Bryant Out, but News Isn’t Dire

The breath of a franchise exhaled slightly, carefully, slowly, after the MRI results came back Friday on Kobe Bryant’s right ankle.

No long-lasting damage was found, merely confirmation of a severe sprain, an analysis the Lakers will accept considering the consequences that would have accompanied a more dire diagnosis.

“The good news is that it isn’t really, really serious,” Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “We hope in five games he’ll be back. These things are never good, but it could have been more serious.”

Said Bryant: “The way I rolled over on it, it could have been much worse. I’m real fortunate.”

A more definitive timetable for Bryant’s return is expected Monday, when he will be re-evaluated by team doctor Steve Lombardo.

Despite the results of the MRI, Bryant talked soberly of the intensity of the injury, leaning on wooden crutches, his foot in an air cast, outside the trainers’ room at the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo.

“This is the first injury I’ve ever had throughout the course of a game that it didn’t even cross my mind coming back into the game,” Bryant said.

He became more upbeat when talking about the Lakers’ chances without him.

“That’s what we’ve been doing all season long, just responding to challenges, and this is another one that we have,” he said. “I think eventually it’ll make us a better team. It’s a positive thing.

“We’re going to come out fighting. I think that’s the identity of this team. We’ve struggled with our consistency and haven’t been able to win three in a row and all this, that and the other. But one thing that people [see] when they watch us play, we’ll fight you.”

Bryant did not make the trip to Oakland for tonight’s game against Golden State, but he said he would keep tabs on his teammates.

“We talk to each other, hype each other up,” he said. “I talked to them today, I’ll talk to them tomorrow, I’ll talk to them right before the game, probably call them at halftime and just check in with everybody and see how everybody’s doing.”

Call them at halftime?

“Sure I’ll call in,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be up by 20 or something. I’ll say, ‘Go up by 40.’ ”

Tomjanovich said the Lakers would put Bryant on the injured list, meaning he’d be out at least five games per league rules. However, the Lakers had not officially made the move as of Friday night. Undrafted rookie guard Tony Bobbitt will probably take Bryant’s place on the roster.

Regardless, Tomjanovich knows what awaits him without a player who has averaged 27.5 points, 6.6 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 42 minutes.

“It puts a way bigger burden on me,” he said. “We know Lamar [Odom] will get more plays, but I’ve got to call these things for other guys and get people in the right positions because Kobe was in those positions and he carried a lot of the load.”

Bryant, who has played in all 82 regular-season games once during his nine-year career, has already collected a series of aches and strains this season. He was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in his left foot two months ago and has since sustained a strained shoulder and sprained thumb.

He also has a reputation as a quick healer.

Last season, he was expected to miss five weeks because of a sprained right shoulder, but he missed only five games.

More specific to the ankle area, Bryant sustained a “severe sprain” in Game 2 of the 2000 NBA Finals against Indiana. He missed one game and returned to become the hero in Game 4 of a series the Lakers eventually won in six.

“I have a high threshold for pain,” Bryant said. “I kind of enjoy it sometimes. This one right here I don’t like too much.

“The shoulder [injury last season], you kind of hold it in one position and not move it and it won’t hurt. This one doesn’t discriminate. You can just be holding still and it’s still throbbing.”

The Lakers, No. 6 in the Western Conference with a 19-15 record, have a favorable schedule over the next couple of weeks before lengthy road trips in February, March and April.

After tonight’s game, they play their next nine at Staples Center, including a “road game” against the Clippers. After that stretch, 24 of their final 38 games are away from Staples Center.

“If there’s ever a time to do it, I guess [it’s now],” Bryant said, staring down at his foot.

In Bryant’s absence, Odom had 24 points and Caron Butler had 21 in Thursday’s 98-94 victory over Cleveland, with Odom asserting himself by taking a season-high 17 shots.

“We were joking with Caron a little bit and Lamar, that they’ve been holding out on us,” Bryant said. “But it’s something about being in a situation where it brought the best out of them. Now they have to step up and do that and when I get back they’ll be accustomed to playing that way.”

Odom, averaging 14.5 points and 10.3 rebounds, had his own opinion.

“I’d rather have Kobe on the court,” he said.

“It’s just not going to be on me or Caron. Brian Grant’s going to have to get an extra rebound, Brian Cook’s going to have to hit an extra three, Chris Mihm, block an extra shot, Jumaine Jones, get an extra loose ball, for us to win games. It’s going to take everybody.”

Said Tomjanovich: “You ever play poker? You take the hand you’re dealt.”