Though a fourth-quarter comeback bid had the sold-out crowd of 18,997 roaring, it hushed up in a hurry when Kobe Bryant chased a loose ball and slipped at mid-court, dislocating his finger while trying to avoid falling.
“It was kind of out and to the side, and the other part was going the other way,” Bryant said after the Lakers’ loss to San Antonio.
The 18-time All-Star wasn’t concerned about the pain, but rather how severe the injury appeared, saying his finger looked like the letter ’S.’
Bryant grimaced as he walked over to trainer Gary Vitti, who began to apply more athletic tape to his right shooting hand. However, the two realized a more immediate solution was more appropriate when Bryant told Vitti to pop the finger back into place.
“OK, here we go,” Vitti said before administering the half-second-long procedure.
A woman sitting courtside next to Bryant and Vitti looked away in disgust and appeared to partially cover her ears to avoid hearing that ‘pop.’
“He was sitting on the scorer’s table and you could see a little swelling in it and everything,” head coach Byron Scott said. “Then Gary went back over to just tape it up. And he was in pain when he was taping it. He’s a tough hombre.”
After referees mandated that Bryant sit out the next possession, he returned and quickly hit an off-balance shot with 1:23 left, much to the approval of the Staples Center audience that witnessed his macho display.
Fortunately for the Lakers, X-Rays after the game came back negative.
A wrapped-up finger couldn’t dampen Bryant’s humor either, as he later raised the damaged middle digit and laughed, “This is probably the only time I can sit here like this at a press conference and not get get fined.”
Bryant has fought his way through a seemingly endless list of injuries through his 20-year career. This season, he has dealt with a sore shoulder and sore Achilles tendon.
“He’s had injuries, played through stuff that nobody will ever even know about,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s a warrior. He’s one of the toughest we’ve ever had.”
Bryant maintained that he still plans to play against Chicago on Sunday. With his finger not likely to cause any missed games, he was able to reflect on his latest chapter of having Vitti bandage him up.
“Maybe we’re just really weird or whatever, but we find these things extremely funny,” Bryant said. “I go to the bench, he looks and my finger and goes, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a good one.’ I go, ‘Yeah, no s—. Do something about it!’
“Then he pops it back in place and we just kind of laugh about it. He’s known me for many years. He knows I’m gonna go right back in again. But we laugh and we joke about it. We’ve seen it all.”
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