“ It hurts more when I fall on it with the impact below the wrist. When I fall and hit the ground, that’s when I feel it the most. It swells daily, it’s painful daily. I try to stay on top of it as much as I can. There are no excuses. You got to be smart about it. You can’t make it worse, but you got to go out there and play. This is painful and so forth. But it’s not going to be worse. You might as well suck it up and go out and perform. There are a lot of fans who expect me to go out there and play, play hard and play well… For me, the end is closer than the beginning and I want to enjoy every chance I can get.
— Kobe on the torn ligament in his right wrist
