Kobe Breaks Finger as Lakers Roll to 11th Straight Win

The Lakers keep find ways to turn close games into routs, and last night was no different. Well, actually it was.

The difference was Kobe broke his index finger on his shooting hand in the first quarter while he was reaching for a pass. He stayed in the game briefly and played through it but eventually came out of the game and went to the locker room for x-rays and treatment. He came back out for the second half and finished the game with 20 points.

With the 104-92 win over former Laker player and coach Kurt Rambis and his Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers improved their-league best record to 18-3 and wrapped up the easy part of their schedule on a roll. The Lakers got a generous schedule in which they played 17 of their first 21 games at home, and rolled through that stretch with a 15-2 home mark.

Pau Gasol was outstanding last night pouring in 17 points and pulling down a career-high 20 rebounds, and Ron Artest added 16 points for the Lakers.

In this last stretch, the Lakers won impressive games this week against Utah and Phoenix. With the Phoenix win, the Lakers reminded the Suns, the rest of the conference, and probably the rest of the league, as well, who the Cream of the Crop really is.

Utah will get a chance for redemption tonight as the Lakers travel into cold Salt Lake City for a rematch against the Jazz. But they won't get any breaks (no pun intended) because it's going to take a lot more than a broken finger to keep Kobe off the floor. Kobe is expected to play tonight, but how effective, or ineffective he is because of the broken finger, well, we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we?!