NEW YEAR'S BROWNOUT CENTER HURT IN LAKERS' VICTORY LAKERS 104, PHILADELPHIA 94.Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer The clock hadn't even hit midnight before the Lakers hopes for good health in the New Year were dashed Sunday night Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. . Now they must wait to learn just how long starting center Kwame Brown will be out with a severely sprained left ankle. Already playing without injured forward Lamar Odom Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6 1979, in South Jamaica, Queens, New York) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays power forward (also plays both forward spots and is a "point-forward") for the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers. , the Lakers lost Brown in the third quarter of their 104-94 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown went up and blocked Andre Miller's shot in the lane only to roll his ankle coming down on Miller's foot. He collapsed to the floor immediately, clutching the ankle, and had to be helped to the locker room. The Lakers said X-rays of the ankle were inconclusive and that Brown will undergo further tests today, including a CT scan CT scan: see CAT scan. See CAT scan. . It was reminiscent of the ankle sprain ankle sprain Orthopedics A stretching of the ankle ligaments and/or muscles with swelling center Chris Mihm Christopher (Chris) Steven Mihm (born July 16, 1979 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. He stands 7 feet tall (213 cm) and weighs 265 pounds (120 kg). suffered in a game in March. Mihm returned in 38days for the Lakers' final regular- season game but his ankle never was right and he has had to undergo two surgeries since. The Lakers were down a big man to begin with in Mihm, who is out for the season. Now they will have to make due with 19-year-old Andrew Bynum Andrew Bynum (born October 27 1987, in Plainsboro, New Jersey) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. Bynum is listed as 7'0" and 285 lbs and plays center. -- who started earlier this season while Brown nursed a shoulder injury -- and Ronny Turiaf Ronny Turiaf (born January 13, 1983 in Le Robert, Martinique) is a French basketball player, selected in the second round (37th pick overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. . ``That's all we have left out there,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. said. ``(Brian Cook For other persons named Brian Cook, see Brian Cook (disambiguation). Brian Joshua Cook (born December 4, 1980 in Lincoln, Illinois) is a power forward for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. ) can play that center role, too, but we are getting to the position where we're going to have to be bucking up and taking care of some business inside.'' Brown was on crutches in the locker room after the game, with a walking boot on his foot. Asked if he heard something in the ankle pop, he said, ``Yes, I did. Man, it hurt. It's killing me right now.'' Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. could relate after missing exactly a month with a severely sprained ankle A sprained ankle, also known as a ankle sprain, ankle injury or ankle ligament injury, is a common medical condition where one or more of the ligaments of the ankle is torn or partially torn. in January 2005. ``Ankle injuries are the worst,'' Bryant added. ``They're just the worst. They take the longest to heal. When they heal, it takes a couple weeks just to get your ankle underneath you again, to cut like you normally would cut. It's a tough injury to deal with.'' The story of the Lakers' season once again returned to injuries. They started the season with almost as many injured players as healthy ones in training camp, while Bryant recovered from knee surgery and Jackson from hip-replacement surgery. Then they lost Odom to a sprained knee ligament Dec. 12. If Brown is out for several weeks, the Lakers might have to play without two starters for most of January. ``It sucks but the one thing it's taught us is that we can still win,'' Luke Walton said. ``It's obviously going to hurt us because Kwame's our best post defender and our best rebounder right now.'' Jackson said he had not decided about starting Bynum, who has averaged 8.5 points and 6.3rebounds in 14 games as a starter, or Turiaf. Bynum started when Brown was out with a shoulder injury; Turiaf played 11 minutes in the fourth quarter Sunday. ``I'm not sure Andrew's quite ready to step into that role at a full-time level,'' Jackson said. ``I won't make that decision till I kind of check out how I feel about that. I may keep Andrew (coming) off the bench and use Ronny as a starter.'' The Lakers didn't need Brown to beat the Sixers, an 8-22 team that traded Allen Iverson on Dec.19. It took a half for the Lakers to adjust to being back at Staples Center after their six-game Christmas trip, but Bryant delivered 20 points in the third quarter. Bryant put on a show in hitting 8 of 9 shots in the quarter. He drilled three jumpers as the Lakers went ahead 74-60, then drove the lane and wrapped a pass to Bynum for a dunk. He followed by stealing Kevin Ollie's pass and pushing in a shot at the other end. But Bryant committed an embarrassing mistake after a Walton steal with a minute left in the third. He led the fastbreak and tossed an underhanded pass to Walton, expecting him to rise for an alley-oop dunk. Walton thought the pass was meant for Maurice Evans and stayed bound to the floor. Ollie came up with the ball as the crowd groaned. Bryant buried a 3-pointer moments later and motioned with his hands for the fans to calm down. ``I was trying to get (Walton) the first lob of his NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= career,'' said Bryant, who finished with 35 points, eight rebounds and sixassists. It was the only lighthearted moment the Lakers could enjoy on a night their injury woes deepened. ross.siler@dailynews.com (818) 713-3610 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: The Lakers' Smush Parker drives past Philadelphia's Andre Miller. The Lakers won, but lost Kwame Brown to injury. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer |
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