Artest: Memory was a little fuzzy after concussion

LOS ANGELES (AP)

Lakers forward Ron Artest still can't remember exactly how he fell at his home on Christmas night. He's just thankful his tumble only left him with a concussion, a deep cut on his left elbow and a little memory loss.

"I'm grateful to be up and talking, and it could have been a whole lot worse," Artest said Tuesday night, speaking about the fall for the first time at halftime of the Lakers' win over Golden State.

The latest misadventure in Artest's unusual career has kept him out of Los Angeles' lineup for three games, but he expects to return soon. He'll run on a treadmill Wednesday to see whether he should attempt to play Friday against Sacramento.

Artest says he was carrying Christmas boxes into his house after returning home from Los Angeles' loss to Cleveland when he slipped near some steps and fell onto concrete. He blacked out for at least two minutes after the fall, and was eventually awakened by his wife — though he didn't recognize her at first.

"My wife said I was asleep for two or three minutes," Artest said. "It took about an hour to get my senses back. I didn't feel it, that's the scary part."

Artest claims he can't remember many details of his fall — whether he was walking up his front steps or simply going toward them, or how he fell to injure both his elbow and head. He came to his senses long enough to text Kobe Bryant about his injury before going to the hospital.

His faulty memory persisted last Saturday, but apparently has improved in the past few days. He has seen a doctor every day since the fall, undergoing cognitive tests and evaluation.

Artest was left with a few staples in the back of his head, several stitches in his elbow and the first concussion of his life. The fall also left him with a scrape on his back.

Lamar Odom has taken Artest's place in the Lakers' starting lineup, but the club has struggled defensively without him.

The overall NBA leaders yielded a season-high 118 points in a loss to Phoenix on Saturday, then gave up 103 in a double-overtime win over Sacramento. The Warriors scored 60 points in the first half of Tuesday's game.