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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_d ... nba,252528

For Bryant, the sacrifice for success could well be visible for the rest of his career in the form of something that is not another championship ring to go around his finger.
He might never play again without wearing support for his damaged right index finger.
The middle knuckle on that critical finger on Bryant's shooting hand is so debilitated by arthritis after the past season of misuse and overuse that there may be no real way to fix it. Bryant will consult with specialists in July to figure out his options, but arthritis is not a problem that can just be cleaned up with arthroscopic surgery or wished away with a little rest.

and...

So when Jordan Farmar(notes) leaves the Lakers this summer, don't be curious as to why. Just remember that he's the one who threw the errant pass that led to Kobe's busted knuckle. We know Kobe holds grudges, so it's only logical to assume his finger does too.

Woah! Craaaaaazy..... See ya Jordan.

Sacrifice for success... what a crock.

Early in the season when Kobe injured his finger we had a pansy schedule and a healthy roster. Kobe's own stupid pride kept him from sitting out and allowing it to heal properly. Furthermore, he played like garbage in January/February as a result, and his poor play most certainly cost us a few wins.

Kobe played through his injury for selfish reasons (didn't want to break his consecutive games played streak), so he shouldn't be getting raised up to hero status for that. He went against the advice of team physicians and the coaching staff, so if anything he should be criticized.

Definitely makes you wonder if maybe he should have went ahead and gotten it fixed immediately. I believe he would have been out about 5-6 weeks with surgery. The ironic thing is he probably ended up hurting more than helping the team during the time he would have been recovering anyway.

Hopefully Kobe's not that petty and illogical.

semi-sentient wrote:Sacrifice for success... what a crock.

Early in the season when Kobe injured his finger we had a pansy schedule and a healthy roster. Kobe's own stupid pride kept him from sitting out and allowing it to heal properly. Furthermore, he played like garbage in January/February as a result, and his poor play most certainly cost us a few wins.

Kobe played through his injury for selfish reasons (didn't want to break his consecutive games played streak), so he shouldn't be getting raised up to hero status for that. He went against the advice of team physicians and the coaching staff, so if anything he should be criticized.

Seems to have worked out pretty well.

semi-sentient wrote:Sacrifice for success... what a crock.

Early in the season when Kobe injured his finger we had a pansy schedule and a healthy roster. Kobe's own stupid pride kept him from sitting out and allowing it to heal properly. Furthermore, he played like garbage in January/February as a result, and his poor play most certainly cost us a few wins.

Kobe played through his injury for selfish reasons (didn't want to break his consecutive games played streak), so he shouldn't be getting raised up to hero status for that. He went against the advice of team physicians and the coaching staff, so if anything he should be criticized.

Really? You think Kobe played through the injury for selfish reasons?

I seriously doubt that. I think the "consecutive game streak" is totally meaningless to him. He wants to win. He wanted for the Lakers to have the best record in the league so that they would have home court advantage in the playoffs. That is why he played through the injury. They ended up with the 3rd best record, and luckily they had the advantage over the C's. I would not have wanted to play a Game 7 in Boston.

I think he played through the injury in order to give the Lakers the best chance to win. I completely disagree with the comment that he did it for pride and selfish reasons. I also disagree that he hurt the team more than he helped the team. We are quick to forget all the late game shots and buzzer beaters he made helping the Lakers to win. Without those, we don't end up with home court against the C's and we probably don't win the title.
I acknowledge that Kobe has been a selfish player at times during his career. What I don't agre with is the claim that he played with an injury for selfish reasons.

lol he said for selfish reason...#8 kobe maybe? not #24

Magicontinues wrote:[Seems to have worked out pretty well.

Yeah, it sounds like his finger is permanently damaged, meaning he'll be more turnover prone and have more off-shooting nights if true.

Where's a good place to get a Kobe tattoo?

lakerRD wrote:[He wanted for the Lakers to have the best record in the league so that they would have home court advantage in the playoffs. .

Yup, he knew how important that is/was, and it proved to be true, I doubt we would have won if we wouldn't have had the HCA.

Kobe has pride, but his pride is wanting rings, playing when he can, I don't blame him for that.

semi-sentient wrote:

Magicontinues wrote:[Seems to have worked out pretty well.

