OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Pau Gasol had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Kobe Bryant scored 17 points and the Los Angeles Lakers extended their cushion over Oklahoma City in the Western Conference standings by beating the Thunder 90-87 on Sunday.

Andrew Bynum added 16 points and 10 rebounds, but the Lakers weren’t able to simply overpower a Thunder team that added Kendrick Perkins for interior toughness but won’t get him in the lineup for a couple weeks.Lamar Odom missed a pair of free throws with 10.9 seconds left to leave the door open for Oklahoma City, but Kevin Durant and James Harden each missed 3-pointers from the top of the key in the closing moments.

Russell Westbrook led Oklahoma City with 22 points and Durant scored 21. The Thunder were held to a season-low 31 second-half points in suffering their first three-game losing streak of the season.

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LOS ANGELES — The NBA holds a public practice for its All-Stars on Saturday morning every year as part of the All-Star weekend festivities. Not much happens of course, other than players going through a few shooting drills for show, and the coaches reviewing the most basic of plays with their newly assembled squad. It’s mainly a chance for fans to see the game’s biggest stars up close and in person, assembled in one place at as intimate a venue as you’ll find in NBA circles.

Before the players took the floor, they were all hanging around in this sort of backstage area which was also open to the media, even though there were no interviews being conducted. Mostly it was the players interacting with each other as if no one else was around.

In the video clip below, you’ll see the majority of the All-Stars doing exactly that.

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CLEVELAND (AP) — The Lakers hit the All-Star break broken.

Looking nothing like two-time defending NBA champions, they dropped their third straight game, a stunning 104-99 loss Wednesday night to the Cleveland Cavaliers — the league’s worst team, which avenged a 55-point embarrassment against Los Angeles last month.

Ramon Sessions came off the bench and scored a season-high 32 points for the Cavs, who were beaten 112-57 by the Lakers on Jan. 11. That loss was No. 11 in a league-record streak that eventually reached 26 before Cleveland ended it last week with an overtime win against L.A.’s less-heralded squad, the Clippers.

Pau Gasol had 30 points and 20 rebounds for the Lakers.

Playing the finale of a seven-game road trip, the Lakers spent much of the night looking as if they were already on vacation. They threw errant passes, forced outside shots and couldn’t catch the Cavs down the stretch despite a frantic comeback.

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NEW YORK — Going up the elevator for perhaps the last time ever as an opposing coach at Madison Square Garden, Phil Jackson said he was thinking that it didn’t smell like elephants.

Jackson, who said this will be his last season, was referring to the Barnum and Bailey Circus that takes place at MSG each spring.

Although he was joking, it was coincidental that Jackson mentioned elephants, since that is exactly the way, up until the last four games, that his team has played like at times this season: slow, fat, lethargic, lazy and any other adjectives used to describe an elephant.

That is until the last four games, where the Lakers have all of a sudden begun to jell, playing with more passion, focus, energy, and any other adjectives used to describe a champion. And most importantly, the Lakers have slowly addressed the issues that have plagued them all season. They continued their hot streak, routing the Knicks 113-96 Friday night.

“For four games we have been consistent and we have to make it continue,” Pau Gasol said. ” We are turning it up. We got more confidence in what we are doing. We’re more active out there and the attitude is better. Still got a long way to go but we’re getting there.”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Blake Griffin is going to his first All-Star game, and Kevin Garnett matched an NBA record with his 14th straight selection as one of a record-tying four Boston Celtics headed for the midseason event.

Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will accompany Garnett, who equaled Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone for the most consecutive selections. The Celtics joined the 2006 Detroit Pistons as the only teams to have four players picked as reserves by the coaches.

Griffin, the Rookie of the Year favorite of the Clippers, will be playing on his home floor in the Feb. 20 game at Staples Center. Joining him on the Western Conference team were Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili of the NBA-leading Spurs; forwards Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas and Pau Gasol of the Lakers; and guards Deron Williams of Utah and Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City, who joins Griffin as the lone first-time selections.

Chris Bosh will go to Los Angeles with Miami teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who were elected as starters. The other East reserves picked Thursday were Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Blake Griffin is going to his first All-Star game, and Kevin Garnett matched an NBA record with his 14th straight selection as one of a record-tying four Boston Celtics headed for the midseason event.

Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will accompany Garnett, who equaled Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone for the most consecutive selections. The Celtics joined the 2006 Detroit Pistons as the only teams to have four players picked as reserves by the coaches.

Griffin, the Rookie of the Year favorite of the Clippers, will be playing on his home floor in the Feb. 20 game at Staples Center. Joining him on the Western Conference team were Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili of the NBA-leading Spurs; forwards Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas and Pau Gasol of the Lakers; and guards Deron Williams of Utah and Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City, who joins Griffin as the lone first-time selections.

Chris Bosh will go to Los Angeles with Miami teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who were elected as starters. The other East reserves picked Thursday were Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

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LOS ANGELES — There’s no fear or loathing on this campaign trail.

There’s Ron Artest in a child-like state, sprinting to and fro on the beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon in January. And rest assured, no one is enjoying this mental health initiative more than the lead spokesman himself.

This isn’t a public relations gimmick, though. This is the starting small forward of the NBA‘s defending champions hanging out with nearly 20 of his favorite Twitter followers, a blissful man of the Tweeple playing barefoot quarterback in a game of two-hand touch football that kicked off an hour late because, well, the basketball job still takes precedence and the Zen Master kept the Lake Show late at this day’s practice.

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Denver coach George Karl likes to say each All-Star squad should have 15 players, rather than 12.

It’s a great idea for the West this season, with there about to be some serious snubs. As for the East, 10 seems a better number this season in a conference that after the top teams has as much depth as the local park’s kiddie pool.

Perhaps the East should concede two spots to the West. Throw in that Houston’s Yao Ming, named the West starting center, will miss the Feb. 20 Game in Los Angeles, and that would give the West 15 players with All-Star recognition.

The starters were announced Thursday night, and there wasn’t anything to complain about other than how ridiculous it was that fans (hello, China) continued to vote for Yao in bunches even after it was announced Dec. 17 he was out for the season with a foot injury. Even before then, he was averaging 10.2 points in a meager five games.

The East starters will be Orlando’s Dwight Howard at center, Miami’s LeBron James and New York’s Amar’e Stoudemire at forward and Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Chicago’s Derrick Rose at guard. Other than Yao, West starters named were Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony at forward and the Lakers‘ Kobe Bryant and New Orleans’ Chris Paul at guard.

Now, on to the reserves. After the coaches cast their ballots, here’s who should be announced next Thursday as well as which players might be ticked off:

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Today in The Works: Old people we admire, and why. It’s very subjective.

Still Awesome After All These Years

The NBA is largely a young man’s league, a place where athleticism and youthful energy can still get a team far. Teams, though, depend on the efficiency and smarts that usually only come with experience. However, at some point age becomes a weight rather than a positive. The players who can play great even into their dotage deserve praise, and that’s why we decided to honor the 10 best players with 10 years of experience. Odd picks belong to Eric, evens are from Shoals (except for 7 and 8, which somehow got swapped because we forgot math).

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DENVER — The Lakers‘ Andrew Bynum has a good shot to be the second-best center of this decade following Orlando’s Dwight Howard. But he’s setting his sights even higher.

Bynum believes he can be the best center of the decade.

“Of course. Of course,” Bynum said in an interview with FanHouse following the Lakers’ 107-97 win at Denver on Friday. “I just need to get the opportunity to do something like that. I believe that (he can be the best).”

It would be a tall order to overcome the NBA’s premier tall guy. Howard, 25, has career averages of 17.8 points and 12.7 rebounds, including 22.1 and 13.3 this season. Bynum, 23, has career numbers of 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds, including 11.0 and 7.3 this season.

The first thing Bynum needs to do is to stay healthy. He’s had knee injuries that have hampered him for four straight seasons.

So what’s the second thing the six-year man must do to reach his lofty goal? To borrow from another guy who has played in Los Angeles, former USC Trojan Keyshawn Johnson: “Just Give Me the Damn Ball.”

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DENVER — Kobe Bryant played the role of basketball historian Thursday.

When asked about star players in the NBA now being able to dictate where they might play, the Lakers star guard scoffed at the notion. He said free agency is nothing like it was when he broke into the NBA in 1996-97, the same season in which the Lakers signed center Shaquille O’Neal as a free agent.

“How is he controlling his destiny?” Bryant said when asked whether Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony is able to control his destiny on where he might be dealt by the Feb. 24 trade deadline. “No, you’re seeing the power of the league controlling the players and not having the freedom to be able to move wherever they want. Free agency isn’t free agency anymore. It’s just not. It’s the reverse.

“It’s not the same. Free agency is not free agency. Players go other places, you take a significant pay cut to go play someplace else. You get less years and all sorts of stuff. It’s not the same as free agency like when Shaquille was a free agent. … That was true free agency. You could go to whatever team of your choice and have a similar contract and similar structure.”

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LOS ANGELES – The Lakers-Oklahoma City rematch was a multi-dimensional affair.

The older and wiser two-time defending champions repeated their postseason style in this regular-season setting on Monday night at Staples Center, downing these young Thunder 101-94 with the sort of approach that helped them win the memorable first-round series in six games last April.

In a game that was the first matchup since the series that some considered the most entertaining of them all, Kobe Bryant did adequate damage (21 points on 7 of 12 shooting, seven assists and five turnovers), Pau Gasol followed his mildly-successful suit (21 points on 8 of 19 shooting, seven rebounds), Lamar Odom picked up the slack (16 points on six of nine shooting and seven rebounds) and the rare sight of Derek Fisher scoring points (a season-high 15 of them, in fact) was too much for this dangerous Thunder team to handle.

But this matchup was always more about Kevin Durant than anything else, the young star taking the big stage for the first time to see if he could match the magnitude of the moment. But this time, just like last time, Artest stood in his way.

Whether Durant wanted to acknowledge it or not.

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LOS ANGELES — This combination in the Clippers‘ locker room was not a good one.

Not the players, mind you. They were a cohesive unit, teaming up for yet another win on Monday afternoon at the Staples Center, where they downed Indiana 114-107 to make it 10 wins in their last 14 games and came within a few miles of the eighth spot in the Western Conference (5 1/2 games behind Portland before their game on Monday night).

No, the pairing that didn’t work was the one between Blake Griffin and the television reporter who lost the grip on her microphone.

As Griffin cooled his blazing-hot feet in a bucket of ice beneath him, the unstoppable rookie forward who had just scored a career-high, Clippers rookie record and NBA season-high 47 points on a remarkable 19 of 24 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds cringed as the electronic device fell oh-so close to the waters below.

“I thought I was going to get electrocuted,” he said nervously after she caught the microphone.

As if he’s not electrifying enough on his own.

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LOS ANGELES — Maybe LeBron James was right.

“Karma can be a “b****,” as he reminded us recently, and so it was perfectly fitting that Donald T. Sterling was nowhere to be found at Staples Center on Sunday afternoon.

