Kobe isn't leaving that magical place anytime soon

                    

	Kobe Bryant has carried the Lakers to a five-game winning streak. AP
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LOS ANGELES -- Phil Jackson has a nickname for times like this. When his team ceases being the Los Angeles Lakers and becomes the Kobe Bryants and the players around the team's star become more spectators than participants. "Yeah, we have a nickname for that called Kobe-dar," he said. "When they get in Kobe-dar state ... they try to get the ball to him."

That's really all they seem to do when they're in that state of mind and, why not? For the past four games that plan worked to perfection. Bryant averaged 56.3 points and shot 54.3 pecent as the team went 4-0. But Kobe-dar can only take you so far, and the Lakers showed Sunday that they were capable of winning their fifth straight even if Bryant "only" scored 43 points in the Lakers' 115-113 win over the Warriors.

"Kobe came off his streak," said Jackson with a sly grin. "Had an off game."

Saying that Bryant had an "off night" was a running joke in both locker rooms, Even Bryant joined in, which put his most recent scoring streak into perspective. Never before has a home crowd left an arena more dissatisfied with a win and a 43-point performance by their star player. "I want my money back," joked one fan, wearing a white No. 24 jersey, as he left Staples Center. "I thought he'd at least get 50."

It looked as if Bryant would get that and some early on. He quickly put up 17 points in the first quarter and 19 early in the second as the Lakers raced out to a 19-point lead, but that seemed to be the end of Kobe-dar (at least for the moment) as the Warriors double and triple teamed Bryant, forcing other players on the floor to put their popcorn down for the moment and contribute.

"They started fronting me so we decided that I would set more picks in the second quarter," said Bryant. "So I was more of a decoy in the second quarter."

Bryant said he still felt as if he was in a zone, which shouldn't come as a surprise to Warriors coach Don Nelson, who could only shrug his shoulders as he looked at the post-game stat sheet. "We tried to make it hard for Kobe," he said. "We held him to 43."

Playing in "the zone" is supposed to be a fleeting experience. A fanciful pitstop between actuality and reality where you can do no wrong. If you're lucky, your layover lasts a litter longer than expected. If you're Bryant, it seems your stay is often indefinite. He is a playing at a level that hasn't been seen in years, and putting up video game like numbers that were formally only attributed to Wilt Chamberlain, who was the last player to score at least 50 points in as many games.

"I've always said that Wilt's a human video game," said Bryant. "He's a guy that seems to be not human. The records and the things that he's done is beyond miraculous and for me to even be in the same breath even if it's just a short little breathe is pretty cool."

There is, off course, a trade off to these amazing individual performances. They are coming while Bryant is playing on a team that was fighting for their playoff lives last week and will finish no better than sixth in the West. Last season, Bryant's similarly stellar performances (81 points and 63 in three quarters) were while playing for a similarly lackluster team that finished as the seventh seed in the West and was bounced in the first round.

For Bryant to be at the absolute pinnacle of his career right now with a supporting cast as poor as his is the equivalent of putting Robert DeNiro in his prime on the Love Boat. Would it really matter if the greatest actor in the world was killing his lines if he were surrounded by Captain Stubbing and Isaac Washington?

Not only is Bryant not having the team success he publicly craves, he isn't even able to win the individual award he privately desires. Despite being the most valuable player on his team and the best player in the league, Bryant will never win the MVP until he is on a team contending for a championship. That should have been crystal clear after he finished a distance fourth in last years voting after leading the Lakers back into the playoffs while amassing one of the most prolific scoring seasons ever. Bryant will likely finish no better than third this year even if the Lakers win out and he averages 50 points down the stretch.

For now, the only thing Bryant can worry about is continuing the Lakers current winning streak, which was kick started 10 days ago with a 65-point performance that seems to have turned the Lakers' season around.

"I think it energized us as a team, and it energized the city," he said. "I think that's great. Before that, it seemed like we were kind of dead in the water in terms of energy and in terms of belief in the city in what we could do. It seemed to kind of do a 180. We're playing with a lot more energy right now."