Kurt Helin

Tonight the Lakers face the Utah Jazz on a Charles Barkley-approved national broadcast -- a face off of two surprising first-place teams. So it begs the question: Can these teams stay on top for an entire season? In the case of talented and now healthy Utah, it's pretty easy to answer yes. For the Lakers, well, they get a qualified yes -- if they start playing some defense. Most Laker fans have been feeling...

At some point during the third quarter of last night's Laker game, I was asking myself the same question that Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was asking himself: Is there anything Kobe Bryant can't do? Not on a basketball court, apparently. He got his 52 points last night by shooting deep threes and driving for dunks, he can shoot inside with both hands, can drive equally well left or right, has a pull-up jumper, a...

This past off-season, the Lakers spent $30 million of Jerry Buss' poker winnings to convince Vladimir Radmanovic to cross the hall from the Clipper locker room to the Lakers'. It made sense: The Lakers needed a sharp-shooter from three-point range to spread opposing defenses, giving Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom room to work inside. And now they have that sharpshooter -- Luke Walton. Yes, he of the Dead tattoo. Yes Luke, with the basketball legend...

It's been a long week for the folks at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, which got hit with plenty of shrapnel from the Michael Richards explosion. And it was on the lips of everyone on Thanksgiving, the day that the Laugh Factory turns into the home away from home for about 1,200 actors, comedians and anyone else who comes in for the free meals and a free show at the comedy venue. If there...

Tuesday night, for the first time all season, Kobe Bryant looked like Kobe Bryant. That was bad news for the Clippers, but this is not a recap of that Laker win (Ryan has already done a very good one). However, more than just bad news for the Clippers, Kobe getting healthy is bad news for the league -- and good news for guys who have to edit highlight reels for news programs. For the first...

Maybe there is something to this Laker/Clipper rivalry thing after all. Didn't used to be that way, a few years ago Laker players and fans were more worried about Duncan in San Antonio or cowbells in Sacramento or if Lara Flynn was still sitting with Jack. The Clippers weren't even on the radar. Then things changed. Fans grew frustrated when Kobe and Shaq and their eight-figure salaries and even larger egos couldn't share the court....

Just what do we know about this season's Lakers after nine games? We know they can win with Kobe dragging one leg behind him (although he looked better Friday night against Toronto, to the point that Phil Jackson benched him for "imposing his will" on the game and ignoring teammates). We know that young guys like Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and Ronny Turiaf can take on more than maybe we thought. We know Luke Walton...

Lamar Odom has been the John Travolta of the Lakers: For the first three games of the season it was an amazing performance, such as Pulp Fiction (or averaging 28 points per game); for the next three it was more like Battlefield Earth (averaging 13.3). It wasn't just this season -- inconsistency was Odom's middle name last year as he deferred to Kobe and couldn't find his space. The problem has been that Odom is...

Kobe had his "minor" knee surgery in July, with the theory that he'd be ready to go in training camp and be at full force by the start of the season. He's clearly not. The ugly loss to Detroit on Friday night was the kind of game that last season Kobe just took over - nothing else was working so he'd score 50 and keep the Lakers close, if not win the game. Right now...

Tuesday night: Andrew Bynum has a career best 20-point, 14-rebound game in a win against Minnesota and at age 19 is the toast of Staples Center. Wednesday night: He gets two points, five rebounds and fouls out in a loss to Portland. Welcome to the NBA, kid. For young players it's a roller coaster of inconsistency. Bynum and rookie point guard Jordan Farmar excite us one night with flashes of what can be, then the...