LOS ANGELES(CBS Sports) – With the Lakers examining the long-term future of Pau Gasol and it not looking likely that the 7-foot Spaniard will be rocking the yellow and purple long-term, the thought has of course turned to what superstar the Lakers can acquire to return them to elite status. After all, this team does not rebuild. It reloads. With giant cannons.

With Lakers S/T for D-Will, source said the Nets would not do that deal for Pau Gasol. Would rather have cap space.

—
Stefan Bondy (@NYDNInterNets) May 23, 2012

The 4-year-old gelding named Siempre Mo is entered in Saturday’s sixth race, a $54,000 allowance race. He will be ridden by Joy Scott.

The Los Angeles Lakers teammates purchased 25 percent of the gelding at a team charity auction in April. Part of their deal is that neither Bryant nor Gasol pay any expenses in the horse’s care and training. Santa Anita CEO Mark Verge and Chris Quinn, also an executive at Santa Anita, are the horse’s other owners.

Siempre Mo won a $25,000 claiming race in his last start. He’s trained by Doug O’Neill, whose colt I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and will try to win the Triple Crown when he runs in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Bryant and Gasol’s horse will carry gold silks with a purple Lakers emblem and a purple cap.

F LeBron James, Mia (118)     596
F Kevin Durant, OKC (117)     591
C Dwight Howard, Orl (75)     476
G Kobe Bryant, LAL (104)      568
G Chris Paul, LAC (74)        484
SECOND TEAM

F Kevin Love, Min (16)        365
F Blake Griffin, LAC          170
C Andrew Bynum, LAL (33)      400
G Tony Parker, SA (41)        367
G Russell Westbrook, OKC (5)  239

THIRD TEAM

F Carmelo Anthony, NY (1)     154
F Dirk Nowitzki, Dal          136
C Tyson Chandler, NY (4)       60
G Dwyane Wade, Mia (1)        235
G Rajon Rondo, Bos (4)        142
Other players receiving votes, with point totals: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland, 55; Marc Gasol, Memphis, 52; Derrick Rose, Chicago, 44; Josh Smith, Atlanta, 33; Paul Pierce, Boston, 31; Al Jefferson, Utah, 30; Pau Gasol, L.A. Lakers, 27; Steve Nash, Phoenix, 24; Kevin Garnett, Boston, 22; Tim Duncan, San Antonio, 18; Joe Johnson, Atlanta, 16; Deron Williams, New Jersey, 14; Rudy Gay, Memphis, 10; James Harden, Oklahoma City, 8; Luol Deng, Chicago, 5; Roy Hibbert, Indiana, 5; Manu Ginobili, San Antonio, 3; Danny Granger, Indiana, 3; Joakim Noah, Chicago, 3; Monta Ellis, Milwaukee, 2; Chris Bosh, Miami, 2; Luis Scola, Houston, 2; Marcin Gortat, Phoenix, 2; Paul Millsap, Utah, 2; Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City, 2; David Lee, Golden State, 1; and DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento, 1.

Shaq, who started his career in Orlando during the ’92-’93 season, will meet with the Magic next week, according to ESPN

Shaq is currently on his first year as an NBA analyst for TNT.

The Los Angeles Lakers plan to hang his No. 34 jersey at Staples some time next season.

Photo Gallery: Shaq’s Top Moments With Lakers

“We don’t have any specific timetable on this, but you can be assured we will retire Shaq’s jersey,” said Lakers spokesman John Black in an email on Wednesday.  “We don’t have a specific policy on it,” Black wrote. “As you know, players have to wait five years to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but we could possibly do a jersey retirement ceremony for Shaq prior to that.”

If Shaq does get the position, we could possibly see a trade that could send Dwight Howard to the team he retired with, the Los Angeles Lakers.

It might have been the tandem’s last few minutes together with a franchise that has little patience when even great players stop bringing home rings.

The Lakers were eliminated in the second round for the second straight year Monday night with a five-game loss to the Thunder. Although the Lakers had a solid season despite getting no real training camp to make the enormous switch from coaches Phil Jackson to Mike Brown, they weren’t as good as the NBA’s best.

That likely means changes for a franchise and a fan base that considers seasons ending before June to be abject failures.

