Kobe Bryant sometimes thinks the Los Angeles Lakers are an orchestra in need of a conductor. He picked up the baton in Game 5, driving the lane aggressively and defending Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook with zeal.

The result was a businesslike blowout that showed exactly what Bryant meant when he said the upstart Thunder had captured the mighty Lakers’ attention.
Pau Gasol had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Andrew Bynum added 21 points and the Lakers vigorously rebounded from back-to-back losses with a 111-87 victory over Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, taking a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Gasol and Bynum followed Bryant’s no-nonsense lead, relentlessly scoring inside while giving up no easy buckets on the other end. Even Ron Artest shaved off his goofy blond dye job before playing another standout defensive game against Kevin Durant in support of Bryant, who volunteered to guard Westbrook.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

If there were any doubts about the type of offense Mike Singletary and the 49ers will run this season, they were swept away – no, stomped away – Thursday evening.

Fearing the offensive tackle they coveted and badly needed would be stolen in front of them, the 49ers traded up two places to snag Anthony Davis, a 323-pound junior tackle from Rutgers. Six picks later, they added even more beef to their offensive line with 331-pound Idaho guard Mike Iupati.

That’s 654 pounds of power-blocking offensive linemen added in less than an hour. Davis will line up at right tackle and Iupati at left guard, the position he played with the Vandals. Singletary cautioned that both players might not start in Week 1 – Davis is one of the youngest players in the draft at age 20 – but he made it clear he expected both to start at some point this season.

Click here to read the full article – By Matthew Barrows of The Sacramento Bee

Throughout the season, the Lakers’ bench has been the target of criticism. But Wednesday, coach Phil Jackson was generally complimentary of how his reserves performed over the first two games of their first-round matchup against Oklahoma City.

“I have to give them credit,” he said. “They’ve held their own against the Oklahoma bench. We’ve really survived that well.”

Still, heading into Ford Center for Thursday’s Game 3, Jackson believes he’ll need better play from his bench players, starting with the most prominent member of the group. “I think Lamar [Odom] has to give us an imprint in the ballgame,” he said.

Through the first two games, Odom has scored a total of 11 points on only 13 attempts. Jackson believes Odom can have a far greater impact.

“It’s an understanding of what the game is. Opportunities are going to be in shots and little things like that and probably little pockets he finds to make penetration,” Jackson said. “He found a couple in the second half [of Game 2], or one for sure in the second half that looked like he had established the kind of game he plays.”

Click here to read the full article – By Brian Kamenetzky and Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com

Kobe Bryant had been waiting for a breakout game, the kind of high-scoring effort he’s made his reputation on. He got it just in time.

Playing with a broken finger, sore knee and bum ankle, Bryant scored 39 points, carrying the Lakers in the fourth quarter when they lost the lead three times, and Los Angeles beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 95-92 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

“What did Mark Twain say? Rumors of my demise or whatever,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who predicted before the game that Bryant would strongly return to form.
Bryant was 13 of 15 from the free throw line, but just 12 of 28 from the floor in front of his dad Joe, who sat next to the Lakers’ bench.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have been one of the most consistent franchises in all of baseball over the past decade. After undergoing a bit of a roster overhaul this winter, many counted Mike Scioscia’s out of the AL West race. Two weeks into the season, the doubters looked smart, as the Angels struggled mightily out of the gate. Since then, the Angels have gotten back on track as they have climbed above .500 after 15 games. While the club did lose franchise icon Vladimir Guerrero, the parting seems like a good decision for both parties. Guerrero is a shell of his former self as he now hits for limited power and his unable to play in the field due to a bad knee. The Angels replaced Guerrero with reigning World Series MVP, Hideki Matsui, who has been a good fit into the Angels lineup. Matsui is a good, professional hitter who excels at working the count and feasting on pitchers mistakes. While Matsui has been good, the Angels have to be worried about former top prospect Brandon Wood, who has yet to figure out how to hit big league pitching. Wood was once thought to be a perennial contender for the batting title, but has struggled to hit in several stints at the major league level.

by Josh Weiner at the Sports Fan Blog Network

The San Francisco Giants are off to a pretty good start and figure to be a factor in the National League west all season. Through 14 games, the Giants looks as if they are exactly what everyone suspected they would be coming into the season: heavy on starting pitching and light in power. The Giants have gotten fantastic starting pitching from their top four, headed by the two time reigning NL Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum, who has given up just two earned runs in 20 innings pitched. In addition to Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez have all been very good for the club as they sit in a tie for first place in the NL West. The team is also expected to call up prized prospect Madison Bumgarner in the early summer to complete the 5 man starting rotation.
While the Giants pitching has been great, fans of the Giants have to be worried about their offense and whether they can continue to score runs at a high pace. 14 games into the season, no Giant has more than 2 homeruns, and only one player on the roster has hit more than 30 homeruns in a season, and that was Aubrey Huff who did it once in 2008 with 32. As the season moves on, it will be interesting to see if the Giants offense can provide enough support for their dominant starting rotation. If the Giants are able to add a bat at some point in the season, the Giants could be a very dangerous team in October.

by Josh Weiner at the Sports Fan Blog Network

San Jose Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle didn’t feel a sense of redemption, only relief.

For Boyle, it’s been a long two days since he scored in overtime on his own goalie, an error that’s been replayed often on the Internet.

He can’t forget the play, just attempt to move on. This, though, helps exorcise some of those demons.

Joe Pavelski scored 10:24 into overtime and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 33 shots, giving top-seeded San Jose a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night, tying the Western Conference series at two games apiece.

Boyle played an integral role in the Game 4 win, scoring the first goal and then thwarting a golden opportunity in overtime as he slid in the way of a pass.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Andrew Bynum leaned over, his hands on his knees, his chest heaving from his first minutes of game action in nearly a month.

Other than being out of breath, Bynum displayed little rust in teaming with Pau Gasol to dominate the middle in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 87-79 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder in their playoff series opener Sunday.
Bynum ignited the Staples Center crowd with a monster one-handed dunk over a defenseless Nenad Krstic in the second quarter that pushed the Lakers’ lead to 17.
“It kind of got me going,” Bynum said. “It hyped the team up. That’s the kind of player I can be — exciting.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Injured Sabres left wing Thomas Vanek will likely miss Game 3 of Buffalo’s Eastern Conference playoff series against the Boston Bruins.

Vanek, however, didn’t rule himself out of the series tied at a game apiece.

Sabres defenseman Steve Montador expects the team to stick with the same system without Vanek.

“Thomas is hard to replace, but one player doesn’t make a team, and you can say that about any one guy in our lineup,” Montador said. “We want to continue to play hard, play our system and we’ll get the chances that we need if we continue to work.”

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

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Tyreke Evans speaks so softly, sometimes you’re tempted to hand him a megaphone. He ran his 20-5-5 campaign from the basketball court, left the door-to-door lobbying to his friends and his relatives and his bosses. So while he would never say it, we will.

This is your Rookie of the Year.

This is the guy.

While the competition tightened in the closing weeks – Stephen Curry leading the Warriors’ mini-surge and Brandon Jennings directing the Bucks’ postseason venture – Evans distinguished himself with a season-long body of work that delivered bruises to the record books as well as to opponents.

The No. 4 overall draft pick a year ago, he averaged 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists, becoming the fourth player to reach the 20-5-5 mark in a rookie season. And as Kings coach Paul Westphal noted after Monday’s home finale: “I don’t think we need the numbers to validate what a great season Tyreke has had. He’s been the most consistent rookie I’ve ever been around.”

Click here to read the full article – By Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee