Kobe Bryant Injury Update

As if it were even a question whether or not Kobe Bryant was going to play in game 5 in Los Angeles against the Jazz I am pleased to announce that Kobe's back is feeling much better (at least so he says) and even if the Lakers were going to play on Monday, he would've have been ready to go says Kobe.

"I tried to play and make drives to the basket where I could kind of withstand the pain without the back completely spasming and then put the next game really in jeopardy," Bryant said.

Anyone who has actually played basketball with a bad back, back spasms or injured their back during a game knows how extremely painful it can be and how it really limits your mobility or your ability to do anything on the basketball court. To think that Kobe actually played through this back pain, helped his team take the Jazz (in their house) into overtime and manage to score 33 points, grab 8 and dish out 10 dimes, that was an amazing playoffs performance.

Since injuring his back, Kobe hasn't been able to participate in practice, but he continues to say that he will play game 5, lets just hope the injury wasn't as bad as Kobe made it look in game 4 or the Lakers might be in some serious trouble.

2008 NBA All Defensive Team

Looks like Kobe Bryant is going for the cycle, first he gets the MVP, then he gets on the All NBA first team and now he is getting credit for his work on the defensive side of the floor as well by being put on the NBA All-Defensive Team.

NBA ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

• KOBE BRYANT, LOS ANGELES LAKERS
• BRUCE BOWEN, SAN ANTONIO SPURS
• KEVIN GARNETT, BOSTON CELTICS
• TIM DUNCAN, SAN ANTONIO SPURS
• MARCUS CAMBY, DENVER NUGGETS

NBA ALL-DEFENSIVE SECOND TEAM

• CHRIS PAUL, NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
• SHANE BATTIER, HOUSTON ROCKETS
• RAJA BELL, PHOENIX SUNS
• TAYSHAWN PRINCE, DETROIT PISTIONS
• DWIGHT HOWARD, ORLANDO MAGIC

Trevor Ariza Has Been Cleared to Practice!

Finally! Trevor Ariza will be on the floor for the Lakers soon enough to play in either the late games of this series with the Utah Jazz or if the Lakers manage to knock out Deron Williams and company, Ariza will be able to play in the Western Conference Finals.

Trevor Ariza has been out of commission for the Lakers since January, getting injured like a week after Andrew Bynum went down with the knee injury, Ariza suffered a fractured foot which wasn't healing correctly, but now the doctors have cleared the defensive specialist to practice without restriction which is nothing but good news for the Lakers.

With Ariza in the lineup, the Lakers should be a much better defensive team which should come in handy if he can return for this series against Williams, but more importantly if they face the Spurs they will have someone to throw at Manu Ginobili or Chris Paul if the Hornets beat the defending champs.

Ronny Turiaf Will Not be Suspended for Flagrant Foul

In game 4 against the Jazz in Utah, Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf committed a flagrant-2 on Utah guard Ronny Price in which Turiaf threw Price to the ground will Price was attempting a layup.

I will admit that Turiaf did foul Price pretty damn hard, but a flagrant 2? I don't think so, definitely a flagrant foul because it resulted in stitches over Ronny Price's eye, but it was not intentional and did not deserve a flagrant-2 which results in an automatic ejected and can be subject to suspension.

Well it seems as though the NBA saw it that way too because they have announced that Ronny Turiaf will not be suspended for the foul.

Jazz owner Larry H. Miller lobbied for a suspension of Turiaf after watching the replay, but even Ronny Price said after the game that Turiaf did not deserve to be suspended.

MAKE YOUR OWN OPINION

Kobe's Hurt, Turiaf Got the Boot and the Jazz Win Another in Utah

Even though the Lakers lost game 4 in Utah, this was the most entertaining game I have seen in the NBA playoffs this year.

The game seem out of hand for the Lakers in the first half with the Jazz taking control early, Ronny Turiaf getting ejected for a flagrant 2 on bench warmer Ronnie Price and Kobe injuring his back on the second play of the game, but the boys in purple and gold rallied and tied it up at the half with an amazing length of the court pass from Luke Walton to Kobe Bryant in the closing seconds.

