Kobe or Wall-E? Lakers' robotic star likes to level obstacles

Doyel: Erratic Odom

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The enduring image of Kobe Bryant during these playoffs -- other than the determined, teeth-bearing grimace -- came after Game 3 of the conference finals in Denver. Winded, exhausted, victimized by the altitude and drained by his relentless performance in a victorious, 41-point night, Bryant stood on the court with his hands on his knees for the postgame interview.

Kobe, it seemed, had hit the wall. Two long playoff runs and three consecutive summers of basketball with Team USA will do that to a guy.

Except that Kobe hadn't hit the wall. He was just getting started.

Five times the Lakers have come back after a loss with only one day between games in this postseason, and five times they have won the next game. Bryant -- who allegedly succumbed to fatigue again Wednesday night when he faded down the stretch in Game 3 of the Finals against the Magic -- has averaged 33.4 points while shooting 56 percent in those games (60 for 107). Among them were the aforementioned 41 points in Game 3 at Denver, a 40-point performance in a Game 2 win against Houston, and a 26-point, 10-for-19 shooting night in a 40-point win in Game 5 against the Rockets.

Some wall.

"I'm aware of bouncing back after a tough loss," Bryant said Wednesday. "Hopefully we can do it again. As far as me hitting the wall, so what if I did? I didn't, but so what if I did?"

"What does it mean if you did?" I asked.

"It means nothing," Kobe said.

"Because?"

"Because I'll run straight through it," he said.

Bryant's relentless, single-minded, virtuoso pursuit of his fourth championship has entered the danger zone -- for both Kobe and his opponent. Just when you think he is vulnerable, he hits you. He hits you hard.

• Finals: Lakers 2, Magic 1

"I think him having to take the brunt of the offense on and create shots for himself, I think that takes a lot of energy," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "And then defensively, things either happen because of it, or offensively he needs to have a break on the offensive end at times to kind of cushion his game a little bit."

Bryant came out in Game 3 in attack mode, putting on a display of aggression and ruthlessness that was cruel even by his standards. He made 7 of 10 from the field for 17 points in the first quarter, each shot more difficult and dramatic than the last. But he made only 4 of 9 from the free throw line from the second quarter on -- a sure sign of fatigue -- and attempted only six shots from the field in a seven-minute cameo in the fourth quarter.

Kobe may be tired, but there's still plenty left in his tank. (Getty Images)

"I held on to Kobe's minutes a little bit in the fourth quarter," Jackson said, "because I wanted him to finish strong."

Brian Shaw, a Lakers assistant coach and the heir apparent to Jackson, leaned against the scorer's table at practice Wednesday and gave the best explanation I've ever heard for the phenomenon that is Bryant. Shaw spoke of a "pecking order" that begins and ends with Bryant, and expressed more honestly than anyone ever has how Bryant dictates the ebb and flow in his game.

"We tell our guys to start the offense away from him," Shaw said. "Use this side of the court, see your options over here; if nothing's there, reverse it to him and now the shot clock's down and let him do his thing. But when he's out there on the floor and he's doing his little signals asking for the ball, there's kind of a pecking order that happens out there on the court. They don't want to piss him off, and they want to please the coaching staff as well. But he's the closest one to them on the floor. So a lot of times they'll force the ball into him with three people around him instead of making the right play."

I've written thousands of words about Bryant since I first started covering him in the rookie game at All-Star weekend in Cleveland in 1997. Shaw's words are by far the best I've ever typed into one of those stories.

"Some of the younger guys, they just want to make him happy," Shaw said. "When I played, Shaq was the second ... there were two dominant players. So if we went away from Kobe and threw it in to Shaq, what can he say? Now, who is that guy that's on the same level that he's on? If they make a play over here to Lamar [Odom] or somebody else and Kobe gets mad, then they're going to play more to that because nobody's on that same level."

Someone mentioned Pau Gasol as perhaps being that guy.

"Pau doesn't have the demeanor," Shaw said. "He's a nice guy. Shaq might've been like, 'Give me the ball.' And Kobe might've been like, 'Give me the ball.' If you give it to Shaq, it's OK. If you give it to Pau and it doesn't work out, then Kobe might get on you. That's just something the players have to work out."

There are times, Shaw said, when the coaches are yelling that Odom or Derek Fisher or somebody else is open, and yet, "They still give it to [Kobe] anyway. It's part of growing up and playing with a player that's as great as he is. Even as teammates sometimes, they're fans of his on the floor while the game is going on."

This is where we are: The Lakers have been stunned by Orlando's sharpshooting jab, and now it is time to see if they respond the same way they have throughout the playoffs. It is time to see how Bryant will respond. There really shouldn't be any question how he will try to respond. Run straight through it ...

"I don't think Kobe gets tired," Odom said. "Kobe is one of the strongest-willed people that I've ever met. ... The way Kobe works and takes care of himself, he doesn't get tired."

While his teammates were on the practice floor Wednesday going through drills, Bryant was in the trainer's room getting treatment and some much-needed rest. Tired? Yes. Out of gas completely? No.

"Yeah, he's tired," Shaw said. "He's worn out. Everybody is at this point in the year. We had a long year last year, the Olympics, it is what it is. It's not an excuse. Nobody's making an excuse for him."

The pecking order -- the triangle offense that sometimes has Bryant manning all three points -- doesn't change.

"No, it doesn't," Shaw said. "He'll change the aggressiveness with which he'll attack. So he'll take himself kind of out of it and make himself more of a decoy in those situations."

That's how you will know how tired Kobe really is when he steps onto the floor for Game 4 Thursday night. If he plays the way he did in Game 5 against Denver -- when he assumed the role of facilitator and took only 13 shots -- then you know he's saving himself. If he's hit the wall, Bryant didn't specify when he would run through it. But trust me on one thing: He is daring you to doubt his ability to do it, at the time and place of his choosing.