LAst Night's Action: Merry Christmas, Lakers

Lakers 122, Suns 115 - Andrew Bynum's growth as a player has been the Laker fans' biggest gift this year, and they celebrated on Christmas by watching the youngster drop a career high 28 points along with 12 rebounds and 4 assists ...

All five starters for both teams scored in double digits, with Kobe's 38 leading the way. He seems as intent and driven as ever, though it's still difficult to really trust the guy. None the less, it's starting to look like we were wrong to call this a .500 team. So long as Kobe stays healthy and focused, Bynum continues to improve, Fisher stays focused, and guys like Trevor Ariza continue to contribute, things could be looking up. Of course, they were looking good last year before a mid-season collapse ...

This was the first Christmas win for Los Angeles since 2001. They've played 9 years in a row and 34 times since 1949 on the holiday ...

We're always blown away by the photography of Getty Images. Check out Ariza's nasty dunk over Grant Hill, or any of their other work from this game.

Elsewhere - Soccer referee fires gun during game. That's one way to control a match ... $210,000 should get you a couple of decent tickets to a Giants game ... It's cold. Time to remember some wacky baseball ... NBA refs share holiday spirit, on-court kiss ... Harmon Killebrew is what it's all about.

Today's Action - San Jose @ Kings (7:30pm).

AP photo by Gus Ruelas.