Its been a tough road for my Los Angeles Lakers the past couple seasons, and the injury bug always seems to arrive just when the team starts to finally click.

The biggest lost so far has to be the injury to our starting center Andrew Bynum. He was the anchor on defense and had come out this year on a mission to prove he belonged in LA. Unfortunately, after a really strong start he injured his left knee and is expected to be out for eight weeks minimum. After this loss, the injuries seemed to continue to pile on.

Our starting power forward Vladimir Radmanovic sprained his right ankle and hasn’t suited up in a couple weeks, recently aquired Trevor Ariza fractured his foot during practice after landing on a teammate. Chris Mihm who was a solid second option last year before his season ending injury still hasn’t been healthy and is still having problems with his Achilles. Luke Walton who recently returned from several injuries can’t seem to find any type of rhythm he had last year.

The postives in all of this? The Lakers have not bowed out and fizzled like teams such as the Miami Heat and Clippers due to major injuries. Instead, they continue to find ways to win and continue to play hard. The biggest factor in all of this?

Its definitely Kobe Bryant. He has stepped it up a notch and he seems to have finally realized the importance of teamwork. Sure Kobe can take over a game an score at will, but with his teammates there to help him, this Laker squad, injury ridden and all has remained a force in the tough Western Conference.

This evening Kobe truly put on one of his best performances of the season going 5-7 from the field with 17 points, pulling down 5 boards, and garnering 11 assists in the process. He was looking for his teammates the entire game. The response he got for his actions? A nice 116-99 win against a tough Denver squad that includes most notably Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, and Marcus Camby. Clearly Denver on paper had the more talented team overall, but with confidence in his teammates, Kobe was able to get the job done. I honestly expect us to hold on steady till our starters return. Eight weeks is quite a bit of time to wait, but if the Lakers can play team ball and keep their confidence level up, there is no reason why they can’t beat anyone in the league.

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