To say that it has been an up and down season so far for the Los Angeles Lakers, is only stating the obvious. They have been equally adroit at winning convincingly, and phoning it in. Tonight they face the Oklahoma City Thunder, in that team’s arena. Pau Gasol will be out of action once again, as will Steve Nash who is expected to return … at some point. It’s safe to assume that Kobe will be pumped to play against Durant and Westbrook, It’s equally safe to assume that the Thunder will bring their usual consistent game – they are 15-4 this season and are currently on a six-game win streak. As for any other predictions, a game will be played and we hope for the best.
Kevin Ding at the OCRegister reports on Wednesday night’s brief spat between Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant, and how it turned into an instructive moment.
Andy Kamenetzky at Lakers Index goes one-on-one with Royce Young from the Daily Thunder re: tonight’s OKC match-up.
Ben Rosales at Silver Screen and Roll has another great Beast or Burden article.
Mark Medina at Inside the Lakers reports that Pau Gasol will sit another game tonight.
Melissa Rohlin for the LATimes, covers the Lakers night out at the movies.
Mike Bresnahan for the LATimes writes about Mike Brown, moving on from his Lakers chapter.
Kobe Bryant has emulated Michael Jordan in many ways. As Kurt Helin writes for ProBasketballTalk, he doesn’t want to following him in this regard.
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The Lakers will finish out their current road trip tonight and head for home. They play at home on Sunday against Utah and then head back out for another four on the road. They are 5-5 in their last ten games. The season may still be young, but it doesn’t feel all that young. This is where you find out who you really are as a team, when the nagging injuries continue and veteran legs become more weary, when a system still seems foreign to some. The Lakers had a great win on Wednesday. Tonight would be even sweeter.