Kobe Bryant is not caught up in Jeremy Lin 'Linsanity'

It seems as though the whole world is buzzing about Jeremy Lin's sudden and drastic ascent from total anonymity to New York studded stardom.

But one prominent figure apparently is not aboard the LinExpress.

Kobe Bryant.

After the Lakers' dramatic 88-87 overtime win against Boston on Thursday, Bryant was asked for his thoughts on Jeremy Lin and the craze surrounding the guard that has been dubbed "Linsanity."

"What? No idea," Bryant said. "I know who he is but I don’t really know what’s going on too much with them."

When further prodded by reporters, Bryant added, "I don’t even know what he’s done. Like, I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I’ll take a look at [the tape] tonight though."

He'd better.

Lin, a Harvard grad with a degree in economics, has gone from being cut by two mediocre NBA teams three months ago -- the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets -- to starring for the Knicks while averaging 25 points and eight assists over the last three games.

The alacrity with which Lin rose to prominence is quite shocking.

After all, when the Lakers last played New York on Dec. 29, Lin didn't enter the game until L.A. had already clinched the win with 1:39 remaining. When the teams play again Friday evening, things  surely will be different.

“I think it’s been surprising for everyone,” Pau Gasol said of Lin. “Obviously, a player that didn’t get any minutes, zero minutes, and was sent to the D-League at some point in the season. Pretty much never really done much in this league, and now to put together three games with the numbers that he’s playing is pretty surprising to anyone.”

Lin, a devout Christian who didn't receive any Division I scholarship offers out of high school and acknowledged that his chances of even making the NBA were "very, very, very small," told The Times in October 2010 that making the big league was "a miracle from God."

Said Matt Barnes: "A lot of guys in the league just need an opportunity to play. When your coach has confidence in you that’s all you really need, because if you’re in the NBA you can play, obviously."

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Photo: Fans show their support for New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin on Feb. 8. Credit: Chuck Myers / MCT.

Bryant, Bynum, Paul and Griffin lead All-Star picks

It’s an L.A. All-Star team all right.

The NBA announced today on TNT the starters for its All-Star game and the West squad is full of Lakers and Clippers.

The West team’s starting five, based on fan voting, are: guards Kobe Bryant (Lakers) and Chris Paul (Clippers), forwards Blake Griffin (Clippers) and Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), and center Andrew Bynum (Lakers).

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This marks the first All-Star game for the 24-year-old Bynum, now in his seventh season with the Lakers, and the 14th All-Star selection for Bryant. Bynum is averaging 16.5 points and 12.1 boards a game this season, both career bests, while Bryant is leading the league in scoring with 30 points a game.

Meanwhile, Paul, in his first season with the Clippers, has led the team to the second-best record in the Western Conference. Paul was selected for his fifth consecutive All-Star squad. Griffin made the All-Star team last season as a reserve.

The East’s starters are: guards Derrick Rose (Chicago) and Dwyane Wade (Miami), forwards LeBron James (Miami) and Carmelo Anthony (New York), and center Dwight Howard (Orlando).

All-Star reserves are selected by NBA coaches and they will be announced Feb. 9. The All-Star game is in Orlando on Feb. 26.

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Photo: Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul embrace before a Lakers-Clippers exhibition game in December. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Clippers gear up to play Lakers on Saturday

The next skirmish in the NBA's version of the "Battle of L.A." is Saturday night when the Clippers play host to the Lakers at the teams' shared home court, Staples Center.

The Clippers are coming off a 95-89 overtime win over the powerful Miami Heat on Wednesday. But Clippers point guard Chris Paul said his team couldn't rely on momentum from that victory when they face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

"We cant get too high with different wins this year and we cant get too low with different losses," Paul said after the Clippers practiced Friday at their Playa Vista training center.

"We just got to continue to take advantage of these days of practice and get better," Paul said. Against the Heat, "we fought hard, there were some good things we did in that game, but there were a lot of things that we didn’t do well."

