Feb 9th, 2010 | 3:40 pm |
By Travis Duncan
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who has missed two straight games with a sore left ankle, may not play in next Sunday’s All-Star game in Dallas.
“If I’m not able to play, I won’t play. But I’m healthy, I will,” he said. “If I can move, I’m good. If I can move and get to the basket, I’m good.”
Bryant has missed two straight games, and the Lakers have won them both. 101-89 Sunday night against the Spurs and 99-82 over the Portland Trailblazers on Friday night. Bryant says that his teammates ability to win games without him “absolutely” factors into the decision to play or not. Andrew Bynum was also out of the lineup against the Spurs Sunday with a hip injury.
“When Kobe and Andrew are out, we have to execute to get high quality shots, so the ball moves more,” Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. ”When those guys are in there, we can rely on them to do great things.”
He said he’ll be a game time decision for Wednesday’s game against Utah.
“I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to run through a wall just to run through a wall,” Bryant said. “If it’s an injury where I feel like I can play through it and have it heal while I’m playing, then I’ll play. But if it’s the type of injury where it’s going to get worse when I play, then I won’t.”
Sounds like Phil Jackson has been talking to Kobe, as he’s changed his stance on playing through injuries.