The shameful Clippers owner didn’t deserve this kind of fun.

As if beating the Lakers 99-92 wasn’t reason enough for the loyal Clippers Nation to rejoice, there was — for the first time in quite some time — a bigger picture at play that was actually worth looking at. Nine wins in 13 games. An identity forming. Young stars like Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan rising and an old one re-emerging in Baron Davis.

Yes, even Sterling — who had a prior engagement and thus wasn’t present to heckle his own players — would’ve been cheering at this one. And in case you wondered, this wasn’t the Lake-Show vs. the Blake-Show by any stretch of Jerry Buss’ imagination.

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OAKLAND, Calif. — When Ron Artest raised his angry right hand to the throat of the unsuspecting Shawne Williams in the first quarter on Sunday, it was a trip back to a place no one wants to go.

The edge. The look. The unpredictability.

The Lakers small forward who had buried a layup in traffic and been bumped by the New York Knicks forward en route to the free throw line looked ready to crush Williams’ Adam’s apple with a Darth Vader-like death grip, thus exiting this Zen-ish place in which he has flourished for some time now. But Artest — whose takedown of Amar’e Stoudemire two quarters later was a continuation of the aggressive play for which he was once known — stopped just in time to avoid the wrath of Emperor Stern.

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As the Los Angeles Lakers continue their quest for another “three-peat” there are currently four teams in the NBA with better records. Although the Lakers are certainly playing well, they are not playing a championship brand of basketball. Is it their yearly mid-season swoon, or is there really something to worry about?

FanHouse Senior NBA Writer Sam Amick was a guest on “FanHouse Live” and weighed in on that among other hot topics around the league.

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Kobe Bryant remains the leading vote-getter for the 2011 NBA All-Star Game with 1,153,694 votes, the league announced Thursday. Dwight Howard (988,572) leads all players in the Eastern Conference, while Miami’s LeBron James (969,459) and Dwyane Wade (938,402) place third and fourth in the league.

Bryant, a three-time All-Star MVP (2002, 2007 and 2009), has been voted a starter in each of the last 12 All-Star games, although he missed last season’s contest in Dallas due to injury. This season’s game will be played Feb. 20 in Los Angeles on Bryant’s home court at STAPLES Center. Paper balloting for the All-Star game will continue through Jan. 17, while electronic ballots can be cast through Jan. 23. The starters will be announced on Jan. 27, and the reserves will be announced on Feb. 3.

The latest returns also suggest a passing of the torch in Boston, as Rajon Rondo (777,310) so far has been named on more ballots than any of the Celtics‘ Big Three of Kevin Garnett (712,555), Paul Pierce (381,348) or Ray Allen (392,441). Rondo and Garnett are second among the East’s guards and forwards, respectively, putting them on pace to earn a stating job — provided they’re healthy. Rondo, who’s recently missed time with a sprained ankle, is expected to return Friday, but Garnett, who left Wednesday’s game with a leg injury, is sidelined indefinitely.

In the West, Kevin Durant (735,521) and Carmelo Anthony (602,516) are the current leaders among forwards, although Pau Gasol (597,201) doesn’t have much ground to make up to earn a starting job. Chris Paul (585,690) is second among the West’s guards, possessing a healthy lead over Manu Ginobili (403,632).

Yao Ming (376,283), who’s already been ruled out for the remainder of the season, is the runaway leader among the West’s centers, with Andrew Bynum (376,283) a distant second. If Yao finishes as the top vote-getter at center, NBA commissioner David Stern will name a replacement for his spot on the roster, and the West’s coach, currently slated to be Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, will choose a starter.

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OK, the Lakers claimed that the piece of coal that the Heat presented them with on Christmas Day was due to their lack of focus and their failure to approach the game with an appropriate sense of urgency. And after being publicly berated by both Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant, as well as a feisty practice session, the Lakers collectively swore that their championship chops were fully restored.

How then to explain another lopsided loss, this one in San Antonio?

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LOS ANGELES — Pau Gasol finished his team’s disastrous Christmas Day loss to the Miami Heat with a statistical performance that, had you not watched the game, would appear to have been just fine.

Yes, 17 points (on 8-of-17 shooting) to go along with eight rebounds and three assists is an adequate line for an NBA big in any game, much less one the magnitude of the nationally televised showdown between the two-time defending champs and the team that many anointed in the offseason as the next in line to steal their crown.

The only problem is, we were watching.

While Gasol’s numbers were more than serviceable for many, his performance was well below average for what we’ve come to expect the last couple of seasons, and even what we began to get used to at the beginning of this one.

Something’s not quite right with Pau Gasol. And until he can fix whatever the issue is, the Lakers are going to continue to struggle.

Phil Jackson afterward claimed to know what’s going on, but decided at this time to keep it to himself.

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LOS ANGELES — Lakers forward Ron Artest on Saturday raffled off his championship ring from last season for charity. The Lakers, meanwhile, spent Christmas looking quite willing to donate championship rings from this season to another team.

After a second straight ugly home loss, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was seething. He vowed to really get on his teammates when they next practice Monday.

“It’s going to get through,” Bryant said of the message. “Beat them in the head until it gets through.”

If anybody thought an ugly 98-79 loss to Milwaukee last Tuesday would wake up the two-time defending champions, think again. They looked uninterested in Saturday’s 96-80 drubbing by Miami at the Staples Center.

“I’m just upset (with) how we’re playing,” Bryant said. “I think these games mean more to our opponents than they do to us. I think we need to get that straight. We need to play with more focus and put more importance on these games.”

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — There was so much yawning by the Lakers heading into last year’s Christmas Day game you’d have thought the team’s practice facility here was a sleep clinic.

The Lakers talked about how Cleveland wasn’t a rival and guard Kobe Bryant called it “just another game.” Well, what then happened?

The Cavaliers crushed the Lakers, 102-87, and the fans at the Staples Center let their frustrations be known. They littered the floor late in the game with foam hands that had been given away.

“Last year, on Christmas, we certainly didn’t. The fingers rose to the occasion last year,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after a practice Thursday.

With that in mind, the two-time defending champs vow to be more ready for Saturday’s game against Miami, which marks the 12th straight year the Lakers have played on Christmas.

“We understand that as champions on a day like this, what might be just another game to you, to another team it’s like it makes their season,” forward Lamar Odom said about what the Lakers learned from last year’s Christmas debacle. “We understand (Miami is) going to come out firing and playing really hard, trying to prove to everybody that they’re championship contenders. I think we learned from (last year) and we understand that we need to raise our level of intensity early in the game right from the jump ball.”

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LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before the game that his players had been warned not to look past struggling Milwaukee on Tuesday night toward the marquee Christmas Day affair against Miami.

Turns out, not everybody was listening. Forward Ron Artest even admitted it.

“I didn’t hear a warning,” Artest said after his team’s surprising 98-79 loss to the Bucks at the Staples Center. “Maybe they said that.”

According to Jackson, the players said it themselves after the morning shootaround.

“They did it on their own in the huddle at the walkthrough this morning,” Jackson said before Tuesday’s game. “It was mentioned, ‘Don’t mess around and let this game get away from you, and then ruin what we’re trying to do on Christmas.”’

So what then happened? The Lakers (21-8) messed around.

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Tim Duncan already might be ordering travel brochures. He could be checking Caribbean island forecasts to see where it’s least likely to rain.

For the past 12 NBA All-Star Weekends, Duncan has been booked in mid-February. The San Antonio star big man has played in every All-Star Game since he entered the league in 1997-98 (there was no game in 1999 due to the lockout). He’s started 11 consecutive games, which became the NBA’s longest current streak when Lakers guard Kobe Bryant sat out last February with a sprained ankle.

Duncan, though, is sure his streak of All-Star appearances and starts soon will be broken.

“It’s got to come to an end at some point,” Duncan said in an interview with FanHouse. “For the last couple of years, I thought it was going to come to an end, and it looks like this year will be it. So I feel absolutely no way about it. I’m excited to spend a couple of days during the break with my family in trying to do something different. It will be fun.”

Unfortunately, Tim, you might be off base here. You just might be spending yet another winter weekend with other NBA stars at the Feb. 20 game in Los Angeles.

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WASHINGTON — Andrew Bynum did not set the world on fire in his return on Tuesday, which is OK. He didn’t start and he didn’t play a ton, but he looked good in limited minutes and he helped the Lakers. It was an encouraging start.

Bynum finished with seven points, four rebounds and two blocks in 17 minutes. But more important was that he moved relatively well, got to the free-throw line four times and made an impact on defense.

It’ll be a while before he comes close to matching the career-high 30 minutes a game he averaged last season — Bynum estimates four weeks until he’s back to normal — but he’s filling a much-needed role for the Lakers’ front-court rotation.

“Short minutes, relief minutes,” is what Lakers coach Phil Jackson said to expect from the center.

With his size and talent, even a rusty Bynum immediately shores up the Lakers’ front-court rotation and provides a respite for Pau Gasol, who is averaging a career high 39:17 minutes per game.

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DENVER — Team USA was short on tall guys for last summer’s FIBA World Championship in Turkey. If there are any thoughts about needing another big man for the 2012 Olympics in London, Zach Randolph is ready to volunteer.

“That would be something I would like to do,” the Memphis forward said before Sunday’s game at Denver. “I’d definitely like to play on the USA team, and be able to tell my kids I did play for the USA team.”

Randolph, an All-Star for the first time last season, said he’s wanted to play for Team USA for years. But he said he’s never received any feelers.

“I’ve always wanted to play,” said Randolph, 29, a 10-year veteran. “A couple of years ago, when I was in Portland, coach (Nate) McMillan went down there with the guys (and Randolph was hoping for an invite of his own).”

McMillan was named a Team USA assistant in 2006, a position he will hold at least through the 2012 Olympics. McMillan coached Randolph with the Trail Blazers from 2005-07.

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Brother, where art thou?

Right here, bro. In your face.

There were several reasons why the Grizzlies defeated the defending champion Lakers, 98-96, on Tuesday night:

Kobe Bryant dominated the Lakers‘ offense way too much — shooting only 9 of 25 to get his 29 points.

Mike Conley had a career game, scoring 28 points on only 13 shots.

Memphis had six players in double-figures to the visitors’ three.

Ron Artest had an ill-advised triple attempt blocked at the buzzer by Rudy Gay.

The Lakers perimeter defense was awful, and the Grizzlies swarming defense was superior to LA’s often static offense.

But another major factor was the outcome of the battle between the Brothers Gasol, Marc (at 7-1, 280) for the home-standing Grizzlies, and Pau (7-0, 227) for the Lakers.

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The Spurs are the hottest team in the league, winners of 11 straight. The Thunder have won five in a row, including one on the road over the Celtics with Kevin Durant in street clothes. But it’s the Lakers who find themselves back at the top of this week’s rankings, based on their own five-game winning streak, along with a return to playing at a level of dominance we have yet to see from any other team this season.

