Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant checked out of Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz with 2:48 left in the second quarter and his team down by 23 points. That was the end of his night.
Anthony Brown started the second half in place of Bryant and the team announced that he would not return because of a sore Achilles. He'll finish the game with five points on 2-for-8 shooting, plus two assists and one rebound in 15 minutes.
On Thursday, Lakers coach Byron Scott said that trainer Gary Vitti wanted to shut Bryant down for one or two weeks to get the Achilles pain under control. That is not the plan, however.
"Taking two weeks off is not on the menu," Bryant said pregame.
Bryant also said that it's important to him to try to play through nagging injuries, rather than "caving into that anxiety."
Perhaps when your team is down by 20-plus points in the first half, it is OK to cave in.
CBS Sports' Zach Harper contributed to this story.
