On a night of crazy highlights, Kobe (as is his way) provided the best one. (Some of you old timers may remember that Larry Bird hit a similar shot during a game, but when you watch the video you see the ref starting to wave it off immediately. Was Kobe’s shot legal? Rondo hit one [...]

[picappgallerysingle id="3937805"] Records: Lakers 9-3 Thunder 7-6 Offensive points per 100 possessions: Lakers 105.9 (16th in league), Thunder 104.5 (21st in league) Defensive points per 100 possessions: Lakers 101.8 (9th in league) Thunder 101.1 (6th in league) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum Thunder: Russell Westbrook, Thabo [...]

I think fluid was the word of the night. For the first time this season the offense started to look fluid again (and the defense looked improved as well, in part just because of the size and length). Here are a few other thoughts. • I asked Kobe about being out on the perimeter more [...]

The return of Pau Gasol, to me, was like going to see a really hyped-up movie, and then the movie actually being really good.  I sat down with my soda, popcorn, and watermelon Sour Patch Kids, totally prepared to be disappointed.  Little did I know that Pau would capture my attention early with a superb [...]

Records: Lakers 8-3 Bulls 6-4 Offensive points per 100 possessions: Lakers 105.4 (16th in league), Bulls 98.0 (27th in league) Defensive points per 100 possessions: Lakers 102.3 (10th in league) Bulls 99.5 (4th in league) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum Bulls: Derrick Rose, John Salmons, Loul [...]