Since December 11, Kobe has broken the index finger on his shooting hand, strained his right elbow, suffered paralyzing back spasms and severely sprained his left ankle, twice. People, have you ever tried to play basketball with one of those injuries? It ain’t easy, and doing it every day for months at a time will take a serious toll on your body.
Playing through an injury forces you to put additional stress on the rest of your body. This often creates new injuries because you over-compensate for the areas that hurt the most.
Now imagine playing through four injuries.
On one hand, you have to admire his heart. Kobe possesses a unique desire to win that puts him up there with some of the greatest warriors the game has ever seen. On the other hand, his obstinate nature drives you through a freaking wall. His unrelenting stubbornness sets him apart as the most frustrating player I’ve ever cheered for.
Look Kobe, we get it. You’re the man. You have a threshold for pain that we mere mortals cannot even begin to comprehend. You somehow managed to string together games of 40, 35, 38, 34, 44, and 39 points in late December when most NBA players would have packed it in. But lately, the numbers I’m more concerned with are 16.7, 33.3, 38.7, 21.1, 19.1, 37.8, 33.3, and 39.1, which are your shooting percentages for almost half your games in January.
Kobe, this isn’t you.
This isn’t the guy who hung an NBA record 12 three pointers on Seattle in 2003 because some LA Times writer had the gall to say his daughter shoots better than you do from long range.
This isn’t the guy who dropped a cool 55 on MJ the last time you saw him in an NBA uniform, just to make damn sure everyone knew who would hold the torch after he was gone.
This isn’t the guy who outscored Dallas 62-61 in three quarters because you knew it was the only way your team had a shot to win.
You won’t be that guy again until you take some time off and get yourself right. Looking at the NBA calendar, right now is the perfect opportunity to rest up.
Next: Doing the Right Thing
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