duncan228
02-04-2010, 06:31 PM
Kobe doin' too much work -- ramifications? (http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/buckharvey/2010/02/anti-spurs-philosophy----playi.html)
By Buck Harvey
Phil Jackson is playing Kobe Bryant as he always has, which is a lot. Bryant is averaging 38.6 minutes a night this season with an assortment of injuries.
Maybe Jackson knows what he's doing. Just this week, after all, Jackson reached another milestone. He's now won more games than any Lakers coach ever has.
Maybe Bryant, unlike Tim Duncan, doesn't need rest.
Or maybe something else is going on.
Maybe this is the only way the Lakers lose in the Western Conference playoffs.
Bryant had already been playing with a fractured right index finger and a sore back, and a tender left ankle has bothered him lately. Still, he's played 45, 40 and 37 minutes in his last three games.
Duncan is averaging closer to 32 minutes a game this season, when he hasn't been held out altogether. Gregg Popovich has tried everything to find Duncan some relief; sitting him for the entire first quarter, as he did in Toronto, was a stretch that Popovich likely won't do again.
Duncan is two years older than Bryant, all right. But Bryant has played in more regular-season NBA games.
Bryant was limping in his last one, and even Jackson noticed. "He couldn't get off the ground, couldn't get any push off of that ankle tonight," Jackson said Wednesday night.
But at the end of the game, Jackson still put him back in. "I really didn't want to have to bring him back but when they closed the gap there in the last two minutes," Jackson said afterward. "I think I had to."
Jackson didn't have to. It's just February, after all. The Lakers comfortably lead the Western Conference. And the only way they won't be the favorites is if they have a hurting Kobe.
If Popovich ran the Lakers? Bryant would be at home right now, doin' nothing.
By Buck Harvey
Phil Jackson is playing Kobe Bryant as he always has, which is a lot. Bryant is averaging 38.6 minutes a night this season with an assortment of injuries.
Maybe Jackson knows what he's doing. Just this week, after all, Jackson reached another milestone. He's now won more games than any Lakers coach ever has.
Maybe Bryant, unlike Tim Duncan, doesn't need rest.
Or maybe something else is going on.
Maybe this is the only way the Lakers lose in the Western Conference playoffs.
Bryant had already been playing with a fractured right index finger and a sore back, and a tender left ankle has bothered him lately. Still, he's played 45, 40 and 37 minutes in his last three games.
Duncan is averaging closer to 32 minutes a game this season, when he hasn't been held out altogether. Gregg Popovich has tried everything to find Duncan some relief; sitting him for the entire first quarter, as he did in Toronto, was a stretch that Popovich likely won't do again.
Duncan is two years older than Bryant, all right. But Bryant has played in more regular-season NBA games.
Bryant was limping in his last one, and even Jackson noticed. "He couldn't get off the ground, couldn't get any push off of that ankle tonight," Jackson said Wednesday night.
But at the end of the game, Jackson still put him back in. "I really didn't want to have to bring him back but when they closed the gap there in the last two minutes," Jackson said afterward. "I think I had to."
Jackson didn't have to. It's just February, after all. The Lakers comfortably lead the Western Conference. And the only way they won't be the favorites is if they have a hurting Kobe.
If Popovich ran the Lakers? Bryant would be at home right now, doin' nothing.