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Today in The Works, Rob Peterson recognizes two of the best PA announcers in the business. But first, the MVP Power Rankings as they stand today.

MVP Power Rankings, Edition No. 1

The MVP Power Rankings started in July, as Kevin Durant took an early lead based on altruistic behavior and world domination, while two-time defending winner LeBron James struggled to get past his image self-mutilation. Now Durant is struggling to re-find his range while LeBron is struggling to dig his team out of a P.R. and basketball hole. Both will be heard from in the MVP Power Rankings … but not yet. Make room for the early leaders.

10. Derrick Rose, Bulls
Chicago’s third-year point guard has sprinted out to a fast start; whether he can sustain this type of production over the long haul is obviously a huge question, as it will be for most of the early MVP leaders. His per-game numbers will almost certainly take a hit when Carlos Boozer enters; Rose’s usage rate is substantially higher than ever, and the hairy chested one will be a great relief, allowing Rose to pace himself and become more efficient. For now, he’s so vital to every possession that if he doesn’t perform like this, Chicago isn’t winning.

9. Kobe Bryant, Lakers
Kobe is this low only because of the superlative performance ahead of him. If the season ended today, I have no doubt Bryant would win the MVP — he’s been good enough for me, a devout Kings fan, to say that without throwing up in my mouth or rolling my eyes in sarcasm. Kobe’s been fantastic. It’s worth noting that Bryant never deferred to Shaquille O’Neal the way he has deferred to Pau Gasol early on. Kobe and Pau are clearly on the same page (finally!), and the Lakers may have never been better.

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In The Works today, looking at the big picture with Chris Bosh and Al Horford, why Josh Smith isn’t on the block and the etiquette of talking trash

Restricted Free Agency for Dummies

The dust has settled on Memphis, the franchise practically burying itself alive in new and inventive labor practices. And this latest, known simply as The Conley Contract (like a 70s thriller) takes thing to another level, as they say in the Halls of Dolan after a really hot episode of “Entourage.” Luckily, the $45 million extension given to point guard Mike Conley by the Grizzlies sucks hard enough to take care of dust, coffee grounds and pet dandruff, just like a Dyson. Yes, that was a vacuum cleaner joke in the Year 2010. I know you were promised more. Blame Ray Kurzweil.

Curious as to how the Grizzlies botched yet another contract negotiation? Apparently, ever since the Xavier Henry saga, Grizzlies franchise owner Michael Heisley has been keen on learning the intricacies of the collective bargaining agreement. Heisley has leaned on CBA minutia to get that extra edge in the boardroom, and then resorted to the downright mystical when looking to shore up the Grizzlies’ core for all time.

Unfortunately, there is golf to be played, and that CBA is pretty danged long and not available on book-on-tape. So GM Chris Wallace’s team has devised a series of cheat sheets for the owner, to help get him up to speed. Courtesy of a mole deeply embedded in Memphis, here’s the franchise’s cheat sheet for restricted free agency.

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PHOENIX — The thought of the Lakers fortifying their bench in the offseason with proven role players like Steve Blake and Matt Barnes might be frightening enough for any team with visions of taking down the two-time defending champions.

But if Pau Gasol is no longer the forgotten superstar on the offensive end of the floor, and he actually gets the additional touches that he both wants and deserves, that would be absolutely devastating for anyone standing in L.A.’s path to a third straight championship.

Now of course, it’s early. We’re two games into the season. But so far? That appears to be exactly what’s happening.

Gasol was dominant in the Lakers 114-106 road win over the Suns on Friday, putting up a near-triple-double line of 21 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists. He did it with 17 shot attempts, only two fewer than Kobe Bryant, who finished with 19 but was aggressive from the start with nine in the first quarter.

Gasol finishing a close second to Bryant in field goal attempts isn’t exactly earth-shattering news. But through the Lakers first two games, Gasol is averaging 20 to Bryant’s 19.5, and leads the team in that category — by one — at 40-39.

I know — really small sample size, to be sure. But listening to Bryant speak after the win in Phoenix, you get the feeling it’s by design, and something that could very well continue as the season rolls on.

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PHOENIX — In a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals, the Lakers faced the Suns in the champs’ first road contest of the season. This was the third time in the last five meetings between the teams that the Suns were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, while the Lakers were coming off of at least a day’s rest — or in this case, two days.

Phoenix hung around all game long, thanks to never letting L.A. go on a huge run of more than seven or eight points. And, they held their own in the rebound battle, an area that Suns coach Alvin Gentry specifically pointed to before the game as an area of concern. But in the end, the depth of the Lakers — as it’s likely to be against the majority of their opponents this season — was simply too much, and L.A. pulled away for a 114-106 victory to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

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LOS ANGELES — After opening the evening by receiving their championship rings and raising banner No. 16 to the rafters, the Lakers finished things in exciting fashion, coming from 13 down in the third and then hanging on for a 112-110 victory to open the 2010-11 season.

While Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant led L.A. in scoring with 29 and 27 points apiece, it was the 3-point shooting of Steve Blake and Shannon Brown that really sparked the team, and allowed them to overcome big nights from Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks, who finished with 26 and 24 points respectively for the Rockets.

FIRST QUARTER: Rockets 33, Lakers 26

The Lakers overcame the emotion of their ring ceremony fairly quickly and settled into some effective basketball with the team’s first unit. But it was the Rockets’ guards who were the story, with Aaron Brooks and Kevin martin combing to score 27 of their team’s 33 in the period.

Pau Gasol had 12 for L.A., and Ron Artest hit a couple of threes to keep the Lakers close, despite the team’s 36.4 percent shooting.

Phil Jackson was asked before the game if he expected his rookies to get any minutes tonight, and he joked, “I hope not.” But he inserted Derrick Caracter into the lineup just over three minutes in, once Lamar Odom was forced to the bench with two personal fouls.

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LONDON (AP) — NBA teams in Europe will go on with their planned European preseason activities amid heightened terror concerns, and the league has promised to take “appropriate” security measures.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves are in London preparing for their preseason opener on Monday at the O2 Arena. The New York Knicks were scheduled to play Olimpia Milano in Milan on Sunday.

Officials for the Lakers and Timberwolves said the teams and the NBA have been in close contact with authorities to assess the risk situation. Players haven’t been told to change their habits or sightseeing plans.

The State Department on Sunday issued a a travel alert for Europe that advises U.S. citizens living or traveling there to take more precautions about their personal security.

“I can tell you that we are in touch with the State Department and all the U.S. authorities and embassies around Europe and we are taking appropriate security measures for all our traveling party,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said at a news conference in Milan before the Knicks game.

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ISTANBUL — At a Team USA scrimmage two weeks ago at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul talked about how excited they are to play in the 2012 Olympics.

Let’s hope they have a team for which to play.

While it’s a long shot, it’s not out of the possibility Team USA might not even qualify for the 2012 Games in London.

If the Americans don’t win the World Championship, in which they face Croatia on Saturday’s opening day, they won’t get an automatic bid to the 2012 Olympics. That means they would have to go through a qualifying tournament in 2011.

No big deal, right? Team USA often has had to go through qualifying tournaments to make the Olympic field, most recently in 2007.

But there could be one big difference next summer if the Americans don’t take care of business this summer in Istanbul. An NBA lockout is very possible starting July 1, 2011. If such a lockout lingers, players under contract most likely wouldn’t be able to play in international events.

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In The Works today: the Positional Revolution gets defensive; Pau Gasol, médecin; and Kevin Durant pops up on a rap mixtape.

But first, LeBron James visits Akron and talks about Cleveland.

He Loves Them, He Loves Them Not: When LeBron James decided to take his talents to South Beach, for once the reigning MVP did not look back, or over his shoulder. He defied some of the NBA‘s toughest conventional wisdom, as Michael, Magic, and Larry rushed to remind him. James also risked being seen as a man who would destroy his hometown for a few pieces of silver.

Yet as dastardly and double-crossing as his free agency may have been, it most definitely was his. For once, James didn’t act like he was watching the polls, consulting the superstar manual, or carrying around a focus group in his luggage. The story of LeBron James has been as much about his image as his successes and failures on the court.

So when James thanked his hometown of Akron in a newspaper ad, but excluded Cleveland, it was refreshing. Brutal and unfair, yes. But again, the game’s best player once again dared to make an unpopular choice.

Was there a good reason for it? I can’t call it. Cleveland and Akron are separate cities, each with its own history; closeness often leads to rivalry and ill will; all of James’s charity work has been for Akron; and who knows how he’s feeling about Cleveland these days. Or maybe it’s just another case of faulty Horsemen PR, and I’m getting all excited over nothing.

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Shaquille O’Neal signed with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, making official what was widely reported a day earlier.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but ESPNBoston.com reported that O’Neal is seeking a two-year deal for the league’s veteran minimum, which would pay him $1.4 million annually.

FanHouse was the first to report O’Neal’s interest in the Celtics last month.

“It is not every day that you can add a player of Shaquille’s caliber to your team,” Celtics president Danny Ainge said. “His past experience speaks for itself, and we believe that he is a great fit for our roster.”

That roster is brimming with experience, which, in NBA vernacular, means old.

Earlier this summer, the Celtics used their full mid-level exception to sign 31-year-old forward-center Jermaine O’Neal, a player whose skills have noticeably diminished thanks to injuries.

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ORLANDO, FL. — There are veterans who spend years chasing the chance to win an elusive NBA title.

And there are veterans – like Josh Powell – who leave championship teams to prove they actually can play in the NBA.

It’s like leaving the penthouse – when you don’t necessarily have to leave. Not an easy decision.

Powell, 26, won back-to-back championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, but he opted to sign last month as a free agent with his hometown Atlanta Hawks, believing it was best for his future.

It certainly wasn’t for more money. He signed in Atlanta for the NBA minimum of $1.2 million, which is what he would have received to stay in Los Angeles.

“It was a tough decision. There’s nothing like being part of a championship team, but it was an opportunity for more playing time,” Powell told FanHouse earlier this week at good friend Dwight Howard‘s Basketball Camp. “I just have to show I can play bigger, more consistent minutes than I’ve been getting.”

With the Lakers, Powell had been buried within the deepest, most talented veteran front court in the league. There wasn’t much playing time available behind Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton.

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Indignity! Slaughter! Fall of Rome! Faces of Death! If you thought LeBron James destroyed the NBA by over-dramatizing his free agency, get ready for the real glimpse into Hades: Chris Paul, franchise point guard, possibly wanting a trade two years before his deal is up.

Yes, we know. Paul met with the Hornets brass and came out saying that he was staying put. Maybe that’s because he didn’t feel like paying the hefty fine that comes with publicly announcing your intention to force the trade. Or maybe dude just had a mighty change of heart. Regardless, the fact remains that Chris Paul gets to decide what happens in this situation.

Wait, how is this possible? Isn’t he under contract? Doesn’t he make millions, and thus would be an unforgivable ingrate if he walks out now? He wouldn’t dare sit out, would he? No, because there’s all types of precedent for this.

