On Apr 12, the Los Angeles Lakers won versus the Golden State Warriors 118-116. They unfortunately lost their perennial All-Star guard Kobe Bryant to a torn left Achilles and was lost for the playoffs. Like any accomplished player, he went right to work rehabing the Achilles and was able to return to the court on Dec. 8 versus the Toronto Raptors. While it was a struggle for Bryant for much of this, was showing signs that he was returning to his Hall of Fame form. At the Memphis Grizzlies six days ago, he was regaining his form as he had his best outing since his return. Unfortunately that great performance will be the last for his comeback.
In the 96-92 win at the Grizzlies (11-15) six days ago, the five-time champion sustained an injury to his knee, which he thought at first was just a tweak and that he hyperextended it. He was able to finish the game and scored 21 points, including hitting a key three-pointer late to helps the Lakers (13-14) close out the Grizzlies.
The next day however, it was revealed in an MRI that the 15-time All-Star sustained a fracture in the lateral tibial plateau in his left knee. He is expected to be out six weeks.
In the six games that Bryant played, he averaged 13.8 points on 43 percent shooting in 29.6 minutes. It is a far cry from his 27.3 average a season ago, which was third in the league.
The Lakers went 2-4 scoring scoring just 97.2 points per game and giving up 105.5 points per contest in the games Bryant played.
In the first 19 games the team played without Bryant, the Lakers averaged 101.3 points per contest and surrendered 102.8 points per night.
"He was making great steps and you defintely see him making progress since he has gotten back," Lakers' forward/center Pau Gasol, who also had 21 points and nine boards at the Grizzlies, said this past Thursday to the media.
"He's been working extremely hard, playing extremely hard, so I'll miss him a lot."
To put the short term prospects of what Bryant's injury means to the Lakers into perspective, the Lakers face the prospect of not having Bryant for the next 22 games.
In that period of time, 10 of those opponents have an above .500 record. The Lakers will also embark on a seven-game road trip, where they will face the likes of the Phoenix Suns (16-10), Boston Celtics (12-17), Chicago Bulls (10-16), New York Knicks (8-18) and Miami Heat (20-6).
On top of that, the team is not just missing Bryant, they are currently without all three of their point guards. Starting lead guard Steve Blake (9.8 ppg, 7.7 apg-leads team) is currently on the shelf and will be gone for up to five weeks because of a serious elbow injury. Back-up guard Jordan Farmar (9.2 ppg, 4.4 apg) has been sidelined in recent games because of a hamstring injury. He is expected to return soon. Last season's Steve Nash (6.7 ppg, 4.8 apg), who has played in just six games this season has been out because of back problems and there is no timetable for his return.
The more larger cloud that is hanging over the Lakers with this setback by Bryant is that back on Nov. 25, he signed a two-year $48.5 million contract extension back on.
If you count all of the minutes that the 2008 Most Valuable Player (MVP) and two-time NBA Finals MVP has garnered in the regular season and postseason in his 18-year Hall of Fame career, Bryant has played the fifth most minutes in NBA history with 54,208. The 220 playoff games that Bryant has played in is the eqiuvalent of 2.7 seasons. The four other players who have played more minutes are the late Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin (55,418), Nets current head coach Jason Kidd (56,199), Hall of Famers Karl Malone (62,759) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (66,297).
It is hard to imagine that Bryant is at the end of his career and that he may not be able to finish it out on his own terms.
Coming into last season, Bryant had dreams of one more run at another title. Those dreams became difficult when the additions of center Dwight Howard and Nash did not work. They won just 45 games and they just snuck into the playoffs. Their reward, a date with the San Antonio Spurs and it ended in a four-game sweep.
This past summer, Howard bolted to the Houston Rockets in free agency and the injuries have made Nash a shell of himself in his short time as a Laker.
Currently, the Lakers are on the outside of the playoffs looking in and the prospects of them even making the playoffs do not look good.
Even if Bryant, the NBA's 4th all-time leading scorer at 31,700 points does come back in the exact time of six weeks, will he comeback in time to prevent the Lakers missing the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and for just the third time in the last 21 seasons.
"He'll do what he needs to be ready," Lakers head coach Mike, D'Antoni said this past Thursday.
"I think he'll be back in six weeks and he'll be hunting for some bear."
Information, statistics and quotations are courtesy of 12/19/13 6 p.m. edition of ESPN's "Sportscenter" with Karl Ravech and John Anderson; 12/19/13 TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by Autotrader.com with Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley; www.espn.go.com/nba; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant.
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