Archive for the 'Kobe Bryant' Category

Game 4 Shootaround

Published
by
Lakers.com
on April 25, 2009
in Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, Playoffs, Pre-Game and Video
. Closed

After L.A. concluded its Saturday shootaround building into Game 4 against the Jazz, Phil Jackson suggested that there is a possibility of Lamar Odom starting in place of Andrew Bynum.

“I think it all depends on if Mehmet (Okur) is going to play or not,” said Jackson. “If he does that’s a tough cover because he’s a 3-point line shooter. He’s a guy that we probably have to put someone that has a little more mobility than Drew on him. That’s alright with us, we’re fine with that. Otherwise the lineup will stay as it has been.”

Okur is being called a game-time decision after the Jazz went through their morning shootaround at EnergySolutions Arena. Okur is particularly threatening from the three-point line, Jackson would prefer to have the more mobile Odom for defensive purposes.

Check out the video above to see all of Phil’s remarks and what Kobe Bryant had to say about tonight’s matchup.

Kobe Bryant Post-Milwaukee Audio

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on April 2, 2009
in Kobe Bryant, Podcast and Post-Game
. Closed

Listen to what Kobe Bryant had to say following his 30-point performance in L.A.’s victory over Milwaukee.

 
icon for podpress  Kobe Bryant Post Bucks Audio [4:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bryant to Start

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 29, 2009
in Kobe Bryant and Pre-Game
. Closed

Kobe StartLakers guard Kobe Bryant, who sprained his right ankle in L.A.’s win over New Jersey on Friday night, will start against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday afternoon.

Bryant was to be a game-time decision, though he said after the Nets game that he would indeed play in Georgia.

Phil Jackson did say that Bryant missed L.A.’s breakfast/video session at the hotel because he “wasn’t feeling well,” which the coach said could have been a reaction to medication to limit the swelling of his ankle.

Bryant a Game-Time Decision

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 28, 2009
in Injury News and Kobe Bryant
. Closed

Kobe Bryant received treatment on his sprained right ankle from Lakers Head Athletic Trainer Gary Vitti along with doing some shooting on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. L.A.’s leading scorer will be listed as a game-time decision for the 12:30 p.m. Pacific tipoff against the Hawks.

However, it should be noted that after L.A.’s 103-96 victory in New Jersey on Friday night, Bryant told reporters that he would indeed play in Sunday’s game, questioning only how much pain he’d have to play through.

Easily one of the league’s toughest players, playing in pain has never been something Bryant’s shied away from … Nonetheless, we’ll have to wait for the opening tip to know for sure if No. 24’s going to go.

Bryant Day-to-Day with Ankle Sprain

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 27, 2009
in Injury News, Kobe Bryant and Post-Game
. Closed

Kobe BryantUpon colliding with Nets guard Devin Harris late in the second quarter of L.A.’s 103-95 win in New Jersey, Kobe Bryant sprained his right ankle and left the floor under his own power.

After getting taped at halftime, however, Bryant scored 12 of his 14 points in the third quarter, nine of which came on consecutive threes within a span last just over two minutes that prompted the crowd to its first “MVP!” chant of the evening. Bryant also dished out five of his nine assists after halftime in 23 second half minutes, and didn’t feature any obvious limp on that right ankle.

After the game, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson simply said that Bryant “sprained his ankle” and will be looked at in the morning. No. 24 and the team will stay in New York City for the evening, and Bryant and L.A.’s training staff will re-evaluate the ankle on Saturday morning.

In the meantime, Bryant’s listed as day-to-day heading into Sunday afternoon’s contest in Atlanta. We’ll have an update for you when one’s made available on Saturday.

Wednesday Practice Report

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 18, 2009
in Kobe Bryant, Playoffs, Practice News and Trevor Ariza
. Closed

A few tidbits emerged from L.A.’s practice facility on Wednesday, including a Trevor Ariza’s post-Iggy thoughts, NCAA tournament talk, a look at the coming seven-game road trip and even some jury duty talk:

Ariza Guarantees Effort
Lakers small forward Trevor Ariza, who failed to commit L.A.’s foul to give before Andre Iguodala pulled up for a game-winning three pointer on Tuesday night, simply took the blame and said it wouldn’t happen again:

“We can’t settle for what we’re doing at the time, we have to keep the effort going the whole game,” explained Ariza after a few heated games of four-on-four. “Sometimes we just relax when we shouldn’t, we take things for granted a little bit, but I guarantee you that won’t happen again. We won’t take anything for granted again.”

Six Lakers Fill Out NCAA Tourney Brackets
Jordan Farmar (UCLA), Luke Walton (Arizona), Shannon Brown (Michigan State), Adam Morrison (Gonzaga), Derek Fisher (Arkansas-Little Rock) and Josh Powell (NC State) filled out NCAA Tourney brackets for us to score on Lakers.com. Lakers.com threw its collective hat into the competition as well, though Ty Nowell’s bias/insistence towards Alma mater Arizona State could be our downfall. Alas, you can track their respective brackets throughout the tournament to see whose personal bias affects them the least (Arizona in the final game, Luke? Really?). Click here to see everyone’s brackets.