Chris Paul is not the first player to consider forcing a trade. It’s like he’s being punished for being one of the best to do it — and one from a small market who has bonded so much with his adopted city. Again, though, what little memory we have. Paul’s situation will not destroy the NBA. It’s the way business has always been done. And last I checked, the NBA was only mildly demolished by each of these brazen, and illegal, transactions.

If this is a question of sabotaging the public trust by using phantom leverage and turning heel, well, they should outlaw the mini-max deal that Paul (like James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Deron Williams) signed. Otherwise, there’s always the possibility that a player can leave after three seasons of the deal like James, and the implication that — gasp — he might decide sooner that things just aren’t working out.

There’s a contract there, sure, but trading disgruntled stars is part of the rhythm of the league. Major upheavals, no doubt, but all were eventually absorbed and assimilated by the larger organic organism. Like dumping tons of oil into the ocean. It’s not supposed to happen but eventually, we’ll all get over it.

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LAS VEGAS — Just-add-water teams haven’t worked out too well in recent years for USA Basketball.

For the 2002 World Championship and 2004 Olympics, outfits were put together at the last instant after numerous top players defected. Team USA finished a disastrous sixth in 2002 and settled for bronze in 2004.

That brought about big changes in USA Basketball, with new boss Jerry Colangelo, seeking continuity, having players make three-summer commitments. But even in the first year of the project, despite most of the top players on hand, Team USA settled for bronze in the 2006 World Championship.

Normalcy was restored in the 2008 Olympics when a team used to playing with one another captured gold in Beijing. It did help, of course, that Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd were there and stars from 2006, namely LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony, had two more years of experience.

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That Team USA has lost its entire gold medal roster from Beijing has been well-documented. All 12 players from USA Basketball’s 2008 Olympics team have opted out of national team duties in 2010, leaving a combination of second-tier veterans (Chauncey Billups, Lamar Odom) and rising stars (Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez) to take over for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey this August and September.

But while there may be fear and loathing over the losses of Team USA’s megastars, several other contenders for the FIBA World title will be missing their best players, as well.

Spain, which won the tournament in 2006, will be without star big man Pau Gasol, who is taking a break after numerous summers of duty for his home nation. Gasol was the MVP of last year’s Eurobasket tournament and led Spain to the final game of the 2008 Olympic tournament, where the Spaniards gave Team USA its greatest challenge of the Games. Spain is still well-stocked without Gasol — the nation has his brother Marc Gasol, as well as Ricky Rubio, Sergio Llull, Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro in the backcourt. The guard matchup in any potential USA-Spain game will be a fun watch, with the Americans potentially sending Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, Russell Westbrook or Stephen Curry to Turkey. M. Haubs of The Painted Area considers Spain the tournament favorite, and it’s really hard to disagree.

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LAS VEGAS — When Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert predicted that his Cavaliers would win a championship before The King and his Miami Heat Superfriends in his open letter to LeBron James, the assertion seemed about as foolish as the letter itself.

Yet Gilbert’s inexplicable confidence in making the statement — and lack of confidence in the Heat’s new star-studded core — may have stemmed from a scenario that has fast become a hot topic among the league’s owners: The notion that the Miami Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh could be down to the Miami Two after just one season.

It is, in fact, a possibility.

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Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Spain and Netherlands are set to face off in the finals of the world cup in South Africa. We caught up with five-time NBA champion and Finals MVP Kobe Bryant to hear who is he thinks will win.

Check out the video after the jump.

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With Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade in Miami, the Heat are thinking championships. To get there, the dynamic duo will have to run through Eastern powers Orlando and Boston, not to mention Boozer-infused Chicago and whichever franchise lands LeBron.

If the Heat do manage to slice through the East within the next few seasons, there’s a good chance Miami will come up against the two-time defending champion Lakers. L.A. has its core locked up for the foreseeable future, and two teams the Lakers had to beat on the way to the team’s most recent championship — the Suns and Jazz — have lost All-Star big men in the early days of free agency.

The Lakers, led by superstar wing Kobe Bryant and superlative big man Pau Gasol, are proven at the highest levels. This new Wade-Bosh tandem is not, despite Wade’s 2006 championship with Shaquille O’Neal. Bosh and Wade will have to prove their mettle when it counts, in April and May and June.

But there’s a reasonable expectation Bosh and Wade will be able to do so. In fact, Bosh-Wade may even be a stronger pairing than Bryant-Gasol.

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The Los Angeles Lakers are in serious talks with free agent swingman Mike Miller, ESPNLos Angeles.com reported.

According to sources close to the situation, the Lakers officially have opened discussions with the 30-year-old shooting specialist.

The NBA champions lack a three-point shooting threat on their roster. Miller would fit that role perfectly. He hit a gaudy 50 percent from the field, including 48 percent of his three-point shots last year with the Washington Wizards. He averaged 10.9 points in 54 appearances in 2009-10.

Miller won the 2001 NBA Rookie of the Year award while playing for the Orlando Magic. He also won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2006 with the Memphis Grizzlies, playing alongside current Lakers center Pau Gasol.

He has a career three-point percentage of 40.5 and has averaged 13.7 points in 10 seasons.

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Despite Zach Randolph having been linked to legal troubles, Memphis owner Michael Heisley stands by his power forward and isn’t planning to trade him.

Asked if there could be a trade involving Randolph, Heisley said in an interview with FanHouse on Thursday that “we are not interested and we have not been looking” in that direction.

In fact, Heisley said there are no plans to break up the starting lineup of Randolph, center Marc Gasol, guards O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley and forward Rudy Gay, who certainly won’t be going anywhere now that he has agreed to re-sign for $82 million over five years.

“We feel very confident going into next year because we’ll have our five guys back,” Heisley said.

Other than Gay possibly having bolted as a restricted free agent, the only other serious concern having surrounded the starting lineup has been the future of Randolph.

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Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers is working hard this offseason building schools in remote areas of Ethiopia, where only 20% of the kids attend school. To help raise awareness for the cause, Pau has exposed his hidden talent, his singing ability. In this exclusive FanHouse report, watch the Lakers big man in action while at a North Hollywood recording studio.

Click below to check out the video.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tens of thousands of jubilant Los Angeles Lakers fans lined a two-mile route, many waving purple and gold flags and T-shirts that read “Back 2 Back” as they cheered the NBA champions during a parade to celebrate the team’s second consecutive title.

Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest waved Monday to the throngs from a flatbed 18-wheeler as fans yelled and snapped pictures. Many waited hours for a glimpse of their heroes as they rolled past in a convoy that also included double-decker buses and fire engines.

Police reported a largely well-behaved crowd. Seven people were arrested for various minor offenses, police said. Authorities did not provide a crowd estimate.

The hourlong parade capped a season that ended Thursday with an 83-79 Game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics and a 16th NBA title for the Lakers.

Team members vowed to play hard for a 17th championship next season.

“When next season starts, we’ll be ready, that’s for sure,” Bryant told reporters. He added that of his five titles, “this is the best one by far because it was the hardest one to get.”

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LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant apparently didn’t drink champagne after the game. He had truth serum.

After claiming throughout the NBA Finals there was no extra motivation to beat Boston, the Lakers‘ long-time rival that spanked them in 2008, he finally admitted that of course there was. Heck, Bryant even was truthful about stuff he wasn’t specifically asked.

“I just got one more than Shaq,” the Lakers guard said after he won his fifth NBA title and was asked what it meant to him individually beating Boston 83-79 at the Staples Center on Thursday night in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. “You can take that to the bank. You know how I am. I don’t forget anything.”

It was Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant’s running mate for Lakers’ titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and later his adversary, who famously rapped after the Lakers lost to Boston in the 2008 Finals, “Kobe, tell me how my (behind) taste.” O’Neal, adding one with Miami in 2006, has four rings, and at that time Bryant still hadn’t won one without Shaq. But Bryant now has added two since O’Neal’s dig.

Throughout the Finals, an often-surly Bryant regularly had been feeding the media bland three-word answers. Had they lost Game 7 after trailing by 13 points in the third quarter, they would have become one-word grumbles.

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LOS ANGELES — In a Game 7 that was as epic as the six games between the storied Lakers and Celtics franchises that led up to it, Los Angeles completed its quest to repeat as champions with a thrilling, come-from-behind 83-79 victory over Boston that earned the team its 16th NBA Championship.

In a contest that looked at times like it could have gone either way, Game 7 of the NBA Finals did not disappoint.

The Celtics jumped out to a nine-point lead after the first quarter, and held onto a six-point advantage at the half, with a score of 40-34 in their favor clearly showing that Boston was having its way. Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant were a combined 6 of 26 from the field, and the Lakers were shooting just 26.5 percent.

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LOS ANGELES — In a Game 7 that was as epic as the six games between the storied Lakers and Celtics franchises that led up to it, Los Angeles completed its quest to repeat as champions with a thrilling, come-from-behind 83-79 victory over Boston that earned the team its 16th NBA Championship.

In a contest that looked at times like it could have gone either way, Game 7 of the NBA Finals did not disappoint.

The Celtics jumped out to a nine-point lead after he first quarter, and held onto a six-point advantage at the half, with a score of 40-34 in their favor clearly showing that Boston was having its way. Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant were a combined 6 of 26 from the field, and the Lakers were shooting just 26.5 percent.

Boston extended its lead to as many as 13 in the third period, and it was looking like the cold shooting that the Lakers were experiencing would never be solved. Unfortunately for the Celtics, they weren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard either, and it eventually caught up to them.

The Celtics managed just seven points in the first eight plus minutes of the fourth quarter, while the Lakers attacked on seemingly every possession and got to the free throw line, where they made enough shots to build a lead they’d never relinquish. But L.A. did anything but run away with this one in the closing minutes.

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LOS ANGELES — The Lakers‘ house party was in full effect on Tuesday night.

Home — otherwise known as Staples Center — was where the big band was, a booming bunch of trumpets and trombones in the third deck that bellowed the Mills Brothers’ “I Ain’t Got Nobody” as the celebration of a Game 6 Finals win grew below.

Share Home was where Kimsha Artest was, the wife of resident fall guy Ron Artest, who so confidently claimed that “we’re walking out of here on Thursday with (a championship)” while cavorting with Derek Fisher‘s wife, Candace.

Home was where Joe “Jellybean” Bryant was, the father of Kobe Bean who scoffed at the notion that his son had been anything but a team-first leader of men in the days leading up to this indomitable Lakers showing.

“Everybody’s gonna follow the warrior,” the father yelled after the son sent him off with a hug and a kiss on the neck. “Genghis Khan! Conquer it!”

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LOS ANGELES — When we last saw Ron Artest, he was chipping paint off the rim at the free-throw line.

Well, Artest painted a masterpiece Tuesday night at the Staples Center. And so did Pau Gasol and some other Lakers not named Kobe Bryant.

Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points, but he got plenty of help in a 89-67 rout over Boston that tied the NBA Finals at 3-3. A good bit of that assistance came from Gasol, a forward who had 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists and Artest, a forward who shot 6 of 11, including 3 of 6 from three-point range, for 15 points and played solid defense.

It was Artest who cinder-blocked two foul shots with 43 seconds left and his team trailing by five in Sunday’s Game 5 92-86 loss, pretty much eliminating any chance of a Lakers win.

Artest redeemed himself early in Game 6, scoring 10 first-half points while hitting a pair of three-pointers. Bryant, who had 15 points in the first half as the Lakers led 51-31, said Artest getting in a “rhythm” really helped the team’s hot start.

Several Lakers came up big Tuesday to help Bryant. It was a quite a contrast to Game 5, when Bryant, with 38, scored 44 percent of his team’s points.

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BOSTON — To be so smart, the Lakers sure looked dumb.

They pride themselves on their free-flowing offensive game and artistic approach to nearly every facet of basketball. They entered Game 5 here at the TD Garden certain they could slap their mesmerizing tactics on the Celtics and return home one victory shy of a second straight NBA championship.

Now they have no chance in these NBA Finals if they can’t finish with two consecutive victories.

They have no chance if they don’t get smarter quicker. Kill the dumb stuff. The stupid stuff.

They are down 3-2 and looked disorganized and were eventually displaced in a 92-86 loss that spoke volumes about Boston’s preparation and will but maybe more about L.A.’s dumbfounding approach.

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BOSTON — The Boston Celtics played like it was 2008. The Lakers’ outing was circa 2006.

And for anyone who fails to remember which team was better: Boston 92, Lakers 86 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night at a joyous TD Garden.

In what was the Celtics’ final home game win or lose, they gave the home crowd of 18,624 an inspired performance to remember to take a 3-2 series lead. They now head back to Los Angeles with a chance to win a title in six games just as they did two years ago while Kobe Bryant and the Lakers have one off-day to figure out why they took the wrong kind of trip back in time.

Bryant was at-times sensational in scoring 38 points, but he became a one-man show as he had so often earlier in his career. He took 27 shots (converting 13), with the nearest Laker in terms of attempts being forward Pau Gasol (5 of 12 from the field for 12 points.

The Celtics were nearly unstoppable offensively against a porous Lakers defense, hitting 56.3 percent of their shots (41 of 71) while being led by Paul Pierce‘s 27 points and 18 points apiece from Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo.

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BOSTON — Andrew Bynum is “100 percent sure” his knee injury won’t keep him out of Sunday’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Nobody has a percentage on how effective he might be.

The Lakers center, who has been playing in the postseason on a torn right meniscus, tweaked his knee in Game 3 last Tuesday against Boston and limped through Thursday’s Game 4, managing just two points and three rebounds in 12 minutes. Now, Bynum is ready to give it the old college try even if he never did go to college.

“It will depend on how I feel when I get out there for the jump ball,” Bynum said Saturday about how much he will be able to play in the pivotal Game 5 in which the teams enter tied 2-2. “(If feeling good), I should be able to play a heavy load of minutes. But (not) if I get out there and it buckles and it’s crazy.”

Share Bynum, who said he has scheduled surgery on his knee for early July, had the knee drained after Thursday’s 96-89 loss and had an MRI on Friday, with doctors determining he had suffered no additional structural damage. Bynum also had his knee drained at the start of the Finals, but said the swelling returned within a few days.

“I couldn’t make a quad muscle,” Bynum said of the swelling being so bad after Game 4. “It was either not play (Sunday) or just drain it (again).”

Bynum said it also helps that the Lakers have two days off between Games 4 and 5. They had only one day between Games 3 and 4.

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BOSTON — Center Andrew Bynum never really knew how valuable he was to the Los Angeles Lakers until he sat on the sideline Thursday and watched them play the Boston Celtics.

Now he knows. And so does everyone else.

The Lakers can’t win the NBA Finals without him coming back.

Bynum missed all but 12 minutes with a troublesome right knee that is growing progressively worse, leaving a void Thursday that was big enough for the Celtics to rumble through, allowing them to dominate around the basket in 96-89 victory.

It’s the basket Bynum usually protects. And without their man in the middle, the Lakers suddenly look vulnerable again, raising concerns for the rest of the series that is now tied at two wins apiece.

“Offensively, I don’t think it’s a big problem without me, but defensively we’re hurting, especially with all the size they have,” Bynum said. “Without me in there, they were just attacking the basket. I’ve got to get right, real quick.”

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It’s too much to expect the NBA to own up to how dreadful the officiating has been in the playoffs over the last few years, and particularly in these Finals. It’s just not what you do. The same way BP is dishing out promises that they’re doing everything they can and they have the public’s best interest at heart, you come to expect a certain level of glad-handing from entities in unenviable positions such as the one the league finds itself in.

No more so has this been evident than in NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson’s comments which pretty strongly resemble the captain of the Titanic assuring passengers “All in all, we think it’s been a pretty smooth ride. No, don’t worry about that water below. We just wanted to create a pool in the boiler room for the workers!”

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BOSTON — The Lakers could have changed hotels to get away from bad memories of their 39-point drubbing by the Celtics in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals. There are ample luxury hotels in Boston.

But the Lakers keep staying at the same hotel near Boston Common. We won’t provide the name only because forward Luke Walton said when the Lakers’ location in the Detroit area was publicized during the 2004 Finals, phones rang all night in rooms and horns honked outside. The Lakers lost all three games in Detroit to fall 4-1.

But the Lakers are 3-0 in Boston since they have continued to return to the same hotel where they spent the painful night following the 131-92 loss June 17, 2008, which secured the Celtics’ 4-2 Finals win. That’s two regular-season wins and Tuesday’s 91-84 triumph in Game 3 of the Finals, which gave the Lakers a 2-1 lead.

“Every time I stay in that hotel, it reminds me of the last night I slept there after Game 6 and how bad I felt, and how long of a night it was for us,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol said Wednesday. “The last two regular-season games I had the same feeling as I do every time I’m there. … To me it (is motivation staying at that hotel). … It contributes to remind us what we went through.”

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BOSTON — Celtics captain Paul Pierce sounded pretty sure of himself Sunday when he said there would be no need for a Game 6 or 7 back in Los Angeles, confident that his Celtics could finish the NBA Finals in Boston with three consecutive victories.

Pierce still might be right about not going back to Los Angeles, but he could be really, really wrong about why.

It’s the Lakers now who could finish the series in Boston.

The Lakers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with a 91-84 victory over the Celtics, taking them another step closer to winning their second consecutive championship.

They may have looked uninspired when they lost Game 2 in Los Angeles, but they regained the home-court edge and every bit of their focus Tuesday. Game 4 is set for Thursday night in Boston.

Kobe Bryant led the charge with a game-high 29 points, giving the Lakers a lead early that they never lost, holding off a final charge by the Celtics.

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Maybe it was the fumes from the parking garage, or the radioactive cell phone. Regardless, the other day, I tried to argue that if the Lakers win a title, Pau Gasol would be the NBA‘s greatest international player ever.

I was quickly rebuffed; Dirk Nowitzki remains a rare bird we have yet to fully capture in our minds, and Hakeem Olajuwon belongs in this category — even if he did show up in the USA just in time to learn the game at the University of Houston.

I am not one of these people totally hung up on who wins what when and with whom. And I wasn’t playing devil’s advocate.

For those few, carbon monoxide-soaked moments, the case for Pau seemed strong as ever. Right now, Gasol is up to something big: one title, three straight trips to the Finals, acclaim as the game’s most skilled big man, and for the foreseeable future, an All-NBA spot. Although Pau’s not surpassing Dirk or Hakeem, it’s safe to say that Kobe Bryant‘s not the only one who can burnish his legacy here.

Gasol is busy making a major statement about just how valuable international players can be. This comes on the eve of a draft that will see a Euro-free lottery, maybe even first round; the news that Ricky Rubio will spend another year abroad; and a general lack of interest in the NBA on the part of foreign players, many of whom never come over or head back after a season or two. Pau, though, stands as the prime example of how international stars can flourish without having to resort to novelty or pedigree.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — One of the big stories to come out of the Lakers practice on Friday was some quotes from Pau Gasol which essentially said that Kevin Garnett has lost a step. The supposedly inflammatory lines from Gasol went like this:

“On Kevin’s part, he’s lost some explosiveness,” Gasol said. “He’s more of a jump-shooter now, you could say. Most of his stuff comes off the lane. Before, he had a really quick first step, and would get into the lane, and he was more aggressive I think.

“Time passes, and we all suffer it one way or another.”

Share We had these quotes in a story here at FanHouse too, although it wasn’t the main focus of the piece. Why not? Because Gasol didn’t say these things in response to Garnett’s play in Game 1. It was part of his answer to a longer line of questioning about how the two players have changed over the nine years that Gasol has been in the league playing against Garnett.

At Saturday’s practice, Gasol was not at all pleased with the way his comments were taken, for the most part, out of context, and made to be some kind of slight on Garnett. Gasol called the media “pretty pathetic” for the way his comments were portrayed, and said that in the future he may shorten his answers considerably so that something like this doesn’t happen again.

Video of Gasol’s comments on the matter can be seen in the clip below.

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LOS ANGELES — The footage from Game 1 of the NBA Finals is making the rounds. Even though his Lakers have a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant is sitting stone-faced just a few feet from Chris Rock as the comedian is cracking jokes his way.

“I don’t even hear,” says ABC analyst Mark Jackson, speaking for Bryant. “I’m on a mission.”

Jackson was right. Speaking Friday, the day after his Lakers beat Boston 102-89 in Game 1, Bryant said he didn’t “know anything about it until it was mentioned to me after the game” that Rock was trying to speak with him.

And, as far as Bryant being a man on a mission, that’s been the case for a while. He rarely has smiled during this postseason. At press conferences, he often gives answers with one or just a few words.

Actually, it’s been that way for a while. Bryant, 31, hasn’t been cracking many jokes at three Finals in a row.

Not that he was the life of the party back when the Lakers were winning titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and Bryant was in his early 20s, teaming with center Shaquille O’Neal. But he’s clearly brought a different temperament to the Finals in 2008, lost by the Lakers to Boston; 2009, won by the Lakers over Orlando; and to this one.

“(It) just comes from understanding opportunities not coming along very often and making sure you focus in and take full advantage of it,” Bryant, averaging 29.5 points this postseason, said of the difference. “I want to make sure we don’t leave any stones unturned. … You can’t let any opportunities go to waste (when getting older).”

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LOS ANGELES — Before the NBA Finals began, Phil Jackson pointed to the matchup between Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol as the one that would likely be the biggest factor in deciding the series. We’re (of course) only one game in, but if that is indeed going to be the case, then the Celtics appear to be in some fairly serious trouble.

