Superstar after superstar have paved the way for the Los Angeles Lakers to remain as one of the best teams in the league since the franchise originated in 1947.

The superstars who have led the Lakers to championships and late runs in the playoffs are in the Hall of Fame: George Mikan, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and as soon as they wait the required time after retirement, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Bryant, 33-years old, is slowing down after 16 NBA regular seasons and long playoff runs year in and year out. His 37 points, eight rebounds and six assists against the Houston Rockets in a 108-99 Lakers’ victory on Tuesday is a demonstration he isn’t done yet.

Unfortunately for Bryant and the Lakers, it’s only a matter of time before he is. Each season Bryant plays, his body breaks down a little more and he tore a ligament in his wrist during a preseason game.

The question of who is next has to be ringing in the ears of the Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss and the General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

If the current Lakers team is examined, there seems to be only one legit possibility: center Andrew Bynum.

Power forward Pau Gasol, 31 years old, is a great number two option but he proved he couldn’t be the best player on a team and win games when he was with the Memphis Grizzlies for the first seven seasons of his NBA career. In his time with the Grizzlies, he went to the playoffs in three consecutive seasons but never won a postseason game.

The rest of the Lakers’ roster consists of role players and aging personnel such as Metta World Peace.

Then there is the 24-year old center who has already been in the NBA for six seasons and has won two championships. He is young, he has experience and he has the ability to beast almost every other center in the league. The Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard is probably the only exception.

While Bryant scored 37 points against the Rockets, Bynum recorded a huge double-double with 21 points and 22 rebounds. When the big man was fed the ball in the paint, no one could stop him.

He is the only player the Lakers have that show signs of being a franchise player or the superstar to lead the team after Bryant is gone.

Bynum is already a star, but he’ll never reach the next level if he can’t stay healthy. He has only played in more than 65 games a season once in his career.

If he is going to be the face of the franchise, which usually means the face of the NBA, he absolutely has to stay healthy and put up 20 plus points and 20 plus rebounds on a nightly basis. A double-double here and there is impressive, but it doesn’t scream, “I’m a franchise player”.

I don’t think he is the right guy for Los Angeles to rely on to keep the team at an elite level. The Lakers should keep Gasol and Bynum together to package their team as a powerful one-two punch.

But, neither one of them can do it on their own. Honestly, without a young point guard, they might not be able to do it together.

The Lakers might have to make some trade negotiations.

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(Reuters) – Kobe Bryant rediscovered his scoring touch to tally 37 points and lead the Los Angeles Lakers to top spot in the Pacific division with a 108-99 win over the visiting Houston Rockets on Tuesday.

Bryant, who had connected on just 26 percent of his shots over his previous two games, finally caught fire against the Rockets while team mate Andrew Bynum had 21 points and 22 rebounds as the Lakers got their fourth win in five games.

“I just had to make some adjustments,” Bryant told reporters as he continues to play with an injured right wrist. “Some shots (it) hurts, some it doesn’t, so it’s inconsistent. But you have to find a rhythm.”

Los Angeles held an 82-81 lead with about 10 minutes remaining of a previously tight contest but outscored the Rockets 18-8 over the next eight minutes, led by nine points from Bryant during the stretch.

Bryant made 14-of-29 shots and also had eight rebounds and six assists.

The win moved the Lakers (4-3) a half-game in front of the cross-town Clippers in the division. The Rockets (2-3), meanwhile, have lost all three of their road games this season.

Houston’s Kyle Lowry just missed a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists while Luis Scola added 20 points.

The visitors stayed in touch with the Lakers throughout the game, trailing by four at halftime and just one after three quarters, but they were pounded on the inside.

Los Angeles grabbed a 53-38 advantage in rebounds led by 7-footer Bynum.

After being suspended the first four games of the season because of a flagrant foul during the last post-season contest, Bynum has exploded back onto the scene with three straight double-figure games in points and rebounds.

“Rebounding the basketball is big. It’s important to us and it’s something I’ve been working on,” Bynum said. “I’ve been doing a lot of work before practice. I’m super confident right now.”

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O’Brien)

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4 (UPI) — Kobe Bryant scored 37 points and Andrew Bynum dominated in the paint Tuesday in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 108-99 win over Houston.

Bryant had six assists and eight rebounds, while Bynum scored 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. Pau Gasol added 14 points and Steve Blake scored 11 for the Lakers, who improved to 4-3.

