Every Summer the number of outdoor concerts increase significantly. Why not? It's beautiful outside. In Marina Del Rey, they hold classical and popular concerts every Thursday and Saturday. This Thursday we have the opening ceremonies including two pre-concert events Trooping the Colors and a Water Show on the main channel. The highlight of this concert is USC professor Marek Szpakiewicz performing the Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor. According to our all-powerful all-knowing editor, "you'll......

This has been a very difficult post to write. The completely embarrassing game six that ended the Laker’s season was just very hard to stomach and left a lot of questions. How does a team that two weeks ago was favored to win the NBA Finals against a Celtics team that struggled against the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers go out with that little resistance? The Lakers were tough enough to beat the Utah Jazz......

Maybe y'all should've played. AP Photo/Winslow Townson It's over, and I don't think I've felt sicker than I do now. 131-92. And to the fucking Celtics.......

Lamar Drives to the Basket against Kevin Garnett. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill One of the first things to remember about the Lakers is to expect the unexpected. Throw all logic out the window since what was thought to have been known was just an illusion to begin with. It was destined before the season began that Kobe Bryant would be traded away. It seemed inevitable the Lakers with minimal roster changes would barely be......

Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant embrace in relief. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill In a game that was almost a carbon copy of game four, the Lakers escaped with a 103-98 victory. The Lakers started the game in sync again ending the first quarter with a 17-point lead. The Celtics came storming back in the second quarter with a 15-0 run going into the locker room at the half with a three-point deficit. But the......

Kobe Bryant wonders why I am such a bandwagon fan. AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian As much as the Celtics ripped the Lakers the other day, deep down inside I still have some hope for the Lakers to pull it out. Like most people in this city, the spectacle of game four at the Staples Center disgusted me. It was incomprehensible how the Lakers could let a 24-point lead slip away in the NBA Finals. Now......

Eddie House beat the Lakers? For reals? AP Photo/Mark Avery Gutless. Pathetic. Pitiful. Sorry. And that’s being generous to the Lakers. Lamar Odom started out the game with a driving layup, and it looked like with that intensity it would be a foregone conclusion the Lakers would win. Lamar and the rest of the Lakers kept up the intensity in the first quarter pulling out to a 21-point lead, the largest lead at the......

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......

It’s been a long time since a winning team of an NBA Final’s game looked like a team destined to lose the series. That game Tuesday night was atrocious. Dancers at Jumbo’s Clown Room look better than that game. The Celtics shot 35 percent from the field and the Lakers not named Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic shot 28 percent. And to top it all off, the Lakers obviously weren’t used to getting foul calls......

James Posey Given a Free Lane to the Bucket. AP Photo/Winslow Townson People around the city are bemoaning about the horrible job the referees are doing in the NBA Finals. One of the more outrageous conspiracy theories involves the refs deliberately calling the game against the Lakers so that the series would go a full seven games. It’s amazing to hear how far people will go to justify the Laker’s awful play. Take this......

Kobe Bryant posing with the trophy. AP Photo/Hector Mata It’s here. After waiting for a week the NBA Finals start tonight in Boston and with it a heralded rivalry is renewed. Gone are the Forum and the dump that was known as the Boston Garden. A lot of people may remember the Garden fondly, but a place that had no air-conditioning or heat and a horrible uneven parquet floor that contained dead spots is......

It’s funny how things can change in the NBA Playoffs in the span of a month. Heading into the playoffs the Boston Celtics and their “Big Three” were preordained to have an easy road to the NBA Finals and maybe getting a challenge in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons. I even said as much on this blog, though I did think the Pistons would end up defeating the Celtics. But something......

To all the loyal Kobe supporters / LAist readers who commented on the Top Ten Reasons LeBron is better than Kobe: First of all, I'm impressed that 25 people care enough about Kobe Bryant to bother defending him. I love that several of the comments were longer than the original post. I should also say that LeBron did disappoint last night, and it's true Kobe won a ring in his first trip to the......

In honor of Game 4 of the NBA Finals (yes, they're still going on, L.A., even if you didn't notice once your Lakers wilted in the first round), a little love for The King. Please note: I said Top Ten because there are probably thousands of reasons, but I only have time and space for ten here. 10. Nicknames. Bron-Bron, King James, LBJ, The Chosen One, Video Game James. What does Kobe have? One word,......

Will Cleveland complete a giant turnaround on the shoulders of LeBron James? Will San Antonio continue their NBA legacy with another championship? We don't have a stinkin' clue, but if you make the best prediction LAist will give you a box of 2006-2007 Topps Full Court Basketball Cards. The box contains 108 cards, including two relic cards and one that's been autographed by two different NBA stars. If you haven't heard, it seems like everybody......

