This is Kobe's Team

I was just beginning to write about the fact that the Lakers may not need Kobe any more. This team is deep. For example, the Lakers have Lamar Odom coming off the bench and talented Luke Walton barely making the rotation.

The result of such a deep squad are the huge one sided wins against the Clippers and the young Blazers. Granted these two aren't exactly powerhouses in the NBA but still the Lakers showed they were in mid season form. Kobe wasn't playing the minutes that he had last year and he wasn't having to use up all his energy on the offensive end. In fact, from this writers perspective it almost seemed like this team was even playing better without him.

Then Saturday night happened. The Lakers played the Denver Nuggets in easily the ugliest game Lakers fans have seen since the first couple of games in the preseason. The Bench Mob was awful. Foul trouble sat many of the Lakers key players in the first half.

The team looked ragged. Now, it could have been that they were nervous because it was there first road game of the year. Or it could have been that Denver was still seething from last years playoff sweep by the hands of the Lakers and they were fired up for revenge. Or it could have been the mile high altitude making it tough to breathe for the Lakers. Whatever it was, it wasn't pretty. And that's not the point here.

This is Kobe's team and they need him. He scored 14 of his 33 points and the fourth when the Lakers needed it most. Carmelo Anthony appeared to be breaking out of his two game suspension nap and started dropping some threes. But Kobe put on his cape and brought the Lakers home for their third win in this young season.

So I may have gotten a bit cocky about the rest of this Laker squad. The Bench Mob holds a special place in many Laker fans hearts. But they can't do this alone this year. Laker fans need their superstar Kobe, because he can change any games outcome. Even in the final quarter. Good thing too.