<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom was struggling just to lift his arms Thursday and said the rib injury he suffered likely would keep him out of tonight's game against the Charlotte Bobcats. Odom suffered what the team called a sprained rib, damaging the cartilage between several ribs on the upper right side of his chest. The discomfort kept Odom up all night after the Lakers flew in from Indiana. "This hurt more than my torn labrum," Odom said, comparing it to his season-ending shoulder injury from last March. "But hopefully it won't last that long." It would be the first game all season Odom has missed. He also noted Thursday that rib injuries can take some time to heal. Odom was injured when he was caught between Indiana's Jeff Foster and David Harrison fighting for a loose ball with 7:22 left in the third quarter of Wednesday night's game. The collision left Odom suffering some after-effects similar to whiplash. What Odom's absence would mean for the Lakers is unclear. Coach Phil Jackson could start either guard Sasha Vujacic or forward Devean George, with Kobe Bryant moving from the wing to Odom's spot in the backcourt if George is the choice. Playing in the backcourt, Bryant would have to double as a facilitator of the offense and its leading scorer. The Bobcats, who have lost an NBA season-high 13 in a row, recently have been starting a small backcourt of guards Brevin Knight and Raymond Felton. "I just hope my man can get healthy, get him out there on the court," Bryant said of Odom. "He does a lot as far as facilitating our offense and rebounding the ball." Odom stayed in the game after suffering the injury, went to the bench later in the third quarter, and returned for five more minutes. Even though he is left-handed and the rib injury is on his right side, Odom said he still couldn't lift his left arm. Jackson, meanwhile, said he immediately worried that Odom had suffered another shoulder injury. He tore his labrum and rotator cuff at Indiana last March 18 and had to miss the final 17 games of the season and undergo surgery. "We'll take what we get out of this and be happy it's not anything serious," Jackson said. No call: Jackson wondered if the word got out among the NBA's referees about Bryant shooting 26 free throws Tuesday night in New York. The coach sent a message back Thursday after Bryant didn't get to the line in the first half against the Pacers. "It was one of those things that you wonder about retribution or reaction or reactivity," said Jackson, who counted three times in the first half that Bryant drove to the basket and was fouled without a call. "How quickly (word) travels around. "Then again, it just might be a different crew. One night might be so different in the NBA, that they're so inconsistent between one game and the next, that what counts as a foul one night doesn't count as a foul the next." All-Star again: Bryant was voted a starter to his eighth consecutive All-Star Game, the NBA announced Wednesday. Bryant finished second only to Houston center Yao Ming in fan voting. The All-Star Game is Feb. 19 in Houston. Well-adjusted: Jackson put the Lakers through a long film session and practice even though the team is in the midst of a four-game, five-night stretch. His message was about making adjustments on offense and defense, something that didn't happen against Indiana. "It's a lot of extra work against Indiana," Jackson said. "They're not going to let you get to the hoop. You're not going to be able to run screen-and-rolls. We went back out and did some things that were working for us the night before but weren't going to work for us that night." The Lakers scored 51 fewer points against the Pacers than they did against the Knicks the night before. The last time the Lakers experienced such a swing for two regulation games came in March 1989, when they scored 139 against Indiana and 88 two days later at Houston. </div> http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_3470143
