With the Los Angeles Lakers winning streak now brought to an end, bigger concerns are now with center Dwight Howard after re-aggravating the torn labrum in his right shoulder in Wednesday's loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Howard was blocked by the Suns' Shannon Brown ith 6:57 remaining in the fourth as he tried to bring the ball from his waist up to the hoop following an offensive rebound and went down to the floor in pain.
Howard walked off the court with a grimacing look and did not return as the Suns finished on a 19-8 run without him on the floor. Howard will have his shoulder re-evaluated Thursday and his availability for Friday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves will be determined.
"It's real sore," Howard told reporters after icing his shoulder and applying kinesiology tape to the joint following the game. "Everything on (the right) side (of my body) is hurting pretty bad right now."
Howard first aggravated his shoulder during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers during a Jan. 4 contest. He re-aggravated it in a loss against the Memphis Grizzlies last week and sat out the second half, but did not miss any subsequent games.
Kobe Bryant said he has played through shoulder injuries in the past and it will be an adjustment that Howard has to make.
"I'm not worried about it," Bryant said. "It is going to be an all-season thing. That's how those types of injuries are with the labrum. I've had them before. Lamar (Odom) when he was here had them before. It's one of those things when you get banged like that going up, you're going to get that stinging sensation. That's just how it's going to be."
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