Los Angeles Lakers

A.I. vs. Kobe delivered the throwback duel fans paid to see. Just like in the 2001 NBA finals, Bryant's Lakers came out on top. Bryant roused the 20,000 fans who came to jeer him as much as they did to root on the 76ers, scoring 24 points to lead Los Angeles to a 99-91 win over Philadelphia on Friday ni...

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By J.E. Skeets According to several fictitious media outlets, other defendants in the lawsuit include Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, teammate Shaquille O'Neal(notes), and the global fast-food giant, McDonald's — James' new partnership. No foul was called and no action taken by the NBA in the days that...

By J.E. Skeets Paul Coro, The Arizona Republic: "The Suns brought back the fourth-quarter defense that they played during the glory days of November. They summoned up the home-court pride that raised their play in December home wins against Orlando, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers. Phoenix brought b...

By Kelly Dwyer And the Knicks? They're eighth in possessions per game. Eighth! Not first, or second, fighting with the Warriors and staving off the Suns. They're slower than the Lakers, who feature an oak tree at point guard, a guy with nine fingers at off guard, and a 1983 Range Rover at small forward.

By Adrian Wojnarowski & Marc J. Spears The West includes the New Orleans' Chris Paul(notes), the Lakers' Paul Gasol, Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant(notes), Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki(notes), Memphis' Zach Randolph(notes) and Portland's Brandon Roy(notes). Among the notable candidates left off the team are the Los Angeles Cl...

By Kelly Dwyer Beyond that, tons to watch. Eleven games, including a Pacers/Lakers tilt on NBA TV (those two always seem to play competitive bouts, for whatever reason), and some middle-America contests that are just screaming at me. Atlanta in San Antonio. Denver at Houston. Utah at Portland. I listen to...

By J.E. Skeets Bulls guard Derrick Rose(notes), the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Kings superstar-in-training Tyreke Evans(notes), the clear-cut frontrunner for this season's ROY hardware, lead a list of 18 players selected for the 2010 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge to be held on Friday, Feb. 12 at...

By Kelly Dwyer No match for the Lakers on the other end, though. Though the ball was moving, a lot of the Laker offense was predicated on the superstars making strong moves. Pau Gasol(notes) was especially tricky in the post, and Kobe was Kobe, as both finished the night with 26 points. Lamar Odom(notes) was...

By Kelly Dwyer They found it in the second half. 29 assists all game for Utah, who kept passing into they found an open man to shoot and/or score with the basketball. Three players had over 20 points for the Jazz, including a re-born Andrei Kirilenko(notes), who led the team with 25.

By Kelly Dwyer Los Angeles Clippers 92, Washington 78 Toronto 106, Los Angeles Lakers 105 The Lakers started off really nicely, moving the ball and making shots. Then they, um, stopped moving the ball, and making shots. 6-19 from long range, helped by a rather fluky 3-4 night from Jordan Farmar(notes).

By J.E. Skeets Jason Jones, Sac Bee: "Six games. Six defeats. That's the simple way to summarize the Kings' longest road trip of the season that ended Saturday night with their most lopsided loss of the season, a 31-point beating by the Miami Heat. It's not uncommon for teams to use a long road trip to gauge w...

It took a little while to get there, but the 2008-09 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers finally visited the White...

By J.E. Skeets The team's players, owners and coaches presented the president with a gold Lakers jersey emblazoned with "1," a nod to, um, guard Jordan Farmar(notes), and an autographed basketball. (On second thought, perhaps the Lakers didn't give him "44," a nod to Obama's standing as the 44th presi...

By Kelly Dwyer Yes. It's pretty good, actually, considering how mismatched this roster can seem at times, how worries over the tax and Carlos Boozer's(notes) permanence and impermanence could have convinced the rest of the roster that nothing would have counted until 2010-11 anyway, and because of a...

By Kelly Dwyer Some will be upset at the way Phil Jackson kept Bryant on the bench for so long in the fourth quarter, sitting him for seven minutes to start. It was odd, but the Lakers were only -1 overall in that stretch with Kobe on the pine. And the Lakers are planning on playing until mid-June. So, I'm cool wit...

By J.E. Skeets Chris Tomasson, NBA FanHouse: "The battle of Los Angeles might just have heated up for the next time the Lakers and Clippers meet. Clippers center Chris Kaman(notes) said in an interview with FanHouse after Thursday's 105-85 loss to Denver that Lakers big man Pau Gasol(notes) doesn't de...