“I’m really not used to it, so it’s pretty odd for me,” Bryant said of another early-by-Lakers-standards exit. “I’m not the most patient of people, and the organization is not extremely patient either. We want to win and win now, so I’m sure we’ll figure it out. We always have. I’m sure we will again.”

In Lakerland, it’s easy to forget that the large majority of NBA franchises would be quite pleased by a 41-25 regular season, yet another Pacific Division title and a decent performance against the Thunder, clearly a top-four team. Many teams would be excited to retool a roster topped by Bryant, four-time All-Star big man Gasol, and emerging All-Star center Andrew Bynum, who frequently dominated during his best pro season.

But no franchise has the incredibly high standards of Bryant and the 16-time champion Lakers, who don’t even acknowledge division titles that would be a significant achievement for other teams. A second-round playoff loss to a better team caused panic and widespread soul-searching Tuesday.

“Come hell or high water, we’re going to be there again,” said the 33-year-old Bryant, who has repeatedly stated he’ll never leave the Lakers. “It’s just something about the Lakers organization.”

While general manager Mitch Kupchak contemplates his moves, most of the armchair GMs already agreed on Job No. 1: From the hours after the Lakers’ final loss well into Tuesday morning, the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in Los Angeles was “(hash)IdTradeGasolFor.”

Gasol endured his toughest season since arriving in Los Angeles in early 2008, dealing with uncertainty and disappointment after the NBA rejected a trade that would have exiled him to Houston last December for Chris Paul. The genial Spanish 7-footer averaged a career-low 17.4 points while failing to find a consistent role in new coach Mike Brown’s offense before struggling mightily in the playoffs.

Gasol, who will make more than $38 million over the next two seasons, handled the scuttled trade with his usual grace, but his fans and teammates weren’t always so generous. Bryant called Bynum the Lakers’ second scoring option during the season, but called out Gasol for not scoring more in the postseason, ripping into Gasol after Game 4 last Saturday.

“This team always has a huge desire and goal to win the championship, and when you fall short, it’s frustrating,” Gasol said. “It has been a crazy year and a lot to deal with. … Unfortunately, we had tough losses and things didn’t really go our way for the most part. You just have to regroup and digest this loss and this season, and learn from it and move on.”

The 24-year-old Bynum was outstanding for most of his seventh NBA season, averaging 18.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.93 blocked shots while staying healthy. But just when most Lakers fans are ready for Bynum to sign a maximum contract extension, he provided one more reminder of his questionable maturity and leadership potential when he didn’t shake hands with the Thunder after managing just 10 points and four rebounds in Game 5.

Bynum has made numerous immature mistakes over the past year, which began with rampant rumors of his own departure for Orlando in various trades for Dwight Howard.

“Change has never bothered me. I’ll play anywhere,” Bynum said. “I’ll come back a better player.”

Yet Bynum also raised a key point: The Lakers were a work in progress all season long after Brown replaced 11-time NBA champion Jackson, requiring a dramatic adjustment in everything from a new offense to practice structure.

“I think we need a full training camp,” Bynum said. “We never really got adjusted to the system. A lot of the times we came out and we weren’t doing it together. I really think it’s going to depend on being able to close out quarters and close out games. All throughout the season we would give up leads and not close quarters, and it hurt a lot.”

The Lakers made other changes that hampered their championship hopes, trading valuable big man Lamar Odom for nothing when his feelings were hurt in the preseason. Los Angeles also dealt emotional leader Derek Fisher at the trade deadline while landing replacement Ramon Sessions and surprising big man Jordan Hill. Fisher is outmatched as a starting NBA point guard, but his leadership and five championship rings were missed.

Sessions has a player option for next season after a tantalizing but inconsistent debut, while most of the Lakers’ reserves will be free agents. Los Angeles had one of the NBA’s least impressive benches, so a wholesale overhaul of the bottom of the roster couldn’t really hurt.

The Lakers also endured another year of the drama that seems inevitable for this high-profile franchise. In the last month alone, they dealt with Metta World Peace‘s seven-game suspension for throwing a vicious elbow, Hill’s felony assault charge from his time in Houston, playoff hero Steve Blake‘s Twitter death threats for missing one shot, and Magic Johnson’s declaration that Brown would be fired if the Lakers didn’t survive the first round.

All that upheaval is nothing new to Bryant, who got a concussion and a broken nose in the All-Star game. But leave it to the mercurial World Peace to declare the Lakers’ plight might not be as terrible as many believe.

