The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off their biggest loss of the season to the San Antonio Spurs (112-91) in which superstar Kobe Bryant missed his sixth consecutive game with a shin injury. Even though Kobe has been resorted to a coaching role, or Coach Kobe as he has been called, the Lakers have played much better than expected without the league’s leading scorer on the floor with four wins in six games.
After the loss to the Spurs on Tuesday night, Kobe was asked about his ailing shin injury, but declined to comment. As no stranger to battling through injuries, Kobe not playing for six games in the row is odd to say the least and has raised questions about how severe the injury really is.
It still remains to be seen when Kobe will be able to get back on the floor with the Lakers. The five-time NBA champion has let it be known that he intends to get back on the floor before the playoffs, but there is no telling which game it will be with just four remaining on the regular season schedule.
Lakers Mike Brown talked about missing Kobe’s presence on the floor against the Spurs and whether or not he’d take the floor against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night via Mark Medina of the L.A. Times:
“He always makes a difference. Whether you win or lose, his presence is always felt,” Brown said. “He’s a guy that can feel or understand tempo. He may not say anything to our guys, but the way he helps control it is he may run to the block and ask for it and get the guys to settle down. It kind of calms everybody down.”
Coach Mike Brown said “most likely not” when asked if Bryant would play Wednesday against Golden State.
With the Los Angeles Clippers just a half game back of the Lakers and currently on a hot streak with eight wins in the last 10 games, the third seed in Western Conference will be on the line in the next four games. That being said, the last four matchups against the Warriors, Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Sacramento Kings will be crucial if the Lakers want to clinch the third spot in the West.
