After only a handful of games into the Los Angeles Lakers season, it’s safe to wonder if Kobe Bryant is going to make it the entire way.
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Valanciunas was the victim of a Kobe Bryant chop as he went to basket late in the first half of the win over the Lakers.
Guard DeMar DeRozan had 18 points as the Raptors (8-6) ended a three-game skid. “I know I would be”.
On average this season, Bryant is playing around 31 minutes a game.
If Byron Scott says something stupid in a forest, and no one is around to hear, is it still stupid?
“Basically I look at them as a fan, when I watch them play”.
Bryant stated that he felt fine physically, and should be able to give it a go in for Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Center DeAndre Jordan finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.
Julius Randle, however, had 18 points and 12 rebounds despite a small bout of nausea. When asked about the minutes exceeding the original plan set forth, Scott remained adamant that he had not exceeded the limits set forth, as Bryant’s average minutes on the season remain in the 30-32 minutes range.
Valanciunas broke the finger in the second quarter of Friday’s game against the Lakers.
“It’s a matchup that they’re looking forward to, I’m sure”, Bryant said. Though he has shown that he still has the stroke to make shots, consistency has obviously been a big question mark.
To take Scott’s comments at face value is the wrong thing to do; he doesn’t benefit by being straightforward with the media. “I thought tonight from an aggressiveness standpoint it was one of his better games”. On Thursday night, we witnessed the most recent loss of the Clippers against defending champions – Golden State Warriors (124-117), as 27-year-old shooter Stephen Curry managed to score 40 points, 3-pointers in the 4th quarter boosting his team to take the victory.
On the same night the Raptors lost Jonas Valanciunas for a period of time, the team seemed to get another one of their bigs back.
Raptors: G Norman Powell, who played four seasons at UCLA, spent the entire game on the bench in his first visit to Staples Center as a pro. He was ideal from the free-throw line in the first half knocking down all six of his attempts. There are certain factors to consider for Bryant as the season progresses and one of them is if he can stay healthy long enough to last this season. Bryant is only averaging 16.1 points a game and his shooting has been abysmal.
“They haven’t had a whole lot of lulls in any of the games that they’ve played”, Scott added.
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Toronto was led by Kyle Lowry’s 25 points, with 21 of those points coming from beyond the arc. “I think once you see them for the first time, sometimes it kind of shocks you a little bit because you don’t know how good a few of these guys are, how quick they are, how strong they are, how explosive they can be”. Bryant then swished a pull-up 3-pointer to slice the Lakers’ deficit to 97-91 with 1:48 left.
