Lakers 108, Mavs 104, OT - The Laker's season just keeps getting sweeter. This time, it was all Kobe Bryant -- who managed to score even when triple-teamed. End result? 52 points, including 22 in the 4th quarter and 8 in OT. It was the first game between the refurbished Laker's (Pau Gasol had 17 points and 14 rebounds) and the refurbished Mavs (Jason Kidd had 15 points and 11 assists). The win keeps Los......

Celtics 104, Clippers 76 - The NBA's top team won last night in the Staples Center, and it wasn't the Lakers. Boston, now an NBA-best 43-12, was just too much for the Clippers. Chris Kaman sat out once again, dropping LA's record to 1-6 without the big man in their lineup. Sam Cassell was also injured and watched from the bench. Kevin Garnett, one of five Celtics to hit double digits, was recently named by......

Lakers 122, Hawks 93 - Atlanta had a bad draw. They were coming into a pumped-up Staples Center that hadn't seen the Lakers play a home game in weeks. They were coming in against a team rejuvenated by Pau Gasol. They were coming in against a Kobe Bryant with something to prove. Before halftime, the Lakers had a 41 point lead. Gasol and Bryant each scored 23. Bryant whacked his hand a couple times and......

While all the local teams have Valentines Day off, some news just broke that Laker fans aren't going to love. Kobe Bryant is hurt. Bad. His right pinkie, originally thought to be dislocated on February 5th, was aggravated last night. The team finally revealed that he also has "a complete tear of the radial collateral ligament and an avulsion fracture, in which a small fragment of bone had been pulled off by a tendon." Kobe's......

Lakers 103, Washington Wizards 91 - The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates. The Lakers led by 22 at halftime, and led by as much as 25 points in the third quarter. Kobe Bryant, who outscored the Wizards in the first quarter 19-15, ended up with 30 points on 10-15 shooting with eight free throws. Vladamir Radmanovic, Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf rounded out the starters with double-figure scoring, and Sasha Vujacic......

THEATRE Orson's Shadow is an expansion of Austin Pendleton's drama that first ran a few years back at the Black Dahlia Theater and is now at the Pasadena Playhouse. It's a behind the scenes look at life in the theatre and the intermingling lives of some legendary folk, like Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Vivien Leigh, and drama critic Kenneth Tynan. We're told the set--a theater-within-the-theater--is stunning. 7:00 p.m. // Pasadena Playhouse // 39......

Dude, strange things are afoot in Lakerland. Last night, en route to the Lakers beating the Nuggets 116-99, Kobe Bryant passed the ball. He made shit happen. And then, postgame, with a smile on his face, Kobe spoke in approving terms about his team, citing the fullness of their “passion bucket”. WHO IS THIS MAN? It wasn’t just Kobe raising the bar. Taking advantage of the double team on Bryant, Derek Fisher hit 6......

Tonight's episode of HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," will investigate the Reggie Bush controversy. This segment will include an interview with Lloyd Lake, the man who claims to have given Bush $291,600 in cash, living arrangements and other benefits while he was playing at USC. If these allegations are true, Bush may be stripped of his Heisman Trophy which he won in 2005 as a Junior and the Trojans' may be forced to give......

You can halt production on that purple and gold 2008 NBA Champions afghan you’ve been crocheting so diligently -- Lakers center Andrew Bynum is going to be out for the next 8 weeks. Bynum suffered a dislocated kneecap and a bone bruise courtesy of Lamar Odom’s big ass foot during the Laker’s victory over Memphis on Sunday. The good news is that the injury will not require surgery and the 20 year old big......

Lakers 112, Pacers 96 - The purple and gold have won six of seven and 12 of their last 15 games. Against Indiana, several players had big nights. All five starters hit double-digits in scoring, including 26 from Kobe Bryant, 23 from Andrew Bynum, and 22 from Derek Fisher. The Pacers are 0-9 against the Lakers in Staples Center. Spurs 88, Clippers 82 - Manu Ginobili returned from an injury to his left hand and......

There are two media stories in January's Los Angeles Magazine that everyone should read. One is about the Santa Barbara News-Press debacle. The other is a little closer to home -- a profile on Jill Leovy of the LA Times' The Homicide Report (subsequently, NPR interviewed Leovy on The Bryant Park Project). The blog, which set out to cover every homicide in Los Angeles County, is one of the most genius blogs out there,......

Celtics 110, Lakers 91 - Los Angeles ran into the buzzsaw that is Boston. Apparently, the first thing to get cut were their shorts. "I felt violated, I felt naked," remarked Kobe Bryant. There are so many places we could go with that. Actually, he was referring to the throwback short-sorts the team wore as a tribute to the rivalry and Jerry West, who was the honorary captain for the game. Maybe that's why Kobe......

Lakers 95, Knicks 90 - Kobe Bryant had 20,019 points on 15,314 shots (plus 6,184 from the charity stripe) last night. Not bad for a guy under the age of 30 ... The Kobster was actually 14-of-28 for 39 points (plus 11 rebounds and 8 assists), but in the process became the youngest player in NBA history to reach the 20,000 career points mark. Bryant raved about playing in Madison Square Garden and said the......

Lakers 103, Bulls 91 - Los Angeles spread the scoring around to down Chicago. Sasha Vujacic scored 19, Kobe Bryant had 18, and Lamar Odom had 17 (plus 16 rebounds). Raptors 80, Clippers 77 - As if the Clip Show wasn't missing enough performers, Cuttino Mobley was out sick. Both teams shot under 40% from the field. UCLA 77, Western Illinois 52 - In a breeze of a game, K-Love was 5-of-5 for 16 points.......

You may remember Tim Hammer's -- (or should I say, a "blogger who calls himself Tim Hammer"?) recent post on "American Gladiators": "There are no cell phones, cameras, iPods or knives allowed inside [the arena]. These rules not only got in the way of my plans of shanking a Gladiator while listening to my workout mix on shuffle but also required us to walk all the way back to our car to drop off our......

Dear Tony Pierce, can you please tell your new employers at the LA Times to fix their streaming American Express advertising pop-up so that it does not crash my brand-new computer every five minutes? Thank you, signed, LAist.com. When we are not struggling to cope with adverse side-effects of inexorable technological progress, we are keeping track of the striking writers' negotiations with venture capitalists to begin producing Internet programming. Baby needs a new pair......

Lakers 113, Clippers 92 - Kobe Bryant, again playing through pain (this time it was a pulled groin), sunk 32 points to lead the Lakers to victory. The Clippers also had players dinged up, and a host of them (including Elton Brand) never made it onto the court. Chris Kaman won the battle of the big men statisticly with 18 points and 16 rebounds, but young Andew Bynum (14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocks) performed......

It’s a holiday tradition at this blogger's house (long before I had kids, which says a lot about me) — sitting down and watching the 1964 classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. What’s not to love about a quirky cast of characters teaching a lesson about acceptance? Well, I suppose the lesson of incessant marketing of the show is not a great lesson, but like many things around Christmas I choose to blatantly ignore what......

Lakers 123, Warriors 113 - We're still pretty sure this is a .500 team masquerading with an occasional good run, and now even their Phil Jackson is down on Kobe and Co. The Laker's coach told the media that a 50-win season is out of reach. His squad, however, responded by out-scoring the nation's hottest team on Sunday night. Kobe Bryant led the way with 28 and both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum hit double......

Lakers 111, Nuggets 107 - Allen Iverson lit up the scoreboard with 51 points but three Lakers responded with big nights of their own. Kobe Bryant scored 25, Vladimir Radmanovic added 21, and Derek Fisher had 20. Despite his big night, the Lakers only allowed Iverson one layup in the fourth quarter. Sonics 95, Clippers 88 - Seven is unlucky for the Clipper -- it's how many games they've lost in a row. Seattle led......

After years of pressure from stats geeks thoughtful mathematicians, the NBA has started keeping a new official statistic — the old plus/minus. It’s a simple idea that hockey has used for decades: How much does a team outscore its opponent (or get outscored) when a specific player is on the floor. It’s pretty simple. Off the top of your head, who leads the Lakers in this new stat (if averaged per game)? Kobe Bryant?......

While waiting for the premiere of Project Runway, I came across the list of designers that were participating this season. One name caught my eye. This is a name I already knew. He lives in LA. I had noticed several of his designs in photos from red carpet events. His dresses were always the ones I'd put in my 'if I could ever buy' category. Here was his name on the list of designers......

Lakers - The Lakers punished Detroit with 41 points in the 4th-quarter on Friday. Six Lakers hit double-digits in the game. They stayed hot through Sunday, when they destroyed Chicago 106-78. Five reserves hit double-digits on that night, and the bench outscored the starters 73-33. The Bull's bench, by comparison, had 31. Clippers - With their full roster back, the Warriors put together a 122-105 drubbing of the Clippers on Friday. The Clippers fell again......

Phil Jackson, Tuesday - "We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game, because there's so much penetration and kickouts ... It was one of those games." Phil Jackson, Wednesday - "If I've offended any horses, Texans, cowboys or gays, I apologize." Lakers 93, Rockets 90 - The Lakers split their Texas two-step, taking down Houston after Tracy McGrady had to leave with an injured elbow. Kobe Bryant led the way with 30 points in a game......

Ducks 4, Kings 3, SO - Southern California's teams are getting to know each other pretty well. After opening the season with two games in London, they now face each other in three of their next six games. Last night in Anaheim the Ducks showed signs of life, but blew a two goal lead in the third period. The eventually beat Los Angeles 2-0 in a shoot-out. Spurs 107, Lakers 92 - The Lakers are......

On June 19, 2000 I was staying at the Radisson Hotel across the street from USC, visiting campus for my freshman orientation. About two miles north on Figueroa Street that night, Kobe Bryant was winning his first championship with the Lakers. I didn't get much sleep. The impromptu parade of cars (Benzos, Civics, low riders, it didn't matter) made my hotel their turnaround point before they looped back to the Staples Center. I've lived in......

Injured Lamar Odom, who has been a huge disappointment to the Lakers, totaled his Mercedes Benz in Hawthorne yesterday, t-boning a woman in a Geo Prism who had to be removed via the jaws-of-life. The small forward sustained a concussion from the accident but was healthy enough to watch the Lakers lose to the Rockets last night. Odom, who is inactive for the Lakers because of left shoulder surgery in the offseason, was on......

Perspective - The question around town is clear ... "Who's going to upstage everybody next?" Tuesday night should have been about the Laker's season opener. Or was it about Kobe possibly leaving the team? Nope, the Dodgers stole the headlines when manager Grady Little resigned. Could Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez be reunited in Blue? Or could A-Rod go to LAnaheim? Curt Schilling has expressed interest in both teams. If baseball isn't providing the big......

Fire 1, Galaxy 0 - We happened to be at Chicago-area hotspot Krem last night and saw players from both teams drinking, but for different reasons. The Fire scored in extra time to clinch the final MLS playoff spot and send the Galaxy back to Los Angeles for the year. We think we ran into Chicago mega-star Cuauhtemoc Blanco in line for the bathroom, but it's a little fuzzy. We did see LA's Cobi Jones,......

An incredible game took place in Los Angeles last night, and it had nothing to do with the Staples Center, USC, or Kobe Bryant. In fact, the two teams facing off had nothing to do with LA or even the United States, really. The Coliseum played host to the national soccer teams of bordering nations Mexico and Guatemala, and true to past instances when Central American squads play in the States, heads rolled in......