Kobe Bryant fans wanting to see the Black Mamba one last time might want to get their tickets soon.
Lakers coach Byron Scott says that Bryant is ignoring longtime trainer Gary Vitti's suggestion to shut him down for 1-2 weeks to rest his aching Achilles, according to The Los Angeles Times.
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What do trainers know, anyway?
Bryant left in the first half of the Lakers' victory over the Pelicans on Tuesday because of his sore right foot. He previously missed the Lakers' game against the Jazz to rest.
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Vitti "would love to shut him down," Scott said of Bryant, via The Times. "But that ain't probably going to happen. He [Bryant] doesn't want to shut it down.
"I know him and I know he wants to play. If that's the case, I'll wait until (tonight) to see how he feels. Then if he says, 'Coach, I want to play,' then we have to have another discussion on how long he can play, how many minutes. I'm just going to wait until tomorrow and see how he feels and go from there."
Scott is deferring to Bryant on matters of his health, even though he seems to agree with Vitti, according to a tweet from The Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina, via lakersnation.com.
Scott also said before the Lakers' game against the Pelicans, "If it was still bothering him, he wouldn't play because there's a chance he would miss more games. He knows his body better than we do. When he says he's ready to go, he's ready to go."
That's a dangerous assumption to make of one of the most stubborn players in the NBA. There's little reason now to trot out a gimpy Bryant, whose last three seasons have ended prematurely because of injury.
If the Lakers season is all about Kobe, as general manager Mitch Kupchak has suggested -- even at the expense of developing Los Angeles' younger players -- it should also be about keeping Kobe able to walk.
Even if Bryant knows his body better than Scott, the same might not be said about Vitti, who has taken care of Kobe for more than half his life.
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