Ooooh. Basketball! AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi 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......

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......

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......

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 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......

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. Times 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......

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......

In the last 23 years, NBA playoff seven seeds have won four and lost 42 series of their first-round playoff series. Not good news for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who tip off against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday (noon on ABC). Still there is some hope -- last year in the playoffs against these Suns the Lakers took a 3-1 series lead (but eventually lost in seven games); and even during the recent Lakers slide some......

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......

There was a strange look in Kobe Bryant’s face during Friday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns: It was a look of defeat. Kobe seemed tired and listless, playing only 17 points in their 93-85 loss. We shouldn’t waste too much sympathy on a multi-millionaire, but it’s been hard not to feel for Kobe, who has been playing some of the best basketball of his career without getting any consistent help from the rest......

Rockies 6, Dodgers 3 - It was a beautiful day for a ballgame. It was so nice, the mayor came out for the Dodger's home opener against Colorado. But coming off a four game sweep in San Francisco, it turned out the Dodgers brought some of the Giant's bad luck back to LA. Former Giant-turned-Dodger Jason Schmidt took the loss and pulled his hamstring. Teammate Matt Kemp smashed his shoulder into an outfield video board......

Kobe has already made history in the last week, becoming only the second player ever in the NBA to score 50 or more points in four straight games. Not so coincidentally, those were four Laker wins. The way he’s playing, there’s no reason the streak can’t reach six games. First up tonight is the Golden State Warriors (6:30 p.m. on Fox Sports) -- the team that plays at the fastest pace in the NBA. Under......

Well, it’s official. Kobe is the only player in history besides Wilt Chamberlain to play four straight 50+ games. In Friday night’s game, Kobe scored exactly 50 points, carrying his team to a 111-105 win over the New Orleans Hornets. All eyes were watching, tallying each point he made. And Kobe did actually attempt to be humble: In a pre-game interview, he graciously told John Ireland that one of the best parts about being......

While all the college hoops fans in Southern California were only paying attention to those teams up in Westwood and downtown, down in the LBC they’ve been playing some pretty good basketball too. NCAA tournament good. Playing fast and bombing threes, Long Beach State won the Big West Conference tournament, which means they get to go dancing for the first time in a dozen years, They go in as a 12 seed facing five-seed......

Weekend Edition OK, so the TV Junkie completely missed Friday, this was because of a 50 mile backup on the MassPike so that's unlikely to happen in the near future. Now the TV Junkie is quite drunk in San Francisco which doesn't mean he doesn't want to be drunk in LA with you wonderful people. This doesn't mean it won't happen again, we're only somewhat human. College Football (ABC, ESPN and wherever else, at......

Turns out it’s fitting that the Lakers and Phoenix Suns are opening their seasons on Halloween: Both are dragging battered limbs and other body parts into the Staples Center. And it’s going to be dark. The start of the season brings optimism for most sports fans, but Laker fans’ hopes are tinged with worry. Foremost on the list of concern is Kobe Bryant’s knee — he had “minor” surgery back in July and is......

Damn... Almost there. So close... Well for the first half anyway. Then the runaway sports coupe that is the Phoenix Suns put it into 6th gear and left the Clippers in the dust winning the decisive game 7 127-107 to advance to the Western Conference Finals... again. The three days rest was enough to rejuvenate the engine, Steve Nash, which in turn rejuvenated the whole team. Nash went for 29 points and 11 assists,......

Well we wanted it... didnt we? After a back and forth series that EITHER team should could have won, another big game seven is set in Arizona to decide if the Clippers or the Phoenix Suns will play in the Western Conference Finals. Elton Brand has been everything and more for the Clippers. Averaging 30 and 10 for the Clips this series, he has the entire Suns frontcourt sweating in their sleep. Sam-I-Am has......

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......

In what was supposed to be the final game before they began their series to reclaim LA from the rise of Clipper Nation, the Lakers forgot one thing. The Phoenix Suns... Yeeeah, the SUNS... remember them? Apparently the Lakers didnt. The game 5 asswhuppin that was put on them in Phoenix (literally and figuratively) wasnt enough to get them to stick to the script that has them one win away from a historic second......

Over the weekend the Lakers and Clippers opened their playoff runs against the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets respectively. Its been a while since we have had TWO teams in the playoffs, mainly due to the Clippers past weakness... but this time around the higher seeded Clippers were the team that got it done. Opening at home against the Denver Nuggets, the Clips got the close game one victory 89-87 for their first playoff win......

The Lakers and the Clippers are in the NBA Playoffs and well... we're happy for them. In a place like LA where we are used to titles, the playoffs used to be a foregone conclusion (well except for the Clips). But as it turns out, changes swept the landscape here and just to show you how weird things got, the Clips, who had their best season EVER, are a higher seed than the Lakers.......

81… That number is going to have new meaning anytime it is brought up. Are you kidding? 81 points… 81 POINTS!!! Its already making waves across the country. How did it happen? Well, first off, the Lakers were losing (again). This time it was to the Toronto Raptors. Down by 18 points in the third. When asked by ESPN what Bryant said at that stage, Odom replied: "Nothing. That's when it's bad." Yeah, REAL......

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......

It was generally assumed that the Clippers planned to go after Kobe Bryant, and if they failed, they would simply re-sign Quentin Richardson. As a restricted free agent, the Clippers could match any deal for Richardson, including the $45 million offer sheet he agreed to with the Phoenix Suns. However, the Los Angeles Times reports that the Clippers might not match Richardson. And LAist cannot possibly understand why. Call us crazy, but LAist has......

As the Lakers put the finishing touches on a contract for new coach Rudy Tomjanovich, we don't anticipate too many "Ru-dy" chants at STAPLES Center if Kobe Bryant is not wearing Purple and Gold. Byrant met with the Clippers yesterday at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. LAists presumes he didn't need a tour of the arena. Bryant has also met with the Nuggets, but it's doubtful that Kobe's frequent trips to Eagle has......