<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Though they just won another game without Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers surely want their superstar back in the lineup Sunday. A team sharing the league's best record will visit Staples Center as the San Antonio Spurs take on the Lakers, who hope a few days rest healed Bryant's injured ankle. Bryant originally sprained his right ankle when he stepped on Indiana center Jeff Foster's foot during the Lakers' 101-87 win on Monday. While he's been listed as day-to-day, Bryant played 37 minutes on Wednesday against New Orleans, scoring 24 points in Los Angeles' 105-89 loss. Not wanting to take chances, Bryant was on the bench for Friday's 106-95 win over Atlanta. The Lakers improved to 3-0 this season without last season's scoring champion. "It'll be day-to-day," Bryant said after the game. "The key is just making sure the pain is gone. The last game I tried to compensate for it, but it just got worse to the point where I couldn't run without limping. "It felt a little better today. But the fear was that if I played and it got worse again, that's something we didn't want to risk, especially since we've got San Antonio Sunday and then go on the road. So we just decided to err on the side of caution." Like it did in winning the first two games of the season when Bryant was recovering from knee surgery, Los Angeles (13-6) got big contributions from many sources to beat the Hawks. Three Lakers scored career highs as Luke Walton had 25 points, Maurice Evans added 22 starting in place of Bryant and rookie Jordan Farmar had 15. "It's a huge step for us when guys step up and contribute," Bryant said. "Luke's been playing consistently all season long, and Mo (Evans) had a big game tonight. He's kind of been figuring his way through the offense. So for him to step up and have a game like that was really big." Though the Lakers have yet to lose without Bryant, they surely want to have their best player available against the surging Spurs (15-5). Since the Lakers came roaring back from a 2-0 deficit to beat San Antonio 4-2 in the 2004 Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs have owned the Lakers, winning seven of eight meetings and going 4-0 at Staples Center. Bryant has averaged only 25.7 points on 36.7 percent shooting in his last seven games against the Spurs, who moved into a tie with Utah for the NBA's best record on Friday. While the Jazz lost in Minnesota, the Spurs routed the Clippers 111-82 behind Tony Parker's career-high 15 assists and Manu Ginobili's 22 points in 20 minutes off the bench. Since losing to Golden State and Utah at the end of last month, San Antonio has won its last four games by an average of 23 points. The Spurs are shooting 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range during the win streak. "Well we're in a pretty good rhythm right now. We have definitely benefited from the time we've had to practice and it's definitely showing in the games," Spurs guard Michael Finley said. "Hopefully we can keep this thing going a little bit and keep our momentum in the right direction." </div> Link Didn't see a preview? Anyways, Kobe is still questionable for tonight, meaning he may not suit up again. It will obviously be best for us if Kobe plays, but I really don't want him to rush back into things. I just hope Kobe makes the right decision. Anyways, the game starts at 6:30 tonight, not 7:30 (the usual time)
I actually want Kobe to miss this game, so the young guys can play heavy minutes against an elite team. With Kobe out of the lineup, our players are 3-0 and really step up to accept the challenge of competiting without their best player on the court. If the Lakers can keep the score close the result won't matter. Keeping the score close tonight will give the young guys a lot of confidence. Even if the Lakers lose this is a valuable game, because it can be used to figure out what pieces need to be added to the roster, and what the team needs to work on to compete with a powerhouse like the Spurs.
LOL. Popovich already subbed out Oberto. I just hope Bowen doesn't try to slip his foot under Kobe's bad ankle. 4-0 Lakers to start the game.
Damn Luke is getting killed by Bowen, Bowen has 8 points that's ridiculous. Make it 11 now, 11 of the SPurs 13. Come on Luke.
<div class="quote_poster">kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">hey is ginobli not playing or coming off the bench?</div> He comes off the bench.
Ginobili is in the game guarding Odom, we need to post Odom up right now and make them pay for that mismatch.
ANOTHER TURNOVER. Come on Lakers wake up. Feed the big fella in the post not 25 feet from the basket.
