Everyone knows the NBA has certain teams it prefers to advance in the playoffs. We all know that. So, do you really believe the league is going to allow the Houston Rockets to eliminate the Los Angeles Lakers? Sure, tens of millions of Chinese love Yao Ming, but last time we checked it was American […]

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The Lakers generally have some Hollywood celebrity who has a little time on his or her hands come out and perform the national anthem. Apparently, all those people were booked up, and the Lakers Band did it. Anyway, they did the version … that the USC band does before football games. Which makes sense. Because […]

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More about this later. But Phil Jackson will start Lamar Odom and bring 7-footer Andrew Bynum off the bench. Bynum got in quick foul trouble in Game 1, and Odom seemed to struggle coming into the game cold. Phil Jackson believes Bynum is important to his team’s chances, and has been sort of force-feeding him […]

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One of the advantages of the Houston Rockets advancing into the second round of the NBA playoffs, vs. the Lakers … is that lots more people are being exposed to the wit of Yao Ming. Yao is the 7-foot-6 center from China. This is his seventh season in the league. But never before had he […]

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I dashed off an item late Monday night, after the Lakers lost Game 1 of their series with Houston. I was determined to catch the 12:07 a.m. Metrolink train back to Long Beach, along with several dozen of my best crazy and drug-addled homeless friends … And, yes, I made it, but only by a […]

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DJ Gallo is espn.com’s resident humorist. Well, actually, I don’t know that he works for them full-time, which is what a “resident” would do, since he also does a sports satire site that goes by the name of sportspickle.com Doesn’t seem like you’d run your own humor Web site if someone else were paying you […]

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