Kobe Bryant Injury: Full Postgame Press Conference Discussing Injury (Video)
By Josh Hill
The biggest sports story of the night — and likely the year so far — was Los Angeles Lakers superstar and future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant tearing his Achilles tendon against the Golden State Warriors. Bryant clawed the Lakers back into not only the game on Friday night, but had been playing absolutely out of his mind in recent weeks in an effort to get the Lakers back into the playoff picture.
That happened, as the two free throws Kobe hit late in the game against the Warriors ended up being the difference as Los Angeles won by two points. But the cost of that win and the cost of the Lakers playoff push this late in the season is almost too much to bear, as Bryant is likely not only done for the playoffs but early predictions have Bryant’s Achilles injury forcing him to miss the entire 2013-14 season and possibly ending his career.
It’s still too early to make a solid judgement like that, but Bryant’s postgame press conference didn’t instill much hope that bright things are on the horizon. For the type of hustler Kobe has been his entire career, especially as of late, it was devastatingly painful to see Bryant look so defeated in his postgame presser.
The whole game against the Warriors saw Kobe hustling his heart and soul out. Numerous times he hit the hardwood and every time he got up. The Achilles injury Kobe suffered not only look tame compared to the spills he took, in hindsight we all saw it coming. His ankle just gave way under the pressure of not only the knocks he took on Friday, but the weight of holding the Lakers up all season long.
Hopefully for basketball, Kobe comes back and can go out on his own terms. But as it stands now, this is a dark day in Los Angeles and it’s perhaps one of the darkest chapters in the entire history of the Lakers franchise.