The Lakers lost 96-92 to the Hawks in Atlanta Wednesday night, but the real news is that Kobe Bryant is out indefinitely with a severe ankle sprain after coming down on the foot of Hawks' guard Dahntay Jones, who was contesting Bryant's game-winning fadeaway attempt.
Bryant e-mailed Yahoo! Sports and said that Jones "threw his hip and lower body into mine on the shot. That's a foul with 100 percent certainty. Dirty and dangerous play. Doesn't belong in the game." Jones disagreed with Bryant's assessment and insisted he was only trying to play tough defense in a close game. He tweeted "Leg kick that makes contact with a defensive player is an offense foul. Period. The NBA changed that rule two years ago. Stop it," after the game.
Jones and Bryant have a bad history; in the 2009 Western Conference Finals Jones blatantly tripped Bryant as he made a cut toward the hoop that would have led to an easy dunk. When speaking with reporters following the game Bryant said he didn't know if he would be available for the Lakers' next game on Friday night against the Indiana Pacers and added "I can't get my mind past the fact that I've got to wait a year to get revenge."
Bryant finished the night with 31 points on 11-of-33 shooting and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Dwight Howard was much more subdued in the points column after his 39-point outburst in Orlando, putting up 10 against the Hawks to go with 16 rebounds.
The Hawks didn't have one dominant player carry the load; instead they had six players reach double figure scoring, led by 17 from point guard Devin Harris. Harris also led the team with seven assists. The Hawks' defense did a good job of harassing Bryant into 22 misses before he left with the late injury. Hawks coach Larry Drew said "Kobe got a little heated, which we know he's capable of. He got going in the third quarter, and even then we didn't break. That was very encouraging, because we were playing with a short deck." Atlanta played without star forward Josh Smith, point guard Jeff Teague and forward DeShawn Stevenson.
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