Subject: Los Angeles Lakers

• Does T-Mac's Back Mean Bonzi's Back?

  December 12, 2006

• Seething in the Rain

  July 20, 2007

• Jason Friedman's NBA Predictions: Mavs Beat the Jazz, the Suns, the Rockets and the Pistons, Take the Championship in '08

  October 30, 2007

• Introducing Troggie: The Burninator Riffs on Texans and Rockets

  December 9, 2007

• Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: New York’s Super Win Gives Rockets Hope

  February 5, 2008

• Burning the Midnight Oil with Daryl Morey

  February 22, 2008

• NBA Playoff Preview: Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

  April 18, 2008

• Talk about Statutory Rape: Karl Malone and the 13-Year-Old Baby Mama

  May 2, 2008

• Finally! NBA Finals Begin Tonight

  June 5, 2008

• NBA or WWE?

  June 11, 2008

• Celtics-Lakers: The Boston Conundrum

  June 13, 2008

• Lakers-Celtics: Not with a Bang, Barely with a Whimper

  June 18, 2008

• Astros-Orioles: That’s Eight in a Row

  June 20, 2008

• Top Ten Sports Moments of 2008

  10. Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 to become the first woman to win a major (NASCAR, Indy, Formula One) auto race. 9. Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine won his 300th game, then retired at the end of the season, to just about cement his selection into the Baseball Hall of Fame in five years. And if Randy Johnson signs a contract and can stay healthy for two to three months, he'll join Glavine next season on the list. 8. As of this writing, the Detroit Lions have yet to win a foot

  December 25, 2008

• Press Picks

  February 3, 1994

• Pipeline to the Pros

  One of the straightest paths to the NBA begins on the summer hoops circuit. All the kids have to do in return is wear the right shoes.

  July 19, 2001

• Whole Offense, Hole Defense: The Houston Rockets Preview

  October 29, 2008

• Houston Rockets: This Needs To Be Yao's Team

  Coming off a 2-3 road trip, plus wins over OKC and the Hornets, the Rockets make me feel the same way I did a few weeks back. Good, not great. They convincingly won the games they should have, home or away (Clippers, Thunder, Suns), and lost the games they should have (Lakers and a pretty decent Trail Blazers team). So the Spurs loss was disappointing, but it was the last game of a five-game road trip and they did come on strong the next night against one of the best of the West. What

  November 19, 2008

• Wanna Buy a RoboDome?

  January 27, 1994

• The Man Behind Mad Max

  May 12, 1994

• Press Picks

  December 15, 1994

• The Insider

  May 9, 1996

• ,,, And Don't Talk to Barkley

  November 28, 1996

• Press Picks

  December 18, 1997

• Top Ten Sports Moments of 2008

  10. Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 to become the first woman to win a major (NASCAR, Indy, Formula One) auto race. 9. Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine won his 300th game, then retired at the end of the season, to just about cement his selection into the Baseball Hall of Fame in five years. And if Randy Johnson signs a contract and can stay healthy for two to three months, he'll join Glavine next season on the list. 8. As of this writing, the Detroit Lions have yet to win a foot

  December 25, 2008

• Pro Athlete Musicians

  Athletes step off the field and into the studio

  November 29, 2007

• "Nexus Texas"

  Texas inspires exceptional artists at the CAMH

  September 6, 2007

• Rockets Left To Wonder What Could Have Been

  Photo by Keith Allison(Note: This was written by Ben DuBose.)The next time someone tells you that early-season games in sports like basketball and baseball don't matter, refer them to the case of the 2008-09 Houston Rockets.The No. 5-seeded Rockets were one game from having a dream path to the Western Conference Finals, at a minimum. They were one game from a No. 2 seed, home-court advantage in the first and second rounds, a Southwest Division title, and most importantly, avoiding any possibilit

  April 16, 2009

• Down Is Up

  System of a Down is rock's least likely success story

  August 11, 2005

• Best Rocket

  September 23, 2004

• African Hideaway

  Addisaba has an air of foreign intrigue — and awesome kifto and yedoro wot

  July 1, 2004

• Indulge Your Inner Yao

  The ultimate Web site for those obsessed with the Rockets' big guy

  January 23, 2003

• Money Mark

  Change Is Coming (Emperor Norton Records)

  January 24, 2002

• Off the Road Again

  Jesse Dayton sans Road Kings

  June 15, 2000

• Clang!