“I don’t feel that way, but I’m not the general manager,” World Peace said. “I don’t know how many rings Mr. Kupchak has, so I know he’s going to make the best decisions. He’s a competitor. He’ll do what it takes, but the players have to put in the time. The only way it’s going to happen is if we do it together. We have to be committed to each other, and this year we weren’t as committed collectively. That hurt us.”

AP Sports Writer Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Updated May 22, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY (CBS) – Russell Westbrook scored 28 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Lakers 106-90 to eliminate the Lakers in five games.

The victory puts the Thunder in the Western Conference finals, and sends Mike Brown’s Lakers into an offseason full of question marks.

Oklahoma City got their spark in the third quarter, after a turnover by Ramon Sessions,  Westbrook’s circus shot fell, plus the foul,  giving the Thunder a 73-70 lead .

Kobe Bryant did everything in his power to keep his team in the game, scoring 42 points on 18-33 shooting.

But the Thunder did their damage with Bryant starting the final frame on the bench, scoring 10-straight points to start the fourth quarter.

“Oklahoma City was the better team.”  Metta World Peace said. ” Indirectly I’m proud of the Thunder,we got them a few years ago.  But we’re going to work hard to get back.”

The Thunder will face the San Antonio Spurs, who have won 18-straight games.

 Boxscore   Photo Gallery

Fisher joined up with the Oklahoma City Thunder after getting traded away by the Lakers during the season, choosing to buy out of his own contract with the Houston Rockets and sign with a team he thought had a chance of winning the NBA title.

Fisher has already won five championship rings with the Lakers, but now his new team is a victory away from knocking Los Angeles out of the playoffs. The Thunder get their first chance in Game 5 Monday night in Oklahoma City.

Fisher has had to put his personal friendship with Kobe Bryant on hold during the series. The two greeted each other the first time Fisher came off the bench and checked in during Game 1 but otherwise are adversaries as long as the Western Conference semifinals go on.

“As much history as we have, there’s no holding back in terms of trying to advance to win the championship,” Fisher said. “Personal friends or brothers or however close you are to somebody, it’s about winning. He knows that better than anybody.

“I learned that and accomplished that right alongside with him, and so we feel the same way.”

Fisher played with Los Angeles for 12 1/2 of his 16 NBA seasons, and the only other time he made the playoffs with another team was in 2007 with Utah. But the Jazz didn’t face the Lakers.

Los Angeles sent Fisher away at the trade deadline in March, when they added a first-round draft pick, point guard Ramon Sessions and backup forward Jordan Hill to try and improve for the stretch run. The 37-year-old Fisher chose his age as his jersey number with the Thunder, trying to make a statement that he could still play.

Statistically, Fisher has struggled in the series. He has averaged just over four points and one assist per game and his playing time has been cut back. Fisher’s plus-minus is the worst of any Oklahoma City player, with the Lakers outscoring the Thunder by 12 points while he’s on the court.

Yet coach Scott Brooks believes there’s another way to measure the impact of Fisher, who has never put up big numbers – averaging 8.6 points and 3.1 assists – over his career.

“He loves the game, he has passion for the game and he’s a winner,” Brooks said Sunday after Oklahoma City flew back home, landing after 5 a.m. because of thunderstorms. “I can never emphasize that enough: He’s a winner, and you can never have enough of those on your team. He has won before. He has won at a high level and many championships.”

Before the series started, Fisher informed Oklahoma City of the Lakers’ tendencies. During games, he has regularly pulled aside teammates for a few words of guidance. One of L.A.’s locker room leaders is now working for the enemy.

“Leadership, you can’t put a win total on it but you know the effect that it’s having on our guys,” Brooks said. “He talks, he communicates, he’s a great leader. He’s going to be a great leader in whatever profession he chooses after basketball.”

Perhaps his biggest contribution yet that has counted in the box score was a 3-pointer that sparked the Thunder’s comeback from a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit in Game 4. Oklahoma City was down 91-78 with 8 minutes left before Fisher hit only his second basket of the game.

“It was huge. It cut it to 10. That’s just kind of like that magical number. It always seems to be in reach if you can get it to 10 or under,” Brooks said. “That shot was big.”

