Kobe's back injury in game four opened the door for ton of speculation. The fact the ABC7 reported that Kobe "couldn't stand up on the plane" didn't help much.
Throughout his career, Kobe has been known to suck it up--and he'll do just that on Wednesday: Kobe Bryant met the media Monday with a new companion - an electronic stimulating device hooked up to his sore lower back.
Plans call for the two to spend a lot of time together for the next couple of days, or longer.
The
Los Angeles Lakers' star tweaked his back in the opening minutes of
Sunday's 123-115 overtime loss at Utah that tied the Western Conference
semifinals 2-2.
"It's pretty sore right now," Bryant said Monday.
"It's tight. It's to be expected the next day, I guess. I don't know
how I made it through the game, to be honest with you."
Bryant said he was receiving treatment around the clock.
"Secret stuff," he replied with a smile when asked to be specific about the treatment.
Regarding the electronic stimulating device, Bryant said he had slept with it on Sunday night.
"It cuts down the pain," he said. "How, I don't know."...
"I'll be ready to play. I can't imagine it being any worse than it was last night." [Fox Sports]
I'm sure Vic The Brick will be equipped with some cool words for Kobe before the game.
Moving onto things of lesser importance (though they sure could use some defense right now), Trevor Ariza has been cleared by a second physician:
Hoopsworld has learned that Trevor Ariza of the Los Angeles Lakers has been cleared by a second independent doctor. Sidelined for months with a broken foot, Ariza has now sought out two additional opinions hoping to get back on the floor to help the team in its ongoing playoff run.
The Lakers' physician has been conservative as Ariza's CT Scan still shows a line on the bone which is normally interpreted as an unhealed fracture.
Ariza recently saw a doctor in Utah who postulated that the bone has indeed healed and that the line may never fully disappear.
The recent third opinion concurred which sends the ultimate decision to the Lakers who are inherently conservative when it comes to long term health of their players. To date they haven't been willing to put Ariza in harm's way, even for the ongoing playoff push. [Hoopsworld]
That's the scoop for now. Game five is on Wednesday. I'd call it a must-win. The Lakers definitely DO NOT want to face elimination at EnergySolutions in game six, so I'm calling Wednesday the game of the series.
Jonathan Abrams/LA Times: As the Lakers wrapped up their final practice before Sunday's
first-round playoff game against the Denver Nuggets, Andrew Bynum and
Trevor Ariza sat together on a large medicine ball.
Sunday and throughout the first round, the injured pair figure to be sharing a spot on the bench.
The odds of Bynum returning for the series from his knee injury were already small and Lakers Coach Phil Jackson ruled him out.
"I'd say it's fair to say that," Jackson said today. "
No surprise here. I wasn't expecting his return any time soon, but there is still the internet contingent that is still basing the Lakers destiny on the presence of Andrew. It's already known that if Andrew gets back this season, he will most likely come off the bench... yet another fact that bothers the internet.
More on Ariza as well: As for Ariza, Jackson did not say the defensive-minded small forward
was definitely out, but his chances of returning from a foot injury to
face the Nuggets are slim.
"I'm not ruling out Trevor," Jackson said, later adding: "He's going to
have to do some things, but this is a pretty long series and we have
some games in between."
There we have it. The story also mentioned that Coby Karl would be on the bench tomorrow, but it's likely that Ira Newble will get the final spot on the 12-man roster. He better.
If you're out of the loop, the Lakers play tomorrow at noon pacific on ABC. You can also check out my preview on the series for stats, historical numbers, matchups, ect...
[edit 11:29am - Sunday] The latest rumors floating around he internet is that Bynum is currently suffering from Chondromalacia, which is the irritation of the cartilage of the undersurface of the kneecap. This is also known as Runner's Knee. Again, this is from a ClubLakers.com's forum post, so, you be the judge:
"(via Phil Jackson after Bynum reports from the doctor in NY)
His pain is caused from an irritation in his kneecap after the healing
of the dislocation. This is known as Chondromalacia or Runner's Knee.
He may have got this from working out so soon after healing. What he
really needed was a gradual return to activity to avoid any of the
inflammation of the knee (which we have been seeing so much, and why
he's not practicing.) It's not so much of torn cartilidge, more
damaged. And the only way he returns is if this irritation stops
bothering him and play and he feels comfortable with the natural
basketball movements he's used to like pivoting and landing. Right now,
it's just waiting.
"
It's been eight long years since the Lakers achieved such a feat.
