The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 104-94 on Tuesday night. Shannon Brown set career highs with 27 points and 10 rebounds while starting in place of the injured Kobe Bryant, who has missed the last four games including the All-Star game due to an injured ankle.
“He checked out of this game, basically,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said about 90 minutes before tipoff. “He practiced yesterday and was effective, but he didn’t try anything. He didn’t go to the basket, just helped run the team and helped keep things going in the right direction. But this morning, he said he just didn’t feel it and he didn’t have any strength back in the leg to really be explosive. But he didn’t say anything about discomfort at all.”
Whether or not Kobe will be ready for Thursday night’s rematch with the Boston Celtics also remains in the air.
“It’s purely up to him,” Jackson said. “When he’s ready to play, we’ll encourage him to play.”
When Kobe returns, the next game he will play will be his 1,000th game during a regular season. This will make him the youngest player to reach that milestone, and passing Boston’s Kevin Garnett who currently hold the record by Boston’s Kevin Garnett.
