The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their third straight preseason game at the hands of their Pacific Division rivals, the Golden State Warriors 116-75 on Sunday. Kobe Bryant, who finished with six points on 3-for-13 shooting from the field, blamed Byron Scott’s intense training camp as primarily culprit why the Lakers are having heavy legs at this point of the preseason.
In a post-game interview after suffering a 41-point beating against the high-powered Warriors, the 36-year old Bryant pointed out that the Lakers are starting to manifest the wear-and-tear effects of Scott’s grueling training camp.
“Kobe says everyone has pretty heavy legs right now, says they've been practicing really hard,” according to Lakers nation reporter Serena Winters.
The Lakers, who spent most of their drills on the defensive end, allowed the Warriors to shoot 56 percent from the field, while the highly-talented backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 41 points in the exhibition match at Citizens Bank Arena.
Yet, Bryant remains optimistic about their chances this coming campaign, believing his teammates will be fresh and ready to play when the regular-season starts roughly three weeks from now.
“Kobe: “We haven’t started tapering down yet.” Thinks guys will be fresher ahead of the regular season. Focus now has been work,” ESPN Los Angeles reporter Mike Trudell posted on his Twitter account.
When asked about his performance against the Warriors’ young bucks, Bryant could not find any good evaluation on his recent play.
“It was sh–. Seriously?” Bryant laughed while assessing his personal performance in response to a reporter’s question via Lakers Nation. “Can you print that or no? Digital media you can, you can get away with that.”
Aside from fatigue factor, Scott’s grueling training camp is seen as a culprit by several analysts to myriad of injuries the Lakers are dealing right now. Jeremy Lin sat out against the Warriors on Sunday with a sprain ankle, while Nick Young, Xavier Henry, Ryan Kelly and even Steve Nash are still being limited by injuries.
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