After a difficult five-game road trip, the Los Angeles Lakers returned home to Staples Center to host the Detroit Pistons. While the game was competitive throughout, the Lakers pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to Kobe Bryant’s near triple-double performance.
Before his near triple-double performance, Kobe has struggled through the first 10 games of the season. After sitting out two games during the road trip to rest a sore back, Kobe is averaging 16.9 points, but on 34 percent shooting and 23 percent from beyond the arc.
With Kobe not expected to play in the second game of a back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns, Jordan Clarkson joked about his teammate’s age, via LakersNation.com reporter Serena Winters:
Jordan Clarkson having some fun talking about Kobe post-game (1/2): "You know Kob we’ve got to make it easy for him, he’s getting kinda old"
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 16, 2015
Clarkson (2/2): "We want to definitely thank his massage therapist & coach for giving him some rest, so he can make big shots like that.”
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 16, 2015
At this stage of his career, Kobe will need to sit out games if he wants to give himself the best chance of remaining relatively healthy through a 82-game season. With Kobe playing a season-high 36 minutes last night against the Suns, it was a smart move for the five-time champion to rest on a back-to-back series.
While Kobe wants to win every game possible, he has come to the realization he can’t do it alone. As a result, he has mentioned numerous times about mentoring the young core of Russell, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. Although it will test his patience at times, the Lakers are trying to prepare for the post-Kobe era.
