Tom Olmscheid / AP file

Perhaps it's was Marko Jaric's defensive effort that led to Kobe Bryant's frustration.

So right now Kobe Bryant is looking at playing out the remainder of a disappointing regular season with no prospect of reinforcements on the horizon, and in a situation in which he’ll have to shoulder an inordinate amount of the burden.

And remember, he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. The Lakers will stumble and he’ll be ripped for either trying to do to much, or not rescuing the organization single-handedly.

For Kobe Bryant, the future is bleak.

Even that wouldn’t be so horrible except for the fact that Bryant can hear the clock ticking. He’s been in charge of the Lakers now for almost three seasons, ever since Jerry Buss placed all his chips on Bryant when he kicked Shaquille O’Neal out of town. When Shaq and the Heat won the NBA championship last spring, it caused even more steam to come out of Kobe’s ears.

Even if all goes well in 2007-08, there’s no indication the Lakers can somehow catapult themselves into the Western Conference elite. They’re a promising team with some gifted young players who need seasoning, and even then there are no guarantees. Besides the top three, there are other teams in the conference making more impressive strides toward the ultimate goal, especially Utah and Houston.

Bryant will be 29 in August. That’s still relatively young. But he has almost 11 NBA seasons worth of wear and tear on his body. And many of those were LONG seasons that included extended playoff runs.

He has a window, it’s slowly closing, and he knows it. He may never win another NBA championship. He may have to spend eternity with the knowledge that the three rings he has came with the assistance of others, especially Shaq. He’ll probably have to swallow the fact that he wasn’t able to live up to the Michael Jordan comparisons because he wasn’t able to be The Man and lead his team to a title.

Perhaps the question for faux Freuds to pose isn’t about why Kobe Bryant has smacked two opponents in the face within a short span of time, but rather why he hasn’t smacked more of them.

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