LAst Night's Action: Lakers Stuffed

Rockets 102, Lakers 77 - The young, but always entertaining Lakers are still struggling for an identity. After beating the NBA's best and loosing to the worst in the past few nights, they were defensively dominated by a team missing their star center. With Yao Ming on the bench, Dikembe Mutombo grabbed 19 rebounds and swatted down five shots, moving him into second on the all-time block list. The Lakers scored just 31 points in the second half. KOBE WATCH: He missed some action with a groin pull. Ouch.

Clippers 92, Timberwolves 91 - The Clippers are looking healthy, and a lot better. Correy Maggette drained the winning shot in the final five seconds, and the team is 2-0 since the return of Sam Cassell. The game was close the whole way, with no team up by more than 7. The only bad news was an apparent ankle sprain to Chris Kaman. Maybe they're not getting healthier, afterall.

USC 1, NFL 1 - Last night LAist correctly predicted that Dwayne Jarrett would turn pro, and also predicted that Pete Carroll would not join him in the league. At Jarrett's press conference Carroll was asked if he had decided to stay at USC and responded, "Yeah. I thought I said that yesterday. ... I'm not wavering." So what's all the buzz about the Miami Dolphins? It's just a ploy to squeeze some more moolah out of USC's coffers. Why ride first class when you can rent a Gulfstream? Even with a weak GM and deep pockets, Miami can't offer Pete the freedom - or fun - that USC can. And they've got deep pockets, too.

Elsewhere - SI's Arash Markazi (a USC alum) took a road trip to UCLA. LAist vaguely remembers this exact same article from a few months ago, even though the website says it was just published. Arash should know that "take off that red shirt" is more of a Cal thing, and that even though Maloney's has more TV screens, Westwood Brew Co is becoming the place to be.

AP photo by David J. Phillip.