Doom and gloom quickly swooped through Staples Center Tuesday night when Julius Randle fell to the ground with a broken tibia.
Hailed as the future of the Lakers, Randle’s tenure in LA was short-lived before suffering a devastating injury, one that will likely end his season. However, his idol growing up Kobe Bryant vowed to help Randle get through this.
Kobe Bryant on Julius Randle: "We're here to pick him up and help him through it."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 29, 2014
Bryant was one of the first players to Randle’s side, who was in visible pain while sitting beside the goal as doctors and the medical staff examined his leg. The 19-year veteran was beside Randle as he was placed on the stretcher, helping lift him up onto the cart.
He worked extremely hard and something like this happens. What happens happens. Now it’s on him to control how he handles this.
After the game, the Lakers were clearly in a somber state after watching one of their own go down. Bill Oram had various quotes from Lakers players and staff following the game.
Kobe Bryant
“He worked extremely hard and something like this happens,” Bryant said. “So you kind of got to get yourself up to that, and just control what you can control. What happens happens. Now it’s on him to control how he handles this.”
Byron Scott
“I think the last three or four minutes we obviously weren’t thinking that much about basketball,” coach Byron Scott said. “Really was just thinking about Julius, hoping he’s OK.”
Carlos Boozer
“Julius had a great training camp,” he said. “Worked his butt off every game, had a really good preseason and to get hurt in his first game, it’s heartbreaking man. I feel bad for the kid.”
Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin said his message to Randle was, “Just got to keep your head up, never really take things for granted.”