Los Angeles Lakers

Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol spent the final minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers' final game arguing in Oklahoma City, disagreeing on the best way to run a pick-and-roll play. It might have been the tandem's last few minutes together with a franchise that has little patience when even great players stop bringing home rings. The Lakers were eliminated in the second round for the second straight year Monday night with a five-game loss to the Thunder. Although the Lakers had a solid season despite getting no real training camp to make the enormous switch from coaches Phil Jackson to Mike...

Ramon Sessions did the best he could to keep Russell Westbrook from making a high-flying dunk that would energize the Oklahoma City Thunder. No matter. Even with his feet flat on the ground, Westbrook found a way to get the Thunder rolling past the Los Angeles Lakers and into the Western Conference finals for the second straight year. After Sessions committed a foul to stop him on the fast break, Westbrook flipped the ball up toward the rim and got it to go in for what would become a three-point play.

Kevin Durant stood above the 3-point line and watched the shot clock dwindle in the final seconds of Game 4. When Metta World Peace backed up slightly on defense, Durant hesitated only an instant before launching a 26-footer. "It left my hand, (and) I was thinking, 'If this doesn't go in, it's going to be a terrible shot,"' Durant said. The three-time scoring champ trusts his instincts and his silky-smooth jumper. Neither let him down while he and Russell Westbrook engineered yet another late comeback that pushed a frustrated Kobe Bryant to the brink.

Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol spent the final minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers' final game arguing in Oklahoma City, disagreeing on the best way to run a pick-and-roll play. It might have been the tandem's last few minutes together with a franchise that has little patience when even great players stop bringing home rings. The Lakers were eliminated in the second round for the second straight year Monday night with a five-game loss to the Thunder. Although the Lakers had a solid season despite getting no real training camp to make the enormous switch from coaches Phil Jackson to Mike...

Down in desperation time, Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks called on Kevin Durant to show that he's more than just a three-time scoring champion. And that meant guarding one of the NBA's all-time best. Durant was up to the challenge, keeping Kobe Bryant from excelling as usual in his closer's role while sparking the Thunder's rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night. Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left as Oklahoma City scored the final...

Lamar Odom still isn't over his breakup with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he doesn't care who knows it. Odom returned to Staples Center on Tuesday night as a visitor, filing into an unfamiliar locker room just down the hallway from his longtime home. Although Odom knows he played a role in his own departure from Hollywood, he's still uncomfortable with the results of the bizarre 72-hour saga that sent him to the Dallas Mavericks last month in a hasty trade. "It was a little surreal walking into the building and a little surreal to be in here," Odom said,...

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant started slowly. Once the NBA's highest scoring duo got going, they ran right through the Los Angeles Lakers. Westbrook scored 36 points, Durant added 21 and the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder won 102-93 Thursday night for their fifth consecutive victory in the matchup of division leaders. Westbrook was 2 of 6 in the opening quarter. "The game got out of whack. It was my job to pick it up," he said. "We did a great job of defending and closing out the game.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder blasted the weary Los Angeles Lakers, 119-90, Monday night in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals. The Thunder took a 15-point halftime lead, then opened the third quarter with a 15-2 blitz filled with crowd-pleasing 3-pointers and dunks. Oklahoma City led by as many as 35 points, getting a measure of vengeance for the elbow Metta World Peace delivered to the head of the Thunder's James Harden three weeks earlier - and without needing...

LeBron James shook off flu-like symptoms to score 31 points, Chris Bosh scored 15 and the Heat won their second straight, topping the Los Angeles Lakers, 98-87, last night in Miami. Shane Battier scored 11 and Mario Chalmers finished with 10 for Miami. James was sent home from the team's shootaround practice earlier in the day to rest, and finished with eight rebounds and eight assists to go with 12-for-27 shooting. Pau Gasol scored a season-high 26 for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant scored 24 and Andrew Bynum finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Matt Barnes has exercised his option to extend his contract for the 2011-12 season. The Lakers announced the extension on Wednesday. Barnes averaged 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 19.2 minutes over 53 games last season. He was signed by the Lakers as a free agent last July. He was suspended for one game without pay during the Lakers’ playoff series loss to the Dallas Mavericks for getting into a fight with Jason Terry. Barnes missed more than 25 games following right knee surgery in January.

