Bryant Sore, but He’s Not Concerned

Kobe Bryant was about four inches short on his aspirations to dunk on 7-footer Rasho Nesterovic in the first quarter Tuesday night, jammed his rotator cuff and felt some pain, he said, through much of Game 2.

He made three of seven shots before ball hit rim, six of 20 after it, and said that his adrenaline probably pushed him through what, by early Wednesday afternoon, was some noticeable soreness.

Bryant received treatment in the area Wednesday, will test it today, and is expected to play tonight in Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with little if any limitation.

Asked about the condition of the shoulder, Bryant waggled his right hand and said, “Pretty sore,” but did not appear to be concerned. Neither did Coach Phil Jackson, who regretted Bryant’s decision to go after Nesterovic, but appreciated the motivation for it. Bryant’s dunk on Houston’s Yao Ming was among his most enthralling plays of the season, and he rarely resists such opportunities.

“You’re probably not going to get to the hoop very often in the playoffs,” Jackson said. “There was maybe a statement he wanted to make. Shaq was there with him and it was a two-on-one break. So, I mean, it was a sequence that probably could have been avoided. But I applaud him for his aggressiveness.”

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In 44 years of playoff games since the Lakers came to Los Angeles, they’ve lost 195 times, seven of them by a wider margin than Tuesday’s 28 points.

Of those seven, the Lakers won the next game in the series four times, lost the next game twice, and didn’t have a next game -- they were eliminated in the blowout -- once.

Between the last two ugly ones -- from the 33-point loss in Game 5 of the 2000 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers to Tuesday night in Minneapolis -- the Lakers played 38 playoff games and won 33 of them. Only one of the five defeats was by more than six points.

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The Other 10 probably wasn’t going to change a 28-point defeat, but the supporting cast was much less supportive in Game 2 than it was in Game 1.

In Sunday’s 117-98 victory, those Lakers not named Bryant or Shaquille O’Neal were 17 for 33 from the field, nine for 16 from the three-point arc, and scored 46 points in 151 minutes.

Two nights later, in the 28-point loss, they were 14 for 44 from the field, five for 19 from the arc and scored 37 points in 156 minutes.

Robert Horry, whose shooting stroke eluded him for much of the regular season, has missed all seven of his three-point shots.

Horry, whose shot suffered when a preseason bruised hand carried well into the regular season, said he is healthy now.

“I’m straight,” he said Tuesday. “I just missed ‘em. I’ll make ‘em. I’ll make ‘em.”