It proved to Farmar that his surgically repaired left knee is fully healthy again.
“Just the fact that I didn’t think about it, I got an open lane, went and jumped off my knee with no second thought about it, that’s good,” Farmar said. “It tells me that I’m back to 100 percent.” In the 10 games since he returned, Farmar has averaged 6.6 points and 2.6 assists in 18 minutes per game, very similar numbers to those he put up prior to getting hurt in late December. He says lack of stamina hasn’t been an issue because he rarely plays more than six to eight minutes at a time, though Coach Phil Jackson noticed Farmar fatigued quickly when applying full-court pressure last week against Toronto. “Their backup guard was not experienced, so we wanted to get up and pressure,” Jackson said.” After two, three trips up the court, he (Farmar) was pretty winded. He backed off, he got a little pink-cheeked, and we knew he was a little bit winded.” Farmar fueled a rally from a seven-point, third-quarter deficit at Utah, scoring on a driving layup, finding Lamar Odom for a layup underneath the basket and then kicking out to Trevor Ariza for a wide-open, left-wing three. He finished with nine points and four assists in 17 minutes, though he struggled to stay in front of Jazz guard Deron Williams. “He’s been up and down for us,” Jackson said. “But he’s doing the things we want him to do out there.” Kobe & Shaq
In case it wasn’t obvious, Kobe Bryant doesn’t enjoy talking about Shaquille O’Neal.