After the Lakers Game 1 defeat the talk wasn’t about their play on the court, rather it was about Kobe Bryant and his tweeting.
Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni’s first question in his post-game press conference was about Bryant’s tweeting. D’Antoni referred to Kobe as a “fan” and since then has felt the backlash from Lakers fans everywhere.
However, Kobe himself tweeted that he felt that he was becoming a distraction and that while he watched Game 2 tonight he won’t be tweeting. Forward Metta World Peace said Kobe should continue to tweet and today guard Steve Nash voiced his opinion to Dave McMenamin of ESPNLA.com:
Steve Nash on Kobe Bryant tweeting: “He should do whatever he needs to do to keep himself sane”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 24, 2013
It seems like the players don’t have any objection to Bryant tweeting, but that D’Antoni felt Bryant was undermining him and criticizing the team without being there to understand what was going on.
Kobe isn’t allowed to travel with the team since there is still swelling form his surgery and would only be able to fly if the Lakers make a deep postseason run.
Since his season-ending injury, Kobe has taken to Twitter and Facebook in an effort to connect more with his fans and vent his frustrations of his rehab.
During the game, Kobe tweeted his suggestions for the offense, how difficult watching the game was and how bad the defense was. Players like Nash and World Peace who are active on Twitter understand it is a way to express your thoughts in an open forum.
D’Antoni has come under heavy fire as to the way he’s handled Kobe’s tweeting and it will be interesting if he keeps to his word and doesn’t tweet during the game. Regardless, Bryant has earned the right to tweet his feelings during the game without becoming a huge distraction.
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