Kobe Bryant made his much-anticipated season debut Sunday, finishing with nine points in his first game in eight months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
Bryant also had eight rebounds and four assists as the Los Angeles Lakers lost 106-94 to the Toronto Raptors.
“It was weird. The last time I had eight months off I was still in the womb,” said Bryant, who shot 2-of-9 from the field.
Bryant played good defence at times but also tossed up some air balls and committed a game-high eight turnovers in front of a crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center.
Bryant admitted he was rusty but said “it felt good to be back out there.”
“This was a complete failure to me,” said Bryant, who played 28 minutes. “I don’t feel normal at all. I will go home tonight and watch the game again.”
He says he’s worried about his game and that it is just going to take a few more days to get his timing back on the court.
The Lakers wasted no time getting Bryant involved in the contest as he picked up his first assist on the Lakers’ opening possession.
Bryant fired a pass from the left side to center Robert Sacre under the basket, who split two defenders and went up for the easy basket.
Despite his low scoring performance, Bryant still led the Lakers starters in scoring.
“It is going to take awhile,” said Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni. “There is no way he was going to come out and be in mid-season form. It will be a little while before he gets his legs.”
Bryant scored his first point of the season on a free throw with 6:27 left in the first half to cut Toronto’s lead to 42-36.
Bryant said he was more emotional before this game than he has been in a long time.
“I really worked my butt off this summer to try and get to this place,” he said. “You try to go out there do your job the best you can. It makes you appreciate the game.”
Eight months of recovery and rehabilitation from the torn left Achilles tendon has obviously taken its toll on the 35 year old Bryant, who is trying to ease his way back into the Lakers’ lineup.
But Bryant said he expects his comeback to pick up more steam as the season goes on.
“I worked hard on my conditioning,” he said. “My shot felt weird and running, cutting, being able to explode feels weird because I got to get those game legs back.”
Bryant was hurt in the fourth quarter of an April 12 game against Golden State when he tried to drive to the basket and collapsed to the floor in pain. He had surgery the next day and doctors gave him a recovery period of six to nine months.
In 78 games last year, Bryant averaged 27.3 points, 6.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds.
The Lakers were 10-9 this season without Bryant. They have also been playing without Steve Nash, who is out with a nerve root irritation in his back. Nash is expected to return next week.
D’Antoni said he was disappointed the Laker starters didn’t contribute more on offence.
“We came out and laid an egg,” he said. “Having Kobe back means we are going to have to work some things out.”
The Raptors reportedly traded Rudy Gay earlier Sunday, a move relegated to footnote status because of Bryant’s return.
Toronto agreed to send forward Gay to the Sacramento Kings for a package of role players. Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray will be joining Gay in Sacramento, while point guard Greivis Vasquez is the biggest name of four players going back to the Raptors.
OTHER SUNDAY RESULTS
Heat 110, Pistons 95
LeBron James had 24 points, seven rebounds and nine assists as the Miami Heat snapped the Detroit Pistons’ four-game winning streak with a victory.
Ray Allen, who started in place of inactive Dwyane Wade, pumped in 18 points as Miami (16-5) avenged their 107-97 home loss to Detroit on Tuesday that ended a 10-game winning streak. Wade sat out on the second part of a back-to-back to rest his sore knees.
Second-year center Andre Drummond notched his 15th double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds while point guard Brandon Jennings had 19 points and six assists for the Pistons (10-11).
Thunder 118, Pacers 94
Kevin Durant scored 36 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past the NBA-best Indiana Pacers.
Durant shot 14-of-23 from the field, collected 10 rebounds and added five assists. Guard Russell Westbrook came up short of a triple double with 26 points, seven rebounds and 13 assists for Oklahoma City (15-4).
Paul George fought to keep the Pacers (18-3) competitive as he scored a team-high 32 points on 9-for-17 shooting.
Coming off a hard-fought win over San Antonio on Saturday, the Pacers dropped to 4-3 on the second night of back-to-back games.
Rockets 98, Magic 88
James Harden delivered a dominating all-around performance, leading the Houston Rockets to a victory over the Orlando Magic.
Harden combined critical scoring with dazzling playmaking, pairing 27 points with 10 assists while defending Magic guard Arron Afflalo with vigor.
Center Dwight Howard added 20 points, 22 rebounds and three blocks as Houston (15-7) won for the 10th time in 13 games.
The Magic (6-14) cut a 22-point deficit to 10 midway through the fourth quarter but could not stave off a fifth consecutive defeat.
Celtics 114, Knicks 73
The Boston Celtics demolished the New York Knicks behind a game-high 23 points from Jordan Crawford.
The Atlantic Division-leading Celtics (10-12) ran wire-to-wire for the win over a Knicks squad (5-14) that was going for its first three-game winning streak of the season.
Instead, Boston picked up its third victory in a row to extend a divisional lead in a game the Knicks trailed by many as 27 points in the first half.
About the only saving grace for the Knicks was the ascending play of Amar’e Stoudemire, who scored 17 points.
