Earlier this week conservative talk show hosts Chris Baker and Langdon Perry of Minneapolis' KTLK remarked during their broadcast that they felt Lakers' legend Magic Johnson was "faking" having AIDS in order to gain attention. Following the show, the station released a written statement regarding what they call their hosts' "off-hand remarks" and that KTLK "recognizes the seriousness of the health issues presented by HIV/AIDS -- and the great work that Magic Johnson has done......

Circle December 25 on your calendar. It's a pretty important day. The Lakers may unwrap some gifts in the morning, but the big moment will have to wait a few hours. That afternoon, they hope to open up a can of whoop ass on the Celtics. That's right -- David Stern has announced his Christmas gift to LA. Boston will make their first trip to the Staples Center since beating the Lakers for this year's......

On Wednesday, the city of Seattle found out that their SuperSonics would be packing their bags and leaving for Oklahoma City. Thanks to owner Clay Bennett, in 2008-09 there will be no pro basketball in Seattle for the first time in 41 years. "He drained the Sonics' joy out of Seattle," said Seattle Times' columnist Jerry Brewer of Bennett. Cheer up Seattle. It's not all gloom and doom. Some good news for the city arrived......

As we mentioned earlier today, Los Angeles native Baron Davis is headed home and he's bringing his beard and 21 points per game with him. The former Crossroads School and UCLA standout came to a verbal agreement with the LA's other team, making the Clippers suddenly relevant and a playoff contender. Baron credits the community for his decision telling ESPN, "I'm happy with where I'm going. A big reason is because of the impact and......

Shaq is on the attack again. From the folks at TMZ.com comes video of Shaq taking the mic last night at a New York City club. Among Shaq's freestylin' was a little piece on him blaming Kobe for his divorce and mocking of Kobe and the Lakers losing to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. The best part of the song is the audience participation where he urges the crowd to sing the chorus,......

Matt Damon Booed Back to Boston Looks like Matt Damon was right. A few weeks ago at the taping of Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards (it airs this Sunday) he won an award (yes, those are golden antlers you see there). During his acceptance speech, Damon proclaimed that the Boston Celtics "will kick the collective ass of the Los Angeles Lakers." Oh, no you didn't! everyone thought as they booed. Well, he did. And......

Ask any science teacher: the longest measurable unit of time is no longer the baseball season -- it's the final two minutes of a close basketball game. Want proof? Look no further than Game Four of the 2008 NBA Finals. If Laker fans thought Thursday's come-from-behind loss was painful, the rest of the nation probably thought it was painfully slow. This year's series is dominating TV ratings and has been wildly dramatic, but the......

There's a little sporting event going on in Los Angeles tonight, just in case you hadn't heard... Of course, these folks really take being fans of our side of the NBA Finalists to a whole new level in their purple-and-gold emblazoned ride. LAist Featured Photos contributor victoriabernal snapped this shot of these Lakers uber-fans driving near the Staples Center. Ready for tonight's Game 4 match-up between our boys and their longtime Bostonian rivals? Here's......

Just in case anyone was still looking... you've got three days to go. h/t sk8rsherman......

"The Lakers just stunk. They trailed by as much as 24 points in the fourth quarter but managed to get within four points in the final seconds of the game," said LAist Sports Editor Jimmy Bramlett in LAst Night's Action. However, "at least Lakers fans were able to deliver the beat down that there team couldn't," a post at FanIQ notes. "Some Celtics fan showed up at the Staples Center in a jersey and......

Kobe Jumps Over an Aston Martin....

Clippers defeat Seattle Sonics 102-84. Elton Brand's return from a torn Achille's tendon sparked the Clippers. Orginally slated to play just a few minutes to get back into game form, he ended up playing 25 minutes notching 19 points on 7-15 shooting off the bench. Giants defeat Dodgers 2-1. The game started weirdly when both starting pitchers (Chad Billingsley for the Dodgers and Tim Lincecum for the Giants) were pulled due to the impending storm.......

Lakers 102, ??? 100 - The Los Angeles Lakers went to Dallas and apparently won, beating some unknown team owned by a guy who doesn't support media progress. OK, it's not that bad. What was bad? The Laker's second half. After amassing a 25 point lead, they allowed the Mavericks to climb back to within 98-97 with 41 seconds to go. Then it was 101-100 with less than 5 seconds left. Dirk Nowitzki, who had......

Rockets 104, Lakers 92 - Pau Gasol is out indefinitely with a sprained ankle, but losing your big man is no excuse if you ask Houston. The Rockets have won 22 in a row and 10 straight since Yao Ming went down. Los Angeles is now looking up at Houston, who owns the West's best record at 46-20 -- one game ahead of the Lakers. Kobe Bryant had 24 points, but most impressively held Tracy......

