Bryant doubtful for game vs. Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs will clash with their conference rival Los Angeles Lakers for the first time this season tomorrow night but Los Angeles 
might be facing San Antonio without superstar Kobe Bryant.
Bryant is dealing with a sore left shin and the Lakers have lost to the Suns and squeaked by the Hornets without him.
If Kobe doesn't play, it will be a tough time for the Lakers to defeat the Spurs who have won six straight in the Alamo City. And should he sit out tomorrow night's game, Kobe is sure to play the Spurs soon. The two teams will play again in Los Angeles in six days, then back in the AT&T Center three days after that.
Moreover, just like his former boss (Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich), Lakers head coach Mike Brown is willing to sacrifice playoff positioning to ensure his team is 100% healthy come the playoffs.
"I'd rather he'd be fresh going into the playoffs and us being fourth or fifth than him hurting or dinged up going into the playoffs and we're third," Brown said. "If we play the right way, whether Kobe's playing or not, we should still be OK or give ourselves a chance to still get that third seed."
Though I am sure Spurs fans would like to see the team face a complete Lakers squad tomorrow, nevertheless, it should be a great matchup between these long time rivals.
UPDATE: Bryant will sit out against the Spurs tomorrow.
I think the Spurs go small ball and win by five. Lakers don't have the perimeter players to match our talent.
Diaw gets the start and Bonner gets a chance to guard Gasol (which he will probably fail at) is my guess.
What brown means is he wants to face SA in the 2nd round instead of okc. They are doing everything they can to avoid okc
@JohnAbney well sas should take that as a challenge and grind up the lal in the 2nd round
1 Like
@JeffProjectSpurs i expect you are correct. the lakers with a fresh (in the 1st round) kobe is tough, the lakers with no bench means the second round gets much easier anyway. the lakers make me laugh because their fans actually still stand 100000% behind them as the next nba champs, even though their starting 5 is all injured, and they have ZERO bench. makes me smile on the inside and out.