Kevin Durant stood above the 3-point line and watched the shot clock dwindle in the final seconds of Game 4. When Metta World Peace backed up slightly on defense, Durant hesitated only an instant before launching a 26-footer. "It left my hand, (and) I was thinking, 'If this doesn't go in, it's going to be a terrible shot,"' Durant said. The three-time scoring champ trusts his instincts and his silky-smooth jumper. Neither let him down while he and Russell Westbrook engineered yet another late comeback that pushed a frustrated Kobe Bryant to the brink.

With their Game 2 collapse still fresh in their minds, the Los Angeles Lakers avoided a sequel with the only game plan they're confident will work against the younger, faster Oklahoma City Thunder. They got slow. They got into the paint. And they got to the free-throw line 42 times, incredibly making all but one of those shots. Kobe Bryant knows it isn't pretty. He also knows it's probably the only way the Lakers can pull the high-flying Thunder down to their level. Bryant scored 14 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers rallied...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left, and the Thunder scored the final 9 points to rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night. Oklahoma City trailed by 7 with two minutes left before surging back with a series of defensive stops by its stars to take a 2-0 lead. Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points apiece for the Lakers, who came up empty on their last six possessions...

Down in desperation time, Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks called on Kevin Durant to show that he's more than just a three-time scoring champion. And that meant guarding one of the NBA's all-time best. Durant was up to the challenge, keeping Kobe Bryant from excelling as usual in his closer's role while sparking the Thunder's rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night. Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left as Oklahoma City scored the final...

For the second time in less than a week, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers must figure out how to fight back after a humbling loss. Bryant responded the first time by calling out his teammates for lackluster effort. It might not be so simple this time. Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder blasted the weary Lakers 119-90 Monday night in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.

Pau Gasol was consumed by determination, holding off Kenneth Faried with one arm and relentlessly tipping the ball at the hoop with the other in the fourth quarter of Game 7. One, two, three, four — five! — offensive rebounds later, the ball finally surrendered and dropped through the hoop. A few minutes later, the truth was as undeniable as that 7-foot Spaniard. Although the Nuggets drove them to the brink of playoff collapse, the Los Angeles Lakers still have the tenacity to win on the biggest nights of the postseason.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Frank O’Neill, the Los Angeles Lakers trainer from 1960 to ’74, has died. He was 81. Mr. O’Neill died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at his home near the Lakers’ training facility, the team said Wednesday. He took over as trainer when the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. Mr. O’Neill studied to become an athletic trainer at the University of Florida. He earned his certificate as a physical therapist in the Navy. He worked with the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, and the University of Southern California before...

Andrew Bynum had 16 points and 30 rebounds, the most in an NBA game this season, and the Los Angeles Lakers didn't need Kobe Bryant to blow out the San Antonio Spurs 98-84 Wednesday night. Metta World Peace scored 26 points and the Lakers, playing their third straight game without the injured Bryant, manhandled the Spurs underneath to hand the West's second-place team one of their most embarrassing losses this season. Bryant is sitting out to heal his sore left shin. There remains no timetable on when the NBA's leading scorer might return.

Although George Karl has spent nearly a quarter-century on NBA benches, the Denver coach can't beat down the butterflies when he thinks about the Nuggets' next game. With a third straight victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, Denver would become just the ninth team to escape a 3-1 series deficit, completing an improbable comeback against Kobe Bryant and Co. The Nuggets have stared down two elimination games with a maturity their coach only hoped he would see in this series, sending the bigger, stronger Lakers staggering home for a big finish.