LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 139-137 (3OT). Who would have thought NBA players really care about a regular season game? I suppose if you’re the Suns, then you would want to make a dent in the 2 ½ games between you and the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth spot in the West. And if you’re the Lakers, you’d want to keep hold of the second seed. Put all of it together and you get some March Madness, NBA style. more ›

The most entertaining basketball team in Los Angeles did it again. They held the Denver Nuggets who averaged 106.7 points per game to only 93 points. Particularly helpful was DeAndre Jordan's six blocked shots. But Jordan also got it done on the glass with 20 rebounds - only the second time in his career he reached that mark - to go along with his 14 points. Blake Griffin also had a double-double with 22 points and 18 rebounds. The play that really got a rise out of the crowd was when Griffin in a change of pace threw the alley to Jordan's oop in the fourth quarter. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 114-106 | Golden State Warriors defeat LA Clippers 109-91. | New Jersey Devils defeat Anaheim Ducks 2-1. Jason Blake scored a power-play goal for the Ducks 8:07 in the second period to give the team the 1-0 lead, but Jamie Langenbrunner tied the game at 10:39 in the period with his first goal of the season.... more ›

The silly little bet between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Phoenix's Mayor Phil Gordon just got more interesting. At first the two traded wagers based on the Western Conference Finals, which has the Lakers pitted against the Phoenix Suns. If L.A. won, Phoenix would gladly accept Republican gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner. If Phoenix won, L.A. would get the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known as "American's Toughest Sheriff." more ›

What in the hell happened to the Lakers? Or is the better question, what got in to the Phoenix Suns? Instead of dictating their game, the Lakers chased around the Suns all night looking like a shell of a team. Whatever the problem, the Suns looked too comfortable all game long. Go inside to Louis Amundson? Check. more ›

The Phoenix Suns showed some life in their 118-109 victory over the Lakers in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. Rather than taking a cue from the Orlando Magic and do their best impression of a lifeless corpse, the Suns decided to show some heart and dignity and actually competed against the Lakers on their home court. more ›

I might have given the Phoenix Suns too much credit when I said they would lose to the Lakers in five games. After all the Suns actually play defense now as evidenced by their sweep of the San Antonio Spurs in the second round. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 124-112. It got a little hairy there for a second for the Lakers as the Phoenix Suns made a push in the third quarter. But Pau Gasol and the Lakers pushed their lead and now have a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals over the Suns. For the Lakers Gasol had 29 points and nine rebounds, Kobe Bryant scored 21 and a personal playoff record 13 assists, while the “lucky” Lamar Odom scored 17 points and 11 rebounds in the Lakers’ victory. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 128-107. With Kobe Bryant’s knee threatening to squirt fluids on everybody in the first row, he showed how little he cared about that and scored 40 points as he lifted the Lakers to victory. Who needs defense when Pau Gasol adds 21 points, Ron Artest gets 14 points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal, and Lamar Odom makes an appearance with 19 points and 19 rebounds? Hell even with Kobe out in the fourth quarter, the bench kept the lead with Jordan Farmar scoring 10 and Shannon Brown with nine. The Suns’ offense had a big night also with six players scoring in double digits, but they had no answer for Kobe as the Lakers pulled away in the third quarter. more ›

Coach Phil Jackson earlier this month expressed his view on basketball and immigration saying that, basically, the two shouldn't be mixed. Despite that, a group is planning to picket outside tonight's game between the Lakers and the Phoeix Suns, the team that wore "Los Suns" jerseys on Cinco de Mayo, both as part of their team tradition and in opposition to SB 1070. more ›

LAKERS-SUNS PREVIEW. The last time the Lakers faced the Phoenix Suns in a playoff series, Kobe Bryant famously proclaimed that he would rather play on Pluto rather than return to the Lakers in the aftermath. It’s amazing the difference that three years makes. Kwame Brown was jettisoned off for Pau Gasol and one ring later they are looking to make it to the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year. The Suns also went through a bit of transition. Once the Gasol trade happened, they responded by trading for Shaquille O’Neal. Head coach Mike D’Antoni was jettisoned in favor of Terry Porter which ended up being a disaster. more ›

The Phoenix Suns last night won their second game of the Western Conference semifinal series. The 110 to 102 win over the San Antonio Spurs only added to the attention the Arizona team has been receiving as of late. On Tuesday, it was announced that players would wear "Los Suns" jerseys in protest of the state's controversial immigration law for their Cinco de Mayo game. more ›

When the Phoenix Suns play the Spurs tomorrow, they'll celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some meaning. In reaction to Arizona's immigration law, the team will don "Los Suns" jerseys "to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation," said owner Robert Sarver, via ESPN. NBA officials gave the go-ahead. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 102-96. After leading by seven points at the half, the Lakers extended their lead to 15 points. Treating the paint as if it were filled with landmines, the Lakers clanged jump shot after jump shot while Steve Nash then kicked it in full gear for the Suns who went on an 11-2 run to end the third period to bring the game within four. The Suns would eventually take the lead just under three minutes into the fourth quarter, but the Lakers then decided that attacking the paint might be a good idea. After not going to the charity stripe at all in the third quarter, the Lakers were awarded with ten shots at the free throw line. Two of those came via technical fouls when Suns coach Alvin Gentry went crazy when a flagrant foul was not called on Pau Gasol when he fouled Louis Amundson. Kobe Bryant had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds while the Suns Amare Stoudemire led all scorers with 29 points and 16 rebounds. Ron Artest got his shot going getting 15 points while Lamar Odom had four points on 2-for-8 shooting. more ›

