I was lucky enough to catch a couple of Lakers games at the start of this year - unfortunately it was the loses to the 76ers & Nuggets where Byrant had 36 & 29 points respectively; so to some that would be hero mode.
But in both those games he looked like the only Lakers player who would be capable of scoring. Against the 76ers Howard had 1 field goal for the match, he missed the easiest of layups and couldn't buy a basket while the other guys such as Gasol, Nash & WP were in & out of the match with their shooting. Against the Nuggest, Gasol started promising but then something happened and he no longer looked to shoot - at one stage he was posted up against a guard in a 1-on-1 situation and instead of looking to take the shot he wanted an outlet pass.
Its easy to look at statistics and conclude that Bryant is trying to play the "hero", but look at how his teammates are or aren't playing and what pressure is left on him to perform. Some of the shots that Bryant made down the stretch to get the Lakers back into the games (especially against the Nuggets) were nuts, but you could tell he wanted the responsibility to take those shots and you can't blame him when teammates weren't even wanting to shot during the rest of the match when open.