The Lakers outscored the Rockers 32-24 in the fourth quarter.

Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and Luis Scola added 20 for the Rockets.

Houston kept it close until the final 4 minutes when Bryant hit three field goals and a free throw to put Los Angeles ahead 100-89 with 1:59 to play.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Dec. 31, 2011

LOS ANGELES — Andrew Bynum provided the Los Angeles Lakers with a powerful performance in his season debut, following a four-game suspension that carried over from the playoffs.

It all would have been for naught, however, had it not been for some clutch shooting in the fourth quarter by Kobe Bryant and a couple of equally critical hustle plays by Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol in the final minutes.

Bynum scored 29 points on 13 for 18 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds, leading the Lakers to a 92-89 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. The 7-foot center played 31 ½ grueling minutes, helping the Lakers win their third straight following their first 0-2 start since 2002-03.

“They were looking for me a lot. I was a focal point early in the offense, so I knew the quicker I got down the court, the better it was,” said Bynum, who made four of his first five shots and finished the first quarter with 10 points. “I was winded like crazy. I couldn’t breathe in the first six minutes. Defensively, getting back and all those things require me to be in better condition. So it’s going to take a little while.”

Bynum was suspended without pay for the first four games because of a flagrant foul against Dallas’ J.J. Barea in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. The original ban was five games, but was reduced on Dec. 23 as a result of a shortened schedule caused by the lockout.

“I really didn’t have the highest expectations,” said the seven-year veteran, who totaled 41 points and 23 rebounds in two preseason games against the Clippers. “I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. I wanted to get it down low, and when I got it, I made shots.”

Bryant, bogged down by foul trouble, had 17 points along with nine assists and 10 rebounds. The Lakers overcame 2-for-24 shooting from 3-point range.

Reserve forward Al Harrington had 21 points for the Nuggets, who have lost 25 of their last 29 road games against the Lakers.

“The game of basketball treats you badly sometimes,” Denver coach George Karl said. “No one feels very good right now. They hurt us rebounding the ball and they hurt us with Bynum’s power underneath the basket. They’ve very good at playing an aggressive style of disrupting you, with guys coming at you on pick-and-rolls.”

The Lakers missed their first 12 shots from 3-point range — all in the first half — before Matt Barnes connected with 11:11 left in the third to put Los Angeles ahead 49-47. The Nuggets weren’t much better from behind the arc, missing nine of their first 10 before finishing up 7 for 26.

Trailing 71-69 after three quarters, the Lakers tied it four times before Harrington’s 3-pointer gave Denver an 85-80 lead with 5:29 to play. Bynum guided in a pass above the rim from Bryant and converted the ensuing free throw to narrow the gap to 89-87 with 3:23 left.

Fisher, who fouled out with six points in his 500th consecutive game, missed a 3-point shot trying to beat the 24-second clock — but hustled all the way to the other side of the court to fall on the loose ball and managed to get a timeout with 2:29 remaining and the Lakers still down by two.

“I haven’t seen it on tape yet, and I’m sure it doesn’t look very graceful. But I’m glad it helped us get a win,” the 37-year-old Fisher said with a chuckle. “You see a ball free and you go for it, especially at that time of the game. To make hustle plays and do the little things, that’s the team that we’re becoming – a team that can figure out a way to grind out wins.

“Once I saw the ball bounce long [Ty] Lawson and I were kind of bumping into each other shoulder-to-shoulder and I started to lose my balance,” Fisher explained. “So it was somewhat surprising that I was still able to figure out a way to find the basketball as I was stumbling and regain control before going out of bounds.”

Bryant tied it 89-all with a pair of free throws, and Bynum blocked a layup by Nene with 2 minutes left before converting a layup at the other end for a 91-89 lead with 1:50 to go.

The Nuggets had a few opportunities to pull it out. But Gasol blocked a layup by Lawson, who missed two free throws the next time the Nuggets had possession. Danilo Gallinari had a chance to tie it, but blew an easy fast-break layup with Steve Blake on his heels after Bryant missed a jumper at the other end.

“We get three layups and a couple of free throws in the last three minutes, and we miss all of them,” Karl lamented. “Our offensive confidence is a little short right now.”

Fisher’s consecutive-game streak is the longest among active NBA players. Former Lakers forward A.C. Green, a teammate of Fisher’s during the 1999-00 season, holds the league record with 1,192 in a row.