Lakers coach Mike Brown said he thought at the time of the trade that his team might miss Fisher’s leadership, experience, toughness and intelligence. But he never envisioned Sessions, who is 11 years younger, simply replacing Fisher.

“The roles are different,” Brown said. “Derek Fisher was our starter. Derek Fisher for these guys is a backup. I don’t think you compare the two situations because we were relying on him for a completely different role than what Oklahoma City is relying on him for.

“I don’t know if anybody would disagree the combination of starting (All-Star Russell) Westbrook and Derek Fisher as a backup is a pretty good combination because you’re young plus you’re experienced.”

Bryant poked fun at Fisher, calling him a “midget” after he was able to hit shots over him when they ended up matched up against each other briefly in the fourth quarter. Bryant says Fisher never beat him at one-on-one in nearly 13 years together with the Lakers.

But team against team, Fisher may finally get some bragging rights on Bryant for they get back to being friends.

“At some point, we’ll reconnect and be what we always will be,” Fisher said, “and that’s brothers.”

Updated May 20, 2012

© 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Russell Westbrook scored 10 of his 37 points during a stirring fourth-quarter comeback, Kevin Durant added 31 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder seized control of the second-round series with a 103-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 on Saturday night.

On Saturday the Lakers host the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Clippers take on the San Antonio Spurs in back-to-back NBA playoff games at Staples.

Then on Sunday the real traffic trouble comes as the NHL’s Kings will host the Phoenix Coyotes on the same day that the Amgen Tour of California cycling race will bring a shutdown of downtown streets, including those surrounding the Staples Center.

City and Staples officials are telling Kings fans on Sunday to arrive before 9 a.m., three hour before start time, and urging fans all weekend to take public transportation if at all possible.

Hockey fans are being asked to park north of Staples Center and cycling fans south of L.A. Live.

For parking information and a list of street closures, visit NHL.com.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant didn’t miss on 18 free throws and scored 14 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied late for a 99-96 victory over Oklahoma City in Game 3 on Friday night, cutting the Thunder’s second-round series lead to 2-1.

Metta World Peace swiped the ball from Kevin Durant and hit two free throws with 12.9 seconds left for the third-seeded Lakers, who shook off the memory of their late collapse in Game 2. When Kevin Durant missed a 3-pointer, and Andrew Bynum blocked Serge Ibaka’s shot at the buzzer, the Lakers’ frenzied crowd celebrated their second win in the last six playoff games.

Durant scored 31 points before missing his last shot for Oklahoma City, which could have moved to the brink of its second straight trip to the Western Conference finals.

Game 4 in this back-to-back set is Saturday night.

The NBA announced Gasol had won the award Friday after a vote by members of the Professional Basketball Writers Association.

The Spanish 7-footer is the second straight Los Angeles player to win the award. Ron Artest was given the award last year for his work in mental health awareness before he changed his name to Metta World Peace.

Gasol has traveled the globe to raise awareness for UNICEF, primarily working on programs involving nutrition, education and health care for children.

He has worked for UNICEF for seven years. He also has strong ties to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, where he began his NBA career.

Blake has contacted the Lakers’ security team about the threats, the backup point guard said Friday during shootaround for Game 3.

Blake barely missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with about 3 seconds left in the Lakers’ 77-75 loss to the Thunder on Wednesday night. The third-seeded Lakers already had blown a seven-point lead in the final 2 minutes of regulation, and they fell into a 0-2 hole in the series.

“I let our security people know about it, and kind of kept a record of what was said just in case, but other than that, try not to make a big deal out of it,” Blake said.

Blake said he and his wife, Kristen, were besieged on Twitter by curses, threats, and “people saying things I don’t even really want to repeat. It’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s the mental side of the game. You’ve got to be better than that.”

Blake rarely tweets, but his wife is a frequent user of social media. The family has three young children.

“I hope your family gets murdered,” read one post that Kristen Blake re-tweeted with the comment, “Wow.”

Blake was a Lakers hero when he hit a huge 3-pointer during a victory over Denver in Game 4 of the first round, and he scored 19 points in Los Angeles’ Game 7 victory over the Nuggets. The veteran guard was taken aback by the online vitriol directed at him for just one shot.

