Results tagged “losangeleslakers”

LA Lakers defeat Chicago Bulls 108-93. In Pau Gasol’s first game with the Lakers this season, the team looked completely different. It helped that Gasol played like he missed no time scoring six of the Lakers’ first seven points. He led all scorers with 24 points and 13 rebounds. It did cut into Andrew Bynum’s numbers a little who scored 11 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes. Kobe Bryant scored 21 points overtaking Kareem Adbul-Jabbar for second place in franchise scoring in the process. The Lakers dominated the paint and played a very balanced game.

"Trev got that bling 2nite!!! Now we bout 2 hit these streets," said Los Angeles Dodger Matt Kemp via Twitter. The center fielder added, via Twitter, "Bling!!!" Apparently Kemp, a recent winner of a Golden Glove and Silver Slugger award, and Trevor Ariza, the former Los Angeles Laker, now Houston Rocket, are partying it up somewhere and Kemp's impressed.

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.

Denver Nuggets defeat LA Lakers 105-79. After keeping the game close in the first half, the Lakers were outscored by the Nuggets 29-8 in the third quarter to seal their fate. While Carmelo Anthony was seemingly contained thanks to foul problems in the first half, he exploded in the third quarter scoring 12 points while making the game a laugher. Both Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant scored 19 points while Bynum grabbed 15 rebounds.

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.

Lakers and UCLA great Kareem Adbul-Jabbar is fighting a rare type of leukemia. Diagnosed in December, he is taking oral medication, seeing his specialist every other month and getting his blood analyzed regularly to fight the leukemia. He has a Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia where blood and bone marrow produces cancerous cells. Despite the stigma of the word "leukemia" many patients who are treated for chronic myeloid leukemia can control the disease without it advancing and should be able to lead a normal productive life. Abdul-Jabbar said the disease should not interfere with his work as special coach for the Lakers. Best wishes to the Captain.

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.

Maybe it’s the Dodgers’ turn to be champs. The sold-out Dodgers Stadium faithful vibrantly acted that way throughout last night’s 3:56 almost-marathon, which saw the Los Angeles Dodgers take the first game of the National League Division Series from the Saint Louis Cardinals. The Lakers felt that way too. The reigning NBA kings pledged their adoration for the Dodgers, and shared a slice of the city’s goodwill toward them, by participating in a series of rah-rah Go Dodgers! videos, shown on the left field jumbotron.

The stripper poles, midgets and all around douche factor at Le Deux that "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis has planned to celebrate Lamar Odom's upcoming nuptials to Khloe Kardashian? Scrapped. Instead Odom's bachelor party was relocated to STK restaurant on La Cienega. According to US Magazine the night started at around 10:15 pm and relocated to the club Guys and Dolls.

ESPN and the LA Times' Mark Medina are reporting that sources say that Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis will become the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. A news conference will be held on Tuesday to announce the deal. Reportedly Rambis and the Wolves agreed to a four-year, $8 million deal. Rambis will be taking over for Kevin McHale who coincidentally enough clotheslined Rambis during the 1984 Finals when they were playing for the Lakers and Celtics respectively.

Yup the NBA schedule for the 2009-2010 season was released today, and the first date anyone looks at is Christmas Day. The Lakers, of course, are playing the marquee game hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers at 2 pm.

LA Angels defeat Minnesota Twins 6-5 (10th inning). On the day the Angels unveiled the logo for next season's All Star Game being hosted at Angels Stadium, the Angels needed some extra to come from behind against the Twins. With Joan Jett in attendance, the Angels allowed Jason Kubel to ride roughshod over them. Kubel went 2-for-5 with three RBI in this game giving him 10 RBI in four games against the Angels. Jered Weaver would go seven innings plus one batter in the eighth inning giving up four runs on six hits and two walks. In the bottom of the ninth inning facing Twins closer Joe Nathan, the Angels dinked and dunked scoring twice to tie the game at five and give Nathan only his third blown save of the season. After Angels closer Brian Fuentes came in and pitched a perfect tenth, Mike Napoli hit a walkoff RBI single off of Jesse Crain in the home half of the inning.

American League defeats National League 4-3. Perhaps we can call this the All Star Game that the NL West helped to lose for the NL. San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum started the game for the NL and promptly gave up two runs to the AL although only one was earned. Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley came in the fifth inning with the NL leading 3-2 and gave up a run to tie the game. And just to rub salt in the wounds San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell gave up the winning run to the AL in the top of the eighth inning.

Sorry for being so neglectful recently. It seems like everything exploded in the sports world in the last week or so. So here's a round up rather than reading about how the Dodgers and Angels lost Wednesday night.

One of the crucial roles professional sports have is uniting a city in catharsis. In July 1967 the city of Detroit endured riots that claimed 43 lives and injured 467. In addition 7,231 people were arrested while damages estimated from $40 million to $80 million (not adjusted for inflation). In 1968 when the Detroit Tigers faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, the city came together to cheer them on to victory.

Lakers Victory Parade and Rally. And that was how a victory parade should be. With the exception of a few knuckleheads outside the Coliseum, everyone was filled with joy cheering the Lakers. For all the detractors who said Los Angeles didn't deserve a parade after the actions of certain shiteaters Sunday night, tell me the thousands of people along the 2.2 miles of Figueroa Street between the Staples Center and the Coliseum and the 80,000 in the Coliseum itself didn't want some diversion from everyday struggles. Everything about this celebration was done exquisitely and served as a great dress rehearsal for November's parade. One last thing. For all you shitheads complaining about the cost burden of the city, what is $1 million more to a $500 million shortfall?