Clippers 99, Heat 98 - With Shaq in Phoenix and Dwayne Wade injured for the season, the Clippers had an opportunity to beat somebody -- and actually took it. Cuttino Mobley hit a pair of free throws in the final three seconds to seal the deal. He led the way with 29 points. Since the Clippers won't be lucky enough to face many more horrible teams like Miami, Andrew Kamenetzky atSportsHubLA has some ideas on......

#3 UCLA 77, #7 Stanford 67, OT - The Bruins clinched their third consecutive Pac-10 hoops crown with their victory over the Farm. It looked bleak for awhile, but they managed to come from behind. More from Jimmy later this morning. USC 93, Cal 89, OT - This game was tough for fans to watch. That's because it wasn't televised. And because USC blew a huge lead. It worked out OK in the end. We're......

Clippers 116, Kings 109, 2OT - Down by 17 points, it looked like Los Angeles was about to give Sacramento their first win this year against a Pacific rival. Anybody seen Sam Cassell. Two overtimes later, the Clips pulled off a wild victory and send the Kings to 0-9 in the division. LA led the entire second overtime. Al Thornton led the game with 27, Chris Kaman had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Dan......

"Sister Cities" | Photo by Stephanie Asher via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An update on yesterday's Harbor-Gateway shooting of a 6-year-old in a car. LAPD Chief Bratton announced: "We are very confident that we have the people who were involved in the actual shooting in custody." For the Lakers fans out there, LA City Councilman Bernard Parks declared today as "Derek Fisher Day." 1,817. That's the number of teacher layoffs so......

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......

Blazers 82, Clippers 80 - Portland blew a 14 point lead in Staples Center one night after blowing a 15 point lead on the very same court. This time they were playing the Clippers, so things worked out OK. Los Angeles managed a pathetic 29 points in the first half, but did make a noble effort in the second. Corey Maggette was hot with 32 points, but missed a big shot with eight ticks left.......

I told people not to overlook the Portland Trail Blazers. Historically they have played the Lakers really tough. Even though the Blazers were 32-50 last season, they won the season series against the Lakers last season. So there they were in the first quarter being run out of the Staples Center by the Blazers down 15 points. The Blazers seemed run their offensive sets as if they were in practice, and the Lakers couldn’t get......

Lakers 96, Blazers 83 - Portland made their first 21 free throws so, um, they got that going for them. Otherwise is was show time in Staples Center, with Kobe pouring in 30 along with 21 from Jordan Farmar (equaling a career high) and 15 from insta-hero Pau Gasol. The bearded big man added 10 rebounds for a double-double. Animal style. Los Angeles has won nine in a row and is looking ridiculously good (not......

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 111, Sonics 91 - Seattle had no chance against the surging Lake Show. Kobe was ejected in the third and it didn't matter (double technical after arguing a call -- not a huge deal). LA has won 11 of their last 13 and all but one was on the road. The Lakers got double digit contributions from seven players, led by Pau Gasol's 22. Ducks 6, Blackhawks 3 - This game was all about......

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. The Lakers looked a tad bit lethargic coming off their complete sodomization of the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night. Against most teams being a bit lethargic wouldn’t be a big problem, but this is the Suns we’re talking about here. Each time the Lakers went on a run, Sun’s coach Mike D’Antoni would......

Lakers 130, Suns 124 - So I'm like "OMG!" and then she's like "fer reelllllz!" And then I'm like "NO.WAY." and the she's like "totally." Whoops. That's the last time we let our teenage niece borrow the keyboard -- but she did sum things up pretty well. Jimmy will have all the deets on the NBA's greatest February game of all time at 9:00am. Clippers 100, Grizzlies 86 - The Clippers are officially LA's bastard......

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......

I love DineLA week. All these great restaurants at almost affordable prices. I wish I had more time to hit up all the great places! DineLA YEAR, I say! Bring it back now!Useless and completely unrealistic rant aside, Harold and Belle's came highly recommended from my friend Sharon, "Our favorite place, so much food!" she says. I can't say no to that! So here we go: It's certainly not in the greatest neighborhood, and......

Lakers 117, Timberwolves 92 - The Lakers sent a major sign to the rest of the NBA on their long road trip, finishing with a 7-2 record, acquiring Pau Gasol, and seeing Kobe pour in 29 points last night even with a dislocated finger. Against Minnesota, the Lakers got another solid performance from Gasol, who shot 9-of-11 for 19 points and blocked three shots. The team is off through the All Star game (Sunday) and......