Sure was. Same old Kobe, brand new look.
No
one really believed a concussion and a broken nose would keep him on
the bench. Not his coach, not his Los Angeles Lakers teammates.
“I
knew he was going to play,” forward Matt Barnes said. “The bottom line
is, he doesn’t miss games. It says a lot about him — the miles he has
and the games he’s played, he just doesn’t miss games.”
That’s
precisely the message Bryant wanted to send to his team, and perhaps
it’s something the Lakers will carry into the second half of the season.
If you’re hurt, you still play.
Bryant was cleared by a
neurologist before the game and wore a plastic mask to protect his nose,
but there was no difference in his game. He scored 31 points in 32
minutes in Wednesday’s 104-85 rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves at
Staples Center.
“It was fine,” Bryant said of the adjustment he
had to make wearing a mask. “I started sweating immediately inside of
it. It was kind of like a sauna on my face. I was drinking my own sweat.
It was totally disgusting.”
There was some question of whether
Bryant would get the OK to dress until about an hour before tipoff. He
had to pass a series of neurological tests before he was cleared, and
although he still had some whiplash-like symptoms, he received a
thumbs-up from Dr. Vern Williams.
After the game he wore a patch
on the back of his neck and moved his head a bit stiffly. But on the
court he showed no fear going inside and even dove for a couple of loose
balls.
Before the game — before he knew whether Bryant would
play — Lakers coach Mike Brown spoke of his superstar’s competitive
nature. If there was any way Bryant could get back on the court, he
would.
“If he had two broken legs, he’s the type of guy who
would say, ‘Hey, tape this one and staple this one and let me go out
there,’ ” Brown said. “That’s who he is.”
His teammates know it.
“He
wants everybody to believe he’s tough and know he’s tough,” said Andrew
Bynum, who had 13 points and 13 boards. “He’s going to go out there and
do what they pay him to do, which is get buckets.”
The Lakers
pulled away from the Timberwolves in the first quarter and never
trailed. They had a 15-point lead after 10 minutes and outscored
Minnesota 22-10 to open the third period. The Timberwolves, who beat the
Clippers one night earlier, played without All-Star forward Kevin Love,
who was a late scratch because of flu-like symptoms.
“They
played last night, we didn’t,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol said. “They had
their All-Star out of the lineup, we didn’t. We got into a flow, and
they didn’t.”
That pretty much said it. But there also was
Bryant, who said he held no grudges against Miami’s Dwyane Wade, whose
hard foul in the All-Star Game left Bryant with a broken nose and
concussion.
“We’ve been close for a long time,” he said.
No
one expects any kind of retaliation Sunday when the Heat come to
Staples. All anyone cared about was that Bryant was back and that he
refused to sit.
“It shows how much he cares about us and about winning games,” guard Steve Blake said.
That was the point.