Although the Lakers had momentum on their side coming into the second half, Deron Williams (is it just me or does this guy have the worst hair in the NBA?) and the Jazz were just too tough and Kobe was in obvious pain which resulted in lack of explosiveness and ill advised shots, but he was still able to score 33 points, grab 8 boards and dish out 10 assists; not bad for guy that looked like he couldn't even walk for more than half the game.

If it weren't for Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol down the stretch the Lakers would have lost this game early in the fourth quarter. Odom played quite possibly the best game I have ever seen him play, crashing the boards (13), hitting key shots (26 points)and really picking up the slack for an injured Kobe Bryant.

Derek Fisher hit 3 big threes in the fourth to cut into the Jazz lead and get the Lakers into overtime. Pau Gasol played well at the right time as well, scoring 23 points and rippin' down 10 boards, but it just wasn't enough to out play Deron Williams who continues to play great basketball with 29 points and 14 assists (starting to hate the kid for being so good).

The Jazz also had a lot from their bench with Kyle Korver (14), Matt Harpring (12) and their starters Kirilenko (15), Boozer (14) and Mehmet Okur (18).

Who wins in the other team's house will come out on top in this one, so if Kobe's health is still in question for Wednesday's game in LA, the Lakers could be in trouble.

NEXT LAKERS GAME: Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers Weds, May 14th 7:30pm PST

Jazz Take Game 3 with a More Physical Approach

The Lakers have been arguably the best team so far in this year's playoffs, easily dominating opponents, but on Friday night the Utah Jazz figured out a way to keep Kobe and company in check.

would get theirs, but in game 3 it turned into a completely different series as Carlos Boozer finally woke up by just dominating the paint scoring 27 points and ripping down 20 rebounds. In the two games prior to game 3 in Utah, the Lakers seem to out play the Jazz in every aspect of the game besides rebounding, they would just run and gun and make the Jazz play their style of ball in which Kobe Bryant would light up the scoreboard and both Lamar Odom and Pau GasolDeron Williams also had a pretty good game as well dishing 12 assists and scoring 18 points, but although he had a good game, it didn't come without a price of injury that he sustained in a collision in the paint with Ronny Turiaf in which he landed on one of his wrist and slowed him down a bit. Mehmet Okur continued to be a torn in the Lakers side in game 3 hitting 4 out 7 from beyond the arc scoring 22 points and pulling down 7 boards.

Kobe Bryant played like Kobe only can with 34 points on 10 of 20 shooting, 0 for 6 from deep though, but he played inspired basketball throughout the entire game, one shot in particular where he split two defenders, pass the ball to himself off the backboard and dunked it, amazing!

Pau and Lamar didn't have their best games of the series, especially Pau who just couldn't get it going all game long only scoring 12 with no trips to the line, basically getting out muscled in the key all night long by the Jazz big men.

The biggest difference in game 3 was the physicality in which the Jazz overpowered the Lakers for the entire 48 minutes. They tired to beat up Kobe to stop him from lighting them up, but of course, that didn't work, but it did have an effect on the rest of the squad and resulted in the Lakers first loss of the post season 104-99.

NEXT LAKERS PLAYOFF GAME: Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz Sunday, May 11th 12:30pm PST

TWO CRAZY DUNKS BY KOBE!

Kobe Bryant Makes the All NBA First Team

Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul being named to the All NBA First Team was a no brainer, but there were a few first timers on the list this year and a few snubs of players that are on the list every season.

