When at first you don't succeed, try and try again. After the Chris Paul trade was infamously cancelled by NBA commissioner (and de facto New Orleans Hornets owner) David Stern involving Lamar Odom, the Lakers did manage to trade Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks. This time it looks like it will stick. more ›

I am here to mourn the Lakers. I think my laughing fit has sufficiently died down so I won’t appear to be too insensitive to the Laker organization and its fans. The epic Wagnerian meltdown of the Lakers is quite impressive. Back on June 17, 2008 it was 131-92 against the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. On Sunday: 122-86 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Dallas Mavericks. more ›

. “We have trust issues.” So sayeth Andrew Bynum to reporters after the game. And with these trust issues, they expect to win four out of five to pull out the series? The last time the Lakers lost the first two games of a playoff series it was the 2008 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. Laker fans probably remember what happened then. Well now the Lakers find themselves down 0-2 in a series again, however perhaps more embarrassingly they have lost both games at home. more ›

Anaheim Ducks defeat LA Kings 2-1. Thanks to Teemu Selanne’s two goals, the Ducks clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And for the very first time both the Ducks and the Kings make the playoffs in the same season. Also another interesting note: with the San Jose Sharks also in the playoffs, California has more playoff teams (3) than Canada (2, Vancouver Canucks; Montreal Canadiens.) Go figure. more ›

Dallas Mavericks defeat LA Clippers 117-94. Without Baron Davis, Eric Gordon and Drew Gordon, the Clippers had no shot. Suffering their 17th losing season in 18 seasons, the Clippers trailed by 37 points early in the fourth quarter before the battle of scrubs made a dent into the deficit to make the outcome appear a little more respectable. DeAndre Jordan had a double-double for the Clips with 10 points and 13 assists, while Steve Blake just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 assists. As for the Mavericks whom the Lakers could face in the Western Conference Finals, they have won four straight and seven of nine down the stretch. more ›

Dallas Mavericks defeat LA Clippers 106-96. Dirk Nowitzki was called for a foul on Drew Gooden with 9:16 left in the third quarter with the Mavs up 65-56. The Clips would then go a run to take the lead 75-71 with the Mavs scoring a grand total of 14 points in the third. But Jason Kidd took over scoring a season high 26 points on his 37th birthday and led the Mavs back for the victory. Gooden who started off the season with the Mavs led the Clips with 26 points and 20 rebounds while Chris Kaman had 22 points and nine rebounds. Eric Gordon and Rasual Butler each added 16 points while the bench produced all of five points. more ›

Dallas Mavericks defeat LA Lakers 101-96. With the Lakers trailing the Mavericks 97-94 with less than a minute left, Kobe Bryant had the ball in his hand when he let the ball go just behind the arc. Unlike the night before the ball did not go through the net instead clanging away into the night. Kobe overall had 20 points but could only knock down six in the first half. Andrew Bynum had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Lamar Odom shook off the Memphis game with 21 points off the bench. Meanwhile Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry led the Mavs in the absence of Caron Butler with 31 points and 30 points respectively. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Dallas Mavericks 100-95. Well the Lakers didn’t heed my suggestion in resting players. Kobe, Ron Artest and Sasha Vujacic played. The starting front court each had a double-double with Andrew Bynum getting 22 points and 11 boards, Lamar Odom with 18 points and 14 rebounds and Ron Artest with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Farmar also came up big with 12 crucial points leading the bench while Kobe was sitting out most of the game. While Dirk Nowitzki got his 20,000th point, the 34th player in NBA history to do so, the Lakers became the first NBA franchise to get their 3,000th victory. While the Lakers did look to have the game in the bag, the Mavs managed to tie the game at 95-95 with 42 seconds left in the game. But Kobe, even ailing, made a clutch jumper from the right elbow as the shot clock was expiring. Despite playing some bad defense, the Lakers did manage to make the lead stick. more ›

While filling in for injured starter Josh Howard, the Dallas Mavericks' Jose Juan Barea surprisingly strung together four straight double-figure scoring efforts including a 22 point performance against the Atlanta Hawks on December 9th. The unexpected output of the 5-11 guard in his third year out of Northeastern University has not gone unnoticed by the NBA media, including Los Angeles Times NBA columnist Mark Heisler. Yesterday, Heisler recognized the play of Barea in his NBA Rankings, calling the Dallas guard a "Mexican smurf." While "smurf" isn't exactly the most becoming word to call a sub-six-footer it is actually the more accurate of the two words used by Heisler to describe Barea, who is a native of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. more ›

