Lakers injury news: Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard

Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard were able to suit up last night for the Los Angeles Lakers even though the stars are both playing through pain.Howard is continuing to be hampered by a shoulder injury, while Bryant had a nerve in his elbow aggravated recently. It clearly bothered Kobe during Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it didn’t keep him out of the lineup Wednesday against the New Orleans Hornets.Howard is dealing with a partially torn labrum in his shoulder. While he could elect to undergo surgery to repair the injury, he instead continues to play through the pain. It’s clearly impacted his play, but he continues to suit up for Los Angeles.The Lakers continue to compete for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They currently trail the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets by 1.5 and 2.0 games.Follow @hoopsinjurynews!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="http://www.nbainjurynews.com//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");