BASKETBALL

BRYANT CHOOSES REST OVER SURGERY FOR INJURED FINGER

Kobe Bryant was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right pinkie finger yesterday and the Lakers All-Star has decided not to undergo surgery that could sideline him for six weeks.

The damage occurred when Bryant dislocated the finger at New Jersey on February 5, and was aggravated in Wednesday night’s game at Minnesota.

The team said yesterday that the damage was more extensive than first believed. There is a complete tear of the radial collateral ligament and avulsion fracture, in which a small bone fragment had been pulled off by a tendon.

Bryant was examined in Los Angeles by Dr. Steven Shin, a hand specialist who recommended surgery to repair the ligament.

“My current thinking is to give my finger some treatment and rest for a few days, and hope I can still continue to compete at a high level after that rest,” Bryant said in statement.

BASEBALL

TYPO SPURS ERRONEOUS REPORT ON BONDS DRUG TEST

A typo in court papers regarding Barry Bonds filed late yesterday by federal prosecutors touched off a brief tempest over the mistaken belief that he failed a drug test in November 2001, one month after breaking the home run record.

In fact, the government meant to reference a previously reported November 2000 failed drug test that was included in the indictment unsealed last year, U.S. attorney spokesman Josh Eaton said.

The mistake prompted a flurry of erroneous reports on television and Web sites around the country.

The filing amounted to federal prosecutors defending their questioning of Bonds before a grand jury, and urging a judge to keep the slugger’s perjury prosecution on track.

Bonds had argued that the questions posed to him by prosecutors were ambiguous and confusing. He demanded that the five-count indictment charging him with lying to a grand jury be tossed out. Bonds has pleaded not guilty.

FOOTBALL

DOLPHINS RELEASE PRO BOWL LINEBACKER ZACH THOMAS

If Zach Thomas decides to play a 13th NFL season, it will almost certainly not be with the Miami Dolphins.

Thomas, a seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker and one of the most popular and productive players ever to wear a Dolphins uniform, was released yesterday, the biggest move yet in Miami’s massive rebuilding project.