Byron Scott to maintain status quo with Kobe Bryant's minutes

Over in the NFL, fans are watching the end of legendary quarterback Peyton Manning's career. Injured and with the velocity all but gone from his record-setting arm, Manning sits on the Denver Broncos' bench.

Clearly, the circumstances are different for the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. The Broncos are chasing a playoff spot and the Lakers are about as far from one as it gets. Yet the story remains the same: Two athletes who defined superstardom in their respective sports for two decades have been reduced to a shadow of their former greatness.

Related: Bryant admits struggles are getting to him

But as difficult as it's been to watch Bryant launch more than 16 shots a game with career-low 31.1 percent accuracy, coach Byron Scott still has no plans to rein the 37-year-old in.

Scott's allegiance hasn't deviated. Just this week he reiterated his belief that Bryant has the "privilege" to dominate the ball on a young team and take shots as he sees fit. And the reality is - despite it flying in the face of basketball logic, developmental or otherwise - that Scott, a onetime teammate of Kobe and a player from a bygone era, has too much respect for Bryant to say enough is enough.

"I have faith in Kobe," Scott said, according to ESPN's Baxter Holmes, who basically poses the question, is Bryant simply in denial?

"I've got to do a better job of demanding some help off the ball," Bryant said after one of the worst games of his career Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors, the 34-point victors, who had a much different viewpoint.

Bryant's stubbornness is one of the reasons millions fell in love with him as a player. It's also the main reason he will go out on his own terms, as ugly as it might get.