The Clippers likewise don't expect a boost from the fact that they defeated the Lakers twice in pre-season games last month, he said.

"Pre-season is all good and well but it’s really not the intensity of a regular-season game," Paul said. The Lakers contest, he added, "is a division game for us, a big game for us."

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Photo: Kobe Bryant jumps over Brian Cook and Blake Griffin. Credit: Paul Buck / EPA

Lakers' Coach Mike Brown compares Kobe Bryant and LeBron James [updated]

Imagine coaching Kobe Bryant or LeBron James.

Hey, Kobe. Please don't shoot so much.

SCOWL. (Followed by a 40-point performance.)

Hey, LeBron. Please play four quarters instead of three.

SCOWL. (Followed by a 40-point performance in the first three quarters.)

It's a task not many men would be able to do, a role that Mike Brown has been thrust into since being dismissed by Cleveland and accepting the role as head coach of the Lakers.

In an interview with The Times' Ben Bolch, Brown discussed what it has been like to coach the two superstars.

["They're both competitive, they both want to win," Brown said when asked about Bryant and James. "There's just a different feel to the two guys that it's hard to put into words right now. They're both obviously guys that know how to perform at a high level.

"Their games are very different on both ends of the floor, but especially offensively. LeBron is a guy who is still learning and still growing and the reality of it is, being down there with Dwyane Wade is helping him. Every year, every game, he's getting better."

Kris Humphries edges LeBron James as NBA's most disliked

Everybody hates Kris ... well, a lot of people do anyway.

Kris Humphries -- the New Jersey Nets power forward who gained national notoriety with his 72-day marriage to reality TV star Kim Kardashian earlier this year -- is the most disliked player in the NBA, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research and reported on Forbes.com.

Humphries received a 50% dislike score to edge Miami Heat superstar LeBron James, who got 48%. James topped the survey last year in the aftermath of his televised decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For Humphries, an otherwise little-known role player who just re-signed with the Nets for one year and $8 million, it likely was the attention he received after the split with Kardashian and maybe some general public fatigue that pushed him to the top of the list.

“He’s been on five magazine covers, all in a negative light,” Nielsen Sports vice president Stephen Master said. “It’s all so recent, he’s gotten all this publicity for something other than basketball talent.”

Two Lakers appear in the top five -- Kobe Bryant at No. 3 (45%) and Metta World Peace at No. 5 (36%). Lamar Odom, who was traded from the Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks earlier this month, came in at No. 10. Odom is married to another Kardashian sister, Khloe.

Also in the top 10: San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker at No. 4, the Heat's Chris Bosh at No. 6, New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony at No. 7 , Boston Celtics' Paul Pierce at No. 8 and the Heat's Dwyane Wade at No. 9.

According to Forbes, the survey targeted the broad population, not just NBA fans.

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Kevin Durant: Kobe Bryant would beat LeBron James in one-on-one

It would be the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier of basketball.

Imagine Kobe Bryant and LeBron James stepping onto a basketball court to play a game of one-on-one, pure intensity vs. pure strength.

The question is, who would win?

Basketball fans envision the epic battle and indefatigably debate its enigmatic outcome. NBA players, whom regularly play with both men, are no different.

In one of a series of interviews at the Drew League vs. Goodman League rematch last month at Long Beach State, Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant said Bryant would win.

"He's probably the best one-on-one player in the game," Durant said.

Washington Wizards point guard John Wall disagreed.

"Depends on how LeBron plays," Wall said. "If he plays like he can with his size and his strength, like can't nobody stop him when he goes to the basket, then I pick him."

Perhaps New Orleans Hornets guard Trevor Ariza said it best.

"I don't know," he said, "but I know I would pay to watch that."

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-- Melissa Rohlin

 

Greatest sports figures in L.A. history, No. 8: Kobe Bryant

Continuing our countdown of the 20 greatest figures in L.A. sports history, as chosen in voting by our online readers, with No. 8, Kobe Bryant.