Yeah, it sounds like his finger is permanently damaged, meaning he'll be more turnover prone and have more off-shooting nights if true.

Where's a good place to get a Kobe tattoo?

That finger has been injured in the past, and has been arthritic before this injury. I didn't see anywhere that anything he would have done right when it was injured would have made this any better, as the article said, he may have to wear a brace for the rest of his career. Do you have some proof that any of that would have changed if he would have done a surgury right away? Didn't think so In fact, I remember reading that Kobe knew that there wasn't really anything that surgury would help at that time and he still would need a brace, and he already had arthritis in the finger, so he opted to wait till the end of the season, so I think your just hating the guy for trying to play through injury and get more rings with some childish name calling unwarranted.

As I said, seems to have worked out well. Stop ya hatin son

I wonder what category of KH hes in?

Pretty Effed up if he forcing Farmar out. I love Kobe and all but dam. He shouldn't blame Jordan.

lol thats gay, kobe ran into drews knee...grudges? laughable

semi-sentient wrote:Sacrifice for success... what a crock.

Early in the season when Kobe injured his finger we had a pansy schedule and a healthy roster. Kobe's own stupid pride kept him from sitting out and allowing it to heal properly. Furthermore, he played like garbage in January/February as a result, and his poor play most certainly cost us a few wins.

Kobe played through his injury for selfish reasons (didn't want to break his consecutive games played streak), so he shouldn't be getting raised up to hero status for that. He went against the advice of team physicians and the coaching staff, so if anything he should be criticized.

We could have easily started sluggish with Gasol and Bynum's injuries in the first few weeks and that would have made the difference between 1st seed in the West and 8th seed (what is that 7 games?). We could have ended up playing either Dallas or Denver in the first rounds without HCA and we know how that can go.

Kobe was a serious MVP candidate for the first 3 months and we should not forget that.

H00PDREAMS wrote:Pretty Effed up if he forcing Farmar out. I love Kobe and all but dam. He shouldn't blame Jordan.

You do realize that comment is just the author of the article making a lame joke?

j-far wrote:

semi-sentient wrote:Sacrifice for success... what a crock.

Early in the season when Kobe injured his finger we had a pansy schedule and a healthy roster. Kobe's own stupid pride kept him from sitting out and allowing it to heal properly. Furthermore, he played like garbage in January/February as a result, and his poor play most certainly cost us a few wins.

Kobe played through his injury for selfish reasons (didn't want to break his consecutive games played streak), so he shouldn't be getting raised up to hero status for that. He went against the advice of team physicians and the coaching staff, so if anything he should be criticized.

We could have easily started sluggish with Gasol and Bynum's injuries in the first few weeks and that would have made the difference between 1st seed in the West and 8th seed (what is that 7 games?). We could have ended up playing either Dallas or Denver in the first rounds without HCA and we know how that can go.

Kobe was a serious MVP candidate for the first 3 months and we should not forget that.

I remember it well because I was pretty active in the MVP threads on the GB and had Kobe as the front-runner though early 2010. Gasol had already come back at that point and it was evident that the finger was bothering the hell out of him, and other injuries started popping up as well.

Remember, we were 28-6 early in January, and no one was even close to us at that point (Dallas was 5 games back). Kobe's injuries were already starting to mount at that point and I felt we were in a perfect position to let him heal though the All-Star break. He would have missed 20 games, which is really not that bad. During that stretch we played a lot of teams that we would have beaten even without Kobe.

I know I'm being a little hard on him, but I want him to be a Laker for as long as possible, and more importantly, I want him at full strength in the playoffs when it matters most. Imagine what a healthy, rested Kobe would have done this year in the playoffs?

I still feel that he did it for selfish reasons though. The coaching staff and trainers were hinting that he should give himself some time to heal and I recall him and others talking about the streak and how much pride he had in it. The fact that they left it up to Kobe though was a big mistake because he's not going to rest unless he gets shotgunned in the face.

I mean yeah, he's a tough SOB, but that wasn't a very smart thing to do.

Magic had problems with his fingers sign retiring. Pro football players have hands that look chewed up. Its all goes with the profession.

first of all i am not a laker fan and most def not a kobe fan. but this story doesn't mean crap. kobe will still dominate and be the leagues best player for years to come. as much as it pains me to say, kobe will be still be around for a VERY long time. I say till he's 38.