Lakers win 11th straight, Bryant injures finger
By Greg Beacham
Just about everything broke the Los Angeles Lakers’ way during the first quarter of the regular season—everything except that fractured finger on Kobe Bryant’s shooting hand.
Bryant scored 20 points despite wearing a splint on his index finger in the second half, and the Lakers wrapped up the generous portion of their schedule with their 11th straight victory, 104-92 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Bryant hurt himself while reaching for a pass late in the first quarter, and he played through it briefly before leaving in the second quarter to get X-rays and a halftime splint. The break isn’t his first avulsion fracture, in which a small piece of bone tears away near a ligament or tendon.
Although Bryant believes he’ll be fine to play on the Lakers’ five-game road trip starting Saturday at Utah, his injury was the only real blemish on the final win in an outstanding start for the defending champions, who improved the NBA’s best record to 18-3 while finishing a cushy season-opening stretch with 17 of their first 21 games at home.
“It’s pretty painful,” Bryant said. “I just tried to play through it. … You just get used to it, that’s all. It’s just a different technique to shoot the ball with this,” indicating the soft-foam protection on his right index finger.
It’s too soon to tell how the injury will affect Bryant, who was dogged by a nagging pinky injury for most of the past two seasons. The NBA’s second-leading scorer appeared to play with relative ease after the injury, using his left hand more frequently in Los Angeles’ ninth straight victory over the Timberwolves.
“Kobe is so skillful that he’ll still find a way to control the game,” said Lamar Odom, who scored 13 points. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he came out and shot the ball like his finger wasn’t hurt at all. He can just switch to the left hand and be ambidextrous. He’s that good. I’ve never seen him have trouble adjusting because of an injury.”
Indeed, Bryant took several shots and made several passes with his left hand, although that’s not unusual for the mul alented former MVP.
“It’s not something I can avoid,” Bryant said in comparing the injury with his pinky problems. “The other one was on the knuckle. This one is on the shooting finger.”
^^ dayum
all he needs now is a wheelchair.
Kobe's not Wade....needing a wheelchair for a shoulder injury. what a pussy.
Damn. MiamiHeat owned himself there.
Kobe can join Wade in the Pussy section when he gets his new wheelchair for his pinky finger
LOL..lakaluva, 21 and The Machine are such experienced trolls, sometimes I have to stand back and appreciate the work they do..Culburn might be a good troll too, but I don't really understand anything he says TBH..they're still POS Laker fans, but I have to show them some love in that regard..their work looks so much better when new Laker fans join here..
let me know when that happens...till then Paul Pierce can keep Wade entertained in the pussy section.
“It’s pretty painful,” Bryant said. “I just tried to play through it. … You just get used to it, that’s all. It’s just a different technique to shoot the ball with this,” indicating the soft-foam protection on his right index finger.
non issue Kome is fine...
The "Kobe needs surgery" posts/threads after some off-games should be fun to see.
Drama queen. Now for every bad game he has in the next 3 years, we'll hear it's about this finger he didn't injured.
Yeps, well said. This is getting old.
Thry nedf a judftuvdy foh the aff beatfrfd theryt going to grt.
kobe was shooting close to 49% this season. you can expect those numbers to go down now
I gotta admit Kobe is a warrior but that also means that bringing this up does no good. He wouldn't make excuses for himself so lets not bring finger up
im talking to that heat fan. he cried all yr about wade and his amazing stats, well the tables turned kobe was around 50 and wade around 40.
They have a potential record season here, I think he'd have to have a broken leg to miss a game.
Shame we don't have Bruce Bowen anymore...
Well, you got yer .Shame we don't have Bruce Bowen anymore...
Miami Heat is alot like Lakaluva, most of his posts are meant to piss people off and aren't really serious.
I'm sorry Kobe is out for season Lakerfan.
But this is fate. Spurs 2010 Champs!
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