Andrew Bynum was a player Kobe Bryant hated. Maybe it wasn’t a personal hatred, but before Pau Gasol came to Los Angeles it seemed that Kobe saw Bynum as the symbol of the Lakers’ front office incompetence after Shaquille O’Neal was traded. Bryant to this day still grouses about the fact that Smush Parker was a starting point guard for the Lakers. more ›

Rather than celebrating a return of basketball, the NBA, Commissioner David Stern and its owners proved how incompetent, petty and ultimately what jokes they are. After nixing a trade that would have sent New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA made the NHL look like a well-oiled machine. more ›

After the ground breaking reporting by ESPN that the Lakers wanted both the New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, it looks like the Lakers got half of what they wanted. Chris Paul is now a Laker on the day that NBA players officially ratified the new collective bargaining agreement. more ›

The Houston Rockets are at best an inconsistent team that is struggling to get into the playoff race. The Lakers are a team that have lost two straight at STAPLES Center. So of course even an extraordinary night by Lamar Odom for the Lakers couldn't stave off the Rockets in regulation. Odom in the starting lineup with Andrew Bynum sitting out, started the game shooting 3-for-11. However in the second half he upped his game and ended up with his second career 20-20 night with exactly 20 points and 20 rebounds. Kobe Bryant also had a double-double with 32 points and 11 assists. more ›

The Lakers announced a three-way trade with the New Jersey Nets and Houston Rockets. In the deal, the Lakers send the Nets guard Sasha Vujacic and a protected first-round draft pick in 2011; they get forward Joe Smith, the Golden State Warrior's second-round draft choice in 2011 and the Chicago Bulls' second-round draft choice in 2012 from the Nets; and the Lakers also receive the draft rights to Sergei Lishouk from Houston as well as a trade exception. more ›

LA Clippers defeat San Antonio Spurs 90-85. Well it looks like the 19th time is the charm for the Clippers. Having being beaten by the Spurs in their previous 18 meetings, the Clippers finally found a way to defeat the Spurs. This despite their penchant to handing the ball back to the Spurs. The Clippers turned the ball over 18 times and even more disturbing at times they gave up 18 offensive boards to the Spurs. That was the recipe for a blowout Spurs win. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 112-110. The Lakers schooled the rest of the league on how to celebrate a championship. The players got on the microphone and introduced one another culminating with Kobe Bryant introducing Owner Dr. Jerry Buss before the unveiling of the championship banner. The only blemish was the omission of Rasheed Hazzard (son of Walt). However there was no hype, only the requisite amount of pomp, the unveiling of the banner then the game - exactly the way it should be. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 109-101. The Lakers looked just as stale as they did Friday night against Oklahoma City allowing the Rockets to score 34 points in the first quarter for a seven point deficit. However unlike the Thunder game, the Lakers found their defense and completely shut down the Rockets going on a 24-2 run in the second quarter and holding them to 11 points for a 17 point advantage going into the half. more ›

St. Louis Blues defeat LA Kings 3-1. Against the team with the worst home record in the league and outside the playoff hunt, the Kings did everything but score goals. The Blues took advantage of the Kings sleeping through their checks when BJ Crombeen scored on a two-on-one rush 3:57 into the game. The Blue extended more ›

Phoenix Suns defeat LA Lakers 118-103. Bad defense and bad shooting lost the game for the Lakers. While the Lakers overpowered the Suns in both games at the Staples Center earlier this season, the Suns defended the paint giving the Lakers’ bigs problems all night. The Suns torched the Lakers in the second half leading by as much as 22 points. While Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 34 points, Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 26 points and six boards. The bench war was won by the Suns outscoring the Lakers’ subs 52-31. While this is the Lakers third straight mediocre game, it’s still a bit too early to panic and throw foam fingers onto the hardwood. more ›

Houston Rockets defeat LA Clippers. They keep trying, but the Clippers just can’t make it to .500. The Clippers kept it close most of the game until the Rockets took off with just under nine minutes making shot after shot going on a 19-2 run before Baron Davis hit the only three-pointer for the Clippers all night with a second left in the game. The Clippers couldn’t get into any rhythm settling for jump shots in the fourth quarter. With Eric Gordon sitting out of the game again, the Clippers couldn’t use their size advantage to keep the Rockets at bay. more ›

