….and Kobe Bryant’s efforts were enormous. They always are. One thing we’ve learned to appreciate about Bryant is that no matter how bad a game he’s playing, his effort is always there. His will to keep trying is always there. He’s never doing NOTHING. He may be maligned for talking trash on and off the [...]

“Note to self,” Andrew Bynum told Lisa Salters after the game, “the more I play D, the better we’ll be.” And if today’s effort is any indication of what the young center is planning for the post-season, the doubters may want to temper their predictions of the Lakers’ demise. Kobe Bryant mentioned last week that [...]

First-round match-up? Possibly, and who would mind it? After getting embarrassed by Dallas in last season’s playoffs, the Lakers exacted (albeit less major in magnitude) some form of revenge in this regular season series sweep of the Mavericks. Don’t think for a minute that second round a year ago has dropped from the Lakers’ minds. Kobe Bryant never forgets, and neither do these Lakers. Despite playing without Bryant for the fifth game in a row, the Lakers have made their captain proud. It wasn’t a blowout. It was, in fact, a difficult game to get through.

“We got the W,” Pau Gasol said. “He can have the highlight.” “He” refers to Blake Griffin, and as far as highlights go, he creates several in every game. Unfortunately, posters do not a victory make. Playing to your strengths and playing for and with your teammates – that’s what gets the win. Despite occasional [...]

If you’re the opposing team, and there are 2.3 seconds left on the shot clock and just over 10 seconds left in the game, and the lead to overcome is a single point, there is ONE player on this Laker team that you absolutely, positively ensure does not get his hands on the ball. ONE [...]

Lakers won 120-112, which means the absence of two things – defense and tacos for the Staples Center attendees. Based on how lackluster the Lakers’ play has been of late, however, the fans may not have minded tonight’s game so much, tacos or not. It was an entertaining game, with the Lakers leading by as [...]

Trevor Ariza smiled then shook his head from the New Orleans bench. Despite being shorthanded, his team had overcome two Laker double-digit leads and led by 10 in the fourth quarter, only to lose their advantage for good late in the game to a 3-21 shooting Kobe Bryant. Ariza knew that was coming, and so [...]

No energy, no effort, not even the slightest smidge of common sense. When a team is missing all this, they absolutely don’t deserve to win the game and that was the case with the Lakers tonight. After a solid win on Friday against the scrappy Portland Trailblazers, the Lakers had Saturday to prepare for their [...]