Phoenix Suns defeat LA Clippers 127-101. Judging by the score it’s hard to believe the Clippers actually had a lead in the game, but the Clippers did go into the half with a one point lead 58-57. Then the Suns shot 77% in the third quarter while the Clippers went dormant shooting 37% to end the quarter with a 20 point lead. The Suns outglassed the Clips by a 50-30 margin, and while the Clippers won the turnover margin by one the Suns outscored them 21-9 off of turnovers. Chris Kaman led the Clippers with 24 points and nine rebounds while Amare Stoudemire killed the Clips with 30 points and 14 rebounds. Wait, Stoudemire rebounds now? 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 ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 121-102. With both teams having only one loss in the Western Conference, this was supposed to be a very good game, but the Lakers decided to make it a laugher. With the Lakers leading 65-55 in the third quarter, they went on a 15-0 run to quash any hope for the Suns in making this a close game. Andrew Bynum in his first game back from sitting two games out with a bad elbow scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Kobe Bryant added 29 points. Josh Powell and Shannon Brown came off the bench impressively with Powell scoring 14 points in 19 minutes and Brown scoring 10 points in 15 minutes. Also their 78 points in the paint is the most since March 2000.However the Lakers 38.9% free throw shooting and 15 turnovers are causes for concern. With this victory head coach Phil Jackson is now 1,048-436 tying Larry Brown for fifth in NBA victories. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 132-106. No tacos for the Lakers faithful, but they sure did get a show. Every Laker scored and six were in double figures. After scoring 70 points in the first half there was a brief scare that the Suns would come back. But the Lakers took care of that quickly and ran away with this laugher. With the Cleveland Cavaliers losing to the Houston Rockets, the Lakers now lead by two games in the loss column not counting the tie breaker. 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 Atlanta Hawks 96-83. Well it wasn't exactly just like the first half for the Lakers. Kobe Bryant scored a season-low 10 points in the rout of the Hawks. However Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Jordan Farmar more than made up for it. Gasol got his third career triple-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while Lamar Odom scored 15 points while securing a season high 20 rebounds. Farmar cleaned things up for the second unit scoring 10 points. The only negative for the Lakers in the game was they gave up 23 turnovers. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 105-92. Missing easy buckets don't lead to victories. Ask the Suns forward Amare Stoudemire. All night Stoudemire and the Suns missed easy dunks, putbacks and layups to give the Lakers a fight. And when you make mistakes against the best team in the league, you just don't win. Meanwhile Vladimir Radmonovic got his stroke back shooting 5-for-6 beyond the arc. Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza all scored double-digits coming off the bench. Meanwhile the Andrew Bynum-Shaquille O'Neal showdown was basically a push. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Charlotte Bobcats 102-98. Jordan Farmar led all Lakers scorers with 17 points in just 22 minutes played to help the Lakers squeak past the still-winless Bobcats. After trailing by six at half time and by as much as nine in the third quarter the Lakers started to clamp down on the Bobcats to get back into the game. With an Andrew Bynum slam dunk to open up the fourth quarter, the Lakers took their first lead since the first half. Although Pau Gasol and Bynum seem to be playing better together, they still have a lot of shore up. Scary moment happened in the second quarter when new Laker Josh Powell and Kobe Bryant both went up for a rebound and collided knees. Bryant landed awkwardly and hyperextended his knee. He will be day-to-day. 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 ›

Was that a game or what? The Lakers staved off Phoenix’s charges to eventually pull out the 130-124 victory in Shaq’s Suns debut. more ›

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 came off the bench with 12 points (contract year anyone?). more ›

Now that the Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs after last night’s 119-110 loss to the Phoenix Suns, local sports writers weighed in this morning about where to place the blame. columnist J.A. Adande joins a growing number of people who are looking to coach Phil Jackson for some answers. Jackson is a Hall of Famer and is considered by many to be one of the best coaches in NBA history, but lately some have been questioning the efficacy of his triangle offense with the current Lakers team. Adande thinks the Lakers certainly have the right players, but proposes that Jackson rethink his coaching style. “Something different than the erratic, three-point jacking under former coach Rudy Tomjanovich, but not as limited as what they’re doing now,” he suggests. more ›

Despite all the talk about the Lakers’ newly revitalized motivation after reading about how the Phoenix Suns and their coach put them down in a book about last year’s playoff series, no one realistically expects the Lakers to beat the Suns in this year’s playoffs. Recent projections by four “NBA experts” printed in Sports Illustrated called Phoenix to win in either five or six games. Couple that with the Times reporting Lakers coach Phil... more ›

In the last 23 years, NBA playoff seven seeds have won four and lost 42 series of their first-round playoff series. more ›

Hornets 86, Clippers 83 - Sports fans talk about "meaningless games" towards the end of the regular season. Those are contests held after a team is already in or out of the playoffs and seeding isn't a major issue. It's a common indicator of an exciting team in baseball. In this year's NBA playoff chase, the Clippers didn't play a single meaningless game. They did play roughly one meaningless quarter. Despite taking a solid lead... more ›