The Lakers are defending NBA champions, but the Cavaliers definitely have a hex on them. Lakers coach Phil Jackson said the Lakers just didn't shoot that well Thursday night and added that "there's nothing to" the losses to Cleveland. But Kobe Bryant acknowledged the game in Cleveland was...

By Kelly Dwyer Do these projected records sound about right? Click the jump for more. Red-eye pour vous tu's peruse? The Pacific Division. Los Angeles Lakers, projected record: 63-19 Phoenix Suns, projected record: 48-34 Does that sound about right? Los Angeles Clippers, projected record: 38-44

JANUARY 21: Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) #11 of the Cleveland Cavaliers sets himself before going up with the ball surrounded by Shannon Brown(notes) #12, Lamar Odom(notes) #7, Andrew Bynum(notes) #17 and Jordan Farmar(notes) #1 of the Los Angeles Lakers on January 21, 2010 at The Quic...

By J.E. Skeets Despite a career-low scoring average of 14.4 points per game, a forgettable three-game stint with the Memphis Grizzlies, "retirement" and this unfortunate ankle moment, Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson(notes) will start for the Eastern Conference in next month's All-Star G...

By Kelly Dwyer Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland One of these men would grow up to help helm ESPN's NASCAR coverage. The other is Sam Perkins. Crazy world we live in, folks. Los Angeles Lakers: 32-9, 94.2 possessions per game (seventh), 108.5 points scored per 100 possessions (10th), 101.1 points allowed per 10...

By J.E. Skeets Frank Hughes, SI.com: "Nuggets All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony(notes) said he thinks his team is better than last season, when Denver advanced to the Western Conference finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. That is not to say, however, that Anthony would not like t...

By J.E. Skeets 1. Kobe Bryant(notes), Lakers 4. Derrick Rose, Bulls 5. Dwyane Wade, Heat 6. Kevin Garnett(notes), Celtics 8. Paul Pierce(notes), Celtics 9. Shaquille O'Neal(notes), Cavaliers 10. Pau Gasol(notes), Lakers 11. Carmelo Anthony(notes), Nuggets 14. Allen Iverson(notes), 76ers

By Kelly Dwyer 37 points and seven rebounds for Dirk. Paul Pierce(notes) led the Celtics with 24, himself. The Celtics wanted Dirk, back in 1998, but had to settle for Pierce who surprisingly fell all the way to 10th in that year's draft. Great to see these two still going at it, 11 and a half years later.

By Kelly Dwyer Then you were supposed to remind me that you thought the Lakers would beat the 1999-00 Trail Blazers, too, all full of new Scottie Pippens and Steve Smiths and Detlef Schrempfs. That Phil Jackson coached that old Laker team and this one. Greater than the sum of its parts, and all that.

By Kelly Dwyer Orlando at Los Angeles Lakers You say that the 2009 Finals were, on the whole, rather one-sided. You say that even without Pau Gasol(notes) (he back), the Lakers are rolling over this league. And that the Magic weren't even rolling themselves before Vince Carter(notes) went down. And that t...

By J.E. Skeets Lil' Nate Rob — who is likely only back in the contest because of the league's collective bargaining agreement — will compete against the Bobcats' Gerald Wallace(notes) (who participated once before in '02) and the Lakers' Shannon Brown(notes). (Rejoice!) Notice anyone missing?

By Kelly Dwyer Houston at Los Angeles Lakers And, because it's Kobe Bryant(notes), will it even matter? Los Angeles Lakers: 27-6, 94.8 possessions per game (sixth), 109 points scored per 100 possessions (10th), 101.1 points scored per 100 possessions (second).

By Kelly Dwyer The Laker offense was fine. I thought Kobe was a little too jump shot-happy (with that bum finger, and the lack of interior stoppers for Golden State), but a good chunk of them went in. Pau Gasol(notes) managed 27 points and 12 boards, while Jordan Farmar(notes) tossed out 12 points and five a...

By Kelly Dwyer The Celtics were without Kevin Garnett(notes) (bruised thigh) for the entire game and Paul Pierce(notes) for the first three quarters of this win. Pierce played, I should point out, he just couldn't hit to save his life, missing his first 10 attempts from the field.

By J.E. Skeets Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald: "Just to be clear on this, Allen Iverson(notes) is not walking through that door. But the possibility is something the Celtics have considered — and could revisit. Danny Ainge always has been a fan of Iverson, and he tried very hard to get him here in the summer o...

By Kelly Dwyer Houston 101, Los Angeles Lakers 91 Derek Fisher(notes) is pretty bad, right now. Los Angeles? They try, too, and the team is playing without its second-best player. The squad just needs to smarten up a bit. Dallas 95, Detroit 90 Why? Los Angeles Clippers 101, Oklahoma City 93

By J.E. Skeets Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "Rockets guard Trevor Ariza(notes) received his Lakers championship ring, along with a duplicate for his 19-month old son Tajh, from Los Angeles stars Kobe Bryant(notes) and Derek Fisher(notes) in a ceremony before Sunday night's tip-off at Sta...

By Kelly Dwyer Where to transition to? Derek Fisher(notes) had the rare zero-point, zero-rebound, zero-assist game. But he played ... well. OK. Good D. Got away with some hand-checks, maybe, but he pushed Aaron Brooks(notes) into places he didn't want to go. Didn't shut Brooks down, but Fisher made Phil Jacks...

By J.E. Skeets Mary Schmitt Boyer, The Plain Dealer: "Shaquille O'Neal raised a few eyebrows after practice Thursday by declaring this Cavaliers team 'the best team I've ever played on. On paper, anyway.' Some might take the 1999-2000 NBA champion Lakers with Bryant, Glen Rice, Robert Horry(notes), R...

By J.E. Skeets RealGM/Los Angeles Times: "Kobe Bryant's contract extension negotiations were not a central issue at Lakers' media day, even though Bryant declined to answer questions about it. Informal negotiations have already begun, and the Lakers are secure in their belief that a new deal will b...

By J.E. Skeets Joe Freeman, The Oregonian: "Nicolas Batum, fresh off his breakout rookie season, has shown both maturation and an improved game this summer during high-level international competition in Europe. Batum, who starts alongside fellow NBA players Tony Parker(notes), Ronny Turiaf(not...

By J.E. Skeets Former Lakers' great Magic Johnson congratulates Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie during her "Farewell Game" on September 11 at the Staples Center. Best caption/imaginary conversation wins a Sun Yue poster. Good luck, friends. After the jump, Kobe laughs in your general direction.

By Kelly Dwyer Los Angeles Lakers 107, Oklahoma City 89 So the Lakers came out full of fire, Oklahoma City competed and actually outscored the Lakers in the second half, but this thing was long over by then. The Lakers made sure of it. Utah 99, Houston 86 Chicago 99, Detroit 91

By Kelly Dwyer Los Angeles Lakers 126, New York 117  What can we say about Kobe beyond what we tried to scrawl down last night? I'm just pleased beyond belief that I get to witness two different players in my lifetime with the work ethic, drive, and talent that Bryant and Michael Jordan possess.

By J.E. Skeets 1. Los Angeles Lakers — 1st in offense, 5th in defense, and Mssrs. Bryant, Bynum, + Gasol have enjoyed their best stretch of individual ball over the last month. And you can’t tell me that Chris Mihm isn’t glowing right now. [Kelly Dwyer]

By J.E. Skeets Mike Bresnahan, LA Times: "The Lakers have been carrying only 14 players, one under the league maximum, though head coach Phil Jackson said nothing was decided yet as far as adding another guard. 'We still have to find out what the deal is going to be with Jordan,' he said. 'This is something t...

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: "Now I've seen it all. All season long this Celtics team has done improbable things — like nobody sweeps the Texas trip, you know? — but this was the absolute showstopper. Did I really just see the Boston Celtics come from 24 points down after submitting a horror show of...

Boston Celtics 98, Los Angeles Lakers 88 So, I've been at this post for a while, and I've found that there are two ways to take this.  On the Celtics side, yeah, lots of "expected." That's to be expected, from Boston, and that likely won't let up.

“Lakers in five” seems smarter, but that would involve Los Angeles beating Boston four times in five games. Does anyone see that happening? I’d pick “Boston in six” before I’d pick that. And yet, for the “six” to come through, that road win for the clincher has to happen. We’re calling it, but i...

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe: "A year ago, maybe on this same day, Paul Pierce was home in Southern California, playing ball at UCLA, talking with another disgruntled superstar named Kobe Bryant. They made a small wager concerning who would be traded first. Tonight they'll face off in Ga...

Kobe shoot over 20 times = Lakers bad. Here's why it doesn't work, even forgetting that we're talking about Kobe Bryant: The fact that Denver didn't guard Pau Gasol in the first round, and that Kobe had ice on his knees by the fourth quarter, limiting his shot attempts?

Putting aside his differences with team owner Jerry Buss and GM Mitch Kupchak, Bryant won his first MVP award, driving the Lakers to the top seed in the Western Conference. While Bryant was having the season of his life, the Lakers gave him a reason to be happy and to stay in L.A., long-term, pro...

The Los Angeles Lakers made the first major waves in advance of the NBA trade deadline, acquiring Pau Gasol from Memphis.