On Friday night, Kobe Bryant went down with a ruptured Achilles injury that will sideline him for six to nine weeks. On Saturday, Bryant went through his surgery while his former coach Phil Jackson shared some thoughts on D’Antoni’s decision to keep Kobe in the game after suffering two injuries prior to the Achilles injury.
Kobe wasn’t going to let the Lakers miss the playoffs. We watched him go thru 3 anguishing plays-the last one devastating…
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) April 13, 2013
if he had gone to the bench after the 2nd mishap? Like Rose ofThe Bulls one can guess, but what’s done is done. Reality not maybe is zen
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) April 13, 2013
Jackson doesn’t exactly come out and say what he would have done in that situation. In fact, he doesn’t really come out and say much at all outside of the obvious — Kobe wasn’t going to let this team miss the playoffs.
Phil’s tweets are interesting in the sense that they seem very Phil-esque to the tune that it’s hard to tell whether or not he’s chiding Mike D’Antoni for leaving him in after watching Bryant suffer through two injuries or if he’s saying that this is something that could have happened to anyone.
Bringing up Derrick Rose’s situation is an interesting situation, but not exactly comparable. Rose had a lingering knee injury before he went down last season, which wasn’t the case for Bryant. Kobe had hurt his knee and his ankle during the game, but there was no lingering Achilles injury that would suggest that a ruptured ligament was imminent.
Whether or not one feels that D’Antoni should have taken Bryant out doesn’t really matter at this point, because as Jackson said, “what’s done is done.” Both Bryant and D’Antoni were doing what they felt was best for the team’s chances to make the post season.
There’s a possibility that this could have been avoided, but the fact of the matter will always remain that Kobe had played over 45 minutes in several games before his Achilles injury, and probably would have continued playing nearly 48 every night until the Lakers season ended.
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