Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Mired in the middle of a five-game losing streak, the Los Angeles Lakersreceived some good news Monday when the NBA informed the team that Kobe Bryant’s 15th technical foul of the season was rescinded, bringing Bryant’s total back down to 14.
Bryant was called for a double technical along with Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins after the two got tangled up in the second quarter of the Thunder’s 120-106 win on Sunday.
With two games remaining in the regular season, Bryant must avoid picking up two more technicals or else face a one-game suspension from the league for reaching a season total of 16, as Orlando’sDwight Howard recently endured.
If Bryant picks up his 16th T in the Lakers’ season finale in Sacramento on Wednesday, he would serve the suspension in the season opener for the 2011-12 season, not to start this year’s playoffs.
Technical foul totals are reset when the playoffs begin and a player’s seventh technical foul nets him a one-game suspension in the postseason, followed by an additional one-game ban for every two technical fouls issued after that.
Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Follow Dave McMenamin on Twitter:Â @mcten