Bryant’s Sprain Could Become a Pain to Lakers

There is a league-wide gag rule that prohibits members of a medical staff from speaking about specific injuries, with all comments to be channeled through the public-relations department, so no one would elaborate, also, in part, because new information did not exist.

The statement distributed around halftime would have to do:

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant sprained his left ankle after landing on the foot of Indiana’s Jalen Rose. Bryant made the basket with 3:26 left in the first quarter. The Lakers were leading 22-20 at the time.

X-rays were negative and the injury was listed as a moderate sprain. Bryant will not return to the game. He is listed as day-to-day.

And that was it.

Bryant was hurt. Too soon to know how bad. More will be known today.

Actually, much more will be known today, after trainers and doctors gauge how much the ankle stiffens overnight. Maybe it will balloon, in spite of the immediate treatment of ice and heat and electrical stimulation, the usual treatment for this injury, or maybe it will turn out to be only another scare from Friday night, along with the 111-104 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the NBA finals.

Bryant watched the final three quarters from the locker room as the Pacers got within two points on two occasions in the fourth quarter, threatening to send the series back to Indianapolis at 1-1, before the Lakers pulled away.

They’re still all going to Indianapolis anyway, though not all with such defined roles. Bryant could still play, even with soreness, most of all needing clearance from the medical staff.

This is nothing new, of course. Barely more than a week ago, he missed most of two consecutive practices because of a sprained right foot. Coach Phil Jackson put Bryant’s availability for the critical Game 6 of the Western Conference finals in doubt. The team listed him as probable.

So what happened?

Bryant played all 48 minutes. He scored a game-high 33 points in the loss and added six assists, four steals and three blocks.

There was no telling Friday night how much the situations were the same, if at all. He could miss games. Or, he could miss only a late-afternoon practice, after the trip to Indiana.

It could be nothing new in another way. The Lakers have already gone without their all-star guard, when he missed the first 15 games because of a broken right hand. Among the potential bad news in their locker room, that was the good news.

“Whenever you’ve had experience doing something before, you can kind of call on that,” Derek Fisher said.

Added Brian Shaw: “It’ll help us a lot. We were able to win games earlier in the season without him. That will help our confidence.”

Fisher started in Bryant’s absence but Shaw, five inches taller, seems more logical now because of the Pacers’ size in the backcourt and because Fisher did another commendable job on his primary defensive assignment, Travis Best.

“We have a lot of guys on this team, we have a lot of weapons on this team,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “With Kobe going out, it just gave Glen [Rice] a lot more touches, a lot more opportunities.”

At least Bryant had a kindred spirit when he went out. Eleven years ago, Magic Johnson was in charge in the Laker backcourt, leading his team to a seemingly inevitable championship. The Lakers had swept the first three rounds of the playoffs, going 11-0 heading into the championship series against the Detroit Pistons.

But then Johnson and fellow guard Byron Scott suffered hamstring injuries that left the Lakers hamstrung in the backcourt. The Lakers got swept.

“When I realized I was out of the playoffs, I cried,” Johnson said after visiting Bryant in the locker room. “I cried for an hour.”

After reaching the locker room, Bryant wanted to go back into the game, according to Johnson. But team physician Steve Lombardo ruled otherwise.

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Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this story.