“It is the unfortunate side of pro sports,” said Blake, who won an NCAA title at Maryland. “Everyone is criticizing, and sometimes people cross the line. But you’ve got to move past it, be the positive person, and I think that’s the approach me and my wife are trying to take with it.”

Kristen Blake tweeted that she blocked 500 people from viewing her account. She tweeted Friday: “I am deeply grateful & humbled by the outpouring of love, support, & most of all prayers for our family in light of recent events-THANK YOU!”

Steve Blake said he isn’t worried about the threats affecting his three sons. The oldest, Zachary, is only 5 years old.

“They don’t know what Twitter is,” Blake said. “There’s nothing that will stop me from protecting my kids no matter what. We’ll move past it and take the positive approach no matter what.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If the Los Angeles Lakers can just shake the memory of the disastrous final two minutes of Game 2, they’ll find plenty of reasons in the first 46 minutes to be encouraged about their chances this weekend against Oklahoma City.

After blowing a seven-point lead and the chance to steal homecourt advantage from the powerful Thunder on Wednesday night, the third-seeded Lakers’ fate will be decided rapidly at Staples Center, with back-to-back games Friday and Saturday. Oklahoma City leads the series 2-0, and could earn its second straight trip to the Western Conference finals Saturday night.

The Lakers have now lost four of their last five playoff games since taking a 3-1 lead in the first round against Denver, but they imposed their favored style on Game 2 until their late collapse. Los Angeles locked down Russell Westbrook, limited Kevin Durant with double-teams and thwarted the Thunder’s transition game, holding Oklahoma City to its lowest scoring total of the entire season.

None of it helped when the Lakers allowed nine unanswered points to close the 77-75 loss, but at least they know shutting down the Thunder is possible.

“I don’t think we have many pieces to pick up,” center Andrew Bynum said after the Lakers’ workout Thursday in El Segundo. “We know exactly how to defend them now, and offensively, we (have to) make them pay for being aggressive. … They protected their home court. It’s the playoffs, and obviously we let one slip, but we’ve got another one coming up.”

Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks emerged from the thriller excited about the resilience of his young team, which improved to 6-0 in the postseason. In their third playoff run together, the Thunder have figured out how to keep their cool when their opponents are losing it — even Bryant and his small core of championship-tested teammates.

“You’ve got to understand, the team that we’re playing, Oklahoma, they’ve been playing together a long time, much longer than we have,” said Kobe Bryant, one of four Lakers left from the 2010 title team. “We have guys who have a great deal more experience than they do, but in terms of playing together, they have more experience, so we have to constantly keep the lines of communication open, almost every play really.”

The Lakers managed just four points in the final 6:43, all on baskets by Bynum. Bryant missed his final five shots. Metta World Peace made multiple mistakes. Pau Gasol didn’t even take a shot, and Steve Blake missed the biggest one of all: That open 3-pointer in the corner with 3 seconds left.

If not for the Lakers’ game effort in Game 2, overconfidence would appear to be Oklahoma City’s toughest opponent so far in the playoffs.

“We’ve had some success (in) this playoffs so far, but it doesn’t really guarantee the next game results if you don’t get the good effort and good energy and teamwork,” Brooks said Thursday before the Thunder flew to the West Coast. “You have to have confidence in it, but you can’t become complacent and cocky with it. You have to understand that you have to respect your opponent, and they’re going to throw a lot of things at us, and you have to be prepared.”

Although the Thunder’s offense was less than impressive in Game 2, Bryant has been unable to assert control against Oklahoma City’s defense.

Durant, James Harden and Thabo Sefolosha have taken turns guarding Bryant in Brooks’ plan to keep Kobe uncomfortable by throwing multiple defensive looks at him, sometimes on each possession. So far, it’s working: The NBA’s second-leading scorer behind Durant has managed just 20 points in each of the first two games on 16-for-43 shooting, and Bryant is a dismal 1 for 9 on 3-pointers.

“There’s not a lot of 6-10 guys that you would throw on Kobe,” Brooks said of Durant, who played solid defense on Bryant in the fourth quarter of Game 2. “He’s a guy that can guard multiple positions, and it’s definitely a different look when you’re used to a guy 6-3, 6-4, and all of a sudden 6-10 comes on you.”

Although Bryant isn’t at his game-changing peak, he has been awfully good at home in recent months. Yet Bryant and the veteran Lakers also might be running out of energy. When the back-to-back weekend ends, the Lakers will have played 11 playoff games in 21 days, a product of their inability to finish off Denver quickly.

