The Game is Unforgiving: Kobe Bryant

Well written, Fred.

And I hate the Lakers. And I hate Kobe. But disks bulge and that’s what brings us together as humans. Write that on my tombstone.

Good post Fred. Injuries, unfortunately, are a huge part of all sports. If a quality team can stay healthy they have a shot in any sport to win.

Very good post. One that we Spurs fans can really understand after what has happened to Manu last year and Tim the year before. I especially like the analogy of what the coaches can do, and what fate can do to the ‘best laid plans’.
Again, I really like the post, thanks for sharing the feeling you had

GOD I despise Bryant. I hope he recovers fully, so we can beat him without excused – he obviously hates humiliation more than physical pain.

I mentioned this during the game thread, but on that superb move that Kobe made, Manu did what we regularly do with Kobe. Make him sweat hard and early so that come the fourth, he is off rhythm and even more selfish. A Kobe not taking shots and his team still in the game in the first half is the worst situation.

Sean and Bill’s announcement that Kobe is off to the locker room caused a twinge of disappointment in me. Everything was looking good for a classic. I thank FSM for our good health. By playoffs, I hope we have healthy teams all around. It will be fun this year.

Well witten and so very true. 82 games is a lot of time for little things to go wrong. Health is certainly where luck kicks in. For all the talk of the Spurs being old, look at the key pieces on other championship hopefuls. Kobe has more miles on his bsketball body thatn TD, Artest is slower than Artiza and Fisher is just old. KG and Allen in Boston. Billups in Denver. Shaq in Cleveland. You got to have all your horses to do more than just make the playoffs, as we know so well.

I still contend that a healthy Manu edges the Spurs into the 2008 Finals vs Boston. The worst thing about injuries is you never get to find out what could’ve been.

Good post, Fred. We haven’t reached the half point of the regular season, so injuries are not so dire right now. We’ll see.

very well put. but, as LD says right above me, it is early and i somehow think that kobe will figure out how to get himself healthy come the right time.

sitting that low does give you an entirely different perspective on how physical the game really is.

Sup guys. Yes I am a Lakers fan, and I was at the game last night as well. Fred’s story does hit home because I recall last year how many Spurs fans here were saying “shoulda coulda woulda” religiously to defend the early playoff exit via Dallas. And he’s right, injuries can change the confidence of the team, the fans, and ultimately can upstage the changing of the guard so to speak. Who knows who really would’ve won the 2009 championship had not Yao, KG, Manu, etc not been injured at key points along the way? Sufficed to say, I was disappointed in the loss, and really hope that Odom wakes up tonight or it’ll be oh-fer for LA’s Texas Two-Step roadtrip. I told my Dad that the SPurs were palying better team basketball than the Lakers and too much iso play was going on. Hard to be competitive when you do that on the road. Again, good insight Fred.
  On a different note, for those who were at the game… is a year’s supply of What-A-Burgers worth tossing your cookies in front of thousands of unsuspecting fans? That was absolutely disgusting!!!

Nuff said.

nothing feels better than sympathy from the other side. thanks for the concern.

Nice writeup. Kobe is amazing. I hope he heals in time for the playoffs. I want to face a full Lakers squad. Of course, I hope we’re injury-free too.

Great post, Fred. I was looking forward to some odd stat before reading the post but this was a very pleasant surprise.

A nice read Fred. You must have felt really conflicted when you wrote this. Marshalling sympathy for Bryant while every fiber in your body was screaming, “YESSS!”