<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The Lakers might play again Sunday without Kobe Bryant, a fear factor of the highest degree in recent seasons but not as much of a scare these days.Bryant watched Saturday's practice while wearing a long, thigh-high compression boot that amply covered his sprained right ankle. His words when asked if he would play against San Antonio if his ankle didn't improve — "probably not" — would have been cause for recent Lakers teams to run for the hills.But they are 3-0 this season without Bryant, collecting easy victories early against Phoenix and Golden State, and another one Friday against Atlanta.Obviously, they would prefer to have him against the Spurs, who are tied with Utah for the league's best record and are a league-best 8-2 on the road. Without him, the season-long preaching of Lakers coaches could again be put to the test."I think that's one of the things we wanted to make sure this year, that our players understood [that] even though last year Kobe was a significant factor, most-valuable-type player in this league, that he had to expend himself to such a point that we became atrophied as a team," Phil Jackson said. "When we had to step into that level in the playoffs, everybody had to step into their role and take advantage of a team [and] we weren't able to finish out."The Lakers had been 6-12 the previous two seasons without Bryant. This season, Lamar Odom has averaged 20.7 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists in his absence. Luke Walton has averaged 17 points and Maurice Evans, who would take Bryant's starting spot again tonight, has averaged 15.7 points when Bryant sits out, including 22 points Friday.Bryant will be a game-time decision tonight. His ankle felt a little better Saturday, but he said he would sit out again if it hadn't improved."If it gets progressively worse as the game goes on where I start limping and stuff, then that's no good," Bryant said. "That will set us back."</div>http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/n...ewed-storylevel
I guess the ankle didn't bother him tonight. kobe finished with 34 points and he showed some explosion dunking the ball.