Houston Rockets defeat LA Lakers 101-91. Rockets guard Aaron Brook blistered the Lakers for a career high 33 points as the Rockets ran circles around the Lakers and their sloppy offense. Ron Artest led the Lakers with 22 points while Andrew Bynum scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Kobe Bryant had a human game with 18 points. The Rockets, despite their tallest player barely clearing Prince sans platforms, out-rebounded the Lakers 60-38. That will do you in. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 103-102 (OT). Kobe Bryant scored 41 points, his 98th career game with over 40 points and Andrew Bynum scored 17 points and 17 rebounds as the Lakers clung on for the win. As in the playoffs last season, the Lakers allowed the Rockets easy points in the paint. However they managed to play good defense at the end of the overtime period to take out the Rockets. This was the first game for Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza facing their former teams. Both scored 15 points. Here's a very telling stat for the Lakers that should be of concern. Derek Fisher in 34 minutes scored 0 points going 0-for-5 from the field. Now for some good news. Pau Gasol could return to the starting lineup on Friday in Memphis. more ›

Despite the rumors that circulated yesterday, Trevor Ariza did not end up backing out of his oral agreement with Houston to join LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal in Cleveland. Today the former Laker made it official signing on the dotted line of his multi-year deal, making him a Rocket. more ›

That had to be one of the most frustrating Lakers playoff series in recent memory. The undermanned Houston Rockets team sans Tracy McGrady, Dikembe Mutombo and as of game three Yao Ming had no business being in that series. That should have been at worst a five-game series. But the Lakers sometime lackadaisical play kept the Rockets in the series making superstars out of Luis Scola, Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks. more ›

I really don't know what's wrong with the Lakers. If anyone did surely it would be head coach Phil Jackson and his coaching staff. Then Lakers fans wouldn't be sitting in a pit of 780.7, the ICM-9 code for malaise. more ›

Houston Rockets defeat LA Lakers 95-80. You've got to be fucking kidding me. Let's take a look at the box score. The Lakers attempted 23 threes in this loss. In game five the Lakers attempted 13. While the Lakers were trailing by 15 in the second quarter it was very frustrating to see them settle for jump shots rather than take it to the hole. In the third quarter they responded well and cut the deficit to two, but then their defense fell apart. They made Luis Scola look like James Worthy while Pau Gasol looked like a big stiff. So let's review. No Tracy McGrady. No Yao Ming. No wins against the Lakers in the regular season. And now we're going to a game seven? more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 118-78. The start of the game was very touch and go. The Rockets were setting good screens and moving the ball crisply. The was tied 18-18 at the 5:20 mark in the first quarter when the Lakers dropped the hammer. They took advantage of every Houston turnover making this game a complete laugher in the second quarter with the Lakers leading by 25 points at the half. The question would remain whether the Lakers had the killer instinct, and they answered it by going up by 40 points by the end of the third quarter. more ›

Laker's guard Derek Fisher has been suspended by the NBA for Friday's game 3 against the Houston Rockets at Houston. He bodychecked Rockets forward Luis Scola in the waning minutes of the third quarter that was a ruled a flagrant-two foul resulting in an ejection. Kobe Bryant's elbow to Ron Artest in the fourth quarter was upgraded to a flagrant-one foul and will not result in any suspension. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 111-98. For a while there I was expecting a penalty box to be set up. Derek Fisher was thrown out of the game for a flagrant two on a hard body check to Luis Scola. Ron Artest was thrown out of the game after yelling at the refs for calling a foul on him against Kobe Bryant in the fourth. Bryant got a technical for jawing to Shane Battier saying, "You still can't guard me." Von Wafer was thrown out of the game by his head coach Rick Adelman before the fourth quarter started. Even Jack Nicholson got in on the action giving the refs a lovely gesture. All that said, the Lakers finally looked like they understood that these playoff games are the road to their NBA championship. Bryant led all scorers with 40 points while Pau Gasol was strong with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Yao Ming was in foul trouble getting only 12 points in 26 minutes played for the Rockets. While game one was physical who knew it would be a prelude to this game? This has officially become a series, and it will be a great one to watch. And I'll issue a mea culpa now: I have underestimated the Rockets. Meanwhile it remains to be seen if Fisher gets suspended for his hit. more ›

