He's more hurt than old right now. Sore and battered from a year with a few too many strains and sprains. So sore, actually, that he even folded the tent of invincibility he'd worked so many years to construct and sat out some games to rest and heal.
Not so long ago, the surrender would've been a fate worse than defeat, but Kobe Bryant, 31, has come a long way in a very short time.
He has, it seems, learned to accept this strange new reality that even he might have physical limitations. Those limitations will come from age in the future, but currently from wear and a few too many bruises.
It was uneven at first. With Bryant shooting too much and too poorly in Game 1 of this first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, then passing too much in Game 4.
“
If we're going to be eliminated, I don't want to go into the summer thinking I could've done something about it.
”
-- Kobe Bryant on his decision to guard Russell Westbrook in Game 5
Even coach Phil Jackson noted that he "probably overdid it" with all that "breaking the defense down and … getting everybody involved." Jackson said he was hoping Kobe would "have a fine balance tonight," before the Lakers' blowout 111-87 win in Game 5.
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