Suddenly, Horry Feels No Pain

What was once a continuing mystery and then a continuing problem has become a constant of another kind for Robert Horry.

Ongoing health.

Imagine that. As welcome as that is for the Lakers, it’s probably a bigger surprise. When the stabbing pains in the groin area came to Horry at the end of January, and then carried into February and cost him four games and big parts of two others, it was diagnosed as a strained abdominal muscle and then a hernia and then, finally, a dilated vein. And there was a chance it could stay with him the rest of the season and maybe need surgery in the summer.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the operating room.

“I haven’t felt it for a while,” Horry said.

Enough of a while that he went into Monday’s game at Seattle having averaged 8.7 rebounds and shot 54.8% in the previous 11 outings. The day before, at Vancouver, the starting power forward scored 23 points, his high in 14 months as a Laker. The game before that, Thursday against the Clippers, he had 14 rebounds to tie a season high.

“The last time he pulled up was at Washington [March 2],” Coach Del Harris said. “Hopefully, that won’t come up again. It certainly helps having Robert close to 100%. He’s played awfully well.”

Thanks in part to an unexpected development.

“Hopefully,” Horry said, “it’ll stay hid.”