Bryant and His Wrist Are Braced for Warriors

A day after collecting his latest injury, Kobe Bryant practiced with a protective brace on his sprained right wrist and said he would play tonight against Golden State.

It has been a physical couple of weeks for Bryant, who was dinged up again Thursday while fighting through a screen set by Cleveland forward Sasha Pavlovic.

Bryant needed three stitches after being elbowed in the face two weeks ago by Memphis guard Mike Miller, and Wednesday he was motionless on the court for almost two minutes after getting poked in the eye by Portland forward Ruben Patterson.

“Thank God I’m a tough guy,” Bryant said, smiling. “It’s a physical game and I enjoy it, actually. It’s the same types of battles I used to have with my Pops in the driveway where Pops used to just beat the hell out of me -- elbows, slapping me and holding me. That got me ready for this type of game to the point where I actually started enjoying the beating that he was giving me.

“He didn’t beat me with a belt. He beat me with elbows.”

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Bryant, leading the league in scoring at 34.1 points a game, said the killer instinct marveled at by Cleveland forward LeBron James in a recent interview was nothing new.

“Been there since I was like 6,” Bryant said. “I’ve always been that way. Always, seriously. It just rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I didn’t care. That’s just who I was.

“I was just one of those kids who just hated to lose in the little leagues and everything, 6-year-old leagues. I did everything I could to win even back then.”

James told ESPN the Magazine that Bryant’s knowledge of the game and his killer instinct “are what make him so tough.”

“I don’t think I have an instinct like Kobe where I want to kill everybody,” James said.

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Somewhere between James leaving town with a loss and Shaquille O’Neal vying for a victory here in a couple of days, the Lakers have a small issue with which to contend.

The Golden State Warriors.

Players have come and gone since the Warriors pasted the Lakers, 126-99, toward the end of the 2004-05 season, but Bryant’s memory is long.

“We’re not going to forget about Golden State at all,” Bryant said. “Last time we went up there, they beat us by about 40 points. I don’t forget stuff like that.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson even brought it up at Friday’s practice.

“I told the players that any time we play Golden State, they could be 10-20 and we could be 20-10 and it’s always a very difficult game going up there, at least in the history I’ve had of Golden State vs. the Los Angeles Lakers,” he said.

Jackson had a record of 6-4 in games at Golden State during his first five seasons with the Lakers.

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TONIGHT

at Golden State, 7:30, Ch. 9

Site -- The Arena in Oakland.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 19-17; Warriors 17-18.

Record vs. Warriors (2004-05) -- 3-1.

Update -- The Warriors were off to a great start before losing nine of their last 12 and falling below .500 for the first time this season after losing to Phoenix on Thursday. Warrior guard Baron Davis is second in the league at 9.2 assists a game.