Bryant (Achilles) exits Lakers’ game vs. Pelicans

The Lakers are off Wednesday, giving them a day to recuperate and hopefully perk up before their last trip to Roaracle against the Golden State Warriors. Coach Alvin Gentry has hinted at possibly making changes to his starting lineup, but so far the only real change hasn’t been intentional as Quincy Pondexter was recently ruled out for the rest of the season (knee). Guard Lou Williams was unable to come close to matching his career-best 44-point effort against Oklahoma City on Friday as he suffered through a 5-of-17 shooting night while scoring 18 points. You get two of them, and Kobe Bryant has already torn the left one.

Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points for the Lakers, while D’Angelo Russell added 13 points after missing one game with a sprained ankle.

In other news, Kobe Bryant had to leave the game early, which should be cause for concern for those trying to catch their last ever live Mamba moment. In total, Bryant played 16 minutes, scored seven points and made three of his nine shot attempts, including all five of his shots from beyond the three-point line. The 22-year-old has yet to play more than 68 games in a regular season in his previous three since being drafted No. 1 overall out of Kentucky in 2012. “Like I told them after the game, I thought our effort was great”, coach Byron Scott told reporters. He missed a pair of back-to-back games in November because of back issues.

Both the Lakers and the Clippers have players who fans hope to participate during the weekend. Instead of continuing the positive trend, the Pelicans played an terrible game against the Lakers and managed to lose a very winnable game.

“You know what you’ll get when you put him in the game”.

0 Shots taken by Eric Gordon in the fourth quarter after playing only a minute and 56 seconds.