No. 8 Kobe Bryant (12 first-place votes, 2,657 points)

Arguably the greatest player of his generation, Kobe Bryant has played a leading role in helping the Lakers carry their winning tradition into the 21st century. Regarded as a fierce competitor who is capable on excelling both offensively and defensively, Bryant transformed from high school phenomenon to NBA superstar while wearing the purple and gold, helping lead the team to five NBA titles.

Bryant excelled at Lower Merion High in Ardmore, Pa., near Philadelphia, winning numerous national awards as a senior before announcing his intention to skip college and enter the NBA draft. He was selected 13th overall by Charlotte in 1996, but the Lakers had already worked out a deal with the Hornets to acquire Bryant prior to his selection. Bryant impressed Lakers General Manager Jerry West during a pre-draft workout session in Los Angeles. Less three weeks later, the Lakers traded starting center Vlade Divac to the Hornets in exchange for Bryant’s rights. Bryant, whose favorite team growing up was the Lakers, had to have his parents co-sign his NBA contract because he was 17 years old.

The 6-foot-6 guard made his pro debut in the 1996-97 season opener against Minnesota; at the time he was the youngest player ever to appear in an NBA game. He started in only a handful of games during his rookie season, coming off the bench in support of Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones. However, Coach Del Harris played him more as the season progressed, allowing Bryant to showcase the skills that made him a top candidate for rookie of the year. Those skills were also on display when Bryant won the 1997 NBA slam dunk competition.

Plaschke-Simers video: Should Kobe Bryant play overseas?

Kobe Bryant has been offered $6.7 million to play for Italian club team Virtus Bologna for a season. Should he go?

Times columnist Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers disagree.

Plaschke thinks Bryant's loyalty is to the Lakers and he shouldn't risk jeopardizing his health and adding even more mileage to his long NBA career that began when he was just 18 years old.

Simers simply doesn't care. He argues that it's none of our business what a player does during the offseason.

Plaschke and Simers will be doing a weekly video, appropriately named "L.A. Loud." The video will be moderated by Times sports reporter Melissa Rohlin.

If Bryant plays overseas, other players will surely follow suit. Rohlin wonders if that could expedite the negotiation process since the owners don't want to risk their top players getting hurt.

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Bryant pops up in a "welcome back" video for UC Irvine athletics, produced by the university's sports information department. Bryant has scenes singing and dancing -- at least it was reported to be dancing -- during the five-minute video.

If nothing else the Anteaters found a way to get Kobe to say, "Love Shaq, er, Shack."

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Kobe Bryant tells LeBron James' critics to 'back off'

On the court LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are fierce competitors.

Off the court they appear to be more like allies.

In an interview with ESPN, Bryant told the media to "back off" of James and stop criticizing him for his lackluster performance against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA FInals.

"I think people need to lay off that kid, that's what I think," Bryant said. "I've gotten to know him pretty well, playing with the Olympic team, and I think they just need to back off him and just let him play and let him live his life and let him make his decisions and let him mature as a player."

Bryant said he could relate to the pressure and the intense scrutiny that James endured.

"It's tough to be under the microscope like that all the time," Bryant said. "So, I would like everybody to just back off of him and just let him play."

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Photo: Kobe Bryant, left, LeBron James. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Question of the Day: Will the Lakers and Bulls make the conference finals? [Updated]

Writers from around the Tribune Co. discuss the two-time defending NBA champion Lakers and the top-seeded Chicago Bulls, both of whom lost their conference semifinal openers Monday night. Check for more responses throughout the day, vote in the poll and feel free to weigh in with a comment of your own.

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Lakers? Yes. Bulls? No.

For the Lakers, this is nothing new, just typical of the drama on the way to the NBA Finals. It's not as if the Hornets had their number after the opener in the first round.

For the Bulls, though, there are other issues, from Derrick Rose's tender ankle to the reality that Atlanta simply has more options who can create their own offense.

The Lakers essentially did everything in their power to give away Game 1. Now is when Kobe gets angry and Pau steps forward.