Road Trip Looming
Chicago, Oklahoma City, Detroit, New Jersey, Atlanta, Charlotte and Milwaukee. That’s quite a bit of travel, right? While the seven teams don’t look as good as Boston, Cleveland or San Antonio on paper, most of the squads play well at home, and several are playing much better basketball of late. For example, the Bulls have won seven straight home games to improve to 21-11 in Chicago; Atlanta 26-7 at home, the league’s fourth best record; Charlotte is for some strange reason L.A.’s toughest opponent; Detroit’s playing better basketball, Milwaukee’s well above .500 in Wisconsin and OKC gets fired up in their building, leaving only New Jersey (14-19) as a team that’s struggled in their arena (is it the smog?). Of course, L.A. seems to bring out the best in its road opponent regardless of placement on the map.

Jury Duty
Finally, Kobe Bryant wasn’t available for L.A.’s team photo to be taken at the practice facility today thanks to … you guessed it … jury duty. Phil Jackson said that he doesn’t expect Bryant to be selected for a case, and that Kobe will be in the starting lineup for Thursday’s game against Golden State.

Phil, Kobe Practice Video

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 16, 2009
in Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and Practice News
. Closed

Following Monday’s practice in Los Angeles, we turned the camera on while Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant answered questions from assembled media.

HERE’S THE VIDEO

Phil
Phil Jackson explained why it’s sometimes natural for players to lose focus while protecting a lead, expressed no concern that teams might use a zone defense on L.A., addressed the second unit’s struggles in the half court and talked about coaching a team that’s favored to win a title.

Kobe
Kobe Bryant said that it’s still too early to think about the playoffs, dealt with the usual few questions that come if the Lakers let a team back into a game and talked about dealing with a zone defense that Dallas used and Philadelphia’s expected to feature at times.

Philly In Town
At 33-31, the Philadelphia 76ers are sitting in the sixth spot of the Eastern Conference, 5.5 games behind Atlanta for the fourth spot and 2.5 games ahead of 9th place Chicago. The 76ers have actually been better without free agent acquisition Elton Brand (out for the season), in part because they’re now able to play to their strength - running. With three straight wins against Toronto, Chicago and Miami, Philly’s game at STAPLES sets off a five game trip out West that should produce a better understanding of their playoff position. Philadelphia first met L.A. back in early December, resulting in a 114-102 Lakers win.

Bryant Wins Third Western POW Honor

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 16, 2009
in Around the NBA and Kobe Bryant
. Closed

Kobe BryantFor the third time this season, Kobe Bryant was named the Western Conference Player of the Week, this time for games played between Monday, March 9 and Sunday, March 15.

Bryant led his conference in scoring with 28.5 points per game, alongside 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists to lead the Lakers to a 3-1 week highlighted by tough road wins in Houston and San Antonio. In the 102-95 win over the Spurs on March 12, Bryant hit a clutch fourth quarter three-pointer (as he did in Sunday’s win over Dallas) while recording 23 points and six assists just a night after scoring 18 fourth quarter points to lead L.A. past the Rockets. The latter road win allowed the Lakers to clinch their 20th Pacific Division title and their 56th postseason appearance in 61 NBA seasons.

Here’s a break down of Bryant’s four-game week, courtesy of the NBA. If you want to review the game more specifically, click on the purple link to read the respective running diaries:

March 9 @ Portland: Recorded 26 points and three assists in a 111-94 loss to the Trail Blazers.
March 11 @ Houston: Posted 37 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals in a 102-96 win over the Rockets.
March 12 @ San Antonio: Tallied 23 points, six assists and four rebounds in a 102-95 win over the Spurs.
March 15 vs. Dallas: Scored 28 points, and added eight rebounds and five assists in a 107-100 win over the Mavericks.

LeBron James, Bryant’s primary competition in the MVP race, won in the Eastern Conference. Other nominees were Atlanta’s Joe Johnson, Cleveland’s Mo Williams, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, Miami’s Dwyane Wade, New Orleans’ Chris Paul, New York’s Nate Robinson, Philadelphia’s Thaddeus Young and Portland’s Brandon Roy.

Phil, Kobe Practice Video

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 5, 2009
in Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and Practice News
. Closed

After Thursday’s practice, Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant respectively addressed local media members, delving into varying topics that had nothing to do with Friday’s game against Minnesota (apparently L.A. already won).

Jackson talked about giving his team Wednesday off, what was accomplished at practice, the myriad March road games and gave his take on last week’s round of buyouts and related signings around the league.

Kobe talked about hanging out with his daughters on Wednesday, praised his team’s chemistry, expressed confidence heading into the road stretch and even addressed the workout techniques and habits of some of his teammates.

You can watch both videos on lakers.com.

Player’s Poll: Kobe By A Mile

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on March 3, 2009
in Around the NBA and Kobe Bryant
. Closed

Kobe Bryant - WestbrookIn the February 16th edition of Sports Illustrated, 190 NBA players were asked the following question: “With the game on the line, which NBA player would you want to take the last shot?

It’s no surprise that L.A.’s MVP, Kobe Bryant, led all vote getters. But it wasn’t just a win, it was a massacre. Here are the results:

Kobe Bryant, Lakers, G — 76%
Chauncey Billups, Nuggets, G — 3%
LeBron James, Cavs, F — 3%
Paul Pierce, Celtics, F — 3%
Dwyane Wade, Heat, G — 2%

There you have it.