ESPN.com – Kobe Injury Report
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Kobe Bryant hyperextended his right knee in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ exhibition game Tuesday night.
Bryant, who scored four points in 14 minutes against the Charlotte Bobcats, did not come out with the team for the second half.
On Wednesday, the Lakers said they have no plans to have Bryant undergo an MRI. He is listed as day to day.
Bryant did not speak with reporters after Los Angeles’ 102-98 victory.
“I didn’t even ask him about the injury,” coach Phil Jackson said. “The trainer said he hyperextended his knee somewhat. We’ll see what it’s like [Wednesday], then go from there.”
Bryant injured his knee jumping for a rebound with 3:08 left in the first half. The reigning NBA MVP limped off the court favoring his right leg. He motioned to the bench to come out and Jackson called a 20-second timeout.
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October 22nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Kobe shouldn’t have been on the floor to begin with. Kobe Bryant should have had his finger operated on right after the Olympics, and sat out the preseason and the early games of the regular season. This would have:
1) given Kobe’s finger a chance to be well for the season,
2) allowed Kobe’s body to get some much needed rest, and
3) given Kobe’s teammates time to learn to win without him, a critical lesson the Lakers can only learn WITHOUT Kobe!
Not that I can blame Kobe for forgoing surgery and playing on.
Kobe is addicted to this game. When he is not playing it, he is studying it, working on it, or lifting weights, etc. A year ago at this time, Kobe Bryant, one of the most athletic people in the world changed his diet and lost weight to make himself quicker.
Just as it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect an addict to make a right decision, it’s unreasonable to expect Kobe to do anything other than forgo the finger surgery and keep playing — especially when you consider how tight the race was in the West for playoff spots.
The problem is, Kobe doesn’t have people around him that care enough about him to intervene and save Kobe from himself.
Dr. Jerry Buss, Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson know better and should have stepped up to insist Kobe rest, and fix his finger. Instead, they turned a blind eye and rolled the dice with Kobe’s health so that Phil could get ring number 10, Jerry could keep the Lakers on top, and Mitch could further distance himself from the intense criticism he’s endured these last few years.
The Lakers are abusing the goose giving them their golden eggs.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kobe Bryant has played 9,609 minutes during the last 3 seasons, more than any other player in the NBA.
And in the summers between those 3 seasons, Kobe Bryant played a critical role on TeamUSA, logging more minutes than any other NBA player as well.
And unlike Derron Williams, who is also out injured, Kobe had a very long post season last year leading the Lakers to the 2008 NBA Finals.
And Kobe is 30 years old.
It’s not the years, it’s the miles.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
You make some great points here. However, I must disagree with you on a few things. First of all, lets eliminate the drama right off the bat. Forget about the backstories of Jackson winning his 10th ring, Kupchak getting out of the negative light and Buss wanting to continue winning. These are all things that are irrelevant in Kobe averaging 25.2 MPG in the preseason. This is a substantial amount of time less than what the coaching staff expects Kobe to be playing in the regular season. You make a point that for this team to succeed, they need to learn to play without Kobe. False, this team doesn’t need to win without Kobe, they need to learn how to win properly with Kobe. Winning properly means that Kobe is on the floor however doesn’t have the entire burden on his shoulders. It’s time for other guys to step up, and if they learn to step up while Kobe watches as the 5th man on the court, it will do this team a lot of good. The final thing I want to address is that of injuries. FORGET ABOUT THEM. It’s easy to point fingers when someone is injured but let’s be realistic. Thats like saying Tom Brady shouldn’t have played the first game and they should’ve saved him for the playoffs when it really mattered. It’s not like that, injuries are unforeseen cicumstances that arise in randomg situations. Sure there is a chance to get injured, but for a team to be successful as a unit, it must learn to play together as a unit, including its superstar shooting guard. Regarding Kobe’s finger, how many more times can he himself explain it? The finger is as healed as it will be. The surgery would realign the finger better however it would not make it less likely to be injured again. Since the ligaments have fixed themselves, out of place a bit, but nonetheless fixed, the finger can only be reinjured in the same way it originally got hurt. The same goes for the finger post surgery. With that said, the doctors advised him to play basketball in order to not miss unnecessary time from the season, since the finger wouldn’t be in any more harm from playing, and deal with the surgery next offseason.
I do appreciate the insight though, great response to the story!