Gasol was magnificent in Game 1, finishing with 23 points and 14 rebounds — eight offensive — while playing over 46 of the game’s 48 minutes. He was active and aggressive the entire night, and showcased a toughness that he’s been criticized for lacking up to this point in his career.

Share Garnett, on the other hand, simply wasn’t any of those things. And the fact that he’s nowhere close to the player he was when Boston beat L.A. to win the title back in 2008 might be the biggest reason that the Celtics appear — at least after the first game — to be overmatched in this series.

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LOS ANGELES — It’s over. In fact, you’d think longtime Los Angeles resident Jackson Browne would be called upon to sing his song “The Load-Out.”

“Pack it up and tear it down,” the song goes about the roadies who do just that after a concert.

Don’t know if the guys who clean up after the NBA Finals also call themselves roadies, but the curtain has fallen. OK, they’ll still play at least three more games, but this show, in reality, is finished.

Legendary coach Phil Jackson is 47-0 when his team wins the first game of a playoff series. And on Thursday night at the Staples Center, his Lakers won Game 1 of the Finals, 102-89 over Boston.

So that means series over, right?

Wait a minute. Stop loading those trucks. Some other statistics have just been dug up.

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Thursday marks the beginning of the NBA’s 62nd championship series, 39 of which have featured the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers or both. This will be the 12th time that the franchises from opposite coasts meet in the NBA Finals, with the Celtics holding a decisive 9-2 edge.

Lakers-Celtics. While Bud Selig is wondering whether to rescind an umpire’s blown call and Roger Goodell ponders placing an ankle bracelet on Ben Roethlisberger, David Stern cloaks himself in the smugness of someone who’d already paid off their mortgage in 2008.

Celtics-Lakers. The Celtics have a star who began his career in Minnesota. The Lakers are a franchise who started off in Minnesota. Lakers coach Phil Jackson was a key reserve on the New York Knicks when they beat Boston and then L.A. in 1973 to win the franchise’s last NBA championship.

Lakers-Celtics. The NBA’s Usual Suspects, which is also the name of a film about an L.A. based criminal ring, as opposed to “The Departed,” which is based around a Boston crime ring starring Jack Nicholson and Leo DiCaprio, who are Staples Center staples.

ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons, alias “The Sports Guy,” grew up in Boston and now lives in L.A.

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Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals

LOS ANGELES — If anyone knows the importance of Game 1 of any seven-game playoff series — let alone the NBA Finals — it’s Phil Jackson.

After all, it’s the Lakers coach’s name attached to the statistic that says so much about the ever-important opener: His teams are 47-0 when throwing the proverbial first punch.

So when Jackson shares his view on which matchup he deems most relevant for this rivalry renewed with Boston that begins Thursday, it behooves media and fans alike to listen in.

Spotlight matchup of the series, according to the Zen Master: Pau Gasol vs. Kevin Garnett.

The reason wasn’t immediately clear when he answered the question amid a circus of media at the Staples Center Wednesday. The more popular face-offs being discussed were that of Paul Pierce vs. Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant vs. Ray Allen or perhaps even Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher.

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Derek Fisher ponders the question. Then he gazes up in the rafters at the Lakers‘ suburban practice facility.

There are 10 banners lined up, the number of titles the Lakers have won since they moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960. For you historians, they had won five while in Minnesota.

“Just looking up there, you’ve got to give it to Kareem,” said Fisher, a Lakers guard. “Shaq’s my guy. That’s hard for me to say.”

The question for Fisher, who grew up a fan of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Lakers and played with Shaquille O’Neal during his entire Los Angeles stint, was: historically, what NBA star who changed teams had the greatest impact with his new team?

Really, there are only two candidates. There’s Abdul-Jabbar, who helped the Lakers to five titles after being acquired from Milwaukee in 1975, and won three of his record six MVP trophies in his 14 years in Los Angeles.

There’s O’Neal, who, after leaving Orlando for the Lakers as a free agent in 1996, led Los Angeles to three crowns and won an MVP trophy in his eight years with the team. As for current Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, he’s not being considered here because he wasn’t yet a star when his draft rights were dealt by Charlotte to the Lakers during that same summer of 1996.

Abdul-Jabbar is a modest fellow, but even he believes he belongs at the top of this list.

“I fit that mold, so, yeah, probably,” said the big fellow (top right), now a special assistant with the the Lakers.

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He missed jump shot after jump shot, fading away time and time again. He refused to compete on the glass in the most pivotal game of his career. He complained to the refs on seemingly every errant shot attempt or ridiculous offensive foul. Amar’e Stoudemire — in perhaps his last game as a Phoenix Sun — disappeared into the Arizona desert before he could ever give his team a chance. How a player with his bevy of skills turned into something of a mannequin is almost inconceivable, but when you consider the script had been written long before, it is very understandable.

The Western Conference’s starting power forward in the All-Star Game and three-time second-team All-NBA performer will surely command a massive, max-money-type payday this summer. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and maybe Chris Bosh aside, no player will see more interest and more dollar signs than Stoudemire entering free agency. Whether or not he remains in Phoenix is in doubt, but amidst the boo birds and bright lights, Stoudemire showed his true worth — or lack thereof — in Game 6 Saturday night.

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PHOENIX — The Suns overachieved for much of the season, and are as resilient as they come. Nothing was different in their 111-103 Game 6 loss to the Lakers. The defeat finished off Phoenix’s incredible year, and sent the Lakers back to the NBA Finals for the third straight season.

The Suns trailed by as many as 18 in the third, but battled all the way back to within three with just over two minutes remaining. Kobe Bryant made sure that the Suns didn’t come all the way back, however, by taking over late, and finishing with a game high of 37 points. Ron Artest was big for the Lakers early, getting 17 by halftime on the way to a season high of 25. Amar’e Stoudemire, in what very well might have been his last game as a Phoenix Sun, finished with 27 points, but did so by shooting just 7 of 20 from the field.

Hero of the Day

Artest carried the momentum from his buzzer-beating putback in Game 5 right on through to Game 6 and was the difference not just for a single play, but for most of the game’s meaningful minutes. Artest had a season-best 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 4 of 7 from behind the three-point arc. He was active defensively, and was the key reason the Lakers led by 12 at the half and by as many as 18 in the third quarter.

But there was another hero for the Lakers, and that was the guy who’s been doing it for them all season long: Kobe Bryant.

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PHOENIX — For a recent interview, there was a request for the “pride of Spain.” A Lakers official, though, quickly amended that Pau Gasol also is the “pride of Los Angeles.”

Indeed he is.

Let Kobe Bryant grab most of the headlines, but if the Lakers didn’t have the forward from Barcelona they wouldn’t be closing in on a third straight NBA Finals appearance, with the possibility of a second straight title.

There was some talk around the middle of this season that Gasol’s trade from Memphis on Feb. 1, 2008 wasn’t as much of a steal as had been originally believed. Gasol, bothered by hamstring problems, had gotten off to a slow start and the Grizzlies were playing well. Memphis had been helped by acquiring center Marc Gasol in the deal for his brother and by using some of money they cleared to acquire All-Star forward Zach Randolph.

Well, the Grizzlies fizzled in the second half after their 25-19 start, finishing 40-42. It’s true Marc Gasol missed all of April due to a neck injury, but Randolph slowed down at the end of the season and certainly didn’t help his standing when he recently was named in a probable cause affidavit as “a major marijuana supplier in Indianapolis.”

So the trade, in which Gasol went to the Lakers with a second-round pick for Marc Gasol, Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton and two first-round picks, is back to being a Brink’s job.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — No, Ron Artest wasn’t out partying after hitting the game-winning layup Thursday night. In fact, he went to a local health club to work out.

But that didn’t stop the Lakers‘ forward from being fined an undisclosed amount for showing up about a half-hour late for practice Friday morning, the day before the Lakers meet the Suns in Phoenix in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. Artest hit a putback shot at the buzzer in Game 5 to give the Lakers a 103-101 win and a 3-2 series lead.

“It was just one of those nights,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of Artest being late. “I think (Artest) was just so excited after the game that all that processing and things that were on the board (in the locker room) there didn’t all register.”

Artest said Friday the Lakers were “at a high for 30 to 40 minutes” after his game-winning shot and then were able to “settle down.” So Artest claimed he still wasn’t walking on air Friday.

“That can drain you,” he said. “Being that high can drain you.”

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PHOENIX — They’ll still win it. They’ll escape these Western Conference finals to defend their world championship in the NBA Finals. That’s because the lesser of the two opponents for the Los Angeles Lakers at the moment are the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers‘ biggest opponent?

Themselves.

What a mess. I mean, in the midst of the playoffs, the Lakers have usually mellow owner Jerry Buss turning into a 1970ish George Steinbrenner by suggesting that coach Phil Jackson might have to take a pay cut despite his 10 world championships rings.

The Lakers also have Jackson in news conferences denying — well, sort of — that he will return to the Chicago Bulls after this season or that he may cause the world to spin backwards by joining the New Jersey Nets or another NBA team with an opening and lots of bucks.

FanHouse TV: Game 5 Preview
Then, the Lakers have a roster that suddenly looks so much like Kobe Bryant and a bunch of other guys.

Sometimes, those other guys are impressive, with 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum dominating the post. And, sometimes, those other guys feature Derek Fisher forgetting that he is 35 years old, and Ron Artest staying away from nutting up, and Lamar Odom matching potential with reality as a standout from the bench.

Other times, well, there was Tuesday night.

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PHOENIX — The Lakers often have been in jeopardy of getting burned the past two postseasons. And now they seem a bit lax about wearing their SPF 50 against the Suns.

Last spring, the Lakers won pivotal Game 5s at home in the playoffs to break 2-2 ties against Houston and Denver en route to winning the championship. Last month, they did the same, escaping after a first-round series against Oklahoma City was deadlocked.

Now, it’s happening again.

After a 115-106 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, this series is suddenly tied 2-2 after it had been 2-0. And it’s driving the Zen Master zany.

Title runs, you see, once were a bit of a breeze for Phil Jackson in Los Angeles. When his Lakers won crowns in 2000, 2001 and 2002, they either led 3-1 or had swept eight of nine seven-game series. Only once was a seven-game series tied 2-2, that being the epic 2002 West final against Sacramento.

Suddenly, Jackson now sees a series tied 2-2 for the fourth time in two seasons, with the Lakers facing a pivotal Game 5 at home. Might the odds at some point catch up with them?

“Obviously, disappointed,” the Lakers coach said of how he felt after the Game 4 setback at US Airways Center. “We thought we could come here and get a game. And, unfortunately, you know we weren’t up to the task.”

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PHOENIX — It wasn’t your typical strike. There were no picket lines or anybody walking around with a sandwich board.

But one month ago Kobe Bryant went on what looked to be a shooting strike. For the first 15 minutes April 24 at Oklahoma City, the Lakers guard didn’t take a single shot and pretty much looked out of it throughout the 110-89 blowout loss to the Thunder.

