TNT announcer Doug Collins loves calling Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic "an irritant." For the most part, he's talking about Vujacic's uncanny ability to work his way under the skin of opponents. The list of players Vujacic has irritated is long and respectable: ... (Continue reading)
Two shots. Two freakin' shots. That's how many field goal attempts Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant took 10 minutes into the fourth and decisive quarter. I don't want to hear, "it's the zone." It's not the zone. It's guys who think they're three-point ... (Continue reading)
It's the middle of the eighth inning, and the Dodgers lead the Cincinnati Reds 7-5.It's been a good game, and fans need something to pump them up. You know, the way the Boston Red Sox use "Sweet Caroline" to pump ... (Continue reading)
Los Angeles is in a tizzy over the recent reports that Lakers free agent forward Trevor Ariza might just sign elsewhere—Cleveland or Houston it seems—because he was offended by the NBA champions' multi-year offer starting at $5.6 million. If he wants ... (Continue reading)
Since 2000, the Lakers have either won or made it to the NBA Finals five times. That means one thing when it comes to the NBA Draft—they'll be picking very late. In each of those drafts, following a trip to the Finals, ... (Continue reading)
Dear Media: During Sunday’s press conference after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic 99-91 in the deciding Game Five, several of you asked newly crowned Finals MVP Kobe Bryant what it was like to win his first title without ... (Continue reading)
Stat of the night: Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum combined for three assists and 25 shot attempts. In Game Two, the three had seven assists and 28 shot attempts—Lakers win by five. In Game One, the trio again combined ... (Continue reading)
Buddha. Moses. Jesus Christ. Kobe Bryant? When Kobe Bryant came into the NBA, he wasn't your average high-school player. Then-Laker General Manager Jerry West called Bryant the most talented player he'd seen. But very quickly, Kobe became one of the most hated players ... (Continue reading)
Every NBA Finals has its "what ifs." Usually these come up in retrospect. What if Magic Johnson and Byron Scott had played in the 1989 Finals versus the "Bad Boy" Pistons? What if the officials had called Michael Jordan for pushing off the ... (Continue reading)
With three often-dominant big men, most assume that the Lakers would use the inside game to their advantage. People assume that the Lakers would start the game by pounding the ball into 7'1" Andrew Bynum, and then they'd finish the game ... (Continue reading)