Actually, for accuracy's sake the headline should read "Jordan Farmar injures Kobe Bryant's finger." According to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, an errant Farmar pass was received messily enough by the former MVP that Kobe suffered an avulsion fracture of the index finger of his (right) shooting hand. Kobe played in the second half of Friday's drubbing of the Timberwolves nonetheless.Kobe told NBC LA's Kurt Helin he wouldn't be missing any action due to the fracture. In fact, Kobe has had an avulsion fracture of the finger before: you may remember incessant coverage of Bryant's toughness in playing with ligament damage in his pinkie during the 2008 playoffs, the Olympics and the entire 2008-09 championship season. That ligament damage was accompanied by an avulsion fracture.
As Kobe tells Helin, with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in the line-up, the Lakers offense should be fine. The bigger problem -- and this may obscure what if any impact the injury has on the Mamba -- is that the insanely home-heavy early schedule is coming due, starting with a five-game road trip which kicks off in Salt Lake tonight.
TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads




