Stay up to day with the latest news, updates, and press conferences from your Los Angeles Lakers.
After scoring 11 points against Golden State on Tuesday, Derek Fisher moved to within six points of 9,000 for his career.
With the Lakers, Fisher has scored 6,202 points to vault past Wilt Chamberlain (5,985) into 17th place in franchise history. Next up for Fish is Elden Campbell (16th, 6,408).
Kobe Bryant has nabbed the March cover of GQ for an extended feature story, detailed below by the magazine:
For fourteen grueling seasons, Kobe Bryant has cracked, fractured, strained, torn, cut, bruised, nicked, and risked every party of his finely tuned self. And he’s got the rings – and the scars – to show for it. In the March issue of GQ (on newsstands nationwide February 23), J.R. Moehringer sits down with the notoriously private, Lakers co-captain to discuss his many injuries, going to the Olympics, and his famously volatile relationship with Shaq.
Here’s the cover:
Kobe Bryant (left ankle), who has missed LA’s last three regular season games in addition to Sunday’s All-Star Game, is doubtful to play in Tuesday’s game against Golden State.
This comes as somewhat of a surprise considering that Bryant participated fully in Monday’s practice, leading to these comments from Phil Jackson.
“He said he didn’t have the normal strength he’d like to have, but it’ll come back,” Jackson said. “That is just getting back in the flow and getting some strength there again, reconditioning it. He hasn’t played in two weeks, so there’s a lot of things that he was trying out and trying to figure out … but he’ll come (around).”
At Tuesday morning’s shootaround, however, the team was disappointed with how Bryant’s ankle responded to Monday’s practice, according to Lakers spokesman John Black.
Bryant will continue to be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
After his Western Conference team’s narrow 141-139 loss to the Eastern Conference in the 2010 All-Star Game in Dallas, Lakers forward Pau Gasol - who scored 13 points with six rebounds - joined respective media members for a Q&A session:
Q: On accomplishing his dual goals of having fun and staying healthy:
Gasol: We accomplished both goals. It was fun game, an unbelievable crowd, incredible stadium. Definitely a one-of-a-kind experience. I was tearing up. I couldn’t believe how many people came to the game and supported us and enjoyed the game. Really, really pleased that I had a chance to experience this. I look forward to continue to be apart of other All-Star weekends.
Q: On always playing to win:
Gasol: Sometimes I think about it, but it’s hard to get loose out there. You try not to make mistakes, even though it’s a game (where) you have to try and put on a good show. My goal is always to try and help the team win.
Q: On the crowd:
Gasol: It looked like a lot, a lot of people. It’s hard to get a feel for how many were there. We thought there were going to be 90,000-plus, but we didn’t know there were going to be over 100,000. It was great to feel the love.
Q: On playing 20 minutes and 18 seconds:
Gasol: You can always play more, you can always play less. I’m thankful that the coach put me out there for as long as he put me out there.
Q: On shooting in a different type of stadium:
Gasol: It’s a different feeling, but once you get over that … because the dimensions are so different and the crowd is so far away and the building is humongous, you get used to it and it’s still just basketball.
Q: On Kobe Bryant looking a bit antsy on the sideline:
Gasol: I’m sure he would have loved to have been apart of the game. He would have enjoyed it. I’m sorry that he missed it, especially in close games. I (thought), oh I hope it doesn’t get too close, because he loves those kinds of shots in those kinds of situations … You always miss one of the best players in the world.
Q: On the potential of playing the All-Star game in a European city one day:
Gasol: I’m sure there are a lot of (good venues). Obviously, personally I would love for it to be in Barcelona, so (the people) would get to enjoy this kind of environment and this party of basketball. Anywhere would be interesting, but it’s hard to do it in the middle of the season.
Q: On the whole weekend:
Gasol: There was a lot going on, a lot of media availability, a lot of commitments and appearances. They keep us pretty busy, but at the same time, it’s fun to be apart of it. I think it’s a great honor to be named an All-Star, and it’s a party of basketball. It’s a good break from the daily routine that we go through, and now it’s over and we have to get back to work.
Q: On L.A.’s momentum heading into the post-break stretch:
Gasol: The momentum is there. We finished with a nice three-game swing and we were playing really well. Now we want to continue to play well and build on it. We’re ready for those 28 regular season games that we have left, and then getting back a playoff mindset.
Q: On the stadium:
Gasol: Unbelievable, incredible. I’ve never been to a football stadium before, I’ve been to a couple of soccer stadiums. But never like this, a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us.
The Spaniard, like his fellow All-Stars, was very excited about playing in front of the biggest crowd in the history of basketball.
“I’m really looking forward to getting the game started soon,” he said. “This place is really amazing.”
Gasol did concede that he won’t allow the buzz in the arena to change the way he plays his game, as he said his primary concern is staying healthy for another Lakers championship run.
After months of build up keyed by the LetShannonDunk campaign, Shannon Brown’s entrance into the 2010 Slam Dunk Contest ended faster than most expected on All-Star Saturday night in Dallas.
He of the 44.5-inch vertical leap had put Lakers fans on their feet so often in his calendar-year stint with the team thanks to a bevy of crazy slams that anything but a victory seemed unlikely.
In fact, while 1986 Slam Dunk Champ and 2010 judge Spud Webb hadn’t seen much of Brown himself, he had certainly heard the word.
“Everybody I talk to says, ‘That’s my favorite, that’s my favorite, that’s my favorite,” Webb said.
The event’s second dunker, Brown opened by running in from just beyond midcourt and taking off from in front of the left elbow for a huge 360, but surprised even himself by clanking the attempt off the rim. Participants have two full minutes to make a dunk, however, and Brown responded by rising high with the ball in his right hand before switching over at the last second to his left for the jam.
“After I missed the 360 I thought about doing it again, but I wanted to take off from a little bit further,” he said afterwards. “I decided to switch hands in the air. I looked at (the replay), it looked good still, but the judges gave me the score they gave me.”
That score was a 37, the lowest of the four participants that included eventual champion Nate Robinson (44), DeMar DeRozan (42) and Gerald Wallace (38).
For his second dunk, Brown called upon the assistance of former dunk champion Kobe Bryant, who tossed an alley-oop high into the air that Brown caught before hammering home a left-handed flush. Brown had hoped to cradle the ball downwards before bringing it back up, but it didn’t work out that way. He got a 41 for a total of 78, tying him with Wallace.
“(Kobe) was going to throw it up and I was supposed to catch it and bring it down, but when he threw it, I was so high that I just tried to lean in with it,” Brown explained.
It certainly wasn’t the result Brown had hoped for, but he quickly put things in perspective.
“There’s disappointment, but like I’ve been saying the whole time, I’m definitely blessed and honored to be able to participate,” he said. “Hopefully there will be a next time.”
Brown hinted that had he advanced to the final round - where Robinson beat out DeRozan for his third straight title - he had planned to use both Kobe and D.J. Mbenga, who was also in his Lakers warmups on the sideline: “I was just basically going to jump over them.”
Oh well.
The good news for Brown is that he gets to return to the league’s defending champion Lakers (41-13), who hold a 5.5 game lead over Denver in the Western Conference. He knows he can try to get some dunking revenge on the court, just not until he watches teammate Pau Gasol in Sunday’s All-Star game.
“I’m going to finish out this weekend, watch the game tomorrow and go dream about that, and just have a good time,” he concluded.
Furthermore, on Friday at the All-Star media availability session, we talked to Brown, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant and fellow Slam Dunk participants Nate Robinson and DeMar DeRozan for more on Brown’s freakish abilities.
To watch, CLICK HERE.
Coverage of All-Star Saturday night in Dallas, featuring Brown’s participation in the Slam Dunk Contest, begins at 5:30 PM on TNT.
While the Lakers didn’t have anyone participating in this year’s Rookie/Sophmore Challenge that didn’t stop three Lakers from attending for various reasons.
Guard Jordan Farmar, in town as the team’s players association representative, sat courtside next to the the Clippers’ Chris Kaman while watching fellow UCLA Bruins Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.
At halftime the NBA held their first ever Dunk-In contest between DeMar DeRozan and Eric Gordon with the winner gaining entrance into Saturday night’s main event. Shannon Brown is quickly becoming the people’s favorite to take the Slam Dunk crown but that didn’t stop him from doing a little scouting Saturday.
For Pau Gasol it was a family affair as for the second year in a row his brother Marc was involved in the game.
DALLAS, Feb. 11, 2010 – Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd and New York Knicks forward David Lee have been named by NBA commissioner David Stern to 
replace injured West All-Star guard Kobe Bryant (ankle) of the Los Angeles Lakers and East All-Star guard Allen Iverson (personal reasons) of the Philadelphia 76ers, respectively, in the 2010 NBA All-Star Game in Dallas.
Kidd, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time All-NBA First Team selection, will be making his 10th NBA All-Star Game appearance. Lee, in his fifth NBA season, has recorded 30 double-doubles on the season for the Knicks and will be making his first NBA All-Star appearance.
West All-Star head coach George Karl and East All-Star head coach Stan Van Gundy will determine which players will replace Bryant and Iverson in the starting lineup.
The NBA All-Star Game will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages worldwide at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 14.
Prior to L.A.’s Wednesday evening tip off in Utah, Lakers guard Jordan Farmar had his three-point stroke rolling in pregame warmups.
Teamed with Adam Morrison, Farmar nailed triple after triple to beat assistant coach Brian Shaw and Sasha Vujacic six consecutive times in a two-on-two shooting drill that takes place before every game.
As it turned out, that stroke carried right into the actual game: Farmar hit 4-of-4 from distance, crucial shots as the rest of the Lakers were only 1-of-9 from three-point range.
“My stroke felt great before the game, but more than anything I’ve been trying to get to the basket,” said Farmar, who scored 18 points off the bench, including some finishes at the rim. “But Sasha hit me with a nice pass at the end of the first quarter, and when that one went in, I knew I was going to continue to feel that stroke.”
Farmar went on to swish three more three-pointers, two off screen and rolls between his teammates, with the final triple - which came from 25 feet with 6:50 left in the fourth quarter - serving as an early dagger, quickly turning Utah’s ‘can we still do this?’ 12-point deficit into a slammed door 15-point mountain.
With Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum out of the game, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol were massive for the Lakers as well, combining for 47 points, 30 rebounds, five assists, four steals and seven blocks. Paired with Farmar, the three were a modicum of efficiency, making 24-of-35 shots (69 percent). But as Farmar explained, the Lakers got something from everybody else as well in the 96-81 victory.
“Nobody wants Andrew or Kobe to be hurt, but it does give guys more opportunities to go out there and do what they can do,” said Farmar. “Most touches run through Kobe, and after Pau (Gasol), Andrew probably gets the next most opportunities. So the touches had to disperse somewhere, and that’s going to start with Pau, Lamar and Ron (Artest).
“But you saw Sasha making big plays, Shannon (Brown) doing his thing, myself being able to be aggressive. It just helps everyone play more in rhythm, and that’s what we had to do with (Bryant and Bynum) out.”
Even when Bryant and Bynum both likely return after the All-Star break, the Lakers can use a back up point guard who’s made nearly 42 percent of his three-pointers in January and February combined.
FROM LAKERS.com
