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Kobe Bryant has a torn ligament in his right finger. That just happens to be his shooting hand and for the Lakers thats as big of a problem as they could have right now.

If Kobe decides to go ahead and have the surgery, he will sidelines for 6-8 weeks and in the topsy-tervy Western conference, anything could happen in that time frame.

Kobe first hurt the finger during their game at the Nets on Feb. 5th. He reinjured it in their game against the T-Wolves on Wednesday night and things aren't looking good for him.

So far he has already pulled out of the three point contest (replaced by Dirk Nowitzki) and could potentially sit out of the All Star game on Sunday.

"My current thinking is to give my finger some treatment and rest for a few days, and hope I can still continue to compete at a high level after that rest," Bryant said in statement.

"I would prefer to delay any surgical procedure until after our Lakers season, and this summer's Olympic Games. But this is an injury that myself and the Lakers medical staff will just have to continue to monitor on a day-to-day basis."

Yeah, good luck with that Kobe. Kobe needs to go ahead and get the surgery now before he hurts it worse and can't compete in the playoffs. At least this way if the Lakers can stay in the playoff picture they will have him back right on time to go for the last few games of the season and the beginning of the season.

The Western conference is so close right now though, they may not even be in the playoff picture without their superstar. Here is how it looks right now:

1. Hornets (36-15)
2. Suns (37-16)
3. Lakers (35-17)
4. Jazz (34-19)
5. Spurs (34-17)
6. Mavs (35-18)
7. Warriors (32-20)
8. Nuggets (32-20)
9. Rockets (32-20)

Only 4.5 games seperate the top teams from the bottom teams. If the Lakers lose 4 in a row they would be out of the playoffs. They are definitely in a bind right now.

Suns 109 - Mavs 97

So there was no Jason Kidd or Shaquille O'neal in this one. It didn't matter so much for the Suns because they managed pull out the 109-97 victory but for the Mavericks, who are very injury depleted, they could've really used the All Star point guard.

The Mavs had good contributions from Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry. They had 36 and 29 respectively. It wasn't enough to beat the high flying Suns though. They could've really used help from the injured Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris.

The Suns had a very balanced attack with 26 from Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa, 24 points and 13 dimes from Steve Nash and 19 from Boris Diaw. They also had the pick and roll with Nash and Stoudemire going good for them all night. The Mavs couldn't stop it all night. Heres an example:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm-rPDLzDZg]

Around the league

• Hinrich scored 24 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 99-92 victory over Miami and send the Heat to their 24th loss in 25 games, despite solid outings by Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion.

Spurs 112 - Cavs 105

Ok so you may want to send a message to Casino owners in Las Vegas. Manu Ginobili is planning on going there over the All Star weekend this weekend and he is on some kind of hot streak.

In their first return back to Cleveland since winning the NBA title there last year, the Spurs were lead by Ginobili's 46 to a 112-105 victory over the Cavs. He had a particularly dominant fourth quarter. He had 18 points on 5/5 FG's, 4/4 3 point FG's, and 4/4 FT's. Owned.

Heres some highlights:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYXUiyvd2QA]

Mavericks 96 - Trail Blazers 76

So the Jason Kidd talk didn't seem to distract the Mavs, for the most part. They seemed very focused, for the most part. They all played well, for the most part. The other part of the Mavs though was Devean George who had his worse game of his career and had to deal with heckling fans all night. The only problem was that those were fans of his team.

Yesterday there was a lot buzz around the potential trade. The trade would've sent Jason Kidd to Dallas for Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager. This in my opinion would've made the Mavs THE team to beat in the west. For right now it looks like the deal isn't going to go down but we will see in the next few days.

All the trade talk and chants like "Quit being selfish,'' and "We want Kidd,'' must have been enough to make George finish with 0 points on 0/11 shooting. Thats not gonna make them want to keep you man. Good thing for the Mavs they have Dirk Nowitzki. He finished with 37 points and lead them to the 96-76 win over the Blazers.

Here is George saying "I'll be the bad guy":

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iBYXeUF5s8]

Magic 109 - Nuggets 98

So after the Magic loss at home the other night to the , Stan Van Gundy felt that it was necessary to call out his star player Dwight Howard. He said to the media in a press conference that he needs to "concentrate more on defense and rebounding." Van Gundy was criticized for this because Howard is only 22 and he is a nice guy and you'd think that this could potentially cause a problem.

Well apparently thats not the case. Howard is a professional and he showed it in last nights game against the Nuggets. Too bad for the Nuggets they had to catch the aftermath of Van Gundy's comments.

Howard finished with 23 points, 24 rebounds and 2 blocks to push the Magic past the Nuggets 109-98. Afterwards, Van Gundy sarcastically said that the 24 rebounds was "ok" and that they were disappointed that he didn't get 3 blocks. More motivation maybe?

Around the league

• Jeff McInnis' hook shot with 51.4 seconds left in overtime gave the Charlotte Bobcats a 100-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
• Chris Bosh had 27 points, Jose Calderon had 22 points and 12 assists and the Toronto Raptors beat the New Jersey Nets, who were playing without Jason Kidd, 109-91.
• Andre Iguodala had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as the Philadelphia 76ers won their fifth straight and completed a perfect homestand before the All-Star break with a 102-88 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
• Paul Pierce scored 24 points, and his newly minted All-Star teammate Ray Allen added 21 to help the Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks 111-103.
• Antawn Jamison scored 29 points and tipped in a missed shot by Antonio Daniels with three-tenths of a second left, giving Washington a 91-89 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and snapping the Wizards' eight-game losing streak.
• Carlos Boozer had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double as the Utah Jazz soared into the All-Star break with a 112-93 victory over the Sonics.
• Monta Ellis scored 37 points and Baron Davis made three straight baskets down the stretch to send the Golden State Warriors into the All-Star break with a win against the Western Conference's top team, 120-118 over the Phoenix Suns.
• Steve Novak hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give the Houston Rockets their eighth straight win, an 89-87 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
• After two weeks on the road, the Los Angeles Lakers are going home with Pau Gasol and an impressive record. Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, Gasol pitched in another well-rounded game, Lamar Odom patched together a triple-double, and the Lakers breezed past the Minnesota Timberwolves 117-92 to finish their road trip 7-2.
• Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton led a balanced attack with 14 points each as the Detroit Pistons won their 10th straight with a 96-80 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
• Peja Stojakovic hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left and All-Stars David West and Chris Paul combined for 43 points as New Orleans looked ready for its star-studded weekend with a 111-107 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Bobcats beat the Celtics on the road

This is by far the biggest upset of the season thusfar. Last night Bobcats, who have been horrible on the road, faced the Celtics, who have been great just about everywhere, in Boston. Even though Ray Allen didn't play in this one because of a pinched nerve, it's still an easy win right? Wrong.

The Jason Richardson-led Bobcats went into Boston and beat the Celtics 95-83. J-Rich came up big with a game high 34 points and 9 rebounds. Gerald Wallace also contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds.

"I'm not surprised because we're a pretty good team,'' Richardson said. "It just doesn't show in our record.''

He's definitely right about the record part. This teams road record is 1-11 and the Celtics were on a 9 game winning streak. So much for that.

I guess this shouldn't have been a surprise though because a few months ago the Bobcats were a Ray Allen game winning shot away from beating the Celtics at home. If the Bobcats manage to get into the playoffs (which is very possible in the East) than they may end up being this years Golden State Warriors.

Pistons streaking in the wrong direction

After the Pistons 11 game winning streak was abruptly ended on Saturday by the Celtics, the Pistons went into Dallas last night looking to bounce back. Things didn't go according t plan for them.

Last years MVP Dirk Nowitzki did what he could to make sure of that coming out hitting all kinds of shots for 11 points in the first quarter. Nowitzki lead his team in scoring with 23 points in this one and sent the Pistons to a 102-86 loss in Dallas.

I knew it was going to be a long game for the Pistons, especially after Brandon Bass completely abused Jason Maxiel. Check it out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOs86jce7nI]

I guess Mike Tirico must have read our minds when he renamed the Mavs during this game:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI-WnOfTNj4]

Kobe doesn't need to score 60 points for the Lakers to win?!?!

So this may come as a surprise to you but after all of the talk of being traded, Kobe's numbers are way down from last year but the Lakers are winning more. Right now they look like they may be one of the better teams in the west after completely handling the Hornets last night 109-80.

This was a game of two of the wests hottest up and coming teams but the Lakers made a statement. Kobe Bryant scored only 19 points but got key contributions from his team. Andrew Bynum had 17 points, Luke Walton had 14 points and Lamar Odom had 11.

This kind of balanced attack has gotten the Lakers to a 23-11 record and Kobe is getting more and more comfortable with his new role.

"My role now has changed,'' said Bryant, whose scoring average is down from 31.6 points per game last season to 26.4 through 34 games this season. "I'm not the guy who has to go out and score 35-something points. They come to me to get buckets when we need a little boost here and there and that's as it should be.''

Around the League

• LeBron James had another big fourth quarter, but this time it wasn't enough. James scored 14 of his 31 points in the final quarter, but Cleveland couldn't find enough scoring help for its seventh straight win in Atlanta. Joe Johnson scored 29 points to lead a more balanced Atlanta attack, and the Hawks held off a late comeback to beat the Cavaliers 90-81.
• Richard Jefferson scored 28 points and the New Jersey Nets cruised to a 99-88 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics in a blowout.
• Anthony Parker matched his season high with 22 points, Chris Bosh had 21 and the Toronto Raptors beat Philadelphia 109-96, handing the 76ers their season-high fifth straight loss.
• Yao Ming scored 36 points, and the Rockets broke open a close game after Thomas was ejected to beat the New York Knicks 101-92 for their season-high fourth straight victory.
• Mo Williams scored a season-high 35 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 98-92 victory over Miami, sending the Heat to their ninth straight loss.
• Raja Bell sank two 3-pointers in the final 2 1/2 minutes of overtime and the Phoenix Suns rallied from 16 points down without Steve Nash to beat the Indiana Pacers 129-122.
• Steve Blake had a season-high 24 points before leaving the game with a left calf injury and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors 109-91.
• Hedo Turkoglu scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, five teammates reached double figures, and the Orlando Magic beat the Los Angeles Clippers 113-106 to snap a season-high three-game losing streak.

• Dwight Howard scored four of his 18 points in the extra session and the NBA's top road team pulled off a hard-fought 123-117 victory over Golden State to snap the Warriors' six-game winning streak.
• Mehmet Okur scored 25 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Utah Jazz to a 110-101 victory over the reeling Miami Heat.
• Josh Howard scores 27 points, Dirk Nowitzki adds 25 and the Dallas Mavericks hang on to beat the Bulls, 103-98.
• Travis Outlaw scored 21 points, including the winning 6-foot runner as the buzzer sounded, to give the Portland Trail Blazers their first road victory of the season, 106-105 over the Memphis Grizzlies.
• Kris Humphries and Carlos Delfino both scored 17 points, Joey Graham added 13 and the Toronto Raptors shrugged off injuries to three top players to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 98-79.
• Josh Smith scored 22 points, Marvin Williams and Josh Childress both added 16 and the Atlanta Hawks snapped a seven-game losing streak at Philadelphia with an 88-79 victory over the 76ers.