Saturday, December 7

Kobe Bryant was nearly not around for his near perfect, 21-point fourth quarter in the Lakers' amazing 105-103 comeback victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

Bryant injured his groin in the third quarter, and trainer Gary Vitti approached him to wrap it and perhaps end his evening.

"I twisted his arm," Bryant said. "I said, 'It's all right, I want to go back in the game, don't snitch on me."

Afterward, Coach Phil Jackson viewed Bryant's condition -- a pulled groin that will be examined today -- as both admirable and worrisome.

"I don't know how he'll be [today], he was pretty hobbled out there," Jackson said. "But he played through it."

Bryant said he was surprised that everyone was so shocked by their 30-point comeback.

"We've done this before, guys," he said.

Um, no, you haven't, it was the largest comeback in Laker history.

"But we've done things like this before," said Bryant. "That's the character of us. I tell you what, you'll never leave our games early again.

"All the ones who stayed tonight, it was like they were saying, 'We know you have the heart of a champion, and we're sticking around.' I'm glad they did."

"The clock crawled," Rick Fox recalled. "It was like a time warp. I kept turning to guys, saying, 'Can you believe the clock? Look at the clock. It's not moving.' "

"It's nice to have a team that believes it has the ability to overcome insurmountable odds. I think tonight was looking like an insurmountable odd. It's all about believing in yourself. This is a team that's played under the duress of ridicule. It's a big win."

-Phil Jackson, LA LAKERS coach



who do you think was the drive, the HEART behind that unshakable belief in victory? who is crazy enough to think that they could come back from what looks to be certain defeat?

never say "die" to kobe.

"Sometimes things happen for you when you play hard." -Kobe


yakob at 1:25 PM

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