http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/scott_howard_cooper/05/13/kobe.feature/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1
A few weeks after aching his way through early first-round games against the young legs and speed of Oklahoma City, the last team anyone wants to see while hoping to mend, Kobe Bryant suddenly looks a lot like Bryant again, as the Jazz can attest through heavy sighs.
He averaged 32 points, 5.8 assists and 52.3 percent from the field in the four games of the surprisingly quick Western Conference semifinals, doing so even with the concession that he is not at full strength (and probably won't be the rest of the playoffs).
That'll do for faking it, then. In the other sign of how circumstances have changed, dispatching Utah in such short order turned into six full days off (and a large chunk of a seventh). That gives Bryant a windfall of treatment and rest before the West finals against the Suns begin Monday in L.A. With Games 3 and 4 against the Jazz as the only action in a span of 12 days -- this has broken incredibly right for the defending champions.
Please let the next round get here fast.
Beyond the non-medical explanations that Bryant is more like his old self every day, there is the strange realization that the Lakers' star of four championships has a chance to make this playoff run declare itself in a way no other has. Quite a thought when it seems like he already has every resume builder. But to win again this June while overcoming so much physical anguish, especially the fractured finger on his shooting hand and the bum knee that forced Bryant to concede he was playing on one leg for much of the first round, would be a prideful accomplishment.
"Pain's a very subjective thing. What's a little to one person is a lot of pain to someone else. He has a very high pain threshold in terms of all the players I've worked with. The second thing about him is that he has an ability to not focus on pain. He focuses on the task at hand, which is playing the game. He focuses on the game and not on what's bothering him."
"We just worked on it from game to game," Bryant said. "We'd say, 'Just get through this next game. And then let's get through the next one.' That's all we did. And those three days really did wonders for me."
He adds that "I don't think I'll ever be a hundred percent, but I'm going to keep getting better and maybe I'll get to 90. But I feel pretty good right now."
