There have been ebbs and flows in terms of how Kobe Bryant is perceived and how he has been portrayed in the media but Bryant has never wavered regarding two things: (1) he has been misunderstood as a person; (2) he has not changed fundamentally as a player (even though "experts" insist that he has ...

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were the main focus in the days leading up to the All-Star Game--and when the lights came on Sunday night they lived up to all of that advance billing both in terms of entertainment value and production. O'Neal kicked off the festivities with an elaborate dance routi...

All-Star practices typically involve a media availability session followed by the two teams separately running some basic NBA sets, having some shooting contests and calling it a wrap--and today's practices were no exception for the most part, but one interesting wrinkle was that the West team pract...

One of the most obvious subplots for this year's All-Star Game concerns the reunion for a day of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant with Shaquille O'Neal. For quite some time, O'Neal delighted in taking veiled--and not so veiled--public potshots at his former coach and his former teammate but now every ti...

I’m guessing this isn’t necessarily at the forefront of Laker fans’ minds considering the team went to the finals last year and appear poised for another run this year. Still, despite the strong start and the focus on the matter at hand, what Phil Jackson supposedly dropped in an i...

"Life comes to you in a moment...each moment of your life can be perceived by you only if you are equipped imaginatively, equipped to dramatize your own role in it--to see yourself as a protagonist confronted by adversary circumstances"--Jerzy Kosinski The greatest basketball coach you've never hear...

Not that the Washington Capitals need an alibi, but is it too much to put this entire three-game funk on the atrocity of NHL all-star balloting? Feeling intense disrespect from fans, unable to rock the vote, much less the red, they have now scored an anemic three goals in nine periods at Verizon Cen...

ESPN's Mark Jackson sometimes refers to "fake hustle," meaning that an athlete does something to make it look like he is trying hard but it's all for show. That is what I think of most of the time when I see coaches ranting, raving and screaming on the sidelines. Think about it: how often do you see...

Much has been said and written about the Lakers' "new defensive scheme." It seems like the chic thing to do is talk about the supposed intricacies of the Lakers' defense while ignoring simpler explanations for their improvement at that end of the court: Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza participated in the...

Troy Murphy's left handed tip-in as time expired enabled the Indiana Pacers to defeat the L.A. Lakers 118-117 at Conseco Fieldhouse; the Lakers, who still own the best record in the Western Conference (14-2) and are tied with the 17-2 Boston Celtics for fewest losses in the NBA, squandered a 16 poin...