The Clippers think they can. AP Photo/Hector Mata San Antonio Spurs defeat LA Clippers 86-83. As unwatchable as this game was at least it was more interesting than Monday Night Football. Basically the game was like this: bad team A plays bad team B. Bad team B ties the game very late in the game but gives up a 3-pointer to bad team A with eight seconds left to go. Bad team B loses.......

Something funny happened after game four of the Western Conference Finals. After the Lakers escaped San Antonio for the three games to one series lead, for the very first time I truly believed the Lakers could actually win the NBA Championship. Despite their marvelous play throughout the regular season and postseason, the specter of Laker teams from the last three years hung over in my mind. At some point the Lakers would fold and......

LA Lakers defeat San Antonio Spurs 93-91. The Lakers started out strong posting a 22-8 lead in the first quarter. Though the Spurs would come back and tie the game many times, they just couldn't get over the hump. Manu Ginobli would be held to 2-8 shooting with seven points while Brent Barry had a career playoff high 23 points. Even with a career playoff day, Barry could not sell a foul by Derek......

Spurs looking like they can't wait to go home. AP/Kevork Djansezian I didn’t have a good feeling about game two. I really thought the Spurs would come out angry after blowing a 20-point third quarter lead in game one. But I didn’t think the anger would amount to a three-year old’s temper tantrum. After watching Jordan Farmar’s block of Ime Udoka on a fast-break opportunity in the second quarter: Everyone in the world would......

Lotsa love to go around on the Laker's bench. AP/Mark J. Terrill LA Lakers defeat San Antonio Spurs 101-71. I was wrong. I really thought the Spurs would be well rested and completely shut down the Lakers. In fact the opposite happened. After feeling each other during most the first half, the Lakers went on a 9-0 run to take a nine point lead in the half. In the second half, the Lakers ran......

Luke Walton Kissing the Black Mamba Kobe Bryant. AP/Mark J. Terrill I am a little confused right now. I don’t know whether to be concerned that the Lakers fell to a 20-point deficit in the third quarter of game one of the NBA Western Conference Finals against the reigning champions San Antonio Spurs. Or should I be confident that the Lakers can overcome any deficit like they did in game one to get the......

LA Lakers defeat San Antonio Spurs 89-85. The Lakers looked dead facing a 20-point deficit with just over 5 minutes to play in the third quarter. But Kobe Bryant and the Lakers found a way to go on a 14-0 run at the end of the third and overtake the Spurs in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. The Lakers take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals and host game two......

LA Dodgers defeat Cincinnati Reds 6-5. It looked like Brad Penny was still suffering from a stiff arm struggling most of his outing giving up five runs on nine hits in six innings. But the Dodgers, with an assist to the poor Red's defense, got him out of the game with a tie. After a single and an error to leadoff hitter Russell Martin and a infield out by Jeff Kent to advance Martin......

LA Lakers defeat San Antonio Spurs 106-85. The Lakers played shoddy defense the first half against the shorthanded Spurs. But then again the Spurs did also which explains the tied score at half. In the second half the Lakers absolutely shut down the Spurs and Tony Parker while keeping up their offensive efficiency. If the Lakers win Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings, the Lakers will be the #1 team in the west. And to......

When the curtains come up near Broadway for the Lakers and New York Knicks tonight, the role of Kobe Bryant will be played by Maurice Evans. Nobody likes to pay Broadway ticket prices to see the understudy, but the NBA has suspended Kobe for tonight’s game in New York because of his “intentional” elbowing of Manu Ginobli of the San Antonio Spurs with 2.7 seconds left in Sunday’s game. Watch the video for yourself --......

Sure, the Lakers are 19 games into their season, but so far it has been the equivalent of a lazy Sunday morning. They've barely had to leave home (only four games away from Staples Center, like only leaving the house to grab the paper), and they've faced the second easiest schedule in the league so far, like making a cup of Pete's to sip while reading said paper. The young team got to gel......

Laker fans, you can exhale now. In case you missed it, they’ve collectively held their breath since just a few minutes after 9 last night, when early in the third quarter Kobe Bryant leaped to take a shot and landed on the foot on Indiana center Jeff Foster, rolling his ankle. It hurt to watch, just like it did when teammates had to help Kobe from the court. But today, after X-rays and a second......

Anyone who thought the Lakers would just continue to roll through their West rivals without Shaq was proven wrong last night. The San Antonio Spurs were a cut above the Lakers the whole way en route to a 105-96 win. Of course, even with Shaq, the Lakers needed a Derek Fisher miracle to beat San Antonio. But LA just didn't have the horses to slow down Tim Duncan, and contain Tony Parker and Manu......