The Los Angeles Lakers were outmatched by the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night, and one of the main reasons for that was that Kobe Bryant had to watch from home. As you know, Kobe is out for the playoffs with a torn Achilles tendon. In order to stay connected to the team during Game 1, he sent out a series of tweets.
“Post. Post. Post,” Kobe wrote. “Gotta milk Pau (Gasol) in the post right now and (Dwight Howard). What would I do if I was there right now? (I’d say), ‘Pau get your ass on the block and don’t move till you get it.”
A number of people — mostly media members — interpreted Kobe’s coaching from the couch as criticism of LA’s approach. Head coach Mike D’Antoni was asked about it after the game.
“It’s great to have that commentary,” D’Antoni said before rolling his eyes. “That’s fine. He’s a fan right now. He’s a fan and you guys put a little bit more importance on that kind of fan but he’s a fan. He gets excited and I’m sure he wants to be part of it, which I don’t blame him. So it’s good.”
Kobe seemed to take offense to being downgraded to just a casual fan now that he is out with an injury.
A fan?? Lol #microphonetalk
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 21, 2013
Steve Blake chalked it up to Kobe being Kobe and said the stuff he tweeted is the same stuff he would be saying if he was sitting on the bench.
“He’d be saying that same stuff right to our faces if he was here, tell us what to do and when to do it,” Blake said after the game, via the LA Times. “I’m sure he’s feeling terrible not being here, and he just wants to stay connected.”
Kobe is relatively new to Twitter, as evidenced by the fact that he can’t even properly crop a photo. While he was likely frustrated watching from home and was simply speaking (tweeting?) from the heart, he seemed to come to his senses and realize it was probably a distraction the team doesn’t need.
I see my tweeting during the game is being talked about as much as the game itself. Not my intention , just bored as I guess #notagain
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 21, 2013
Whether the tweets were appropriate or not, the Lakers have enough to handle against the Spurs where they don’t need to be answering postgame questions about what Kobe said on social media. It’s probably best if he lays off the live-tweeting going forward.
Video via SLAM Online
