KOBE SHOOTS ... AND HE SCORES.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

The morning after Kobe Bryant's 62-point game, the headline on the Lakers column on a pro basketball Web site called hoopsworld.com was, I kid you not, as follows:

``Kobe Bryant Shoots a Lot.''

It wasn't: Kobe Bryant Lights Up Scoreboard. It wasn't: Kobe Bryant Leads Lakers to Big Win. It wasn't: Kobe Bryant Has One of Greatest Games in NBA History.

``Kobe Bryant Shoots a Lot.''

That's the story here, is it?

Also on Wednesday, ESPN's Dan Patrick spent part of his radio show knocking Kobe for having set out to score a lot of points in the game against Dallas on Tuesday.

And an otherwise sharp-minded friend of mine asked what inspired Kobe, if perhaps the stands at Staples Center were full of Colorado girls.

And an editor phoned to ask if I'd address the question of whether Kobe's 62-point game was good or bad for the team.

The question itself is the topic this morning.

If you have to ask if one of the most spectacular individual performances in NBA history was good or bad, either you're overcomplicating things, you're an incorrigible cynic or you're talking about Kobe Bryant. Or all of the above.

It is Kobe Bryant's peculiar lot in life that whatever he does, there's going to be somebody ripping him for it.

Kobe cures the common cold. (Ah, he's just practicing medicine for the personal glory!); Kobe goes to the Middle East and negotiates peace. (I suppose he'll expect somebody else to pay for the flight!); Kobe solves L.A. freeway congestion. (Michael Jordan would have fixed the potholes too!).

On the aforementioned hoopsworld.com, the writer detailed Bryant's stats Tuesday night, the 31 shots in 33 minutes and the 13 misses and zero assists. And somehow left out the little matter of the 62 points.

The writer concluded: ``Even though the Lakers won the game, it's shameful how selfish the modern NBA game has become.''

Never mind Wilt Chamberlain (23 games of 62-plus points), Elgin Baylor (three), Michael Jordan (two), Pete Maravich (one), Joe Fulks (one), Jerry West (one), Rick Barry (one), David Thompson (one), George Gervin (one) and David Robinson (one), whose one-man shows stretch back to 1949. Now the NBA game is selfish.

This is not the Sports Media Criticism column, so I'd rather not pick on Internet scribes and radio guys. But I suspect their takes reflect an attitude about Bryant's stunning game this week that infects a significant segment of the public at large.

The feud with Shaquille O'Neal, the charge that he's ``uncoachable'' and the rather more serious charge in Colorado have hung a cloud over Kobe Bryant that not even his most spectacular performances can blow away.

So what happens after he scores 62 points, including 30 in the third quarter, then sits out the fourth with the Lakers up by 34, declining Phil Jackson's offer to return to the game and go for Baylor's club-record of 71, saying later that personal stats are ``not what we play for''?

A civic debate breaks out about whether this was Kobe forgetting that it's a team sport, crushing his teammates' spirits with his reckless gunning, screwing up the Lakers' delicate offensive balance.

It's going to surprise some people, but if you look at the 25 games the Lakers have played this season, you find they win more often when Kobe scores a lot of points than when he scores a few points.

When he scores more than his 32.5-a-game average, the Lakers are 9-5. When he scores fewer, they're 5-6.

So lighten up. That's my suggestion. Simplify your sports-fan life.

Cool your cynicism for 24 hours. Accept that sometimes a great performance is a great performance and nothing less. And be happy if you were there, at the arena or in front of your TV, watching when it happened.

Players have scored 62 points or more in NBA games 37 times in the league's six decades. Players not named Wilt have done it 14 times. There have been nine such games since the 1960s. And five since the 1970s. And two since 2000.

This was a special night. Give the guy some credit.

Kobe Bryant shot a lot.

Made a lot, too.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) Kobe's avg. per game is 32.5 points; team is 9-5 when he passes that total

Box:

THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE