Laker Nation

L.A. Times: A day later, Pau Gasol felt fine. Good enough to practice, anyway. Gasol went through a full workout with the Lakers the morning after collecting 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds in a 104-91 victory Wednesday night against Portland. He played almost 32 minutes against the Trail Blazers after sitting out nine games because of a sprained [...]

L.A. Times: This year’s most-valuable-player race is expected to be close. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson’s nominee is the one he has seen up close for a while. “Best year ever as far as an overall team player,” Jackson said of Kobe Bryant. “I think the judgment that I kind of make is, how much better do you make your teammates? [...]

L.A. Times: Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak, who was cheered at an annual “town-hall meeting” with season-ticket holders Tuesday night at Staples Center, provided a few additional revelations from that session. He suggested it would be a quiet off-season for the Lakers, whose acquisition of Pau Gasol (three more years and $49.4 million) launched them well into luxury-tax territory. “We [...]

ESPN: Kobe Bryant scored 14 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol added 10 points in his first game in nearly three weeks and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 104-91 on Wednesday night. Bryant also had 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers (51-24), who trail New Orleans by 1½ games and [...]

Obviously, his been very impressive since the Lakers signed Pau Gasol. Should the Lakers take a chance? Sound-off in the comments and tell us what you think. L.A. Times: Kupchak also said the team would like to re-sign restricted free agents Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf, although he hedged somewhat when asked if Lamar Odom would receive a contract extension [...]

Daily News: Pau Gasol will play tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers unless “something crazy happens overnight.” He practiced “fully, fully, fully” with his teammates Tuesday and reported some tenderness in his sprained left ankle. “It went better than it has the last couple of days,” the 7-foot center said of his workout. “Took a nice step forward. Right now, [...]

We wanted to announce that effective April 24, the Lakers Nation will be no more. We will be known as Kobe Nation. A 24/7 “informative” blog about Kobe Bryant and everything/everyone that revolves around him. We will discuss everything from his life in the court to his life outside of it. At what famous club was Kobe and Vanessa spotted [...]

To be expected… L.A. Times: Defense-minded forward Ira Newble was signed for the rest of the season for about $110,000. Newble, 33, who has two points in four minutes of game action with the Lakers, is eligible for the playoffs. The Lakers picked Newble up after Seattle waived him in February.

Jackson put them through a meditation session at Sunday’s shoot-around, and that night they ended two-game skid. Coincidence? L.A. Times: The Lakers are back on a winning track. Maybe there will be more deep breathing and introspection at their practices. In an effort to stop the team’s hemorrhaging after home losses to Charlotte and Memphis — with a combined road [...]

L.A. Times: Technically speaking, the Lakers are in trouble, and not just because they’re in a three-way logjam for second place in the Western Conference. Kobe Bryant is collecting technical fouls in a flurry and will be automatically suspended by the league for one game if he picks up one more technical in the Lakers’ last 10 regular-season games. He [...]

Thanks to Ajay Virk for e-mailing us this article that he found on the net. Again, if you find an article that you think deserves to be on TLN, please e-mail it to us at Articles@theLakersNation.com. AsiaGolfOnline.com: Golf Star Tiger Woods will be joined in by Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and NBA Superstar Kobe Bryant in one explosive commercial [...]

Center will accompany team on upcoming trip. Gasol probably won’t play Sunday. L.A. Lakers: After gruesome home losses to Charlotte and Memphis, some mildly pleasant news awaited the Lakers on Saturday. Pau Gasol participated in a brief scrimmage and Andrew Bynum was told by Coach Phil Jackson he would accompany the team on a two-game trip next week, though he [...]

O.C. Register: It has pained Pau Gasol to watch his team the past two games. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to help until the pain subsides in his sprained left ankle. That might be next week rather than tonight after he tested it Saturday at the team’s practice facility. “It’s still pretty sore,” Gasol said. “I don’t know. It’s still [...]

ESPN: Rudy Gay led five players in double figures with 28 points and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers 114-111 despite 53 points by Kobe Bryant against the NBA’s worst road team Friday night. The Lakers lost their second in a row to another of the NBA’s lesser teams, having been beaten by Charlotte on Wednesday night. The [...]