  Rookie director fires up a ton of bricks in Love & Basketball

  April 20, 2000

• Second Round Preview: Lakers Defense May Pose Biggest Threat To Rockets

  The Rockets finally got the first-round monkey off their backs  last week, so what did the NBA give them as a reward? Only a second-round date with the prohibitive title favorite Lakers, beginning tonight at 9:30 in Los Angeles. It's a terrifying matchup by nearly every quantifiable method. The Rockets lost all four games to the Lakers in the regular season. Ron Artest made headlines with his constant trash talk with Kobe Bryant, but the talking was the only true competition. Bryant t

  May 4, 2009

• Game 3 Preview: Rockets Need More From Wafer, On And Off Court

  Photo by Jeff BalkeThe Rowdies get rowdy for the playoffsVon Wafer was a hero in the first round, scoring 21 points in 27 minutes in Game 2 and sparking the Rockets with an emotional return in the series-clinching Game 6 just two days after suffering a bulging disc in his lower back. He was supposed to be a hero in the second round, too. It was the ultimate underdog story -- Wafer against the team that drafted him and gave up on him. That's how it played out in the regular season, when Wafer t

  May 8, 2009

• Game 3: Early Missed Opportunities Haunt Rockets

  The box score to Game 3 shows the second period as the only frame in which the Rockets weren't outscored on Friday night at Toyota Center. But in reality, it proved pivotal in Houston's 108-94 loss, which allowed Los Angeles to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The normally dynamic Lakers missed eight consecutive shots over a three-plus minute stretch. For the half, Rockets outshot the Lakers from the field, 49 percent to 46 percent, and from behind the arc, 57 percent to 40 perce

  May 9, 2009

• No Yao, No T-Mac, No Problem: Hayes Sets Tone As Rockets Tie Series

  Photo byJeff BalkeThe opening to the Rockets' player introductions sounded as unlikely and frightening as the task of defeating the vaunted Lakers without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Somehow, "a 6-foot-6 center out of Kentucky" didn't deliver the same punch and energy as the booming "7-foot-6 center from China" usually does at the intro's finish.But Chuck Hayes has never worried about outside expectations. He's always been told he's too short and too physically limited to be a regular NBA

  May 10, 2009

• Where Does Sunday's Rockets Victory Rank? It'll Have To Top These To Make The Top Five

  Where does yesterday's deceptively close 99-87 shellacking of the Lakers rank in the annals of great Rockets victories? It's too soon to tell. If they build on that win by taking this series and then slip into their fifth NBA finals, minus not just Yao but also his geriatric Congolese understudy, not even to mention T-Mac, it will be one of the great ones for sure. But somehow Hair Balls doubts David Stern will allow his foul minions to let this bunch of scrappy no-names cheat him out of his lon

  May 11, 2009

• The Rockets, Joining The Pantheon Of Those Who Gave Up Surprising Momentum

  Hey, how'd those Rockets do last night?!Oh.In case you missed it, Our Rockets (and by "Our," we mean "team we started cheering for a week ago"), got shellacked by the Lakers 118-78. Everyone had expected the injury-riddled Houston team to lose like that -- in Sunday's game, which they had won.That Sunday victory immediately and inexplicably raised the hopes of Rockets fans that this was a Team of Destiny, who could then go on to finish the the job of upsetting the best team in the west in the s

  May 13, 2009

• No Matter Game 7 Outcome, These Rockets Have Heart Of Champions

  Photo: Jeff BalkeScrapper Chuck HayesThirty-seven million of the Rockets' approximately $70 million payroll sits on the bench in luxury suits instead of basketball uniforms. With Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady sidelined, the Rockets counter the Lakers' top scoring option -- only one of the best players ever, Kobe Bryant -- with the erratic Ron Artest and Aaron Brooks. When the Lakers walk supremely-talented seven-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to mid-court, the Rockets match up with Chuck Hayes

