Kobe Bryant Comes Down With Gastroenteritis Before Game 6 Against Denver Nuggets
Update: Coach Mike Brown says Bryant will play, even though he threw up on the team bus to the arena.
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Just hours away from a pivotal Game 6 in Denver, Kobe Bryant has missed the team's shootaround Thursday morning because of a bout with gastroenteritis.
Lakers correspondent Mike Trudell is tweeting that the Lakers star, who sunk three 3-pointers in a row late in Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets but failed to carry his team to a win, missed the shootaround, despite looking OK after landing and doing an interview with Lakers play-by-play announcer John Ireland.
The last time the Lakers and the Nuggets played a Game 6 during the playoffs, Bryant dominated with 35 points and the Lakers closed out the series and went on to win the 2009 NBA Finals.
"We'll refrain from speculating, but Kobe (gastroenteritis) obviously has a history of playing through everything in the playoffs," Trudell later tweeted. More will be known about Bryant's status about 90 minutes before tipoff at 7:30 p.m. tonight on KCAL 9.
Symptoms of gastroenteritis include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain and cramping.
