Kobe Bryant did not make it to shootaround Tuesday morning. He stayed at the team hotel to rest. Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott said Bryant looked “exhausted” on the team plane, so he received a break before Tuesday night’s game against Detroit.
Taking 24,767 shots in an NBA career can tire a person.
Paul Pierce left the Wizards’ practice court while joking around. Most other players stayed behind to finish individual work or 3-point contests. Pierce tends to work extra before practice, especially now that his children wake him up so early.
Both are near the end of their NBA careers. The close of the show for each as they prepare for the Wizards and Lakers to play Wednesday night at Verizon Center is quite different.
Pierce is on what amounts to a one-year deal with the 11-5 Wizards. He holds a player option for next season, which more and more feels like it will be his last, if he plays it in Washington or signs a one-year deal elsewhere.
He came to Washington with a deferential disposition. From the start, Pierce said he was in the District to fill holes, not snatch the spotlight. This team belonged to John Wall and Bradley Beal, Pierce claimed, and he was here to correct the course or drop a late corner 3-pointer when needed.
Pierce has done that. He’s averaging a career-low 12.5 points and 26.9 minutes on the floor. Though, more than once just 16 games into the season, he’s scored at a crucial time late, leaving his young teammates explaining postgame that Pierce is nicknamed “The Truth” for good reason.
Bryant continues his fierce battle with every existing dynamic. Rallying from Achilles and knee surgeries that took most of the last two seasons and likely some of his bulletproof self-belief, Bryant has returned to his volumizing form. He came into Tuesday leading the league in shot attempts for a woeful Lakers team that was 4-13 before playing the Detroit Pistons.
“They’re different players,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “Kobe’s always been the leading shot-attempt guy on his team. Paul’s always done a little bit of everything.”
There was a time when Pierce moved more toward a Bryant approach. From 2001-06, Pierce scored more than 2,000 points in a season four times. In the 2002-03 season, Pierce averaged 20.2 shots per game. It’s the only season of his career when Pierce has taken more than 20 shots per game. Bryant is in his 13th season of shooting more than 20 times per outing. In 2005-06, he shot a stunning 27.2 times per game.
Systems and circumstance have put each in their divergent roles this season. Wittman runs what he wants to be a multiple-opportunity offense. As a result, the Wizards have five players averaging double-figures and another, Rasual Butler, at 9.7 points per game.
The Lakers also have five players averaging double figures. But, Bryant’s points per game (26.6) is just less than twice the average of second-leading scorer Jordan Hill (13.5). Bryant also shoots more than Beal and Marcin Gortat combined.
“I think Paul has found a way to blend himself in with two young guys that bring attention to themselves throughout the league,” Wizards veteran point guard Andre Miller said. “I think he respects what they’re doing, so he’s blending in well. Opportunistic as far as taking his shots.
“[Bryant’s] aggressiveness as far as putting the ball in the basket is something he’s been doing his whole career and is something that he wants people to meet him at that high level. Two totally different situations, but both guys have scored a lot of points in their career.”
They have combined for 57,384 points. Bryant is fourth all-time. Pierce is 17th.
Few times have they been intertwined. When Pierce was surrounded by Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in Boston, the Celtics played the Lakers twice in the Finals. Pierce won once and lost in Game 7 the second time. Those series brought back venom from the 1980s when the teams dominated the league’s landscape and championships.
“I don’t how much of a rivalry I’d say it is, being that I’ve been in the Eastern Conference and he’s been in the Western Conference,” Pierce said. “More like Boston/Lakers, that was a rivalry more than an individual rivalry.”
Bryant is 36 years old, twice as old as he was when he entered the league. Pierce is 37. It’s easier to view his age as fitting since it appears he has always played the style of basketball befitting of someone that age.
Retirement is pulling at each. For Bryant, he’s pushing in his final act of defiance. Pierce is moving along, as always, at his own pace. One still the anchor, the other part of the mix in the end.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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