The Los Angeles Lakers will be without center Dwight Howard in Thursday's road game against the Boston Celtics at 8:30 pm ET.
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According to ESPN.com, Howard aggravated a torn labrum in his right shoulder during the Lakers' 92-86 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the start of their current seven-game road trip.
On Wednesday, Kobe Bryant publicly challenged Howard to return, telling ESPNBoston.com's Jackie MacMullan, "We don't have time for [Howard's shoulder] to heal. ... We need some urgency."
Howard responded to the comments earlier Thursday.
"That's his opinion, that's it," Howard said. "He's not a doctor, I'm not a doctor. That's his opinion."
Howard also addressed his critics as a whole.
"I want to play," Howard said after the team's morning shootaround. "I mean, why wouldn't I want to play? But at the same time, this is my career, this is my future, this is my life. I can't leave that up to anybody else because nobody else is going to take care of me. So, if people are pissed off that I don't play or if I do play, whatever it may be, so what? This is my career. If I go down, then what? Everybody's life is going to go on. I don't want to have another summer where I'm rehabbing and trying to get healthy again. I want to come back and have another great year. That's what I want to do."