Phil Willion on the LA Times "LA Now" blog reports that the City of LA found enough private donors to cover their $1 million share of the Lakers parade Wednesday. Previously it was agreed between Staples Center owner Anschultz Entertainment Group would split the $2 million cost evenly with the city. There will be a news conference later this afternoon announcing this plan.

It really did seem inevitable, didn’t it? Oh yeah. I was steadfast in my belief that the Lakers would win the NBA title. Oh that blip after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals was another person. Wasn’t me. I was possessed by TJ Simers! In all seriousness, watching the Magic steadfastly break apart the Cleveland Cavaliers while the Lakers were at that time having problems with the Denver Nuggets was cause for concern.

From the lows of that 131-92 game at Staples Center against the Boston Celtics a year ago, the Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic 99-86. This is the franchise's 15th championship and head coach Phil Jackson's 10th to surpass Red Auerbach. Kobe Bryant won the NBA Finals MVP for the first time. Comment away.

Here is the liveblog of Game 5 of the NBA. I assure you the Lakers will bring home the championship tonight.

The Orlando Magic are done. We all witnessed it Thursday night and saw them make many boneheaded plays in the last 30 seconds of regulation in Game 4 to cost them the game. Let’s break it down.

It took some scratching and clawing, but the Lakers defeated the Magic in overtime 99-91. The Lakers were off kilter to start off the game allowing Magic center Dwight Howard to grab 11 first quarter rebounds. Also all the Lakers bigs were in foul trouble at one point forcing the Lakers to play DJ Mbenga and Josh Powell. Thanks to Magic turnovers the Lakers were down by only four points despite not being able to shoot and. It would get worse for the Lakers in the second quarter where they couldn't defend worth squat and would trail at halftime by twelve.

After Game 1, I said that the Magic's outside shooters would not miss all of those shots again. Well the Lakers survived the Magic's improved shooting in Game 2 101-96 in overtime. After being non-factors in Game 1 Rashard Lewis and Hedu Turkoglu showed up in Game 2 knocking down 34 points and 17 points respectively. Lewis knocked down six three-pointers in the Magic's effort to steal one game on LA's home court. The effort would come up short.

LA Lakers defeat Orlando Magic 100-75. This certainly was not what I had in mind coming into this NBA Finals. The Lakers were led by Kobe Bryant scoring 40 points and getting eight rebounds and eight assists. This was the first time Kobe has scored 40 or more in the NBA Finals in his career. The game started out with both teams feeling each other out in the first quarter. The Magic took a five point lead at the end of the quarter. But in the second quarter despite surprisingly good play by Jameer Nelson, the Lakers started to pull away taking a 10 point lead into the half.

There's a reason it's taken me this long to talk about the NBA Finals. I have no idea how this will play out. When I made the proclamation last week that the Magic would win in five games if they faced the Lakers in the Finals, the Lakers didn't look to hot. They were in the middle of feeling out the Denver Nuggets tying the series two games a piece. But the Lakers brought down the hammer capped with a 27-point victory in the decisive Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, and everything changed right there.

In the most dominating fashion, the Lakers dismantled the Denver Nuggets 119-92 in Denver in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. They now head to their 30th NBA Finals and look to atone for their collapse in last year's finals against the Boston Celtics.

LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 103-94. Lakers players not named Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol made an appearance in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Most notably Lamar Odom became the beast everyone knew he could be scoring 19 points, grabbing 14 boards and blocking four shots. To open the fourth quarter Odom was everywhere defensively and offensively helping the Lakers go on a 11-0 run to start the fourth. Meanwhile when the Lakers looked a bit lethargic in the third quarter, Shannon Brown came into the game and made an emphatic dunk over Chris "Birdman" Anderson. The game was tight throughout being tied after the first, second and third quarters. But the Lakers were active on defense in the fourth quarter and summarily was able to pull out the game. By the way, Kobe Bryant scored only 22 points.

I still say the Lakers will defeat the Denver Nuggets in six games. But it's not this series that I'm finding all that compelling. Out in the east, we are witnessing an Orlando Magic team that is tearing apart the Cleveland Cavaliers. Aside from the Magic's 10-point victory in game three, all games have been close: one point margins in games one and two and a two point victory by the Magic in game four.

I don't get it. In Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals Pau Gasol got nine field goal attempts. In Game 2 he got eight. In these two games, Gasol has less attempts than he did in Game 7 of the Houston Rockets series.

Denver Nuggets defeat LA Lakers 106-103. Just as the Denver led by double digits in Game 1 and gave the Lakers the victory, the Lakers did the same in Game 2. Down the stretch the Lakers could not snag defensive rebounds giving the Nuggets second chance opportunities. Meanwhile the Nuggets played the Lakers very well defensively by clogging the lanes and forcing the Lakers to take contested jumpers. The Lakers came out on fire taking the ball to the rim and opening a 14 point lead, however on defense they did allow the Nuggets to penetrate. The Lakers started to play sloppy in the end of the second quarter allowing the Nuggets to go on a 14-2 to close the half with a one point deficit. The game would remain close throughout as the teams went back and forth trading punches. While the referees blew some calls, none of that should detract from the fact that the Lakers gave up a 14 point lead. But what's good for the goose is good for the ganders. The series now shifts to Denver on Saturday for Game 3.