TORONTO, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) — Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers accepted responsibility in the team’s 108-103 loss to the Toronto Raptors in their NBA action on Sunday afternoon.
The loss was the Lakers’ second straight, dropping their record to 5-13 on the road and 17-23 overall.
“I’ll take this loss on me, gladly,” said Bryant after the game. “This is what I do. I can’t miss those shots. That’s part of the responsibility of being a leader on a team.”
Despite having a 26 point output, the Lakers’ shooting guard shot the ball at a 31% clip on 10-32 shooting from the field, including 2-12 from beyond the arc.
“There were a lot of easy shots, a lot of them that I should have put down,” said Bryant.
The 12 three-point shot attempts were a season high. Meanwhile, his 32 shot attempts and 22 missed shots were his second highest in each category this season. His highest total came in a victory against the Golden State Warriors on December 22 when he attempted 41 shots, missing 25 of them.
The 34-year-old Bryant does not see the losing ways continuing for long. He believes fatigue was a major factor in the loss.
“I just got to rest my legs; my legs are a little tired. The shots were a little short,” said Bryant. “I did okay defensively. My offence was subpar, I was missing easy shots.”
The 15-time all-star believes that the team should not panic, as they are not far away from being a good team. He believes the key for the team will be to have a dominating post game for the big men.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. There are some positive things in terms of what we’re doing,” said Bryant. “We’re close (to becoming a good team). We saw a steady diet of pounding the post tonight. I’m very happy about because we got a lot of easy things from them down there.”
With 42 games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers will need to come together quickly. The team will need to win 70 percent of their remaining games to have a shot at the playoffs.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-01/21/c_132115546.htm
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