LONDON — So what was Kobe Bryant’s reward for his 20-point second-half outburst in Team USA’s quarterfinal victory over Australia on Wednesday night? An Olympic drug test.
According to a source, Bryant was the USA player chosen to take the mandatory random drug test after the late-night contest and was unable to ride back to the team hotel with his teammates. With the game beginning at 10:15 p.m. here, Bryant didn’t arrive back at the hotel until 2 a.m.
Grant Hill said last month when he was a member of the Olympic team in 1996, players tried to avoid being the game’s high scorer because the high scorer often was chosen for the postgame random drug test and had to stay two hours after a game. However, an Olympic official said yesterday that isn’t true at all.
However, it was no surprise Bryant was chosen since he had played poorly his first five games before draining six 3-pointers in the second half Wednesday to finish with all 20 of his points after intermission.