After all the controversy that was stirred up during Game 1 with an injured Kobe Bryant tweeting advice to his teammates while back in Southern California dealing with a ruptured Achilles, it’s been announced that he will not be tweeting during games for the duration of the playoffs.
According to Janis Carr of the O.C. Register, Bryant’s publicist confirmed that Bryant will no longer be blasting out his thoughts on the Lakers 140 characters at a time as long as they’re still in the playoffs.
Kobe’s publicist confirms he will not tweet during games any more after yesterday’s reaction.
— janis carr (@janiscarr) April 22, 2013
Obviously his tweets caused a bit of an issue on Sunday when Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni sarcastically stated he enjoyed Bryant’s commentary before referring to him as a “fan.” Bryant went on to question being called a fan by his coach, again on Twitter, before attempting to squash the conflict with a lighthearted attempt at humor and immediately shifting the focus back onto the court.
Kobe (ironically) tweeted his decision on Monday as well.
To tweet or not to tweet.. I CHOOSE not 2. Focus should be on the team not my insight. @georgelopez voice “Can’t DO nothin!”#vinospeare
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 22, 2013
Ultimately this is probably a good thing for the Lakers, who certainly don’t need any other distractions, but losing out on Bryant’s in-game thoughts is disappointing for the fans who enjoyed what he had to say.