Kobe Bryant suggests he won’t tweet during Game 2 of Lakers-Spurs series

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SAN ANTONIO — It turns out the Lakers’ Game 2 adjustments against the San Antonio Spurs will go beyond lowering their turnovers, ensuring Steve Nash better health and countering the Spurs’ relentless fronting in the post.

We might see Kobe Bryant change in tune, and it will have nothing to do with shot selection, facilitating or playing better defense. With the Lakers’ star nursing a season-ending torn left Achilles tendon, Bryant suggested he won’t tweet during Game 2 on Wednesday in the same fashion he did during the team’s 91-79 Game 1 loss Sunday to the Spurs at AT&T Center.


Bryant’s tweets garnered inevitable news because well….he is Kobe Bryant…and he provided honest albeit biting commentary regarding the Lakers’ poor play. One of the persisting themes: Bryant wished the Lakers found a better way to find Pau Gasol in the post. Though he committed six turnovers, Gasol’s 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting and 15 rebounds included the Lakers forward missing eight of those shots on outside jumpers. Gasol also only took three shots in the paint. All those attempts went in the basket, but Gasol didn’t have enough of such attempts to make a difference.

 

D’Antoni chuckled about Bryant’s tweeting, joking “it’s great to have that commentary” before rolling his eyes.

“That’s fine. He’s a fan right now,” D’Antoni said. “He’s a fan and you guys put a little more importance on that kind of fan. But he’s a fan. He gets excited and he wants to be a part of it so that’s good.”

 

Bryant’s obviously more than a fan. He’s the heart and soul of this Lakers franchise. Bryant carried the team this season when no one else could. He sweated his blood, sweat and tears until his torn left Achilles tendon wouldn’t let him. And Bryant provides this commentary to his team on the court, on the bench and in the locker room anyway.

“He’d be coaching if he was here,” Lakers guard Steve Blake said. “He’d be telling us exactly what to do, when to do it. He’s just trying to stay engaged. He’s a competitor and he wishes he was out there. We all wish he was out there. But unfortunately for us, he’s stuck to being a sideline coach.”

And that clearly made D’Antoni uncomfortable, especially with Bryant’s pleas for the Lakers to play in the post contradicted D’Antoni’s thought process in featuring Gasol.

“You can’t just put 15 guys near the basket,” D’Antoni said. “He has to go in and out. We don’t always want a jump shot. You have to mix it up.”

Hence, why Bryant revealed he has second thoughts about mixing it up, even if it provides uncanny insight from one of the greatest basketball minds.

Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com