that leaves his teammates lost. Odom is in a slump (averaging 8.6 points the last three games). Point guard Smush Parker has struggled (eight turnovers, nine assists total in those games).
Parker said he knew his role in relation to Bryant's. "I was brought here to play defense, to chase the little guards around and to save his energy for the offensive side of the court," Parker said. "I wasn't expecting to shoot the ball. Of course, that's Kobe Bryant, the top player in the league right now. Who's going to tell him not to shoot?"
Jackson has -- but only if Bryant is struggling. "When he is shooting well, I encourage him," Jackson said. "We're trying to measure personal achievement with team goals. It's really important for us to stay focused on team goals."
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