NBA Senior Writer Kevin Ding followed the Los Angeles Lakers on their three-game trip to San Antonio, Minnesota and Indiana for three very different results.It's Friday night, and video crews from NBA Entertainment, the Lakers' Time Warner Cable SportsNet network and Showtime (filming Kobe Bryant's Muse documentary) are all jamming into the Lakers' training room.
The small area is set aside for player medical treatment and maintenance. It's adjacent to the regular locker room, and the door usually stays closed for privacy. In some older arenas without proper training rooms, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti will settle for curtains or partitions—and when he really has nothing to work with, he'll even create makeshift separation by sticking lines of athletic tape on the carpet to convey to folks like us in the media to keep out.
But in special cases for special people, such as team photographers or league-sanctioned personnel (or Bryant's celebrity acquaintances such as Barry Bonds back in the day or Novak Djokovic more recently), access is allowed.
On this night, Bryant is threatening to pass Michael Jordan for third on the NBA's all-time scoring list. With 30 points separating them, all the directors and producers need poetic calm-before-the-storm footage if Kobe passes Michael against the San Antonio Spurs.
The footage they collect in the training room?
Kobe cutting his fingernails.
Whether he leaves a hangnail or doesn't file well, he shoots poorly—but his teammates are brilliant. And the Spurs are "pitiful," as Gregg Popovich puts it later, besides resting Kawhi Leonard's sore hand.
Does the Lakers' sharpness have something to do with Bryant scrimmaging hard and talking trash in practice the day before? Of course. Is it Bryant's specific design? Not really, but generally speaking he is very willing to put stress on a situation to test it.
In this case, his teammates also know there is plenty of focus on them in an ESPN game against the NBA champions with Bryant nearing Jordan. And they are on point.It turns into the Lakers' best game of a depressing season. They win in overtime not on a Bryant shot, but on a Nick Young three. It was Young who actually initiated all the jaw-jacking with Bryant the day before—although Young's bench unit lost the scrimmage to Bryant's starters.
And same as in the 2013-14 season finale, which the Lakers also won in San Antonio after Bryant had ditched the dead-end team to celebrate his wedding anniversary in Paris, Young is the straw that stirs a bad drink into something surprisingly refreshing.
Young is honest in the locker room afterward about his approach to this game: He was ready to maximize his chances because he figured his idol Kobe would be taking a really big windup to blow a fastball by Michael.
"No offense to Kobe," Young says chirpily, looking back. "I didn't think I was gonna get the ball that much!"
Young's uninhibited joy fills the locker room as he brings teammates into his interviews with reporters. And, yes, the swag is real: Young steals Bryant's spotlight and struts all over it.
"Let him have a day off," Young says of Bryant. "'Take a break, little man. You kinda tired.' "
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2301608-exclusive-behind-the-scenes-look-at-kobe-bryants-road-trip-into-nba-history
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