X-Rays of Malone’s Knee Are Normal; MRI Today

Karl Malone suffered a sprained right knee in the first quarter Sunday night and is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam this morning.

X-rays taken during the game were normal, and Malone forced an optimistic smile before he limped from Staples Center.

“Just frustrated,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t right.... I’ll be smart about it and think positive ... thoughts about it and hopefully it’ll respond.”

Malone was injured less than four minutes into the game, when Phoenix forward Scott Williams landed hard on his knee.

Williams had defended a Malone jumper. When the shot was off, they stumbled together and fell over backward, Malone coming down first in front of the Laker bench, Williams not far behind.

For several minutes, Malone clutched his knee, grimacing as trainer Gary Vitti knelt over him. He arose with some help, to applause, flexed his knee and nodded. He walked to the free-throw line, shot twice and on the next whistle left the floor. He trudged past the bench and through the tunnel, trainers tagging along.

“I definitely heard a pop,” Williams said. “He didn’t yell out, so I thought maybe it wasn’t his body. Maybe it was just a floorboard or a shoe or something. It sounded like that pop that players talk about they hear.”

Malone has sat out 11 games in his career, six because of injury or illness. Suspended for elbowing Dallas’ Steve Nash, he sat out a game against the Utah Jazz, his team of 18 seasons, on Dec. 7. The Lakers play again Tuesday night at Golden State.

Although Malone said the pain and instability in his knee were not subsiding, he added, “Hopefully it’s just irritated in the knee and it’ll get better.”

In three months, Malone has become critical to the Lakers, for his sturdy on-court play and his unyielding habits and expectations off the floor.

He arrived at Sunday night’s game averaging 14.5 points, third on the team behind Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and 9.9 rebounds, second to O’Neal and ninth in the league.

In the early days of summer, not long before he would turn 40, Malone proposed the idea of a package deal: himself and Gary Payton for what became $6.4 million.

Even in the process of learning the triangle offense and smothering the occasional personality uprising, Malone has appeared rejuvenated as a Laker.

Malone watched the remainder of Sunday’s game from the trainers’ room, where he received treatments of ice and electric stimulation.

Asked his level of concern, Malone said, “None, right now. Like I said, think positive.”

*

Still the free throws.

O’Neal has been in contact with Ed Palubinskas, the shooting coach who aided in his improvement from the line two seasons ago.

O’Neal said they communicate by e-mail.

“We talk all the time,” O’Neal said.

He is shooting 52.5% from the line. But Coach Phil Jackson said Sunday that O’Neal is doing what he can, and that all he can do is sift through the ideas and pick one.

Palubinskas is a familiar voice (since O’Neal was at Louisiana State), and a proven one.

“I’ll be all right,” O’Neal said.

*

Malone had free throw-accuracy issues early in his career, which is when he starting talking to himself at the line.

He would not reveal what he mumbles, only that it is meaningful to him and he changes it with some regularity.

If he wouldn’t tell reporters, Malone was asked, would he at least tell O’Neal? He laughed.

“It’s kind of a fine line there you don’t cross,” Malone said. “That’s one of those lines.”