Interesting results from ABC in terms of ratings. People love the Lakers and Kobe, yes, even before “King” LeBron.
Sports Media Watch: ABC saw mixed results for coverage of the opening weekend of the 2009 NBA Playoffs.
Game 1 between the Pistons and Cavaliers drew a 2.7 overnight rating on ABC Saturday afternoon, down 27% from a [...]

It wasn’t as easy as it had appeared to be, but after 48 more minutes on a playoff Tuesday night at STAPLES Center, L.A. had its second win.
Three different Lakers made respectively key plays in the final 1:20 of action as the home team staved off a late Jazz charge to take a 2-0 lead [...]

Remember a couple of months back when ex-Lakers guard Smush Parker took a couple of jabs at Kobe Bryant on some local cable access show in New York? Or at least, it had the look of something out of Wayne’s World. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is Parker ripped into Bryant, essentially calling [...]

If Houston can follow through and beat Portland in the first round, the Rockets will meet up with the Lakers … giving Tracy McGrady some hope that even while injured this postseason he can make a title run, right?

Well, McGrady was asked while on an Atlanta talk-radio station for his NBA title pick, and he [...]

The Lakers have waited a year to get back to the playoffs and come out of them with a different outcome. The Lakers played this season with the single-mindedness of purpose and emerged as one of the leagues best and are prepared to show the world that they’re ready to win [...]

Kobe wants the title badly… but just how badly?
OCRegister:  “Beyond your comprehension,” he says. “I’m obsessed. It keeps me awake at night.” And Bryant believes this team can accomplish the task. No Celtics or Cavs will stand in their way this time because, the Lakers, like the Celtics last season, have those “hungry veterans.”

Lakers Examiner: The marriage between the NBA and hip-hop has been a long and arduous one. The NBA wants to appeal to youngsters by embracing the positive aspects of the culture such as music, clothing, and art, but it also wants to distance itself from the negative aspects such as profanity, violence, and drugs.
There was [...]

This is ironic and at the same time pretty amusing.
SLAMOnline: Oddly enough, the only real second thoughts I had on this award came last week when I was talking to, of all people, Stephon Marbury. I was up in Boston working on a story for the next issue of SLAM, and before I drove back [...]

In the 2008-2009 NBA season, six or seven players have made themselves strong candidates for MVP recognition, and of that group, three have been determined the most likely to win the award.
They are LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now, most [...]

So the Utah Jazz will head back to Los Angeles in a few days for the first round of the 2009 NBA Playoffs.
L.A. made sure of that with an impressive final performance en route to its 65th regular season win.
Heading into its finale, L.A. surely knew the potential playoff scenarios: Beat the Jazz, and you [...]

Records: Lakers 63-17 (1st in West); Grizzlies 23-56 (12th in West)
Offensive Efficiency: Lakers 112.8 (3rd); Grizzlies 103.6 (28th)
Defensive Efficiency: Lakers 104.9 (6th); Grizzlies 109.6 (21st)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Fisher, Kobe, Ariza, Gasol, Bynum; Grizzlies: Conley, Mayo, Gay, Arthur, Gasol.
Thoughts on the Portland Loss:
This loss hurts on a few fronts. First, is the obvious implications regarding [...]