Ron Artest Injured

Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest suffered a concussion and injured his left elbow after falling at his home. Artest didn’t travel with the Lakers to Saturday’s game at Sacramento after tripping over a box and falling down a flight of stairs at his home on Christmas night, the team said in a news release.

He was treated at UCLA Medical Center, undergoing a CT scan and receiving stitches in the back of his head and his elbow. A neurologist examined him on Saturday and confirmed he had a concussion, the team said. Artest is day to day.
Artest scored 13 points and fouled out while guarding LeBron James in the Lakers’ 102-87 loss to Cleveland earlier Friday. Artest is averaging 12.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in his first season with Los Angeles after signing as a free agent.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson allowed his players to stay home with their families on Christmas night, apparently getting permission from the NBA to fly to Sacramento on Saturday morning. Asked his interpretation of Artest’s injury before the Lakers’ 112-103 win against the Kings in double overtime, Jackson responded, “What do you mean, ‘What’s my interpretation?’ What’s that supposed to mean? “Let me see, my interpretation is that an accident happened, he fell down, he ended up in the hospital, and he came out with some stitches. Other than that, I can’t add anything to it.”

Los Angeles began a stretch with four games in five days on Christmas, culminating in a home game against Golden State on Tuesday. “What I was telling the team is that he brings a certain physical presence to our game,” Jackson said. “And we’ll miss that part of his game.”

Sources Say Odom Staying with Lakers on 4 Year 40 Million Deal

LakersNation: AM830 Roger Lodge says his sources say Lamar met with Dr. Buss in a room and will stay with the Lakers for 4 years at $40Million – @KTLAMorningShow.

Mario Uruita will be fact finding and verifying sources, so rest easy knowing…the Lamer Saga will be continued….

Classic Ron Artest at Lakers Press Conference

During his press conference, new Los Angeles Laker Ron Artest talks about keeping his promise to Kobe Bryant and joining his longtime friend, Lamar Odom to play for the NBA champions under legend Phil Jackson.

Watch Ron Artest – Lakers Press Conference

Artest, who played for the Houston Rockets last season, received a five-year deal worth about $33 million, according to his agent, David Bauman.  “This was a long time coming,” Artest said. “As I started to compete against the Lakers and against Kobe Bryant, I had respect for him and I always wanted to be a teammate of his.”

On a day when many reporters were asking him how he much he’s truly changed from his Indiana days of punching people in the stands, Ron Artest calmly provided many new punch-lines for people to mull over (the tickling variety as opposed to the one that bleeds and swells). To say the least, it was very entertaining. It may not have been as extravagant as most of Shaq’s previous press conferences, but the constant stream of random one-liners that flowed from the jovial and upbeat Artest sure made it seem like the newest Laker had taken some comedic lessons from the Big…Whatever.

Make no mistake about it, coming from a guy that Lakers fans had once always hated and been wary about for so long because of his bad boy image, past history, and annoying bouts of showboating -- it’s hard to decipher Ron Artest during such celebratory, formal speaking engagements such as this when he’s seemingly always on his best behavior, ready to put his best face forward. Here are some quotable highlights

*  On winning his teammates and coaching staff over: “I gotta win myself over. Make sure I work on myself this summer -- come back in tip top condition. He’s right. It’s not a given that just because you add me to a team.”
* “Last couple years, Kobe’s really been devoted to defense. And I respect him even more now. He’s not gambling as much. He’s more focused on stand-still defense.”
* “They’re a tough team. I thought they were tougher than Boston. I’m a Laker fan. When they were struggling against Boston, I felt bad.”
* “My priorities are straight now -- play ball first. And then everything comes second.”
* On having doubters and the pressure that comes with being a Laker -- “That’s great pressure to have. I want people to come down on me. That’s why I like having Kobe, he likes the pressure. I like to prove that I can be
* “They love their team. The fans are so confident. The fans are tellin’ me, “are you ready to get your ring?” They know they’re going to win. That’s a great feeling.”

Lakers Dodge a Bullet and Go Up 2-0 in NBA Finals

The Los Angeles Lakers dodged a bullet to win game 2 and remain in control of the NBA Finals. 

Pau Gasol scored seven points in overtime and Bryant finished with 29 as the Lakers, so dominant in the series opener, survived with a 101-96 win over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday night.”I was obviously relieved when he missed that shot,” Gasol said. “It could have been a heartbreaker and right now we could be in a totally different situation.”If Orlando doesn’t come back and win this series, Lee’s miss may go down as one of the biggest gaffes in finals history. He had a chance to give the Magic its first finals win.”We missed it. I don’t know what else to say,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We executed well, Hedo Turkoglu made a great pass. I’m not trying to be a pain … Hedo made a great pass and he just missed it.”