“The reality of it is we were probably a little tired, not to use that as an excuse,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “We went seven (games in the first round), they went four. We should have gone 4-0 and not had to deal with that, if that was an issue. I thought we were a lot more physical, a lot more in tune in that second game. … At this point in the playoffs, if we can’t sustain it, we don’t deserve to win.”

The Lakers were among the NBA’s best home teams for the first three months of the shortened season, but stumbled late, culminating in a lifeless loss to the Nuggets in Game 5 last round. The Lakers and their crowd rebounded for an energetic victory in Game 7, but Los Angeles also lost two second-round home games last season against Dallas.

Los Angeles prefers a slower tempo, both for its lack of team speed and its preference for playing a half-court game built around 7-footers Bynum and Gasol. Brooks also said the Lakers used elements of the triangle offense in Game 2, going back to the principles of the offensive scheme promoted by 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson.

“They were throwing a lot of that in their sets, so we were ready for that,” Brooks said. “Our guys did a good job defending it.”

___

AP Sports Writer Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

After blowing a seven-point lead and the chance to steal homecourt advantage from the powerful Thunder on Wednesday night, the third-seeded Lakers’ fate will be decided rapidly at Staples Center, with back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.

The Lakers have now lost four of their last five playoff games since taking a 3-1 lead in the first round against Denver, but they imposed their favored style on Game 2 until their late collapse.

Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks emerged from the thriller excited about his young team’s resilience.

Box Score | Playoffs Schedule

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left, and the Oklahoma City Thunder scored the final nine points to rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

Oklahoma City trailed by seven with 2 minutes left before surging back with a series of defensive stops by its stars to take a 2-0 lead.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points apiece for the Lakers, who came up empty on their last six possessions after Bynum’s hook shot made it 75-68 with 2:09 remaining.

Game 2 Photo Gallery (Photo:Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

After struggling throughout the second half, the Thunder suddenly came alive after Scott Brooks called timeout following Bynum’s basket that gave Los Angeles its largest lead of the game.

James Harden drove for a layup before Durant used his height advantage to reach up and tip away a pass from Bryant, who he was guarding. Durant ran out for a right-handed dunk at the other end before Russell Westbrook forced another turnover by aggressively challenging an outlet pass to Bryant along the sideline.

Harden made the next stop, blocking Bryant’s jumper on the next Lakers possession and getting a layup in transition off it to cut the deficit to one in the final minute.

Bryant couldn’t connect again, this time on a 3-pointer, to give the Thunder the ball back with the chance to take the lead and Durant was able to make it happen.

Steve Blake missed a 3-pointer from the right side with about 5 seconds left after Metta World Peace couldn’t get the ball to Bryant on the inbounds play. Durant was then fouled with 0.3 seconds left and made his first try before missing the second on purpose – failing to hit the backboard or rim for a violation.

The Lakers got a desperation try but World Peace’s long pass for Bynum was intercepted by Harden.

Westbrook added 15 points for Oklahoma City, which matched its lowest scoring total of the season but still gutted out the win.

Historically, the loss makes a huge difference. Los Angeles is 29-12 when splitting the first two games of a seven-game series and has lost 17 of 19 when falling into a 2-0 hole. The Lakers’ last comeback was in the 2004 West semifinals against San Antonio.

The Thunder have won all nine of their series after leading 2-0, dating back to the franchise’s days in Seattle.

In a game that was nip-and-tuck throughout, the Lakers started inching away early in the fourth quarter while Westbrook was on the bench.

Bryant drilled a jumper from the left wing and Blake followed with a 3-pointer before World Peace hit one of two free throws for a 69-63 advantage with 7:27 remaining – the Lakers’ largest lead to that point.

Westbrook returned then but only provided the briefest of sparks for the struggling Oklahoma City offense, and Bynum’s second straight basket – on a left-handed hook shot at the left block – made it 75-68 with 2:09 to play.

Until that point, Oklahoma City had made only 7 of 27 shots in the second half while committing eight turnovers.

After getting ripped apart by the Thunder’s pick-and-roll attack and giving up 119 points in Game 1, the Lakers made it an emphasis to put up more resistance in the rematch and it showed. Matt Barnes shuffled back and forth around three Nick Collison screens to contest Harden’s jumper and preserve the Lakers’ 22-21 lead after one quarter.

