Bryant shooting bricks

Despite suffering numerous scars to his public image, Kobe Bryant remains one of the most popular athletes at the Olympics. The NBA superstar arrived in Beijing to a hero’s welcome.

At the opening ceremony, Bryant was all smiles and said he was humbled by the way he was received.

“Once he was recognized, he was cheered wildly by Chinese fans,” Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times observed.

Bryant survived the drama of a rape case in Eagle, Colo., in 2003-04, which caused him to lose several endorsement deals. He made it through a falling-out with former teammate Shaquille O’Neal, and he overcame the crybaby tag he earned last fall when he demanded a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers.

It is accepted that Bryant is the world’s best basketball player. But he has been busy shooting bricks in Beijing.

In the first two U.S. victories, over China and Angola, Bryant shot 1-for-15 on 3-pointers. In the third game, a 92-69 victory over Greece, Bryant missed his first two 3s.

“He’s playing a different style on this team; he’s not the volume shooter he is with the Lakers,” Olympics basketball analyst Doug Collins said.

Translation: With the Lakers, Bryant can take 25 shots to get his 25 points. In Olympic games, he can’t take as many shots, so he might not look as good.

After the first two games, Bryant had 27 field-goal attempts and no free throws. Where were those phantom calls by NBA referees? “One thing you have to recognize is you will not be refereed as a star over here,” Collins said.

Bryant recovered with 18 points against the Greeks, but Collins said the Americans’ “best player by far” has been Dwyane Wade.

• PHELPS NOT NO. 1 — Michael Phelps surpassed Mark Spitz in career swimming gold medals, but Phelps is not the greatest Olympic athlete in history, the Chicago Tribune’s Philip Hersh says.

“Could everyone please stop hyperventilating about Phelps?” Hersh wrote. “Yes, he now has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history. No, that does not make him the greatest Olympic athlete in history.”

Hersh ranks Phelps No. 6 but noted he is “moving up the charts like a hot pop song.”

The top five on Hersh’s list: 1. Carl Lewis, U.S., track and field; 2. Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field; 3. Larisa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics; 4. Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, Germany, kayak; 5. Steven Redgrave, United Kingdom, rowing.

“Why is Phelps sixth? It is easy to win multiple medals in swimming,” Hersh wrote. “And Phelps does not yet have the long-term record of the others. Lewis won nine gold medals, four in the 1984 Olympics and four straight in one event, the long jump.”

• HEAVY HITTERS — Ricardo Blas Jr. of Guam is nicknamed “The Little Mountain” for a reason. The Olympic judo participant weighs 464 pounds.

But Blas lost to 307-pound Dan McCormick of the U.S. in a match that could have triggered an earthquake.

“In the sport of judo, size doesn’t really matter,” Blas said.

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS REVIEW-JOURNAL