After suiting up for 138 consecutive games, Kobe Bryant will miss his second in a row tonight, as the Lakers travel to New Orleans. Bryant is nursing a sore and inflamed left shin: “Kobe Bryant (shin) will miss his 2nd straight game tonight at New Orleans. Not a surprise that Kobe will miss tonight’s game; if it hurt him enough to miss 1 game, wasn’t minor enough to return in 2 days. Bright side to Kobe missing this game is that he’ll now have (at least) 5 days rest to his legs that were 3rd in NBA in minutes.”
The Atlanta Hawks will be without Kyle Korver for at least two more games, as he recovers from a broken nose.
The sharp-shooter was hurt Sunday night after absorbing an offensive foul from the Lakers’ Ed Davis.
Coach Mike Budenholzer said Korver had a procedure performed in Los Angeles on Monday and will re-evaluated after games this week against Sacramento, Golden State and Oklahoma City.
Korver’s injury was the latest blow on a West Coast road trip that has already claimed backup forward Mike Scott. He is expected to miss to six weeks because of a broken toe on his left foot.
The Hawks are hoping to soon get back forward Thabo Sefolosha, who has been out since Jan. 30 with a strained right calf.
The Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat appear headed for a first round Playoff matchup, and Brandon Jennings seems to think his team has a chance against the defending champs. LeBron James does not. King James shot back at reporters who brought up the potential postseason matchup. Per the Journal Sentinel: “The game Tuesday could be a first-round playoff preview although James said a regular-season game could not be compared to Game 1 of the playoffs. ‘I really hate that question, personally,’ James said of how the Bucks match up against the Heat. ‘I hate it when people say people match up well with us. We don’t really care about it too much. We want to go out and take away from what they do best. They’re very good with dribble drive, dribble penetration. They share the ball and play at a high level.’ Bucks guard Brandon Jennings said a few weeks ago he thought the Bucks match up well against the Heat, even though Miami is the runaway leader in the Eastern Conference. The Heat can tie a franchise record by posting its 61st victory Tuesday night. ‘That’s OK,’ James said. ‘If they feel that way, they have us in the first round. We’ll see how well we match up. It’s OK to think that way and you can believe that way. They should though. We’re all NBA players for a reason. Teams are put together for a reason to go out and play. I’m not here to take shots at anyone. That’s not what we do as a team. We just go about our business and whoever we have in the first round, we’ll be ready for them.’ Bucks coach Jim Boylan made it clear after his team’s shootaround that the focus is on catching Boston for the seventh spot. That would mean the Bucks could avoid a first-round matchup against Miami and likely would play New York instead.”
MJ and his lawyers must be thrilled — the paternity suit that was recently brought against the Charlotte Bobcats owner has been dismissed. Per TMZ: “The woman suing Michael Jordan for paternity and child support — claiming he fathered her 16-year-old son — has dismissed her case against the NBA star but he might not be out of the woods yet … Pamela Smith has filed legal documents in Georgia asking the judge to dismiss her case against MJ — and her request was granted without prejudice (meaning she can refile at a later time if she wants to). It’s unclear why Pamela wanted the case dismissed — considering she had recently asked the court to order a DNA test ASAP.”
According to the Arizona Republic, the Suns and Bassy will soon be joining forces: “[Sebastian] Telfair appears to be in line to sign a contract Friday with Phoenix to become the latest [Steve] Nash backup. The 26-year-old has been in the league since he was drafted 13th overall by Portland in 2004, but unfulfilled potential and hype have sent him through Boston, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Minnesota again. The Suns made the 6-foot unrestricted free agent their primary-point-guard target as an inexpensive option for a team over the salary cap. Telfair averaged 7.2 points and 3.0 assists in 19.2 minutes per game last season for Minnesota. He played only 37 games, moving out of the rotation for the second half of the season because the Timberwolves had signed Luke Ridnour and drafted Jonny Flynn. Telfair, an average defender at best, shot 40 percent from the field and 36 percent on 3-pointers. ‘We are moving closer,’ Telfair’s agent, Andy Miller, said Wednesday night. ‘I anticipate us being able to put something together on Friday. We’re having advanced dialogue.'”
After taking five games off to rest his ankle (and other beaten down body parts), Kobe was back last night and doing what he does best: saving his team at crunch time (Bryant scored the Lakers’ final nine points in Memphis.)
Your boy Myles Brown said it best on Twitter, after Bryant delivered yet another round of late-game heroics: “Yawn.”
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