Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics come into Los Angeles, looking to capture the NBA Championship. Just two years ago, Boston was able to do it against the Lakers. And last year, the Lakers reigned supreme over the Magic to become NBA Champions. But this year, Los Angeles finds themselves in a 2-0 hole.

If the Lakers lose, it has other consequences. After the game five loss, Kobe Bryant looked like the old Kobe Bryant. The one who was very selfish and looked like he was unhappy with his teammates. While he played great and nobody else did, when has LeBron James vocally been displeased with his teammates?

The Lakers need to win tonight to stay alive. But they also need to win if they want to avoid an off-season of misery.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

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

Kobe Bryant got the Los Angeles Lakers’ franchise scoring record, but the Memphis Grizzlies spoiled the celebration.

Bryant scored 44 points, passing Jerry West as the Lakers’ career scorer, but it wasn’t enough as the Grizzlies got 22 points and 17 rebounds from Zach Randolph to defeat the Lakers 95-93 on Monday night.

“It’s a great honor to say the least [because] of the great players that have played here and the tradition we have,” Bryant said of becoming the Lakers’ career leading scorer. “[West] taught me so much when I was 17 years old. He showed me a lot about the game, the jump shot and spin moves and all the others.

“Even though it’s me passing him in the record books, it’s still us, and it’s still Magic and all the other great players.”

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

Kobe Bryant dealt with an aggravated back injury like any multimillionaire, superstar athlete would — he called his longtime massage therapist in Santa Monica, got him on a red-eye flight to Texas, then spent more than three hours Wednesday morning going through a deep-tissue treatment.


And after all that, Bryant played only 11 minutes in the first half and took one measly shot, a 3-point attempt that never had a chance of going in.

Yet Bryant somehow went from stiff to loose after halftime, playing the entire second half to avoid from tightening up again on the bench, and added to his lengthy list of dramatic finishes by making the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds left, sending the Los Angeles Lakers to a 100-95 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Western Conference.

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