Indiana Pacers defeat LA Lakers 118-117. The Lakers outscored the Pacers in the first three quarters. They led by 16 points a minute into the fourth quarter. Then the Pacers went on a scoring run that was capped off by a Troy Murphy put-back off of a miss right before the buzzer went off in the fourth that gave the Pacers the one-point victory. Despite being 7-10 the Pacers also handed the Celtics a 16-point defeat in their second game of the season. The Lakers meanwhile suffer only their second loss of the season and face Philadelphia tonight. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Dallas Mavericks 106-99. The Lakers should have lost this game. They were outrebounded 58-48 by the Mavericks and lost the three-point shooting battle going 15.4% compared to the Mavericks 27.3%. But the Lakers defense came alive in the second half outscoring the Mavs 52-39. The second team anchored by Trevor Ariza on defense and a +/- differential of +16 (the Lakers scored 16 more points than the Mavs when Ariza was on the floor). Last season the Lakers would have lost this game. But this season, well you know. The Lakers are now 6-0 along with the surprising Atlanta Hawks and will play the second game of the back-to-back at New Orleans Hornets tonight. more ›

LA Dodgers (14-13) defeat Florida Marlins (15-12) 13-1. The Dodgers are an offensive juggernaut on a five-game winning streak. Seriously. Manager Joe Torre made the unprecedented move to use the same lineup two nights in a row, and the Dodgers rewarded him. Rafael Furcal had a career-high five hit game, Russell Martin hit a solo homer in the second inning to lead the scoring and James Loney and Blake DeWitt hit bases-clearing triples in the seventh and eighth innings to blow out the young Marlins. And by the way, Chad Billingsley (1-4) got his first win going seven innings scattering three hits with one earned run and eight strikeouts. The Dodgers had only one five-game winning streak last season. more ›

LA Angels (17-11) over Oakland A's (17-11) 2-0. While a lot has been said about Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy and Chien-Ming Wang, Joe Saunders (5-0) has been lights out with little fanfare. Saunders pitched an eight-inning shutout giving up four hits and five strikeouts. Francisco Rodriguez notched a league-high 11th save despite walking the lead-off man Mark Ellis and the Big Hurt. Meanwhile for the A's Greg Smith (2-1) pitched a strong complete game despite the loss. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Dallas Mavericks 112-108. The Lakers broke Lawler's Law by defeating the Mavericks even though the Mavericks got to 100 points first. Lamar Odom has a season high 31 points while Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol got 25 points each. The Lakers join the New Orleans Hornets as the only two teams in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff spot. With six games left to go, their only tough games are at home against the Hornets on the 11th and the San Antonio Spurs on the 13th. more ›

Dodgers defeats Giants 5-0. A 5-0 win to usher in the 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. The Dodgers looked like World Series contenders against a Giant's team many expect to lose more than 100 games. Jeff Kent hit his 18th opening day RBI with a two-run homer in the first inning, the most among active players. Brad Penny pitched 6 2/3 innings of shut out ball in which he admits he was subpar while the Giant's Barry Zito's fastball had about as much velocity as me running with my gimpy leg. more ›

There was a strange look in Kobe Bryant’s face during Friday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns: It was a look of defeat. Kobe seemed tired and listless, playing only 17 points in their 93-85 loss. We shouldn’t waste too much sympathy on a multi-millionaire, but it’s been hard not to feel for Kobe, who has been playing some of the best basketball of his career without getting any consistent help from the rest... more ›

Kobe has already made history in the last week, becoming only the second player ever in the NBA to score 50 or more points in four straight games. Not so coincidentally, those were four Laker wins. more ›

Well, it’s official. Kobe is the only player in history besides Wilt Chamberlain to play four straight 50+ games. In Friday night’s game, Kobe scored exactly 50 points, carrying his team to a 111-105 win over the New Orleans Hornets. All eyes were watching, tallying each point he made. And Kobe did actually attempt to be humble: In a pre-game interview, he graciously told John Ireland that one of the best parts about being... more ›

At the heart of the swirling vortex of NBA trade rumors this week is a whopper involving the Lakers -- the chance to bring in All-Star point guard Jason Kidd. It’s the big topic on local and national sports talk radio, basketball message boards and barstool conversations. It’s the sports talk equivalent of Anna Nicole this week. You probably don’t want to be Kidd’s wife, but being his teammate makes a lot of sense for... more ›