I really think the strategy seems to be, let Kobe get his points for 3 quarters, keep the game close, and then in the fourth, fatigue seems to slow him down, and in crunch time nobody else seems to show up. Last night Kobe had 38 points. 31 in the first 3 quarters, and 7 in the 4th (one was a technical free throw after the suns got called for a defensive 3 seconds). So Kobe effectively got 6 points in the 4th quarter, I can live with that any day of the week. 

Letting Kobe score for 3 quarters makes the Lakers do two things. 1) They play him more minutes in the first three quarters, and increasing his fatigue in the 4th. 2) and probably more importantly it keeps other players from getting into the rhythm of the game and come the 4th quarter these players aren't as likely to start hitting shots when it matters.

or maybe I'm just all nuts and seeing things that aren't there.