There are two good things about the consecutive 50-point efforts by #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers... the team was able to win both games. Aside from that there is only cause for concern. The Lakers have won the last two games, true, but let's not be too quick to forget that they had just come off a seven-game losing streak.

Aside from Kobe playing well the last two games, he wasn't alone. Last night, Smush Parker had a career night, with 19 points and 9 assists, one off a career high. Luke Walton was two assists away from a triple double, with 10 pts and 11 boards to go with the 8 assists, and Lamar Odom also threatened to post one as well with 16/8/9. Even with Bryant's 50 and all that help from the supporting cast, the Timberwolves still came within three in the closing minutes, after being down by as much as 19 in the third, and could have won the game. It took overtime to dispatch of the lowly Trail Blazers.

What does it all mean? What it should tell you is at least two things.

1. Kobe is the most prolific scorer that the league has and that he can do so within the confines of a team system. Other people can play well when Kobe lights it up and that is the lone bright spot to take from the situation, at least if you are a fan of the Lakers.

2. For all other fans, Kobe haters, and followers of the game it shows that the Lakers aren't title contenders this year, and they may very well never be with the lineup that they have. Kobe is going to get his, we all know that, but the question is always about the supporting cast. The last two games have showed that even when the offense is firing on all cylinders, with multiple contributors, the Lakers still have trouble beating teams and finishing down the stretch. Even though the Trail Blazers and Timberwolves do have some talented players, and at least one superstar in Garnett, they shouldn't be able to compete with the Lakers, and yet they did. The Lakers are hitting a wall and it's not clear that even these two marginal victories will or should relieve any questions in the Lakers locker room and front office.

The show that Kobe has put on the last two games has been something special to watch and it's not a stretch to imagine that anyone privileged to have seen either game enjoyed it. But, even if Kobe averages 50 the rest of the way and continues to get the kind of support he got last night, the Lakers will still have trouble beating the three seed as the six seed, or two if they continue to slip in the Western Conference standings. Any of the big three in the West, in Dallas, Phoenix, and San Antonio (in no particular order) have enough BALANCE to withstand the beating that Kobe can put on a team in a game, in spite of some of the slips they have had recently.

Learn more about this author, Robert Solis.
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