Doesn’t that headline seem almost laughable? As if Kobe needs defending? But, bizarrely enough, he does. I don’t know of any NBA player so routinely criticized. So subject to having his game so mercilessly parsed. No one so regularly attacked on a personal level. That whole “selfish”, “bad man”, “bad teammate”, “egomaniac”, “uncoachable” thing. And […]

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Before Game 5 on Sunday, Phil Jackson was talking about how the Lakers still had a chance as long as the series wasn’t over. He emphasized that the only way to get out of a 3-1 hole in a best-of-seven series is to ignore the big picture — and 60 years of NBA history showing […]

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New England often is very pretty in the spring. The Lakers are about to check it out themselves. Again. Surprising a lot of people, including me, the Lakers turned up for Game 5 with a chip on their shoulder and anger in their hearts, and when push came to shove – and it always does […]

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But it was about 10 minutes before tipoff, when Tiger Woods curled in that birdie putt on No. 18 at Torrey Pines … forcing a playoff tomorrow in the U.S. Open. And it was sportswriters in the press room here who were making the noise. I guess you are allowed to cheer if it’s an […]

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Generally, a team down big in a “best of” series packs it in, once the Point of No Return has been reached. That usually means a 3-1 deficit or, for sure, 3-0. The Lakers are down 3-1 to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Game 5 is at Staples. In theory, the Lakers ought to win. […]

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You’ve seen the promos, if you’ve watched the NBA playoffs. They do a split-screen of opposing players, each of them saying the same things at the same time, their voices melding. “There Can Be Only One” is, I believe, the working title of these things. The promos are a little annoying. (Kobe and Kevin Garnett […]

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I’m lifting this out of this morning’s editions of the Los Angeles Times. From their “letters” to the sports editor feature on page 3 of the sports section. Just have to share. This is … inspired. I was thinking that if this guy can write stuff like this regularly (unless “Sal” is a woman) … […]

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If you’re in journalism, you know how this works. You’re writing, approaching deadline, almost done, even … and you realize that your emphasis, your lead, should be something that is in the body of your current text. So you look at the clock, decide if you have time to tear up what you’re doing … […]

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It was going to be a haymaker. Probably a death blow. The gut punch that turned a series and made its outcome seem almost inevitable. And it was. All of that. Just not in the way the Lakers or their fans imagined it. Not in their darkest nightmares. Up 21 after a record first quarter, […]

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Boston 97, Lakers 91. Yes. Boston wins. After trailing by 24 in the first quarter, by 18 at the half and by 20 with six minutes left in the third quarter. The Lakers dissolved like a sugar cube in a downpour. And the Celtics blew past them. The Lakers are dead. They are done done […]

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