Bryant, Harper Are Banged Up

Though Kobe Bryant and Ron Harper appeared to sustain no major injuries, their flying collision with Minnesota guard Bobby Jackson at the end of the third quarter was not the kind of crash any Laker wanted to see.

Leaping for a long Minnesota pass into the Laker frontcourt, Bryant had his nose banged by Jackson’s arm, but after a few moments of pain, stayed in the game.

Harper slammed his backside onto the floor, was in obvious pain for several minutes, and did not return, though his status is not believed to be in jeopardy for the playoffs.

“You hit that wood, it doesn’t give,” Harper said. “When something doesn’t give, it’s not fair. I’m very sore right now. Wait until tomorrow and go from there.”

Harper said that even though the playoffs are only a week away, you can’t throttle back your style of play as the regular season winds down.

“Any time you go out there and you’re playing basketball, you’re going to try hard,” Harper said. “You don’t think about ever being hurt. It’s just part of the game.”

Said Bryant: “I teased Harp, ‘You’ve been trying to get on the injured reserve all season long,’ and he’s been healthy. Now there’s two games left and he goes and lands on his back.”

Coach Phil Jackson said he can’t worry about those kinds of plays or overprotect against freak injuries.

“I’m never nervous about those kinds of things,” Jackson said. “That’s part of the game and you just go with it.

“Yeah, it’s a play you wouldn’t want to have happen in retrospect, but at the time it’s not something that would make my heart skip a beat.”

Before the injury, Harper had been having one of his best games of the season, making six of eight shot tries, scoring 15 points and grabbing five rebounds.