Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant not pleased by Mike Brown’s decision to bench him – NBA Update
On Sunday night Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was benched late in the 4th frame in the game against Memphis Grizzlies.
Memphis went on to win the match by 102-96. The 33 year old guard was sent to the bench at the time when the game had reached its climax and could have been won by the help of veterans’ clutch shooting.
Lakers had trimmed down Memphis lead to 3 points late in the third, but Grizzlies augmented their lead to 14 points with less than a minute remaining in the game. Normally a coach would rely upon his most experienced player to
put his teammates on his back and claw off the lead but Mike Brown’s decision to send his guard on the bench ruffled some feathers.
Bryant was naturally exasperated; however he refrained from giving any incendiary statements and accepted that it is ultimately the job of the coach to make these decisions.
"It's his decision to make," Bryant said. "He makes the decision. He's the coach. If you guys are looking for a story, I'm not going to give you one. I can't sit here and criticize his decisions. In leading this ballclub, that's
something I can't afford to do. I got to have his back. I've had his back the whole season; I can't start doing something crazy now. It wouldn't make no sense."
When Brown was appointed as the Lakers coach at the start of the season, there were many rumours that the Lakers stalwart was not happy over his appointment. However, nearly three months into the season, Kobe has been carrying
the Brown’s offense all alone and the two seem to have developed an understanding. That being said, the decision to send Kobe on the bench was certainly out of the blue, even with the fact that Bryant was struggling to make his shots. His presence alone caused
jitters in the opposition camp.
Brown didn’t say why exactly he made the decision, but accepted that his move didn’t work.
"I just felt like I needed to make a sub at the time, so I did," Brown said. "It's not one particular thing. I just made the sub, went with Metta, sat (Bryant) for a couple minutes and then tried to go back to him but obviously
it didn't work."
Lakers have proven themselves to be worthy contenders for playoffs and are currently at the 3rd place in the Western Conference with 30 wins and 19 losses. Perhaps with the playoffs looming, Brown wants to test a few options.
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