This is the game story I filed for the North County Times web site, late Thursday. Yes, it’s old, but I didn’t get around to it on Thursday, and I may want to go back and read it myself, someday. Also, I actually wrote a separate entry on the game for this blog, early Thursday […]

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I wrote this game story for the North County Times, out of Game 1 of the Lakers’ series with the Houston Rockets, on Monday night. I expected the Lakers to be angrier, after it was over, but the dominant theme seemed to be surprise. With a dollop of frustration. One school of thought: The Lakers […]

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No great surprise here. No, really. Houston played hard and with great energy, which didn’t surprise much of anyone, and the Lakers seemed distracted and flat — which also didn’t surprise much of anyone. The Rockets led all but, like, 47 seconds of the game,  and it was no accident. Now, we shall see if […]

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The last time I was in this building was for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, last June. Lots of stuff has happened since then, including the Olympics, four months in Hong Kong, some assignments with the New York Times. Finally, I’m back … and it hardly looks different. Actually, I’d say it doesn’t look […]

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Lakers fans have them in the NBA Finals. What we’re going through now are just the preliminaries before the big event. The Utah Jazz, then Houston or Portland, then probably Denver. Before what really matters: The Finals against LeBron and Cleveland — unless the Celtics somehow slip in there. Would it be boorish of me […]

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A sense of dread had been hanging over me for a few weeks now. The Lakers aren’t going to win a championship. And Kobe Bryant is not going to win another MVP title.

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I may need to get my blood sugar tested after reading one sickly sweet “Shaq and Kobe kiss and make up” story after another out of the NBA All-Star weekend. It’s nice that they’re no longer glowering at each other. But several of the assumptions made by reporters , over the past few days — […]

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That was fairly huge. A 6-0 road trip. Including the loss of Andrew Bynum for maybe the rest of the season. A victory in Boston that snapped the Celtics’ 12-game winning streak, and a victory in Cleveland that was the Cavaliers’ first home defeat in 24 games. If this were June, the Lakers would have […]

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* – Subtitled: “Or See the Item Below.” The Lakers’ 110-109 victory over the Celtics in Boston certainly falls into the above (hurray, I’m wrong) category. Since I may loathe the Celtics as much as any team in sports. It’s them or the San Francisco Giants. (Hmmm. Celtics or Giants? Giants or Celtics? Probably Giants, […]

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No, make that “a certainty” of impending doom. The Lakers are going to be crushed by the Celtics tonight. May as well just accept it right now and think about dealing with it. All the shots of the annoying Kevin Garnett screaming and pounding his chest, and Boston fans exulting, blah blah blah. I don’t […]

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