LAst Night's Action: Lakers Burnt Out

Suns 119, Lakers 110 - Everybody saw this one coming, but at least the Lakers made a game of it. Already trailing 3-1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Lakers faced double-digit deficits for much of the night. However, they pulled within two in the third quarter and five in the fourth thanks to strong performances from Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom. Kobe had a typical 34 point game, but he needed 33 shots to get there. Odom was more impressive, playing through injuries to score 33 points and pull down 10 boards. Despite the loss, those were some nice numbers to close a long and traumatic season for the Laker forward. For the team, the pressure shifts to the front office. Los Angeles hasn't won a playoff series since 2004 with Shaq, and many people don't think there's enough talent surrounding Kobe for the Lakers to advance next year.

Dodgers 2, Diamondbacks 1 - After Arizona was held scoreless for eight innings, Takashi Saito made it interesting. He allowed two hits and a run in the ninth, but also struck out two and earned his eigth save of the season. Starting in place of the injured Jason Schmidt, Mark Hendrickson had seven strikeouts against three hits and a walk over six innings.

Royals 3, Angels 1 - After taking the first two games of the series, Anaheim dropped the third thanks to a three run homer by Esteban German in the seventh. German is now just 739 career home runs behind Barry Bonds.

Elsewhere - Sports Illustrated headline actually reads "Just 112 teams punished" for failing to meet NCAA academic standards. Something is very, very wrong with that ... Meet the Dolphin's newest running back ... You're relatives should be this cool.

AP photo by Reed Saxon.