Something looked to really be wrong with Bryant that night, which finished with him shooting 5 of 10 for 12 points, his lowest playoff output in 10 years. Before the Lakers flew home after that disastrous trip to Oklahoma City, where they lost twice to the Thunder to fall into a 2-2 tie in the first-round series, Bryant went to the locker room well before the final buzzer to get icing started on his ailing right knee.

But that now seems so long ago. In the Western Conference finals, Bryant is being called by Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry and Suns forward Amar’e Stoudemire the best player in the NBA, and there don’t seem to be too many arguments.

“I had that nasty stuff sucked out of my knee,” Bryant said Monday about what is the difference since he left Oklahoma City following Games 3 and 4, when he shot 15 of 39 and averaged 18.0 points. “Since then, I’ve had fun. You watched my play in the first games of that series and from the end of the regular season (when Bryant missed four of the final five games due to the sore right knee) until now.”

Many have watched since then. And, if Bryant continues to play the way he has, Hall of Fame officials might be asking him to send in some memorabilia from this stretch.

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PHOENIX — Amar’e Stoudemire wears No. 1, and Sunday night he was looking like the guy who was the first star in Phoenix Suns history.

Stoudemire was swooping to the hoop like Connie Hawkins did 40 years ago. He had a baseline drive for a reverse layup and enough dipsy-doo moves that it appeared he, rather than Suns center Robin Lopez, should have been wearing a Julius Erving-like Afro.

Put it all together, and the forward scored a playoff career-high tying 42 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as his Suns beat the Lakers 118-109 at US Airways Center to cut the deficit in the Western Conference finals to 2-1.

“A lot of practice,” Stoudemire said of the moves he displayed. “But I think just trying to keep those guys off guard, just really trying to bring out a lot of different moves, because they scout you so well and they know what you do best. So, if you can count on your go-to moves, it’s hard for them to guard you. … I wanted to be very, very versatile and try to catch them off guard with a few moves.”

Stoudemire sure did, and nobody on the Lakers claimed anything he did was “lucky.” It was Stoudemire who uttered that claim after Lakers reserve forward Lamar Odom grabbed 19 rebounds in Game 1.

So, Lamar, how was Stoudemire’s performance Sunday?

“He had a wonderful game,” said Odom, not wanting to elaborate much. Then, after some prodding, he added, “He got to the hole and was forceful. He was great.”

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PHOENIX – As Phoenix forward Amar’e Stoudemire was busy being his amiable self with the media at the Suns practice court on Saturday, teammate Grant Hill stood playfully on the staircase high above and sprinkled him with shredded pieces of white paper.

“It’s snowing in Phoenix,” Hill joked.

Speaking of anything being possible in the Valley, Stoudemire said he is still considering remaining with the Suns beyond this season.

Stoudemire’s lengthy discussion about his future came as a response to an ESPN report quoting a source close to him as saying, “I don’t think (Stoudemire re-signing) is going to happen.” He has a player option for next season, and must decide before July 1 whether he’ll play out the contract and earn his $17.6 million for 2010-11, become an unrestricted free agent or sign an extension that has been offered by the Suns.

After years of hearing his name in the rumor mill leading up to the February trade deadline, Stoudemire said those memories would factor into how he views the Phoenix organization going forward. But moments after making that assertion, he insisted the past had been rectified with the way in which he has been treated in recent months.

“It does factor in; absolutely,” he said when asked about the trade rumors. “It’s never easy going through trade rumors. That makes you feel somewhat unwanted.

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LOS ANGELES — Look up in the Staples Center rafters, where 15 championship banners hang. It’s got to be luck, right?

Well, maybe the last 10 of them.

In 1960, the Minneapolis Lakers moved after having won five titles in the 1950s. They could have gone somewhere like Schenectady, NY or Des Moines, Iowa.

But, no, they moved to Los Angeles. And all those star big men eventually came to sunny Southern California through free agency (Shaquille O’Neal) or trade requests (Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

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LOS ANGELES — There’s Lucky Luciano, the notorious gangster from Prohibition days. There’s Lucky Louie, title character of the short-lived 2006 HBO series.

We now give you Lucky Lamar.

At least that’s the description bestowed by Phoenix forward Amar’e Stoudemire upon Lakers forward Lamar Odom.

“I’m not giving him no hype,” Stoudemire said Tuesday about Odom scoring 19 points and grabbing 19 rebounds in the Lakers’ 128-107 win over the Suns in Monday’s Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. “He had a lucky game in Game 1.”

Stoudemire, who had a grand total of three rebounds, vowed Odom will not see a repeat performance of his career playoff-high board total any time soon.

“He snuck in and got 19 boards,” said Stoudemire, as if a 6-foot-10 guy really can sneak in. “It’s not going to happen no more. We’re going to be able to contain him.”

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LOS ANGELES — When those on the Lakers got up following a 110-89 April 24 pounding in Oklahoma, they weren’t singing, “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.”

The team’s season was at a crossroads. After a lackluster 4-7 finish to the regular season, the top-seeded Lakers were tied 2-2 in the first round of the playoffs with the No. 8 Oklahoma City Thunder.

Everybody was wondering, what’s wrong with the Lakers? How much was Kobe Bryant hurting after that strange Game 4 in which he didn’t take a shot for the first 15 minutes?

Lakers forward Pau Gasol challenged his teammates that night. He said they needed to win Game 5 of the series “convincingly.”

So let’s flash forward a little more than three weeks. What’s wrong with the Lakers?

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LOS ANGELES — When the Oklahoma City Thunder strolled into Staples Center for a pivotal Game 5 in their first round series with the Lakers, the sense of urgency needed in that moment was nowhere to be found.

When asked about the overwhelming amount of historical evidence that the winner of that game typically went on to win the series, Thunder players I spoke with talked and acted as if it was just another game. They would attempt to be at their best, as always, but there was no tough talk or swagger of any kind, no edge or necessary attitude. They were, of course, subsequently bounced from that night’s outing and the series itself one game later.

Fast forward to today’s Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, and it’s an entirely different scene with these Phoenix Suns. At least if you count Amar’e Stoudemire as the team’s spokesman.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — One day this summer, Derek Fisher might need to stop by Kinko’s and make all those decisions. What type of font does he want on his resumé? What tint of paper?

Or maybe not.

The Los Angeles Lakers point guard will be a free agent this summer. But he wants to stay where he is, and not have to send out any resumés.

Talking to Fisher, you get the idea the chances are a lot higher he’ll be back if the Lakers win a second straight NBA crown.

“I want to play until I can’t,” Fisher, 35, whose Lakers open the Western Conference finals Monday against Phoenix, said in an interview with FanHouse after practice Sunday. “Obviously, I’m hopeful that I’ll be here because I love being here. I’ve played 11 of my 14 years here. I know this better than anybody else. But obviously a lot of (whether Fisher returns) rides on whether Phil (Jackson, the Lakers coach) is back and how we finish the season.

“If we win a championship, it’s all good. If we don’t, obviously we got to throw out everything and start over and get new guys. So I’m really just trying to stay on the path and realize that I can still play a lot of good basketball.”

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When Charlotte coach Larry Brown addressed the local media after the Bobcats‘ first-round playoff exit April 30, he emphasized two main points relating to his uncertain future: he missed his family in Philadelphia dearly, and he didn’t want his decision on whether or not to return to “drag on” too long.

Nearly two weeks later, it’s clear that one priority is outweighing the other.

In a phone interview with FanHouse from his suburban Philadelphia home on Monday, the undecided Brown said he remains as torn as ever over the gap between his personal and professional lives and hardly sounded as if a resolution was imminent.

“I said after the season that I was going to visit with my family and figure out what direction I wanted to go in,” he said. “I’ve got a 15-year-old son, a daughter who’s 13. They’re in Philly and I’m in Charlotte and it’s been tough being away from them. I miss them, and I don’t want them to grow up not having me.”

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The Lakers struggled for more than six months — the duration of the regular season — to regain their championship swagger. In a span of a little over three minutes Saturday night in Utah, they finally found it.

L.A. took a 3-0 series lead over Utah by a final of 111-110, and did so in thrilling fashion. The visitors were able to get contributions from a variety of sources and made big play after big play in a hostile environment, showing they may finally be ready to defend their title against the league’s elite teams.

And it’s worth reviewing exactly how they did it.

With just under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant scored inside to cut the Utah lead to three at 98-95. It would be the Lakers’ last field goal for the next three and half minutes of game time. But after Lamar Odom made a free throw to make it 98-96, neither team was able to score for the next two minutes.

Deron Williams finally broke the drought with a couple of free throws to extend the lead back to four. On the following possession, Bryant missed his fourth shot in a row, a short jumper that was cleaned up by Odom who was then fouled. After he hit both free throws to make it 100-98, this is when things started to get nuts.

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SAN ANTONIO — The Lakers are big. Robin Lopez is big.

The Lakers are long. Lopez is long.

So it looks like good news for Phoenix that the 7-foot, 255-pound center anticipates he would return from a back injury by the start of a likely Suns-Lakers West final, one that could get under way in about a week.

“Oh, yeah,” Lopez said after Sunday morning’s shootaround in preparation for the evening Game 4 of a West semifinal against San Antonio. “I could probably give them a few good minutes against the Lakers.”

The only way it won’t be Suns-Lakers is if something happens that never has in NBA history. Phoenix leads the Spurs 3-0 and the Lakers have the same margin over Utah. No team ever has fought back from a 3-0 deficit.

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No one with a wife and kids, or the need to eat leafy greens, has time to watch all this basketball. But we do. So, as a service to the public, here are the Playoff Talking Points you need to fake it at the water cooler:

o. Anything Goes: I have no idea what’s going to happen tonight, and neither to do you. Ordinarily, that would be a good thing. In sports, we live for suspense and upheaval. Otherwise, why bother watching anything but the final quarter? Why bother watching at all? But if there’s no solid ground to stand on, it can make a man uneasy. Afraid to look, even. That’s the fun we have to look forward to tonight.

Hawks-Magic should be a simple proposition. Orlando owned Atlanta during the regular season, and with no clear favorites, remain very much in the championship hunt. The Hawks, by contrast, were taken seven games by a Bucks team that got by on nothing more than effort and hot shooting. When these weren’t enough, Atlanta rolled. But throw these obstacles in their past, especially on the road, and the Hawks falter.

Yet Orlando is by no means foolproof. Dwight Howard has picked the worst possible time to get irritated at opposing players, annoyed with refs, and just generally distracted from (or taken himself out of) the game.

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No one with a wife and kids, or the need to eat leafy greens, has time to watch all this basketball. But we do. So, as a service to the public, here are the Playoff Talking Points you need to fake it at the water cooler:

o. Anything Goes: I have no idea what’s going to happen tonight, and neither to do you. Ordinarily, that would be a good thing. In sports, we live for suspense and upheaval. Otherwise, why bother watching anything but the final quarter? Why bother watching at all? But if there’s no solid ground to stand on, it can make a man uneasy. Afraid to look, even. That’s the fun we have to look forward to tonight.

