Bryant Is Latest Star to Be Injured

Kobe Bryant is injured too.

It is his right shoulder, the one he shoots with (mostly), the one that required surgery in June, and now the Laker misfortune that took Karl Malone and Shaquille O’Neal has taken its shot at Bryant, and all in a span of 10 games.

Bryant, who was diagnosed with a sprained shoulder, will have an MRI exam today to determine the extent of the injury. X-rays taken between the first and second quarters were negative.

In the first quarter of what would become an 89-79 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night at Staples Center, Bryant pumped Kedrick Brown into the air, then rose up for his jump shot. Brown landed squarely on Bryant’s shoulder and Bryant twisted away, holding his shoulder.

He played only five minutes of the second quarter and did not play the second half. In his floor time after the injury, Bryant played with his right arm dangling, at one point shooting a 20-footer from the top left-handed. It was wide.

Bryant left the arena without answering questions, other than to say “It’s all right” as he walked out between a bodyguard and a personal trainer. He also left a statement with team officials, praising the play of those who beat back the Cavaliers.

“Certainly we’re concerned about his condition,” said Phil Jackson, getting the hang of the postgame, lose-a-Hall-of-Famer news conference. “There’s a big chance he won’t be available for Wednesday’s game [against the Denver Nuggets]. We’ll have to absorb it and go forward.”

In their season of the Fantastic Four, Malone (knee), O’Neal (calf) and Bryant (shoulder) have left only Gary Payton among the superstars available, pending today’s tests. Based on last season’s statistics, were all three to miss Wednesday’s game, the Lakers would have to replace 76 points, along with untold aptitude.

“Whenever we step on the court now, to be realistic, we’re going to be underdogs,” Horace Grant said with a wry smile. “Unless we play Atlanta.”

In the meantime, it meant the Lakers had to go most of three quarters with what amounted to their second unit, beating back the Cavaliers and a recent run of losses that had grown to four in five games and eight in 12.

They won by 46 points Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks, a fortuitous bit of scheduling that has been known to end many NBA losing streaks. In that mold, the Cavaliers of 11 wins in 36 games arrived with rookie LeBron James and four losses in five games themselves. James scored 16 points on six-for-20 shooting from the floor. He missed all five of his shots in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers outscored the Cavaliers, 29-14. Brian Cook had 11 points and four rebounds in the final quarter, when the Lakers were quicker to the ball and on defense.

“We got down and got gritty in that ballgame when we saw how it was going to go,” Jackson said.

The Bryant-James matchup didn’t amount to much, even before Bryant was felled and joined the ever-growing list of Lakers who were injured, ill, tending to the ill, or teetering toward one of the above.

James and Bryant occasionally found themselves across from each other on a wing. James appeared to draw more from the challenge of it, pressing the one-on-one situations with darting moves to the basket and step-back jumpers.

Of course, Bryant played the second quarter with his right arm hanging at his side, as if it were of no use at all.

On June 12, about a month after he injured his shoulder in a first-round playoff series against Minnesota, Bryant had surgery in New York. The surgeon removed an inflamed bursa sac and trimmed a frayed labrum. Three weeks later, he had knee surgery in Colorado.

Jackson said he didn’t know whether it was significant that the surgically repaired shoulder was the injured one. O’Neal is close to being able to play. Rick Fox is an option.

“We don’t know [Bryant’s] status,” he said. “We’ll know more about that [Tuesday].”

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Missing in Action

Games missed by key Laker players because of injury. The Lakers have played 34 games. Malone missed another game because of a suspension (GM=games missed):

*--* Player GM W-L Shaquille O’Neal 7 4-3 Kobe Bryant 1 1-0 Rick Fox 34 23-11 Karl Malone 9 3-6 Slava Medvedenko 8 6-2

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