The recent skid of the Los Angeles Lakers may be explained by a new revelation. Kobe Bryant had not practiced with the team until the loss to the Heat on Christmas Day when he said after that loss he intended to “…kick [ass] at practice . . . and beat it into their heads. It was time to get the team focused.”

The Lakers responded by losing again the next time they took the court against the San Antonio Spurs 97-82 despite holding Tim Duncan to only two points. Since then they have won four of five games with one of those against a team over .500. Is this turnaround all attributable to Bryant joining practices?

The way this all got started is from a leak inside the Lakers organization when a report surfaced this week that had a surly edge to it. Peter Vescey of the New York Post wrote that someone tipped him off by questioning how Kobe was going to shake up practices, “when he hasn’t practiced the whole season (something no member of LA’s press has called him out on)?”

Vescey is said to have gone right to the source and asked a direct question about practices. Kobe Bryant said the leaker was correct but the reason is:

“Because I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap, it’s almost bone on bone.”

After a third operation on his right knee over the summer, Bryant was still recovering when it was time to play the season opener, but assured everyone it was normal course stuff and he’d be 100% early into the season. Appears that 100% for him is to sit out practices but go all out in games.

Bryant also told Vescey that he and coach Phil Jackson made a decision to hold him out to keep the wear and tear on the knee to a minimum. The problem seems to be that the intensity of the practices is no longer there without the Black Mamba and after the losses started to mount, a change in direction was needed so the adjustment was made.

The result is a more tested knee and a return to normalcy. Bryant insists on practices being fierce and he demands that teammates give no breaks to each other.

So where does the team go from here? Have they become so addicted to the Bryant adrenaline rush that they became complacent losers without him in practice? In the meantime, the Lakers chances of a three-peat may begin to look bleaker now that the news on the near “bone-to-bone” knee has surfaced. . . it is a long season.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.

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