The awful injury to Kobe Bryant in the final week of the NBA regular season would be bad enough. Kobe apparently tore his Achilles on Friday during the Lakers' win over the Warriors; he'll miss L.A.'s last few games and if the team makes the postseason, he'll be watching it from the bench. Really, the injury is the final cosmic middle finger to a Lakers squad that has suffered injury after injury this season.
Kobe Bryant injury only the latest in a miserable string for Lakers
The Lakers’ medical staff has worked a whole lot of overtime in 2012-13.
A quick rundown:
* Steve Blake punctured his foot after stepping on a spike strip in a parking garage in September. He missed the preseason.
* Dwight Howard had back surgery last spring, and probably shouldn't have played until January or later. He played beginning late in the preseason, and wasn't himself until ... frankly, he's still not himself, though he's been better since late February.
* Pau Gasol dealt with plantar fasciitis for several weeks, missing games sporadically. Finally, as he tried to play on it, he tore it and missed six weeks.
* Steve Nash suffered a bone chip in the first week of the season. The injury was initially listed as day-to-day. He didn't play until just before Christmas. He's also sporadically missed games since then with bumps and bruises.
* Jordan Hill was lost for the season in January.
* Metta World Peace was initially thought to be out for the season due to a back surgery suffered in late March. He instead returned to action within two weeks.
* Kobe Bryant had badly sprained his ankle in mid-March. He played 12 minutes in the next game, but then had to sit for a couple to heal up.
And now, Kobe is done for the year. All teams deal with injuries, but the Lakers’ spell of misfortune has seemed to be timed intentionally to cause maximum heartburn. Whatever the case, it cannot possibly get worse than this.
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