“That’s what’s so amazing about what he was able to accomplish — especially as a big guy out there banging with the best of them,” Fisher said. “For him to be able to have done what it took mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically to be prepared to go to work every single day for all those seasons was a big-time example for me.

“It’s not like I’m chasing any type of number, but I just try to bring the same mentality to work, whether it’s 500 or 1,000. I’m nowhere close to his streak, but I still take great pride in coming to work every day. Those experiences with him were great. We talked a lot and I learned a lot from him.”

Bryant, who averaged 27.8 points through the first four games despite playing with a torn ligament in his right wrist, missed his first three shots and played more than 14 scoreless minutes before ending the drought on a floater that put the Lakers ahead 38-36 with 3:40 left in the second quarter.

Notes

• The Lakers have played six times on New Year’s Eve since coming to Los Angeles — all at home (5-1). Their rematch with the Nuggets on Sunday night will mark the first time the Lakers have played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the same season since 1959-60, when the franchise was based in Minneapolis.
• Bryant needs four points to become the sixth player in history to reach 28,000.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andrew Bynum had 29 points and 13 rebounds in his season debut following a four-game suspension that carried over from the playoffs, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 92-89 Saturday.

Gallery: Lakers-Nuggets

Bynum shot 13 for 18, helping the Lakers win their third straight following the team’s first 0-2 start since 2002-03.

The 7-foot center was suspended without pay for the first four games of the season because of a flagrant foul against Dallas’ J.J. Barea in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. The original ban was five games, but was reduced on Dec. 23 as a result of a shortened schedule caused by the NBA lockout.

Bynum totaled 41 points and 23 rebounds in two preseason games against the Clippers.

Kobe Bryant, bogged down by foul trouble, had 17 points along with nine assists and 10 rebounds. The Lakers overcame 2-for-24 shooting from 3-point range.

Reserve forward Al Harrington had 21 points for the Nuggets, who have lost 25 of their last 29 road games against the Lakers.

The Lakers missed their first 12 shots from 3-point range — all of them in the first half — before Matt Barnes connected with 11:11 left in the third to put Los Angeles ahead 49-47. The Nuggets weren’t much better from behind the arc, missing nine of their first 10 before finishing up 7 for 26.

Trailing 71-69 after three quarters, the Lakers tied it four times before Harrington’s 3-pointer gave Denver an 85-80 lead with 5:29 to play. Bynum guided in a pass above the rim from Bryant and converted the ensuing free throw to narrow the gap to 89-87 with 3:23 left.

Derek Fisher, who fouled out with six points in his 500th consecutive game, missed a 3-point shot trying to beat the 24-second clock — but hustled all the way to the other side of the court to fall on the loose ball and get a timeout with 2:29 remaining and the Lakers still down by two.

Bryant tied it 89-all with a pair of free throws and Bynum blocked a layup by Nene with 2 minutes left before converting a layup at the other end for a 91-89 lead with 1:50 to go.

The Nuggets had a few opportunities to pull it out. But Gasol blocked a layup by Ty Lawson, who then missed two free throws the next time the Nuggets had possession. Danilo Gallinari had a chance to tie it, but blew an easy fast-break layup after a missed jumper by Bryant at the other end.

Bynum made four of his first five shots and finished the first quarter with 10 points. Bryant, who averaged 27.8 points through the first four games despite playing with a torn ligament in his right wrist, missed his first three shots and played more than 14 scoreless minutes before ending the drought on a floater that put the Lakers ahead 38-36 with 3:40 left in the second quarter.

Notes: The Lakers have played six times on New Year’s Eve since coming to Los Angeles — all at home (5-1). Their rematch with the Nuggets on Sunday night will mark the first time the Lakers have played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the same season since 1959-60, when the franchise was based in Minneapolis. … Bryant needs four points to become the sixth player in history to surpass 28,000. … Fisher’s consecutive-game streak is the NBA’s longest active streak. Former Lakers forward A.C. Green, a teammate of Fisher’s during the 1999-00 season, holds the league record with 1,192 in a row. “That’s what’s so amazing about what he was able to accomplish — especially as a big guy out there banging with the best of them,” the 37-year-old Fisher said. “For him to be able to have done what it took mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically to be prepared to go to work every single day for all those seasons was a big-time example for me. It’s not like I’m chasing any type of number, but I just try to bring the same mentality to work, whether it’s 500 or 1,000.”