When Kobe Bryant sat out the Lakers' win over the Blazers in Portland on Saturday, it snapped a personal streak of 235 consecutive games played. But after missing his second straight on Monday -- another Lakers' victory, this time over the Spurs -- the question now becomes this: Just how long should Kobe rest that injured ankle?

The opinions, as you might imagine, are somewhat all over the place.

There's one school of thought that goes like this: Kobe knows his body better than anyone else, and he shouldn't sit just for the sake of sitting. Besides, when the team makes its run at a title defense once the playoffs start, everyone else is going to have to play well with Kobe on the court. So, this time without him when the rest of the team might be able to gain some additional confidence isn't necessarily going to help in the long run.

There's some truth to all that. But there's also the simple fact that Kobe's body doesn't recover from injuries the way it used to. And while he can certainly go through a ton of treatment and get himself ready to play through something like a sprained ankle, there's little reason to do so when the ultimate goal is to be healthy for June, not just to win a regular season game in February.

It seems as though Bryant himself is leaning towards rest at this point. And maybe, as evidenced by his post-game comments from Monday, he is finally thinking about things as they relate to the bigger picture, instead of simply taking them on a game-to-game basis.

Ron Artest has largely been on his best behavior since joining the Lakers this season. Unless you consider his claim of wanting to choke Trevor Ariza to be legit, the days of violent outbursts on the court appeared to be behind him -- at least until this play from Friday night's game against the Nuggets transpired.

Artest is fouled hard by Joey Graham (but honestly, not that hard), and whirls around with his right hand cocked, before thinking better of it and letting the incident go without any serious retaliation.



I think it's safe to assume that fans of both teams were thinking exactly what Joel Meyers was able to verbalize there: "Please calm down, Ron."

[via ClutchFans]

Kobe Bryant is injured. Despite battling through broken/dislocated finger(s) on his shooting hand, back spasms, and most recently, ankle issues, he remains committed to playing all 82 games this season.

Now of course, this is not in the team's best interest. For the Lakers to accomplish their ultimate goal of repeating as champions, they'll need Bryant to be as close to 100 percent as possible. And for the first time this season, Phil Jackson seemed to be taking this into account after watching his star hobble his way through a five-point performance against the Bobcats.

"It occurred to me [Wednesday] during the course of that game," Jackson said, when asked if it might be time for Kobe to rest for a few games.

Never has so much been made out of such an innocuous statement.

If the playoffs began today, the Thunder would be in the conversation. Kevin Durant is within percentage points of leading the league in scoring, and has led his team to wins over the previously red-hot Nuggets and Hawks in the past week. As such, Oklahoma City finds themselves moving all the way up to the six spot in this week's Rankings.

The Cavaliers, of course, are still on top, but there was plenty of movement otherwise. Read on to see where your favorites ended up this week.

As Brett Pollakoff noted Tuesday morning, even if Pau Gasol and Phil Jackson are most assuredly accurate in insisting the Lakers offense would be better off with Kobe Bryant sharing the ball more, this was an odd time to mention it. The Lakers didn't lose at Memphis because of Kobe -- they lost because the corps of big men, which happens to include Mr. Gasol, couldn't keep the Grizzlies off the glass.

Seven Grizzlies registered at least one offensive rebound, for 12 in all in 46 opportunities. The Lakers managed just five of their own total, in 42 opportunities. When you can't keep the opponent off their offensive glass, and can't match them at the other end, you're going to have trouble winning, even with your star going off for 44.

Granted, the Lakers offense was mediocre in total, especially against a woeful Memphis defense, and "Kobe plus four voyeurs" has been proven to be a bad plan. I have no trouble believing that's caused the Lakers offense (second in the NBA last season) to slip (10th this year). But who exactly has slipped?

Kobe Bryant became the Lakers' all-time leading scorer on Monday, surpassing the great Jerry West with an uncontested slam dunk in the third quarter of L.A.'s two-point loss at the hands of the Grizzlies. Bryant (coincidentally?) finished the game with 44 points, the same number that West wore on his jersey for the duration of his Hall of Fame career.

The individual accomplishment is something to behold, especially when you consider the storied history of the Lakers franchise. But on a night when his team lost and his coach and All-Star teammate criticized him for taking too many shots, Bryant probably wishes it went down a bit differently.

Spencer Haywood will walk into a Dallas hotel ballroom filled with the 24 NBA All-Stars next weekend, and not a head will turn. Hardly anyone will know the face. Several may know his name -- if they get close enough to read the name tag he is wearing.

And that's a shame. They should be giving him a standing ovation, or parade him around the room on their shoulders like a conquering hero. For most of them, Haywood is the one who made this all possible.

It was Haywood 40 years ago who forced his way into the league by boldly challenging the NBA establishment, taking his demand all the way to the United States Supreme Court. He changed the rule prohibiting teams from using a player whose college class had not yet graduated.

His case sent a shockwave through every city in the league, forever changing the face of the NBA. And depending upon your view, he was either a trail blazing pioneer or the devil who was trying to wreck both college basketball and professional sports.

Today is the two-year anniversary of the trade that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers, and to mark the occasion, the NBA schedule-makers have sent L.A. to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies. You know, just in case we needed to see exactly how things have worked out for the two franchises so far.

As just about everyone predicted at the time, the deal put the Lakers immediately into the championship conversation. The two seasons that L.A. finished with Gasol in uniform resulted in two trips to the NBA Finals, and season three appears to be on track for more of the same.

But what about the Grizzlies?

If we're being completely honest, Kobe Bryant didn't have it on Sunday. Favoring his ankle from the very beginning, Bryant shied away from shots he normally takes, and from initiating the offense on most possessions. But as is almost always the case when the clock is winding down and the ball is in his hands, he finds a way to win.

That's exactly how it went down against the Celtics, as Bryant's jumper over Ray Allen with 7.3 seconds left capped an 11-point fourth quarter comeback to give the Lakers a hard-fought 90-89 road victory.

Back when the Grizzlies pawned off All-Star Pau Gasol to the Lakers in exchange for That Kwame Brown, still-in-Spain and quite pudgy Marc Gasol and a couple low draft picks, critics were everywhere ... including the Spurs locker room. San Antonio chieftain Gregg Popovich humbly requested that other franchises stop creating superpowers for the hell of it, and glibly suggested the league create a veto committee to overrule blatantly unbalanced deals.

Turns out the younger Gasol is darn good, and the Grizzlies might have known what they were doing back in '07. Pau's eventual power forward replacement Zach Randolph in an All-Star, Memphis is in the playoff picture, and Grizz GM Chris Wallace is even being credited for his long-term vision. Heck, the Grizz might even catch up with the Spurs in the standings this year -- if S.A. hadn't beat Memphis Friday, the teams would be tied for second in the Southwest.