ALL NBA FIRST TEAM

• KOBE BRYANT, LOS ANGELES LAKERS
• CHRIS PAUL, NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
• LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
• KEVIN GARNETT, BOSTON CELTICS
• DWIGHT HOWARD, ORLANDO MAGIC

ALL NBA SECOND TEAM

• STEVE NASH, PHOENIX SUNS
• DERON WILLIAMS, UTAH JAZZ
• AMARE STOUTAMIRE, PHOENIX SUNS
• DIRK NOWITZKI, DALLAS MAVERICKS
• TIM DUNCAN, SAN ANTONIO SPURS

ALL NBA THIRD TEAM

• TRACY McGRADY, HOUSTON ROCKETS
• MANU GINOBILI, SAN ANTONIO SPURS
• PAUL PIERCE, BOSTON CELTICS
• CARLOS BOOZER, UTAH JAZZ
• YAO MING, HOUSTON ROCKETS

This was the first time in years that both Steve Nash and Tim Duncan didn't make the first team, although I think Duncan probably has only a couple more dominant years left in him I believe that we are seeing the beginning of the end of Steve Nash as an elite point guard.

As for the rest of the picks, I think the NBA was pretty on point with the selections in all of the three teams.

Kobe Gets the MVP Award, Utah Gets Another Loss

Kobe Bryant getting the MVP award on Wednesday night was just like putting more fuel on the fire for the Utah Jazz, just when you think Kobe might cool off he puts up yet another 30+ point night in which the Jazz had absolutely no answer for.

Shooting 11 of 18 from the floor, 11 of 12 from the line, dishin' 6 assists and grabbing 8 boards Kobe Bryant just keeps playing exceptional basketball. Three of Lakers also had good games tonight as Pau Gasol dropped in 20 while blocking 5 shots, Lamar Odom added 19 and ripped down 16 boards and Derek Fisher scored 22 points hitting 4 out of 5 from beyond the arc.

The Utah Jazz continued to look like the lesser team Wednesday, they may dominate the rebound column of the stat sheet (41 to 37) against the Lakers, but the LA seems to dominate every other facet of the game and were able to make the Jazz play at their pace.

Even though it looks like the Lakers will take this series will relative ease, Utah is an extremely tough place to play like I have said in past posts. This will seem like an entirely different series the next two games in Utah, I still think the Lakers could take both games and win the series, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jazz to win one or both games at home.

NEXT LAKERS PLAYOFF GAME: Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz Friday, May 9th 6pm PST

Kobe Bryant is OFFICIALLY this Season's NBA MVP!

It is pretty ridiculous that we hear who wins the NBA's awards before they are officially announced, but at least Kobe Bryant still won the award after about a week of speculation and hundreds of different reports.

In the past I have been pretty harsh on Kobe Bryant (although I am a HUGE fan) because of the constant comparisons to Michael Jordan (who is my favorite player All-Time) and the phrase "Best Ever" getting thrown around by people who either didn't get the pleasure of watching MJ or are just people that hopped on the Lakers bandwagon (and no nothing about basketball), but now I can say that MJ better look out because Kobe has finally matured and understands the importance of embracing his teammates. As a result, Kobe is damn near unstoppable and the Lakers are the best team in the NBA (at least in my opinion)!

So with that said, I have to say that Kobe's MVP award is well deserved! Now that Kobe has figured out how to get his teammates involved and has lead the Lakers to the top of the Western Conference after an off season of turmoil, constant trade talks and bad blood, he has done the impossible and I believe that the sky is the limit for number 24 and the Los Angeles Lakers who seemed to be destined to represent the West in the NBA finals!

KOBE'S MVP PRESS CONFERENCE

Andrew Bynum Looking for a 2nd Opinion on His Injured Knee

The swelling continues...

As if it wasn't painful enough that Andrew Bynum has to watch his team charge to the NBA title without him being able to contribute he now is looking for a second opinion on his injured knee that has kept him out of commission since January 13th.

Even though the kid made a HUGE improvement in his game this season and was headed for a max deal next season you have to think whether or not this injury hurts the deal that the Lakers were going to give the 20 year old this off season.

When healthy, Bynum can play with the best bigs in the NBA and could quite possibly be the best big man in the league within the next few seasons, but I have to think this injury has really hurt his chances at getting the big money.

The Lakers would be foolish not to give him a max deal because he has such a HUGE upside and great potential to be the next big thing in LA, but if Grant Hill's injuries taught us anything, it is that injuries can hang around for the rest of your career.