The Lakers’ defense was at its best just after halftime as they got out of a 48-45 deficit by holding Oklahoma City scoreless for the first 4 minutes and allowing just two baskets in the first 8 minutes. But Los Angeles still couldn’t create any sort of a cushion and Westbrook’s wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner – after World Peace airballed a similar shot on the opposite end – had the Thunder back within 57-56 with 3:31 left in the third.

Notes: The NBA on Wednesday fined Devin Ebanks $25,000 for actions related to his Game 1 ejection and Bynum $15,000 for failing to speak to reporters Tuesday. Bynum, who has had recent disciplinary issues within the team, talked at the Lakers’ morning shootaround Wednesday and called it a make up for skipping the previous day. “I think he’s learning. Is he going to be a perfect citizen the rest of his career? I don’t know,” coach Mike Brown said. “He’s bound to make mistakes. I think everybody makes mistakes.” … World Peace has said he supported Scott Brooks to become Sacramento’s coach back in 2007, when Brooks had been an assistant under Eric Musselman. “Little does he know, if I would have got the job, I was going to ask for him to be traded,” Brooks joked. He then called World Peace, or Ron Artest at the time, the third-best two-way player at the time behind Bryant and Kevin Garnett. … Harden caught World Peace with an inadvertent elbow to the face in the first quarter.

As for the Lakers, Mike Brown said Ramon Session will start the game by guarding OKC’s Russell Westbrook instead of Kobe Bryant. If the Thunder have a hot start expect Kobe to guard the All-Star guard.

Ebanks has been fined $25,000 for actions prior to and following his ejection from the Lakers’ 119-90 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals on May 14.

Bynum has been fined $15,000 for failing to make himself available to the media following the Lakers’ practice on May 15.

The Lakers take on the Thunder Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Oklahoma City in game two of the second round of NBA playoffs.

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- For a megastar on a tradition-rich franchise with 16 NBA championships, Kobe Bryant has no problem admitting how the Los Angeles Lakers’ shortcomings have popped up repeatedly this season.

Bryant plopped down in a chair courtside at Chesapeake Energy Arena after the Lakers’ practice Tuesday and talked shamelessly about their second blowout loss in five days — this one by 29 points — and what it will take to challenge the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

“We’re a team that doesn’t get down when we get blown out. We’ve been blown out a bunch of times this season, blown out last series a couple times,” Bryant said.

“We’re used to dealing with that.”

Indeed, Los Angeles suffered five losses by at least 15 points during a shortened regular season and trailed by 28 in a Game 6 loss at Denver in the first round. Yet, the Lakers are still standing — even if they could be teetering on the brink of danger after a 119-90 loss at Oklahoma City on Monday night.

The storied franchise is 2-17 when losing the first two games of a best-of-seven series, and will try to avoid that sort of hole in Game 2 on Wednesday night.

“Everything’s fixable. It’s just about making adjustments. That’s really what the postseason is,” said Bryant, a five-time NBA champ.

“They came out, took us out back and whooped us. It’s on us to make adjustments, to make changes and come back with a better effort — and we will.”

It all starts with providing some resistance to Oklahoma City’s pick-and-roll game, which freed up All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant for enough open jump shots that they combined to go 18 for 31 (58 percent) from the field.

“The one thing we have to do, we have to make sure that we give multiple efforts when we’re defending the pick-and-roll,” coach Mike Brown said. “They do a great job of sprinting out to the ball screen and creating separation. … When they’re sprinting out, we’ve really got to get on our high horse, we’ve got to run with them and we’ve got to make sure that we affect the ball at the point of the screen as opposed for waiting for the ball to come to us.”

While the Lakers were tweaking their game plans to disrupt Oklahoma City’s offense and also get their interior tandem of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol better shots in close, the Thunder were downplaying Game 1 as just one win. Yet, they were in a joking mood, too.

Coach Scott Brooks got a laugh out of suggesting that the Thunder — the NBA’s most turnover-prone team in the regular season — needed to cut down on their four giveaways from Game 1, one off the NBA playoff record for fewest in a game.

Brooks joined with his players in ridiculing Westbrook for wearing red glasses frames without any lenses and a polo shirt dotted with fish hooks to his postgame news conference.

