Blazers 82, Clippers 80 - Portland blew a 14 point lead in Staples Center one night after blowing a 15 point lead on the very same court. This time they were playing the Clippers, so things worked out OK. Los Angeles managed a pathetic 29 points in the first half, but did make a noble effort in the second. Corey Maggette was hot with 32 points, but missed a big shot with eight ticks left.......

I really did think the Arizona State Sun Devils would give the UCLA Bruins more trouble than the Arizona Wildcats. It looks like neither of those squads did much of anything against the Bruins. The Bruins are making a case for themselves nabbing a coveted #1 seed in March Madness by spanking the Sun Devils by 33 points and the Wildcats by 22. What’s really remarkable to witness is how up-tempo the Bruins are......

While most LA basketball fans are in rapt attention while watching the Lakers start their normal mid-season crash due to injuries and enjoying the Clippers being the Clippers, let’s not forget we have another championship caliber basketball team in town: the UCLA Bruins. Currently ranked fifth in the nation by both the AP and Coaches polls, they haven’t looked as dominant as they did at the beginning of the season. With injuries to forward......

Clippers 95, Hawks 88 - The Clips got an unexpected performance from rookie Al Thornton, who exploded for a career high 33 points the day after a major stomach virus. Los Angeles fielded their 20th different starting lineup of the year, and are currently missing Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette. Next up, a seven game road trip. That's not so bad -- the Lakers have a 9 game trip lined up. Wild 5, Ducks 1......

With just a little more than half of the college football season past us, it’s become evident that no team wants to play for the national championship. No, not even undefeated Ohio State whose non-conference schedule included illustrious teams such as Youngstown State, Akron and Kent State. As for the rest of college football, every other team that climbed atop of the corpses has subsequently fallen. See California and LSU last week and South......

Here at LAist we faced a tough decision last year - to cover the Raiders or not cover the Raiders. With no football team, LA is in a rough situation. We pretend like it doesn't bother us and perhaps it doesn't bother some of us, but you know what, if it doesn't bother you then there's something wrong with you. So we were either going to cover the Oakland Raiders or the Chicago Bears......

Despite the Los Angeles Dodgers' 7-2 loss Wednesday night in Colorado, no team in Major League Baseball can boast more wins (10) than the Blue Crew heading into Thursday's action. Led by an airtight bullpen, the Dodger pitching staff (2nd best ERA in the National League) has driven much of the team's early season success. This, of course, is a horrible segue (in fact no segue at all) to the subject of Part 4......

Hornets 113, Lakers 103 - After a devastating loss to Dallas on Thursday, the Lakers fizzled against a lesser team in Oklahoma City. It may have helped the Hornets that leading scorer David West returned from injury. Maurice Evens helped lead the Lakers with a team and career high of 23. Kobe also had 23, but only three points in the first half on an 0-3 performance from the field (he hit three free throws).......

Mavericks 114, Lakers 95 - Coming into the game, Dallas had won 18 of their last 19. The loss? Lakers. The revenge? Resounding. The Mavericks were up by as many as 28 and got double digit performances from six players. They did just about everything, including performing the national anthem before the game. Dallas is midway through the season and holds the best record in the league. They look to exact more revenge on Sunday......

Monday Night "Monday Night Football" (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) Giants @ Jags "College Football" (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) UCLA @ Arizona State "Talk to Her" (IFC, 7:30 p.m.) Pedro Almodovar's flick about people falling in love with comatose patients. I had a relationship like that once. "How I Met Your Mother/The Class/Two and a Half Men/The New Adventures of Old Christine/CSI: Miami" (CBS, 8:00-11:00 p.m.) All new episodes. "Prison Break" (Fox, 8 p.m. EST) New episode.......

The Bruins head to Arizona State tomorrow energized by last week’s decimation of Oregon State. Patrick Cowan and his support staff have put the four previous games behind them, and Bruin fans everywhere are riding this as though a new season has begun. However this Saturday will be a pivotal game, since a win against Arizona State will put UCLA in bowl game territory. Let’s all hope for a repeat performance from young Patrick......

Where was this LAST week?!?! We've got to hand it to the Bruins. When Coach Dorell said that his team would bounce back from their beatdown against Arizona last week, he wasn’t kidding. Another impressive offensive performance produced another home victory for the UCLA Bruins, 45 - 35 over the Arizona State Sun Devils. FIRST PLAY FROM SCRIMMAGE… Drew Olson to Joe Cowan, 91 yards, touchdown. Bam! One play, one touchdown. This was the......

Ah yes. They ALMOST had us there for a minute didn’t they? We almost bought into it. But we should have known better. We had definitely seen this movie before. Sure they were able to tease us with close victories and give us heart attacks for 8 games. But the signs of the Ol’ Bruins that we have known from seasons past started to creep up. The innate ability to make other teams look......

After UCLA’s big win against California, fans of both the Bruins and the USC Trojans are finally on the same page, although a somewhat unfamiliar one. Both want the other to succeed. At least until December 3rd, because either side would relish the opportunity of putting an end to the other’s undefeated season. Assuming the Trojans are able to get past their two other big remaining challenges at Notre Dame and at Cal (which......

We've been crying for LenDale White to get more involved in the USC offense, and today he didn't disappoint us. The power running back rushed for 197 yards in Troajns close 38-28 victory over Arizona State. Why was the game so close? Why did the Trojans play such an awful first half? Are they not as good as we think they are? The fact of the matter is that the USC offense played a......

USC survived their toughest test of the season, and burst past Oregon 45-13 after playing a lousy first half. USC is clearly the most talented team in the country, but if they want to avoid these kinds of mini-scares, then the Trojans need to make a few minor changes. USC isn't getting LenDale White involved enough in the offense, and instead is over-using Reggie Bush. When Oregon jumped ahead early thanks to two turnovers,......

It was a beautiful day for football in Southern California. First UCLA beat Oklahoma 41-24, then USC destroyed Arkansas 70-17. The Blue and Gold faithful believe their win might have been a program-changing game. And while UCLA played an excellent 60 minutes, LAist wants to caution the Sons of Westwood before they actually believe this is a Rose Bowl season. This is not the same Oklahoma team that has been in two-straight national title......

UCLA's Tournament hopes suffered a bit of a setback yesterday, as they were stunned in a 79-72 loss to Oregon State. The loss suddenly has Bruins fans freaked out that they won't be dancing when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committe draws up its brackets on Sunday. But fear not, Bruins fans. LAist thinks you're in anyways. Somehow the Pac-10 managed to produce the 2nd-best RPI of any conference in the country this year, so......

People have been hating on the Trojans recently after close wins over Cal and Stanford. Those detractors were quieted after USC blitzed Arizona State with 42 first half points in 45-7 victory. For once we saw the dominant USC team we expected to see all season long, as Matt Leinert flawlessly ran the offense, Reggie Bush did everything as usual, and Dwayne Jarrett finally emerged as a legitimate heir apparent to Mike Williams. Rumors......