On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Lakers headed into Texas to take on the Dallas Mavericks in an attempt to rebound from their disappointing loss to the Miami Heat a few days earlier and make up some ground in the Western Conference. With the second seed in the West possibly on the line, the Lakers knew they had to have a solid performance against one of the best teams in the league in order to make yet another statement that they weren't going to fall back into a losing pattern.
Fortunately, Kobe Bryant and company were able to do just that on Saturday night in Dallas as they were able to avenge their loss to the Mavs back on Jan. 19 with an impressive win on their homefloor. Even though this was without a doubt a step in the right direction as the Lakers are now just a half a game back of the Mavs, the two-time defending champs got a pretty big scare late in the third quarter as Kobe Bryant went down with what appeared to be a severe ankle injury.
At first glance, no one knew what to think of Kobe coming up limp after rolling his ankle. Even though ankle injuries can be severe and enough to keep players out an entire season, sometimes they can be nothing that a pack of ice and some time elevated can remedy. In this case, the injury looked bad as Kobe was noticeably in pain as he limped to the locker room to assess the damage.
At this point, the Lakers had the game in hand, but Lakers fans back in California and around the country were holding their breath waiting to hear just how bad Kobe's ankle injury turned to be. Fortunately, it wasn't long before the Black Mamba came back to the bench and was walking surprisingly well. Most people believed that Kobe would be shutdown for the rest of the game and possibly for a few games down the road, but it didn't take long before he was back in the mix to help lead the Lakers to victory over the Mavs, 96-91.
Even Kobe Bryant felt that his season was over after suffering the ankle injury:
"I thought I was done, like done," Bryant said. "I was just praying that when I stood up my foot was lined up straight. That scared the s*** out of me. I thought I dislocated it.
"We were all pretty scared s***less, to be honest with you because it looked horrible and it felt worse."
Obviously, when a play of Kobe's caliber and toughness says something like this it must have been extremely painful. Not only did the five-time NBA champion fear the worst, but the Lakers' outlook for the rest of the season would be drastically different without Kobe Bryant leading the way.
Anyone that has sprained their ankle like this knows that the real pain and severity of the injury isn't seen until the next morning. Kobe's ankle will almost certainly blowup like a balloon over night and he probably won't be able to play against the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
Along with this being the most pain he has felt with an injury, Kobe also said that this is the "scariest sprain" he has ever had.
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