LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant shot 1 for 14 in the first half against Milwaukee on Sunday night. It was enough to get his attention.
Bryant put the protective splint back on his fractured right index finger at halftime and shot 3 for 7 in the third quarter before sitting out the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ easy victory.
Bryant wanted to go without the splint to “try to get a little flexibility” with the finger, but it turns out the finger isn’t strong enough to shoot without the support of the semi-hard splint. Bryant noticed a lot of his shots in Portland — where he shot 14 for 37 from the field in defeat — coming up short without that support.
“It’s just not strong enough,” Bryant said of the finger, which he said he will now keep splinted again.
One other issue, mentioned by Phil Jackson, besides the avulsion fracture in the top knuckle (part of the bone got pulled off) is that Bryant’s critical middle knuckle on that finger is now very sore. That is largely offsetting whatever healing has occurred in the top knuckle since the injury happened a month ago.
“It is other aspects that are going on with it,” Jackson said. “The second knuckle is probably even more painful than the broken tip, so there is a whole thing going on with that index finger.”
Bryant said he has to navigate swelling in his finger regularly — “the swelling just comes and goes” — and got hit particularly hard on the finger Dec. 26. Bryant still shot 14 for 26 from the field on Dec. 28 in Phoenix, although he was just 1 for 5 on 3-pointers that game.
Bryant said he’ll keep playing through pain, saying with a smile: “I’m a tough American kid.”
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