In game one the Lakers tried to be physical but ended up being pretenders. The Rockets despite being the ones battered and bloodied got the first knock out. Shane Battier’s bloodied face and Yao Ming’s bumped knee wouldn’t detract the Rockets into getting away from their game plan. They just stuck with it while the Lakers just took shots in hopes of getting something to stick. more ›

Houston Rockets defeat LA Lakers 100-92. Well that didn't go as planned did it? The Lakers were outplayed by the Rockets from tip off and never seemed to wake up. With Houston getting battered with Shane Battier getting stitches on his forehead thanks to Sasha Vujacic in the first quarter and Yao Ming going down after bumping knees with Kobe Bryant in the fourth, they kept with their game plan making the Lakers uncomfortable. The Lakers helped out taking awful shots going 2-for-18 from three-point land. Lamar Odom played pretty well but never seemed to have the ball scoring nine points with five rebounds. Kobe Bryant scored 32 points on 14-for-31 shooting. I wasn't counting on this one being the game the Lakers lost when I predicted the Lakers to win by five. Hopefully there will be no repeat of this game. more ›

A week after the Lakers sent the Utah Jazz packing, they embark on the second round of the playoffs against the Houston Rockets. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 102-96. Without the services of Lamar Odom, the Lakers atoned for their ugly loss in Portland. Ron Artest got served by Kobe Bryant who scored 37 points; Artest scored only 11 points. Pau Gasol and Josh Powell got 20 points and 17 points respectively while the Lakers fought for this victory. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Golden State Warriors 129-121. The Lakers had to work hard in this second game of a back-to-back. The trailed by as much as 12 points in the third quarter. But they shook off the doldrums and took control of the game at the end of the quarter. The Warriors didn't give up, but the trio of Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol was just too much for them. Both teams had six players that scored in double digits. The Lakers with a 44-10 record have the third best record after 54 games in franchise history. In the other two seasons, 1971-1972 and 1987-1988, they won the NBA title. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Houston Rockets 105-100. True the Lakers can't win pretty, but who cares? With the injuries to Jordon Farmar, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton forcing Derek Fisher to log a lot of minutes on those aged wheels. Even Sun Yue had to log three minutes in this game. Lamar Odom was back in action after his bruised bone injury to score ten points in 27 minutes of play. Kobe led all scorers with 33 points. However former Laker Von Wafer had a career game scoring 23 points and seemed unstoppable for three quarters. But Kobe finally shut him down in the fourth quarter and gave the Lakers a nailbiting win in Houston. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Philadelphia 76ers 114-102. This time there was no last second put back. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol made sure of that scoring all of the Lakers points in the last five minutes of the game. Bryant scored 32 points and Gasol got 22 as they staved off a come back from the 76ers. Former Clipper Elton Brand had an awful shooting game scoring only three points. He was so awful 76ers coach Mo Cheeks sat him down for the fourth quarter. The bright spot for the 76ers was Andre Miller who always seems to play his best game against the Lakers. He led the 76ers with 26 points. more ›

Pittsburgh Pirates defeat LA Dodgers 6-4. The Dodgers were leading 4-3 in the top of the ninth, and I had just finished writing this blurb. Dodger closer Takashi Saito gave up two singles then the Earl Weaver to the Pirates Nate McClouth. This was a rough loss despite a good outing by Hiroki Kuroda who gave up three runs on six innings. Andruw Jones hit a triple and look to resemble the hitter we thought he was going to be. And of course there was Vin Scully butchering Pirates first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz's name. more ›

LA Dodgers defeat San Diego Padres 3-2. Dodger second baseman Chin-Lung Hu zinged a liner down the third baseline in the top of the ninth to score in Russell Martin from second base for the go-ahead run. The Dodgers end up taking two of three games from the Padres at Petco, and Jake Peavy denies using pine tar Saturday afternoon. more ›

After a heartbreaking loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night, the Lakers redeemed themselves by scorching the Sacramento Kings 126-103 at Staples Center on Sunday night. Kobe had a season-high 13 assists, while Maurice Evans and Luke Walton scored 21 and 18 respectively. more ›