Kobe sits with sore shoulder as Thunder rout Lakers, 118-78

Each team was playing its second game in as many days, but while the Knicks were coming off a straightforward win over the hapless Philadelphia 76ers, the Bulls lost in quadruple-overtime to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night and didn’t even get to their NY hotel until almost 5:00 am, coach Fred Hoiberg said. He says he knows who he is as a man and that he also knows what he’s trying to do for the city.

According to ESPN, Bryant has been playing much better ball as of late. Meanwhile, Westbrook was at his best finding teammates, as he finished with his 18th double-double of the season (13 points, 11 assists) in the Thunder’s 118-78 win Saturday evening.

But Randle was unable to have a productive night, only listing two points and seven rebounds. “It is easy for us to get caught up in the emotion of it all and forget to look at the tactics of it all”, Bryant said.

With Bryant out, the Lakers started seldom-used rookie Anthony Brown in his place. “I only can speak for myself”, Russell said. Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle have a tremendous upside and both have the potential to be great players if they stay committed to the game.

In Bryant’s absence, the Lakers offered little resistance to a mighty Oklahoma side, for whom Kevin Durant led scoring with 22 points and Enes Kanter contributed 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Though the youth and inexperience of this young Lakers squad have been exposed on many occasions throughout the season, each and every game is vital to the development of these players.

When the 37-year-old Bryant got off to a rough start – he shot 31.1 percent in his first 11 games – some members of the media were critical of his game, questioning if he was taking too many shots or stealing minutes from the Lakers’ young players.

“That is just good basketball”, Durant said.

He dunked Thursday for the first time this season, an impressive slam in which he moved past Houston forward Trevor Ariza and beat power forward Clint Capela.

“I think it was kind of logical to expect it to be sore at some point”, Bryant said. Although this could be advantageous for Bryant’s chances of being selected for the Olympic team (as the Lakers are unlikely to feature in the end-of-season play-offs), the five-time National Basketball Association champion is also having a hard time.

“It was about me continuing my training and believing my timing will come back and that’s what happened”. I think the most important thing and the most handsome thing is how does your legacy impact the generation of players to come?