It’s halftime at Staples. Kobe Bryant is 0-for-4 from the field and as many fouls (three) as points. But the Lakers lead 58-40. Say what?

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I was back in print this morning, for The Californian, in Temecula. I filed this before I did the blog item below. It’s similar, but not the same. I wrote the blog item from scratch, and in about 15 minutes. Anyway, I just like to link to stuff, and here is where the column is […]

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My goodness, that was ugly. Toadstool ugly. Coyote ugly. The first half of Game 3 was an unsightly mess, littered with bad passes, stupid fouls, laughably errant shots and thoroughly inept offenses. The Lakers lead, 43-37, but you can’t really say they deserved to lead. They simply played not quite as horribly as did the […]

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Now that the Lakers are halfway to getting swept … I thought it might be interesting to post these odds … (generated by a gambling site, bodog.co). They came across my transom a couple of days before the playoffs began. Clearly, it seems kinda silly now. Consider: The most-likely result was “Lakers in five.” Uh, […]

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No, really. Maybe nutty people shouting “The end is near!” on street corners downtown will be happy if/when they turn out to be right. But I take no joy in predicting the Lakers’ struggles in the NBA Finals. Which you may review (and note the time stamps) lower down on this blog. There is a […]

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Sure, it takes four victories to win a seven-game series, but NBA history demonstrates the winner of Game 1 is highly likely to win the series. The victor in Game 1 won 45 of the 61 NBA Finals contested before this one. So this is a key moment for the Lakers, in Boston tonight. Especially […]

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Lakers fans remember the 2004 NBA Finals. Or maybe they don’t. The run-up to the 2008 Finals reminds me a lot of 2004. And that’s not a good thing. As in 2004 … There is a widespread assumption the Lakers will win. Without particular difficulty. Kobe Bryant’s (awesome/unquenchable/unrivaled, take your pick) will to win is […]

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I’m fairly startled by how many of TV’s talking heads seem to believe the Lakers will roll over the Celtics in the NBA Finals, beginning on Thursday. I not only don’t agree, I’m not sure the Lakers will make a series of it. I can see the Celts winning in five. Sweeping even. Not that […]

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Yeah, Derek Fisher landed on Brent Barry just before Barry hoisted a hopeless three-pointer at the buzzer in the lakers’ 91-89 victory. Should Fisher have been called for a foul? I know this argument is two days old now, but I’m going to weigh in.

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I’ve been a Lakers fan for a long time. Since the middle 1960s, at the very latest. They tended to be on TV rather often, back then, in an era when sports-on-television was a luxury kids rarely missed. They won, a lot, even when they were something like fifth or sixth in the L.A. sports […]

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