The Los Angeles Lakers have now completed the first give games of their record setting nine game road trip. They go into their sixth game against the Orlando Magic with a 3-2 record losing to the Detroit Pistons, by 1, and to the Atlanta Hawks, by 3. Pau Gasol has joined the team midway through this trip so far and has played two games in a Lakers uniform going 1-1. His shooting in the first game was excellent however the second game could’ve been better. It seemed as though everyone struggled in some way against Atlanta.

Kobe injured his pinky finger  early in the game against the New Jersey Nets when he went for a steal against guard Jason Kidd. At first, he did not recognize the significance of his injury and played through it until the next time he touched the ball dribbling past the half court line. He felt that something was a bit strange, looked at his finger, which actually wasn’t where it was suppose to be, called a timeout, and referred to trainer Gary Vitti to  do whatever is necessary to fix he injury.

The KCAL 9 television cameras zoomed in on Bryant on the bench and showed him clearly struggling to keep himself from screaming at the top of his lungs in pain. It looked brutal. Apparently, the training staff was getting Kobe’s pinky back into place after a dislocation that would apparently prove to be more impacting upon his game than originally expected.

His shooting was off throughout the game finishing with six points in New Jersey on 3-13 shooting while He would finish with only 11 points on 4-16 shooting and 3-5 from the free throw line. When Kobe misses free throws, we know something is wrong. Another clear sign, Kobe has made sure to let fans know that his personal achievements are no longer important as the only thing that really matters is the team’s success and the hunt for an NBA title. He has said to the media that if his finger does not completely heel, he will have to skip the All Star Game in New Orleans. He is scheduled to make his 10th straight appearance in the All Star game representing the Los Angeles Lakers and has also been invited to participate in the 3-point shootout. Already winning a slam dunk contest in 1997, his rookie season, an All Star MVP award last year, he is in need of the 3-point shooting title as well as the skills challenge in which he wasn’t all too good last season.

With the game on the line, Lakers down with 8 seconds left, Kobe mis-dribbled off his own leg and caused a costly turnover in the closing seconds to give the Atlanta Hawks the unexpected win. There were plenty of reason the Lakers lost but the concern for Kobe’s injury is quite severe. The game in Atlanta was the teams 5th in 7 days and obviously every body was tired. Only four more games boys, lets go out there, play hard, and come back home with a 7-2 record maintaining our strength in the Western Conference.

On a quick side note, Kobe has made it clear that the Lakers are in no way concerned with what the Phoenix Suns have done to their roster. The addition of Shaq has had many NBA fans and analysts quite surprised, but apparently, according to the Los Angeles Daily News, “Kobe doesn’t really care too much: Bryant had little to say about the Phoenix Suns’ acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal. ‘Why are you asking me?’ he said. ‘I don’t know what they’re going to do or how they’re going to execute or how they’re going to decide to use him. I have no idea. I didn’t give two thoughts about it. I could care less.” Nicely put Kobe, nicely put! Lets just concentrate on whats to come for our team. We’ll worry about Phoenix in two weeks when we play them again…