Every morning at 6am we will be posting a video of someone singing or playing the "Star Spangled Banner". Back in the day television stations would end their "broadcast day" with an instrumental of the National Anthem accompanied by images of dandelions blowing in the wind, of flags being held by children, and olde fashioned barbers using leeches on alleged witches. When the song was over, the screen would flicker and a test pattern......

Mavericks 114, Lakers 95 - Coming into the game, Dallas had won 18 of their last 19. The loss? Lakers. The revenge? Resounding. The Mavericks were up by as many as 28 and got double digit performances from six players. They did just about everything, including performing the national anthem before the game. Dallas is midway through the season and holds the best record in the league. They look to exact more revenge on Sunday......

Current Record: 2-1, T-2nd Pacific Last Week: The Clippers rebounded from a disappointing opening-night loss to Phoenix by knocking off Denver and taking out the Suns in the rematch. Sam Cassell showed that he still has plenty of gas left in his tank at 37, leading the team in scoring and taking all of the big shots down the stretch. Newly acquired Tim Thomas displayed the same form he had in last year’s playoffs......

See, this is why we only email trusted friends, and trust no one. The other day AP reported that Britney and KFed want to bring their new offspring into the world at the pregnant-celeb-friendly Namibia (know your customer), and the next day they tell us it could have been a hoax. Is this what hoaxes have stooped to? LAist remembers when hoaxes were far more interesting than that. Bigfoot was a good hoax. Britibia,......

This... this was a nightmare on epic levels. The carriage turned back to a pumpkin... The Dream that was to be the "Hallway Series" has been dashed by the Phoenix Suns. Now mind you LAist (and all of the remaining Laker fans) are not so upset that they blew three straight chances to close out. Ok that was a lie, we are INSANELY UPSET at that but also at HOW they went out in......

After accepting a mere $100 million contract from the Miami Heat, Shaq is being praised for his generosity. Shaq's willingness to take less money allowed the Heat to add some much needed depth, by using their capspace to acquire Antoine Walker, Jason Williams, and James Posey. "I'm very excited about my new agreement with the Heat," O'Neal said. "This contract allows me to address all of my family's long-term financial goals while allowing the......

As Phil Jackson prepares for an interview during tonight's broadcast of the NBA Finals, Peter Vecsey of the New York Post is reporting that the Lakers are considering Brian Shaw as their next head coach. Talk about coming out of left field. If this is true (and knowing the Post, it probably isn't), it's a bad idea. It's not that we don't like Brian Shaw. We always liked him as a valuable veteran role......

There's a weird sensation that all LA hoops fans are feeling right now. It feels like something is missing. Like something is absent in our lives. We feel cold, alone, uncomfortable, and empty. What is this sensation? The Lakers aren't in the playoffs. Yes, this is normally the time of year where we're mildly concerned with Portland or Houston, and how Shaq might match up against someone like Arvydas Sabonis. Sacramento and San Antonio......

Last Friday night the NBA witnessed the worst event in its history. Never before has a riot errupted like that in an NBA Arena. The suspensions handed down to Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Wallace, and others were completely warranted. It doesn't matter if fans are throwing plastic cups at you. If there's one rule in the NBA that everyone understands, it's that you always stay on your side. Players should never......

The Gary Payton era in LA sure didn't last long. The playoff stiff was traded today to the Boston Celtics along with Rick Fox and a draft pick for Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins, and Marcus Banks. The truth is that "The Glove" never fit in LA. Despite coming to the Lakers knowing they ran the triangle and that he'd be the third or fourth option, he complained relentlessly about the triangle and being the......

The Lakers may have lost the Shaq diesel, but they kept the Ukraine Train, by re-signing Slava Medvedenko. One of the few amusing parts during the NBA Finals came when Phil Jackson told ABC's Michelle Tafoya that Medvedenko would start for the injured Karl Malone in Game 5 because he "has a game." Medvedenko has a game alright, just not a particularly great one. While he has improved considerably, Medvedenko tries too hard to......

Life isn't easy when your dad effectively fires your boyfriend. But as Sports Illustrated once wrote about Lakers President Jeanie Buss with that picture on the left, "she's got balls." The beautiful Ms. Buss answered tough questions from the LA Times' Steve Springer the other day as part of a very entertaining interview. Unfortunately Jeanie is also a bit delusional. During the NBA Finals, she went on the Mason & Ireland Show on 710......

After exercising his $5.4 million option to remain with the Lakers, Gary Payton now wants out of LA. So now let's recap everything for you: 1.) Gary Payton takes less money to play for the Lakers knowing full well they run the triangle offense, that in all likelihood he'll be 4th (or at best 3rd) option, and that he's expected to play the great defense which earned him the nickname "The Glove." 2.) Payton......