jazzy1

Come on now you think suddenly his shooting is gonna go completely in the tank say drop into the 20's % every night. I think not.

He may not have those red hot shooting nights but he'll manufacture some buckets.

Basel57

If there's one thing I know about Kobe, it's that he'll learn ho to play with the torn ligament in his pinky. He'll be fine.

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“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never tasted victory or defeat.”

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TakaraJinRoh

Well its not like the Lakers are guaranteed a playoff spot without Kobe too.


Golden State, Utah and Houston are all catching fire. I expect them to maintain that pace after the AS break as well. Even Portland can make a run for the playoffs, they are only facing 7 teams with winning record in their next 22 games. So what good is a fully healed Kobe if the Lakers will not even participate in the playoffs to begin with?



It would be a different story if Bynum is playing, but he's not so the Lakers cannot afford a slide in a very tough and competitive Western Conference.

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Jin Roh's favorite NBA players

Dwight Howard*Andrew Bynum*Chris Paul*Gerald Wallace*Jose Calderon*Hedo Turkoglu*Yao Ming*Tim Duncan*

EHL

I don't know what everyone is concerned about, there's no possible way of knowing whether this will slow him down. We already know he can shoot above his career averages with a torn pinky finger, he just did it during the road trip since injuring it vs. the Nets.

It's impossible to know what the best course of action is until we see how he progresses through the next few weeks. If he's able to avoid significant contact/stress there over the next 3-4 weeks, he could very well be in the clear, as by then perhaps enough healing will have taken place by that point that a hit or two to that area won't reaggravate it back to square one. He has always been a fast healer so I'm not too worried. And luckily it's his pinky and not a thumb or something vital to his shooting.

Eternal

Read my last sentence.

Eternal

The pinky is pretty vital to your shooting IMO. Your right time will tell, and let's hope everything will turn out fine. I just have a bad feeling it won't.

Plastic Man

Pretty much on point. If we take out the nights vs NJ and Atlanta where he was obviously in pain, he's been shooting 49% from the field and 96% from the free throw line in the last 4 games. Even if we facture those two really horrible outings, he's at 41%, which is bad, but still not the end of the world.

However, I think I do agree with the ones who are saying that he should just get surgery now, because what if he even further aggravates it and it will take a lot more time to heal when he decides to go into procedure? (although I can't imagine a pinky can take more thatn 2 months to heal

But at the end, I'm pretty sure neither Bryant nor the Lakers organization would let him play with an injury that could jeopardize his overall health. Not at the expense of a 6 week absence and perhaps a lower seed. So I think he knows best. If he decides to play through the injury, it's not bothering him to a significant extent. If he does indeed decide for surgery, he'll be back 12 games before the season is over (having missed "only" 18 games). That doesn't sound that bad, considering it's 6 weeks. Bynum has already missed 16 or 17 and it's only been a month.

Either way, this is pretty depressing. Out of all the injuries a person can sustain, one of the most meaningless and useless fingers will cause trouble now. It's not like it's a thumb, which assumes 50% of the workload of the human hand and is of far greater importance. A ****ing pinky?! ****!

I was hoping to see him in the ASG, because it's one of the rare events that are televised here, and I can watch comfortably infront of a plasma, but now I hope he does not play.

Here's to a speedy recovery.

peace

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Bartholomew Hunt

Agreed. People don't realize how tightly bunched everyone is in the West. One nasty losing streak and it's over. And I would prefer he get the surgery before the Olympics and rest more this summer than the last.

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Purple and Gold forever..

afobisme

if he needs surgery, then there's probably no point in taking a few games off.

Damian Necronamous

Jesum Crow...this sucks. We could afford to sit him for 6-7 games if we had Bynum, but...oh wait, he's still out for another 3 weeks.

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Current 2008-2009 LA Lakers Roster
PG: Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic
C: Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm

Unsigned Free Agents: Sasha Vujacic, D.J. Mbenga, Ira Newble, Coby Karl, Joe Crawford

afobisme

we could sit him out if we had bynum (but more importantly played good D)

CubanLaker

I say he should play. The West is so close that any kind of losing streak could take us out of the playoffs completely. Our fist rounder this year goes to Memphis if im not mistaken, so it would basically be just a wasted year. I think this Laker team with a healthy Bynum and Kobe at 85% is still good enough to make a push at the championship. If we had that 1st rounder this year then maybe id consider having Kobe do the surgery because then at least wed have a lotto pick as consolation for a wasted season. And also that would mean that the Spurs, Mavs and Suns are one year older. but that pick is gone so i say let him play. Hes proven that he can be efficient with the injured pinky.

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"I HATE being scored on, even by players who some say are "un-guardable." I don't believe it when they say "Oh, that player is just hot today."
F*** that! Cool his a** off then."
Kobe Bryant

afobisme

i think you're overestimating the lakers.