That was the 1999-2000 season. We remember what happened then.
You can call it wishful thinking, or you can call it forecasting, but I am awfully giddy. I haven't been this giddy since the Pau trade back in the beginning of February.
The Lakers just took down the Kings by a score of 124-101 in the 82nd and final game of the regular season, to clinch the #1 spot in the Western Conference. I had my doubts about this game. Heck, my last post was addressing the potential that the Kings had to pull a little bit of an upset to make the #1 race a little more interesting.
Well... Kobe, Pau, and Lamar proved my speculation wrong. The Lakers never had a huge run, but the gap was comfortable the entire time. This was the game fans needed before nervous time starts this weekend. It was a nice reflection on a terrific 57-25 season.
One thing came to me tonight.
I know I'm no authority on the matter, but Lamar proved himself to me tonight. My dislike for Lamar in previous seasons was leading me to turn my head to the numbers he's been putting up lately. Lamar has the third most double-doubles in the league since the All-Star break. Granted, a lot of them haven't been much above 10 and 10, Lamar has shown a ton of improvement in his new role as the third option. People have been saying it all season long. Lamar Odom is contributor, not a leader. The removal of the Lamar from the spotlight of being a second scoring option has been the best possible elixir for his previous lack of production. There's no telling if he'll be re-signed in the off-season, but, pending his performance in the playoffs, we might see Lamar sticking around.
The Lakers played proficiently tonight, Sunday, and Friday. It was nothing short of a dream conclusion to the regular season. Hopefully these final few games have satisfied the fans with the current line-up. I spent the afternoon trolling some Lakers chat rooms and forums. People are still hung up on the Bynum and Ariza situation. It's been said around here by a few people (notably in LF19II's post), including myself; Bynum and Ariza won't make a huge impact on the post-season picture. This team is solid as is. Sure, Bynum will be a body, but the subluxation is a serious injury. If Bynum comes back not fully-recovered, the patella has the potential to do the exact same thing as it did on January 13. All I'm trying to say is that Bynum is a guy to build the franchise around once Kobe is past his prime. Let's not mess that up.
Finally, the Lakers' round one matchup is still in the balance. Their opponent will be Denver unless the Nuggs can swing a win against Memphis paired with Dallas losing to New Orleans. It's really a toss-up right now. We'll see what happens.
Oh yeah, Is this the final validation for the Kobe for MVP camp? I believe the votes go in on Thursday, and the results are released Friday.
Yep, this just in: Lakers' Trevor Ariza out 8 weeks with broken foot.
Trevor reportedly fractured his foot in practice Sunday, and now joins the likes of Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm, and Vlad Rad on the sidelines.
Ariza averaged 6.5 PPG in in 24 games in Los Angeles. Ariza's defense and athleticism quickly got me on his side, and I think countless others can agree.
Oh yeah, remember that guy I brought up a couple of days ago; DJ Mbenga? Well, the Lakers signed him to 10-day today. Mbenga averaged just over 1 and 1 in a handful of games with Golden State. Slshusker had this to say about Mbenga in the comments of my previous post: Having watched 'Beng in Dallas, I'll say this, the guy is good for 1.6
points and 1.6 rebounds and that's it. There's a reason two teams have
let him go and it has nothing to do with his being a good guy. He
hasn't delivered.
The Lakers play host to the Nuggs tonight at 7:30 PM... This is really starting to look like last season.
[edit: 5:08 PM] I just got off the phone with my mom, and apparently Ariza's injury was covered on some of the local news outlets last night. Being in San Diego, I had no clue until teh internetz did, so maybe it wasn't 'just in,' but it's still newsworthy... and borderline emotionally crippling to some of us...
The Lakers unveiled their latest throwback tonight; the 1987-1988 World Champion rendition. Showtime was restored in La Cuidad, and the Lakes met the challenge, winning 123-113 over the Warriors, who were paying homage to the '75 team.
The Lakers posted SEVEN in dubs: Kobe (28), Andrew Bynum (20 and 11), D- FIsh (15), Vlad Rad (14), Lamar Odom (14 and 10), TREVOR ARIZA! (11), and Ronny Turiaf (10).
In my opinion, the unis stole the show. I typically lean more toward the technical side of the game, but tonight, the visions of my youth were re-hashed (read that in an elegant tone). It was good to see the Lakers rock the old digs, even though the only thing that's different is the color scheme on the numbers, and the absence of the v-neck. The casual observer may not have even noticed the difference, but long-time Lakers fans couldn't help but admire tribute to jersey worn by the Lakers from the mid-70s to 1999.