Orlando may not get a better shot to beat the Lakers.  Alley-oops.  “We blew a lot of assignments tonight — a lot of assignments — and we still managed to get a win,” Bryant said.  When it was finally over, Bryant, Derek Fisher and the Lakers jogged to the locker room, smiling and high-fiving fans along the way.

Hedo Turkoglu, who threw the perfect lob pass on Lee’s ill-fated shot, trudged through the tunnel dejected, a towel hanging from his head. Gasol added 24 and 10 rebounds and Lamar Odom 19 points for the Lakers, who won Game 1 by 25 but needed 53 minutes to put away the Magic.  Rashard Lewis scored 34 — 18 in the second quarter alone — and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando.

Game 3 is Tuesday night at Orlando’s Amway Arena, which will be hosting a finals game for the first time since June 9, 1995.

With the score tied at 88-88 in regulation, Lee missed the first of two late-game shots when he drove the lane and misfired on a contested layup with 10.5 seconds remaining.The Lakers called time with 9.1 seconds to play, and after Odom caught the inbounds pass, he quickly gave it to Bryant, who drove into a crowd. Bryant attempted an off-balance 12-footer, but his shot was blocked from behind by Turkoglu with 1.8 seconds left.The horn sounded, the clock expired to zeros and Jack Nicholson and the star-studded Staples Center crowd braced for overtime.

But the officials huddled at the scorer’s t

So close. So far.  “I caught it and just tried to make a play,” Lee said. “We didn’t lose the game just because I missed the layup. We could have won the game.” Howard, who had seven of Orlando’s 20 turnovers, didn’t want to put too much emphasis on Lee’s miss.  “We had our chances to win,” he said. “We turned the ball over too much. That got them the win.”Bryant, who got caught paying more attention to Orlando’s outside shooters than Lee, knew how fortunate the Lakers were to hang on.”It was just a brilliant play,” Bryant said. “It was just a very, very smart play that he [Van Gundy] drew up. He knew my eye was more on the shooters coming up and just a hell of a play by a hell of a coach.”Fourteen years to the day, the Magic have more finals misery. On June 7, 1995, Orlando had a chance to put Houston away in Game 1, but Magic guard Nick Anderson missed four late free throws in a 120-118 loss to the Rockets, who went on to sweep the series

The Magic will head home thinking about what might have been. They could be tied 1-1, and with the next three games scheduled in front of their frenzied fans, they could have denied Bryant and the Lakers their first title since 2002.Now, in a season of comebacks, they’ll need their biggest one.

Bryant, who scored 40 in the opener, finished with eight assists and seven turnovers.  Lewis transformed into Orlando’s version of Bryant in the second quarter, scoring 18 of the Magic’s 20 points to keep them close. The 6-foot-10 forward’s size and exceptional range make him an impossible cover for the Lakers.  With Howard unable to get open and Orlando’s other shooters still searching for their touch, Lewis carried the load. He made four consecutive 3-pointers to end the half and the Magic, despite shooting just 32 percent, were within 38-35 at the break.  If not for Lewis, Orlando would have been in big trouble because Howard looked hopeless.

For a long stretch, Superman was more like The Invisible Man. At times, it seemed as if there were six or seven Lakers on the floor as they swarmed Howard, who made just 1 of 4 shots and had four turnovers.”I was frustrated tonight and in the first game,” Howard said. “But being the leader on my team, my teammates cannot see me frustrated. I’ve got to play through all the different situations and learn from them.”

Andrew Bynum Injury Update

Andrew Bynum returned to the practice court Tuesday morning. Bynum shot baskets during the Lakers’ shoot-around. “He was on the floor shooting toe-up shots,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks at Staples Center. “He was relatively active for his condition. He’s doing pretty well.”   However, it probably will be quite some time before Bynum is sound enough to resume practicing with his teammates.

The Los Angeles Lakers expect their 7-foot center to be sidelined perhaps until April because of a torn right knee ligament.   What’s more, they don’t expect to know how fast or slow he is recovering from his Jan. 31 injury for several more weeks. He has not started an exercise regime yet and probably won’t until next month.  Bynum is still undergoing rehabilitation work on his knee.  Bynum initially was expected to be sidelined between eight and 12 weeks. “It’s still mostly rehab work, not an exercise regime, but that will start soon,” Jackson said. “Until he’s on the floor sometime in March, we won’t know.  Getting on the floor, doing activity drills, all that stuff, is tied with the healing aspect, which takes a while.”

Bynum suffered a season-ending left kneecap injury Jan. 13, 2008, and also was expected to be sidelined for up to three months. He ended up sitting out for the remainder of the regular season plus the playoffs. He underwent surgery last May. Read the full article>