  May 15, 2009

• Despite Loss, These Aren't Same Old Rockets

  Photo by Katharine ShilcuttThe ending was all too familiar, but the ride was so, so different. Sure, history will show another Rockets season concluded without a title, this time on an 89-70 second-round, Game 7 loss to the Lakers on Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. And like so many seasons before, the 2008-09 campaign really ended when an X-ray displayed a fracture in a bone on Yao Ming's left foot.  "In games like this, it would have been nice to have a low

  May 18, 2009

• Michael Jackson Funeral Coverage Coming Tomorrow

  Somehow the folks at West Coast Sound, Rocks Off's sister music blog over at L.A. Weekly, have scored the hottest ticket in show business in years: a ticket to Michael Jackson's funeral Tuesday at Los Angeles' Staples Center. So far Stevie Wonder, Jackson's old Motown boss Berry Gordy, Brooke Shields, Usher, Kobe Bryant, John Mayer, Mariah Carey and many more are scheduled to appear. Weekly music editor Randall Roberts promises to Twitter from the ceremony "when it's not considered vulgar to do

  July 6, 2009

• Michael Jackson, You Will Be Honored...And Twittered

  The Most Important Event Ever....Will Be Twittered!!!!Our colleagues at West Coast Sound, the music blog of our sister paper L.A. Weekly, will be in attendance when The Nation Stops at noon tomorrow (Houston time) to give a final send-off to Michael Jackson at Los Angeles' Staples Center. So far Stevie Wonder, Jackson's old Motown boss Berry Gordy, Brooke Shields, Usher, Kobe Bryant, John Mayer, Mariah Carey and many more are scheduled to appear. Weekly music editor Randall Roberts promises to

  July 6, 2009

• Oh, The Lakers Will Learn All About Ron Artest

  On the way to his fourth championship, Kobe Bryant was guarded by Mickael Pietrus, Hedo Turkoglu, Courtney Lee, Dahntay Jones, Carmelo Anthony, Shane Battier, and all of the Jazz players whose names Jerry Sloan could remember. None of them had the combination of speed, size, and advanced weaponry needed to stop the league's best scorer. Based on these confrontations, there is no reason to believe that anybody would ever have figured out how to stop Kobe. As soon as Dwight Howard shanked those tw

  July 7, 2009

• Michael Jackson Memorial Underway

  The Michael Jackson memorial service is underway at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Although Smokey Robinson has already expressed his condolences to the crowd, so far it's been a lot of talking heads; right now ABC News is discussing the market for MJ memorabilia. Here's a few tweets from our friends at L.A. Weekly who are inside. "It smells like cheap perfume and hot dogs in here." "Smokey Robinson just walked onto floor, as Jackson 5's never can say goodbye plays." "Kobe Bryant just walked

  July 7, 2009

• Ron Artest Wastes No Time Getting Crazy In LA: He Releases A Michael Jackson Tribute Video

  You're taking a shower after a hard day at work, fuming over things that went wrong, when suddenly, you hear someone approaching.You turn around and see a large shadow, and realize it's not a friend, family member or even co-worker. Ron Artest has broken in, is evidently staring at you, and says he wants to help you.What do you do? Apparently, Kobe Bryant has had this dilemma. From KCAL's John Ireland:  Kobe said that after the Lakers lost game six of the '08 NBA Finals in Boston by 39 po

  July 8, 2009

• Game Time: Woke Up This Morning, Got Myself LeBron

  ​Those of you who listen to my show know that I am fond of placing the "occasional" friendly wager. While handicapping the day-to-day and week-to-week ebb and flow of a football, basketball, or (if you're really sick) baseball season can be enjoyable and, at times, lucrative (especially when betting against the bottom ten QB's in the NFL has turned into an ATM), where I have had the most success the last few years has been placing futures wagers on the over/under for total wins in a season. An

  October 27, 2009

• In Make-Or-Break Year, Rockets' Landry Looks To Fill Low-Post Void

  Photo by Jeff Balke​There's a popular belief in NBA circles that the third year is when a player makes the transition to stardom, if he's going to make it. Among point guards, that worked for Chris Paul and Deron Williams, and much has been said about Aaron Brooks making a similar - though smaller - leap. Through five games, Brooks seems on the right track, averaging 20 points and eight assists while directing the Rockets to a surprising 3-2 record. But slightly under the radar is Carl La

  November 5, 2009