Suppose a single playoff game is the equivalent of two or three regular season games. The stakes are higher so the intensity shoots up a couple notches. Players take their game to a whole other level, causing their bodies to take on a tremendous amount of stress.
After all, it’s the playoffs. You either play hard or go home.
Kobe Bryant has played in 198 playoff games. At the end of his last hoorah in the postseason, Michael Jordan had only ever played 179 games.
And you wonder why Bryant says things like, “I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap,” or that his knee is practically “bone on bone.”
It’s easy to negate the topic of Bryant’s health in a conversation when he’s re-writing the record books with relative ease. On Tuesday it was surpassing Dominique Wilkins on the all-time scoring list. On Friday it was Oscar Robertson. Check in at about two weeks, he may just be getting ready, if not already have passed Hakeem Olajuwan.
Bryant may be on the path to passing Jordan towards the end of his current contract with the Lakers in 2013, but as he has expressed the only ladder he wants to climb up is Bill Russell’s. If in fact Bryant does want to continue his team’s current trend of making it all the way to the finals year after year, this being their fourth in a row, what he does to protect the well being of his body will have an effect on his production value during the playoffs.
Next: Bryant finds other ways to score
Both the Lakers coaching and training staff have their reservations on Bryant. They know that in order for him to be at full strength, he’ll have to tone it down to conserve his energy for when it matters the most—during the postseason.
At 32 years of age, Bryant knows he’s not getting any younger or faster. The team, however, still depends on Bryant to be great. This season, the times that Bryant has felt the need to take over the game by attempting to lift the team on his shoulders, he’s been unsuccessful. He tried to exert his will against the Spurs a couple of weeks ago, but missed 13 shots in a row, the most ever in his career.
Bryant still puts up 20-plus point nights on a nightly basis, but that only attributes to his greatness. He’s a smart player, knows every spot on the floor, finds those spots and goes to work. Forget the playoffs for a second and realize that Bryant has played most, if not all 82 games for multiple seasons. The mileage is what’s making him take a step back.
Despite not having much lift on his shot, he’s been able to find other ways in which to be productive for the Lakers. Instead of going over people he goes around them, gets into the seams, draws a double and does a little bounce pass to a teammate or an up and under step-through to get his shot off. Yes, there have been times when Bryant has actually gotten to the rack and powered up, but very seldom does he go that route.
That’s the beauty of the Bryant of late. He’s got enough shots in his arsenal and enough focus to still be considered a force for the Lakers, broken fingers, bad knees, tendonitis and all.
Next: Is Bryant still immune to all defensive schemes?
Although Bryant can still hold his own against most defenses, a good defensive team can shut Bryant down. Think about the game against the Spurs. Last year, if Bryant could have runs where there wasn’t anything the opposition could do to slow him down. Against San Antonio, George Hill appeared to have found some way to prevent him from taking over the game. Hill forced him into 15-20 footers and fall-away shots. Bryant used to do a significant amount of damage at the line, but either players got smarter by not buying the head fakes or the referees aren’t making the calls they used to.
This isn’t all news to Bryant. He’s already been discussing his own mortality. Go back last year to the playoffs, during the Oklahoma City series he acknowledged that his game had diminished slightly and was having to find new ways to adapt. Credit the Thunder, who exhibited enough youth and athleticism to make a veteran team appear much older than they actually are. Regardless of his statements, Bryant went out to prove that all that the notion of him losing a step was premature. Once they drained his knee, he went off for 30-plus point nights and was playing as well as he had been during the playoffs.
A knee surgery, slew of inefficient games, everyone finally realizing that yes, in fact Bryant doesn’t practice every day and a heavy proclamation about the status of his knee later, everyone finally realizes that Bryant is still human.
At the same time, it’s very dangerous to write people off, especially a player of Bryant’s stature who’s been so good for so long. One night his shot is off, the next night he proves his critics wrong. It isn’t that I’m saying Bryant has lost his game, he hasn’t, but at what point do we all stop lying to ourselves that Bryant is indestructible.
In our own defense, perhaps it’s Bryant’s fault for spoiling us for so long by playing at a high level despite injury. He’s won two titles injury ridden. At some point this season, if all goes well, he’ll go for a third.
In theory, and lucky for Laker fans, in practice, it’s what the best player on the floor is supposed to do for his team.