The Jazz are expecting Kobe Bryant to play tonight for the Lakers even though Bryant suffered an avulsion fracture to the index finger of his right (shooting) hand in the first half of Friday’s victory over Minnesota.
Bryant finished the game with a splint on his finger and totaled 20 points, five assists and five rebounds on 8-for-18 shooting as the Lakers won their 11th consecutive game and improved to 18-3.
“I’m sure he will [play],” Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said at the pregame shootaround. “That’s why he’s Kobe. I’ve never heard him make excuses for injuries. He plays through all that stuff.”
“We’re assuming he’s going to play,” Carlos Boozer added. “I think for us, we can’t prepare for a team without Kobe. That wouldn’t do us justice. He came back in the game, played great and they won, so we’re assuming he’s going to play until we hear something different.”
Deron Williams joked that with Bryant coming back to shoot three-pointers and hit left-handed shots against the Timberwolves, “there’s no reason to think otherwise” that Bryant wouldn’t play against the Jazz.
With a victory tonight, meanwhile, the Jazz would close a 3-1 week against the likes of San Antonio, Orlando and the Lakers while winning their seventh in a row at EnergySolutions Arena.
“It’d be huge, especially the way we started off the season,” Williams said. “We’ve had some rough games thrown in there, but we’ve played pretty solid the last 10, 12 games.”