Hawks-Magic should be a simple proposition. Orlando owned Atlanta during the regular season, and with no clear favorites, remain very much in the championship hunt. The Hawks, by contrast, were taken seven games by a Bucks team that got by on nothing more than effort and hot shooting. When these weren’t enough, Atlanta rolled. But throw these obstacles in their past, especially on the road, and the Hawks falter.

Yet Orlando is by no means foolproof. Dwight Howard has picked the worst possible time to get irritated at opposing players, annoyed with refs, and just generally distracted from (or taken himself out of) the game.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — In a corridor deep in the bowels of the Ford Center, a tired Kobe Bryant, the NBA player of the last decade, embraced the guy who could end up being the player of this decade. OK, so maybe second behind LeBron James.

“Oh, man, we’re glad to be done with you guys,” Bryant said to Kevin Durant after Friday night’s game. “Jesus Christ.”

Were Bryant’s Lakers ever glad to escape Durant’s Thunder, a young team as athletic as lightning. It looked as if the series was bound for a seventh game in Los Angeles when Bryant misfired on a 13-foot jumper from the right side as the clock clicked toward all zeroes.

But there came forward Pau Gasol riding a white horse. He tipped in Bryant’s miss with half a second remaining, and the Lakers escaped with a 95-94 win to take the West first-round series 4-2.

“I’m glad we won’t see those young [bleepers] any more,” Bryant, exiting the arena, said when asked by FanHouse about his relief.

But the Lakers will see them plenty in the future, Kobe?

“But not this year,” said Bryant, who scored a game-high 32 points as the Lakers advanced to face Utah in a West semifinal that begins Sunday.

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No one with a wife and kids, or the need to eat leafy greens, has time to watch all this basketball. But we do. So, as a service to the public, here are the Playoff Talking Points you need to fake it at the water cooler:

o. Quality Control: The deer is loose. Do we capitalize “deer,” or is just an ordinary deer that’s gone to work for its fans, like the John Deere one? Can someone with a degree in Midwestern linguistic explain how “cheer the deer” doesn’t just mean making some poor skinny animal’s day?

So many questions, and I know that’s bad writing. But today the mind reels. Despite my artful Val Lewton references, the Hawks still don’t seem to get the concept of bringing your heart and soul on the road, and again, they couldn’t pull past the meek, horned beasts.

I would like to raise the possibility here that Josh Smith‘s anti-Milwaukee comments are a smokescreen, meant to throw us off the party-trail he’s blazed since showing up in town. It is the hometown of Latrell Sprewell, isn’t it? Glenn Robinson has the keys to the city. Don Nelson once ruled the roost. There has to be some kind of secret network of gettin’ down for NBA players that’s just not public knowledge like South Beach.

It’s fun off the grid, complete with the instruction manual on how to reinforce the secret. But I see through it all. Maybe.

Yesterday, I referred to the Spurs and Jazz as on the verge of “college-type upsets.” They’re not. The Spurs have been positively awe-inspiring, and Utah’s just not messing around when it comes to making the most of their battered platoon. Having Deron Williams once and for all penetrate my All-Demonic rankings certainly has a lot to do with it; if you want to know when there’s a playoff game you can’t turn off, look deep into the eyes of the stars, like Bush did Putin. If you’re scared by what you find there, that’s a man possessed and well worth watching.

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No one with a wife and kids, or the need to eat leafy greens, has time to watch all this basketball. But we do. So, as a service to the public, here are the Playoff Talking Points you need to fake it at the water cooler:

o. Perfect Strangers: Dirk Nowitzki is not an unrestricted free agent this summer. He has a player option for 2010-11, but will almost certainly decline it so he gets a new one in before the new CBA hits. The Mavericks have until July to offer him an extension; if they do not, then Dirk is on the market.

As Ziller has observed, Mark Cuban learned his lesson with Steve Nash. And Nash was a lovable sidekick on those high-scorin’ Nellie Mavs; Dirk is the greatest player in franchise history. One friend, a resident of the area, suggested to me yesterday that he might be Dallas’s finest athlete ever, regardless of sport. Since he’s up against Cowboys like Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman, that’s going to be a hard sell in the Metroplex. That there’s no ring around Dirk’s finger hurts his case. Regardless, Nowitzki does at least belong in the conversation. Excluding him from it reeks of anxiety.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — With five minutes remaining Saturday night, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks looked up at the scoreboard.

The Thunder was beating the Lakers by 29 points. The Phil Jackson Lakers, not a Frank Hamblen version. In the playoffs, not the preseason.

“(It) did cross my mind that, ‘Wow, we’re up on the Lakers by 29,” Brooks said. “And a big part of me thought that. You don’t expect that. This is the defending champs. A lot of pride. A lot of talented players.”

It was indeed a magical evening at the Ford Center for a team playing just its second season here. But did the Thunder beat the Lakers by too much in tying the best-of-seven West first-round series at 2-2?

The final score was 110-89, and it wasn’t as if Oklahoma City was firing up three-pointers at the end. But the margin was enough that one prominent Laker already was plotting his revenge afterward in the locker room.

“Yes, to me it does,” center Pau Gasol said in an interview with FanHouse about the walloping getting his attention. “It gets me going. We needed to take advantage of the rest we have in between. But it really puts me in a place where I’m ready to go for Tuesday (in Game 5) and send them a message. … Maybe (a lopsided loss will be good for the Lakers). Right now, that has to be in our mind, and making sure that we win in L.A. and we win it convincingly. (To send a message) would be good. I think that would be appropriate.”

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Shannon Brown said it would “make a lot of sense” to opt out of his contract this summer due to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement soon to expire. But the Lakers guard will reserve any final judgment until after the playoffs.

Brown last summer signed a two-year, $4.148 million deal using the biannual exception. He’s making $1.99 million this season and has a player option worth $2.149 million for next season.

The general assumption is that Brown will opt out and seek a new deal because it remains to be seen what the NBA landscape will be when the current collective bargaining agreement expires June 30, 2011, and there could be a lockout. So is the assumption correct it would make sense for Brown to opt out?

“It would definitely make a lot of sense with how my contract is,” Brown said in an interview with FanHouse before Saturday’s Game 4 of a West first-round series against Oklahoma City. “It would make a lot of sense. But I’m going to play the rest of these games out and then think about it then.”

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Centers are hard to find. It’s the case in the NBA as well as with USA Basketball.

But the Los Angeles Lakers‘ Andrew Bynum, who has a shot to be this decade’s second-best center after Orlando’s Dwight Howard, would like to help. Bynum turned down an invitation to be with USA Basketball in preparation for this summer’s World Championships in Turkey because of injuries. He said he wants to be with Team USA in the future.

“I definitely do some day,” Bynum said in an interview Friday with FanHouse. “If my body feels good and I don’t have any serious injuries, yeah.”

Bynum realizes he might not be a candidate for the 2012 Olympics because he turned down a three-summer commitment in February. But he said “probably the next round” of selections he would be interested, which could put Bynum in line for the 2014 World Championships and the 2016 Olympics.

Considering Bynum, 22, would be just 28 during the 2016 Olympics, it’s not unrealistic to look at him as Team USA’s center of the future. Who knows if Howard, 30 in 2016, would want to come back then for a possible third Olympics?

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Kobe Bryant needs your help, fellow Lakers.

At 31, he’s a Derek Fisher retirement away from being the oldest player on the team. He’s been bogged down by injuries. He had a 21-year-old get the best of him in the fourth quarter in Game 3 of his Lakers’ first-round series against Oklahoma City.

Strangest of all, Bryant is admitting he was at a bit of a loss against Thunder forward Kevin Durant, who outscored him 12-4 in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s 101-96 win by Oklahoma City.

“I think Durant’s length had something to with it,” said Bryant, who shot 2-of-10 after Durant was moved over to guard him for the fourth. “It caught me off-guard.”

So how can the Lakers, who still lead the series 2-1, help their star guard out in Game 4 Saturday at the Ford Center after he shot just 10-of-29 for 29 points in Game 3?

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It’s no secret the Lakers have poor depth. Despite the largest payroll in basketball, the defending champs have real trouble putting together a second unit that can hang tough. That the Thunder have an effective bench has exacerbated the problem in the teams’ first-round series, which the Lakers lead 2-1.

I am, however, never content to give you three sentences of fact when I can shove a few overwrought charts in your face.

Data from the first three games of Lakers-Thunder shows just how overmatched L.A.’s second unit has been, and why fans of America’s most glamorous franchise ought to be worried as the team chases a title defense.

The Lakers have “won” only one quarter consistently against the Thunder: the first. L.A. has been ahead an average of nine points at the end of the first quarter over the first three games of the series. The teams have drawn even in the third quarters, and the Thunder have won the second and fourth quarters. Oklahoma City has outscored the Lakers an average of 4.7 points in the second quarter and 2.3 points in the fourth.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder may be a No. 8 seed, and they may be scary young (the average age of their starting line-up is only 23), but make no mistake about it: their series with the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers is going to be very competitive.

Two huge elements stuck out most during Sunday’s Game 1 that hint towards this being a longer series than many people think.

First, Russell Westbrook is a problem. His explosive drives in transition made Derek Fisher look every bit of 35. A 9-for-15 shooting performance is one thing, but the ease in which he got those points — blowing by everybody and hanging in the air to convert seemingly every opportunity around the basket — is another. We know Fisher isn’t the defender he once was, but Westbrook’s ability to beat him off the bounce is an issue for LA.

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The FanHouse votes are in.

FanHouse had two voters for official NBA awards in senior NBA writers Tim Povtak and Chris Tomasson. Here’s how their ballots looked:

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Shoals and Ziller preview each NBA playoff series.

Did the Lakers avoid disaster by drawing Oklahoma City’s youth corps instead of a veteran unit? The mind says yes, but the heart watches Kevin Durant go bonkers, Russell Westbrook get religion and Serge Ibaka get nasty and wants to believe. It’s like Galileo versus the Church all over again.

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Zach Randolph is clamoring for a lucrative extension. Rudy Gay will seek big bucks as a restricted free agent this summer. O.J. Mayo will be in line in a few years for a nifty payday of his own.

So it’s no surprise Michael Heisley, owner of the small-market Memphis Grizzlies, is campaigning for the NBA to have revenue sharing in its next collective bargaining agreement. What is a surprise is how blunt he is about it.

“We’re not Los Angeles where we spend like the Lakers,” Heisley said in a phone interview with FanHouse. “Kobe (Bryant) and Pau Gasol make as much as our whole basketball team. If there is anything that is sick in the NBA, it’s that it could be going the way of the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals, where you can spend $45 million on two players.

“They don’t use revenue sharing in this league. If they want small-market teams to compete, you have to find another way. You have to hit the jackpot and get LeBron James (as Cleveland did in the 2003 draft). Then you have to surround him with players, and you have a $100 million payroll and you don’t make money.”

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