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NBA

Kobe Decides Against Surgery

We'd been waiting to hear how long Kobe Bryant would be out once getting his pinky put back together -- again, it's hilarious that it was news that a player had announced a date on which he would announce which date he'd go under the knife -- but the trepidation is for naught: Kobe will skip surgery so as not to miss up to a month of regular season action, according to Bryant's official website (via Forum Blue and Gold).

Kobe's site says it's possible #24 would have had three months of recovery after the surgery, which means up to about 20 regular season games could have been in jeopardy. Kobe played well with the injury late last season and in stretches during the Olympics. He's ready to gut it out again. I hope someone -- Kobe's doc, the Lakers, whoever -- communicates the chances the finger could be aggravated during regular season. It'd be a bit short-sighted if Kobe avoided surgery to save 20 games now but had to go under the knife after a Bruce Bowen bump in December and ends up missing 40+ games.

By the way, Kurt from FB&G wonders the splits on Kobe's shooting percentages before and after the injury last season. The injury happened February 5 in New Jersey. Through the end of January, Kobe shot .451/.350/.838. From February through April, Kobe went .468/.375/.842. The injury didn't damage his shooting efficiency at all. He did shoot less after the injury, though I imagine the acquisition of Pau Gasol had something to do with that.

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