LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant sat at the end of the Lakers bench, his left knee draped in heating pads and bandages, his right knee wrapped the same way, his left shoulder also wrapped. If his other shoulder had been wrapped, too, he could have passed for the Michelin Man.
This was the net effect of a nine-minute night in an overtime win over the Heat on Wednesday night here at Staples Center, one in which Bryant scored two points on seven shots. If there had been doubt about whether Bryant’s decision to retire after this year was either prudent or immutable, the sight of Bryant coping with nearly head-to-toe pain would have extinguished it.