Los Angeles Lakers to play at Staples Center Saturday
Exhibition games
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles Lakers will face the Denver Nuggets Saturday night in their first game at Staples Center since winning their second consecutive NBA championship in June.
The exhibition game will mark the Staples Center debuts of three players the team signed as free agents during the off-season—forward Matt Barnes, guard Steve Blake and center Theo Ratliff—and their two second-round draft choices, forwards Derrick Caracter and Devin Ebanks.
The Los Angeles Lakers Shootout will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz.
The Shootout will conclude Sunday with the Lakers playing at 7:30 p.m. against an opponent determined by Saturday's results. If the Lakers defeat Denver, they would face the winner of the game between the Clippers and Utah, while a Lakers loss to the Nuggets would mean they would play the loser of the Clippers-Jazz game.
The Shootout is customarily the best chance for the public to see the Lakers play a home game at Staples Center.
While the team has sold out its past 188 regular-season and playoff home games, including all of the past three seasons, tickets remain available at all price levels for both nights, according to John Black, the Lakers' vice president of public relations.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he "will stretch some of the starters'' so their playing time approaches the team-high 30 minutes center Pau Gasol played in Wednesday's 98-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings in Las Vegas.
"The second night it will be a little bit of a feel for them in back-to-back games, but they'll be able to judge what they'll have to do,'' Jackson said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles Lakers will receive their rings for winning the 2009-2010 NBA championship at Staples Center tonight and raise a banner emblematic of their 16th title, then begin their quest for a third consecutive championship by facing the Houston Rockets.
"This is the crowning moment of winning the championship,'' Laker forward Lamar Odom said.
I try to be objective in my commentary. OK, I’m lying. I’m very subjective in my commentary.
That’s what editorialists do, they editorialize. There’s only one way to see it—their way.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown will likely be the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA franchise confirmed today.
"In response to rampant speculation and reports about our head coaching position and Mike Brown, we've met with Mike and are very impressed with him,'' according to a statement issued by the Lakers. "In addition, we have an outline for an agreement in place and hope to sign a contract within the next few days.''
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—In a game decried by TV commentators as an embarrassment to NBA basketball, to the Los Angeles Lakers and to coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers were blown out of the Western Conference semifinals by the Dallas Mavericks, 122-86.
Lakers center Andrew Bynum and forward Lamar Odom were ejected for deliberate fouls in the fourth quarter of the game at Dallas' American Airlines Center. Bynum bludgeoned Mavericks guard J.J. Barea with his elbow, then quickly stripped off his jersey at midcourt as he headed to the locker room.
ANAHEIM, Calif.—The Sacramento Kings have dropped plans to ask the NBA for permission to move the team to Anaheim because of opposition from the league, the team announced today.
Officials from Anaheim Arena Management, which since September had been in negotiations with the Maloof family that owns the team, were told of the decision early today.
Today was the deadline for the Kings to request permission to move.
