It struck me as a bit odd to see a photo of Kobe Bryant hugging a teammate on the home page of espn.com.

Kobe had passed Shaquille O’Neal to take fifth place in the NBA all-time scoring list, but the Lakers lost the game to the 76ers in Philadelphia, 95-90. And doesn’t losing the game tarnish the achievement?

Especially when a very good case can be made that Kobe was a major contributor to the Lakers losing that game.

One of my former colleagues living in Los Angeles explains.

“Kobe was awful tonight, 24 in the first half, four in the second. Completely hijacked the offense down the stretch. Got into a p*ssing match with Lou Williams and got his *ss kicked. There must have been three or four straight possessions in the last three minutes or so when Kobe went one-on-one against Williams (with occasional, well-timed help) and threw up a wild shot that missed, then Williams scored on him at the other end. There was another possession when Kobe committed an offensive foul by elbowing Williams (on an inbounds pass!) and Williams went down and scored on him …

“If Kobe just settles down and keeps throwing the ball in to Bynum, which was working big-time, the Lakers probably win. But no, it was Kobe’s hometown, and he was getting booed, as usual, and he lost his mind and tried to do it all himself. Well, he showed them.”

Lou Williams, a decent player but no superstar, outscored Kobe 14-2 in the fourth quarter, and Kobe finished 10-for-26 from the field. Meanwhile, Andrew Bynum scored 20 points of 8-of-13 shooting. Wouldn’t you think he should have gotten a few more shots?

My former colleague in L.A. noted that Mike Bresnahan, the Lakers writer for the Los Angeles Times, “pointedly noted that Bynum’s last basket, on a lob from Kobe, gave the Lakers a seven-point lead with a little more than four minutes left and that Bynum never touched the ball again until throwing up a half-court heave at the final horn.”

Also, Bynum apparently “was furious after the game, dropping an f-bomb or two that could be heard outside the locker room — though he never called out Kobe by name.  Nobody on the Lakers has dared to do that since Shaq left.”

So. Kobe is leading the league in the scoring, which is good for him, considering he seems to be chasing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record of 38,387 points. But it often is bad for these Lakers, who are not world-beaters but could amount to something if Kobe gave it up the ball a little more. Say, to the 7-footer who may be the second-best center in basketball.

Kobe is 32-for-86 in his past four games, which is 37.2 percent, or a rate that says, “stop shooting for a minute!”

He is averaging 24 shots a game, which is more than he took in any season except for 2005-06, when he averaged 27.2 for a bad Lakers team. (Other regular starters included Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm and Brian Cook.) This team is not that bad, but Kobe is playing as if he’s all alone again.

A milestone for Kobe. But the man was a millstone for the Lakers down the stretch of this game.

Seems to be happening fairly often this season.