Kobe's knee injury not serious

Lakers’ fans doubled up on their purchases of Crown Royal and Patron on Tuesday night after reigning NBA MVP Kobe Bryant went down in the 2nd quarter of a preseason game against the Charlotte Bobcats.  While the sight of #24 being helped off of the court by his teammates was no doubt haunting, the news today has Laker faithful breathing a collective sigh of relief as Kobe’s knee injury isn’t serious.

Kobe went down when he awkwardly banged knees with teammate Josh Powell under the Lakers’ basket as the two were battling for a rebound.  He immediately signaled to Lakers’ trainer Gary Vitti that he was hurt—a disconcerting gesture for a man notorious for playing through pain.  Kobe was helped off the court, spent a few minutes at the end of the bench before heading to the locker room.  He didn’t return for the 2nd half and the team initially feared the worst.

On Wednesday, things were much brighter around the team.  Kobe sat out practice wearing an icepack on his knee but the prognosis was about as good as it possibly could be.  Bryant suffered a minor hyperextension of the knee, but as he reported it wasn’t hurting him too badly:

"There was no swelling. At that point, I knew I was OK. Some injuries can go either way. You've got to get lucky. I didn't sleep much, to be honest with you. Just moving it around, seeing if it was all right. These type of injuries kind of sneak up on you."

The sum total—Bryant might not miss any playing time and almost certainly will be on the floor next Tuesday night as they start the regular season at home against the Portland Trailblazers.  The conventional wisdom is that he should sit out at least one of the remaining two preseason games, but coach Phil Jackson was obviously resigned to the fact that if Kobe feels like he can play there’s not much he can do to stop him:

"We always like players to go out and play. That's what they do. It gives us a chance to go out and function on the floor."

While everything appears to have ended well in this mini-drama, Kobe admitted that there were a few anxious moments:

"I saw the ring flash before my eyes. I was pretty worried. That's the scariest part, sitting there for five or 10 minutes, seeing what's going to develop."

Bryant has already decided to forego surgery on his injured shooting hand pinky finger for fear of the rehab time becoming problematic to the team’s chances for success this year.