Phil Jackson finally agreed to that two-year extension that had been nagging at him for some time now. The move bothered me somewhat after Phil's demeanor over the past few games, but tonight's huge 127, 99 win over Denver sways my opinion quite a bit. Jackson set Thanksgiving as a deadline for his decision, and after a tough road trip through the East Coast, a coaching error in the final play of Sunday's contest with the Nets, and a sloppy win over one of the league's worst teams, we all figured something was going to give.
Jackson's decision surprised me... and almost angered me, but some six hours later, I see the light. I sometimes forget about the head the Jackson had on his shoulders. I sometimes forget that he commanded MJ and the Bulls to victory. I sometimes forget that he brought championship basketball back to LA. Sometimes Phil looks disinterested as a coach, but when he leads the Lakers to big wins; his presence is invaluable.
And a big win this was. Despite trailing by 17 at one point in the second quarter, The Lakers posted seven in double figures, including someone who came out of the woodwork to land a career high. Sasha Vujacic lit it up from the field, finishing with 22 points. Kobe (aptly enough) scored 24, Luke Walton came off the bench with 14, and Lamar Odom posted 12.
Andrew Bynum showed his stuff, snagging another double-double, with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lakers point guard tandem of D-Fish and Jordan Farmar put up 10 points respectively.
The best part to me, however was a result of the big lead... We finally got to see a lot more of the Bench Mob. The Lakers bench scored 63 points. That is HUGE.
We saw a lot of rookie, Javaris Crittenton, who scored seven points in five minutes.
We saw some more time out of newcomer Trevor Ariza, who laid some bricks at the line, missed a gimme, and impressed nobody.
SIDENOTES
Carmelo Anthony was ejected in the fourth quarter after nearly taking Sasha's dome off, in a play that resulted in a flagrant-two ruling after a video review.
Coby Karl scored 19 points in his first game with the Lakers' D-league affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
The Lakers dealt Brian Cook and Maurice Evans to Orlando today, in exchange for forward, Trevor Ariza. I don't know much about Ariza, but to me, this looks like a bad idea. Ariza averaged 8.9 points last season with the Magic, and though Cook never lived up to his potential, something in me is going to miss him. As for Evans, I'm rather impartial. Despite scoring 8.4 points per game last season, Evans never really stood out to me.
In the end, the move helps the Lakers from a monetary standpoint, and the fact that it was a 2 for 1 deal leaves us wondering if this was designed to facilitate a Kobe deal.
[update] 6:46 pm: Some of the LA locals may remember Ariza from UCLA, where he posted 11.6 PPG in his freshman year as a Bruin. Ariza only stayed one year, declaring for the draft in 2004. Ariza was drafted in the second round, 43th overall by the Knicks, where he gained the accolade as the youngest Knicks rookie in franchise history.
[update] 7:58 pm: Remember this? THIS is why I'll miss Cookie
[edit] 8:07 pm: Upon looking into this a little further, it's starting to make sense. Dusty_Outlaw shined some light on it all:
"Evans is a shooter and nothing more. When he's hot he can light them up
but defense is the problem. I don't know if Ariza is any good on D but
they're claiming he's a specialist. I don't see where Lakers lost
giving up Cook and Evans. we know what they're going to not do. At
least this guy MIGHT save the Lakers 4-6 points a game stopping someone
from just blowing by him like Cook allowed"
I'm a realistic observer of the vast world that surrounds the Los Angeles Lakers. You can thank Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Cedric Ceballos, and Vlade Divac for making that possible. The greatest person of all time is Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn. There's no getting around that. Me? I'm eighteen years old and working my way to a journalism degree.
You can call it wishful thinking, or you can call it forecasting, but I am awfully giddy. I haven't been this giddy since the Pau trade back in the beginning of February. 
double-doubles in the league since the All-Star break. Granted, a lot of them haven't been much above 10 and 10, Lamar has shown a ton of improvement in his new role as the third option. People have been saying it all season long. Lamar Odom is contributor, not a leader. The removal of the Lamar from the spotlight of being a second scoring option has been the best possible elixir for his previous lack of production. There's no telling if he'll be re-signed in the off-season, but, pending his performance in the playoffs, we might see Lamar sticking around. 
of Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm, and Vlad Rad on the sidelines. 
points. Kobe (aptly enough) scored 24, Luke Walton came off the bench with 14, and Lamar Odom posted 12.
