Kobe Bryant misses the Golden State Warriors game; Rearing to play against the San Antonio Spurs: NBA
Kobe Bryant’s left shin injury caused him to miss the 7th consecutive game for the Los Angeles Lakers tonight against the Golden State Warriors. The Black Mamba has however vowed to be back on Friday against the mighty San Antonio Spurs, who inflicted the Lakers with their worst loss of the season just last night.
Even though, Kobe got in a full practice and performed well in all the physical tests on Tuesday, he still was not risked in the Warriors game.
Lakers head coach Mike Brown contemplated on the matter in pre-match press conference and didn’t feel comfortable with throwing back his ace player into game-time action just yet.
”He's not completely right," Lakers coach Mike Brown said before the game. "Just because a guy can run and jump a little bit, and shoot, that doesn't mean that there's a comfort level from everybody to put him out there."
Bryant put in some one-on-one drills, shooting drills and also had the tenacity to run sprints with the rest of the team just three hours before the start of the game against the Warriors. However, he still had to wear a brace on his left shin to perform all these tasks.
Even though, Bryant has shown improvement in his fitness. However, Lakers trainers want to assess his situation on a day to day basis.
However Bryant remained adamant that he will be returning to action in the game against the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers might need their star guard on court as they were given a drubbing in his absence in the previous meeting between the two teams.
Looking on to the bigger picture for the Lakers, they might need Bryant to help them to hold on to the third seed in the Western Conference standing. With their neighbours, Los Angeles Clippers hot in pursuit, Lakers started the game against the Warriors, half a game ahead in the standings and even after beating the Bay Area minnows, they are still in the same position because of the Clippers win against the Denver Nuggets.
Even though, Bryant wants to return against the Spurs, Coach Brown has played down the significance of his return and insisted that he will only get Bryant back on the court when everything feels right.
"It's not necessarily been about an opponent, it's been about making sure everything is right," Brown said on Bryant`s condition.
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