“I’ve been knowing how to dress for a while,” Westbrook insisted, reasoning that he sees better without the lenses in the glasses.

Brooks also compared Kendrick Perkins to the superheroes in the blockbuster “Avengers” movie but — on the serious side — said the starting center will be a game-time decision after aggravating a strained muscle in his right hip during Game 1.

“He is as tough as they come and he wants to play, but if he’s not ready to play, we won’t play him,” Brooks said, adding that the Thunder would have held him out of Game 1 if they’d have known he was prone to re-injury.

Bryant credited Perkins and his frontcourt teammates for giving Durant and Westbrook room to do damage and said the Lakers must fight through their screens better.

Los Angeles traded away Derek Fisher this season and brought in Ramon Sessions to get 11 years younger at point guard, although Brown said the move wasn’t aimed at defense. He suggested that Fisher — who’s now a Thunder bench player — was a solid defender while Sessions is still learning to use his teammates on defense.

Either way, the Lakers must find a way to clamp down on the perimeter.

“There’s a lot that concerns us from the first game,” Bryant said. “We did a lot of things wrong. A lot, a lot of things wrong.”

If their turnaround from the Game 6 blowout to win Game 7 in the opening round shows anything, though, it’s that Los Angeles is also equipped with the resiliency to turn a series around.

“The Lakers are as competitive as any team in the league and Kobe is that guy that you always look at, that you say, `This guy competes every possession,”‘ Brooks said. “Every play, he wants to take your heart out.”

Based on his own analysis of NBA greats from Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Bryant believes there’s too much of a health risk to get run over by an opponent and go crashing to the floor repeatedly.

“I learned from my predecessors, man,” Bryant said Tuesday. “Pippen had a (messed) up back taking charges. Bird had a (messed) up back taking charges.

“I said, `I’m not taking charges.’ I figured that (stuff) out at an early age.”

The five-time NBA champion says no one ever presented the theory to him that he could prolong his career if he didn’t try to draw offensive fouls against his opponents. It was just his own observations.

“I’ve seen them take charges and lay there with a messed-up back. I’ve seen Michael not take one … charge and he’s healthy his whole career, and the same thing with Magic,” Bryant said.

“I might not be the smartest guy in the room but I can figure that (stuff) out.”

The topic came up after the Lakers forced only four Oklahoma City Thunder turnovers in a 119-90 blowout loss in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. The NBA record for fewest turnovers in a game is three.

Oklahoma City had averaged a league-worst 16.4 turnovers in the regular season, but Los Angeles had the fewest steals and forced the least turnovers.

Bryant rejected the idea that the Lakers should try to extend their defense and disrupt Oklahoma City’s passes and said: “We’re not a passing lanes kind of team. We’re a pack it in type of team.”

Yet he also doesn’t think Lakers are willing to stand in the way when opponents come charging in.

“We’ve got a couple guys that take charges but for the most part the one guy that took charges (Derek Fisher) is now playing in Oklahoma,” Bryant said.

“I don’t take charges, Metta (World Peace) doesn’t take charges. Steve (Blake) will take a charge every now and then, but most everybody else just stands up and plays.”

Bryant said that drawing charges is “definitely a skill,” pointing out that coach Mike Krzyzewski does drills to teach it at Duke. He singled out Miami’s Shane Battier, a former Duke star, for being among the best at it in today’s game but said he has no interest in learning.

Bryant’s coach, Mike Brown, has the opposing viewpoint.

“I’m a big charge guy. I’m more a charge guy than a shot-blocking guy,” he said, noting that even 7-foot-3 center Zydrunas Ilgauskas would drop to the floor to take charges for him in Cleveland.

While some NBA teams keep track of how many charges their players draw, Bryant certainly isn’t keeping up with his own.

“I probably took one last year. By accident probably,” he joked. “I couldn’t get out of the way.”

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma City Thunder starting center Kendrick Perkins will be a game-time decision for Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night after aggravating a strained muscle in his right hip.

Perkins did not practice on Tuesday, only shooting free throws with his teammates at the end of the session.

He had sat out most of last week while getting treatment for injury sustained May 5 in the final game of Oklahoma City’s first-round sweep of Dallas.

Coach Scott Brooks compared Perkins to the superheroes in the blockbuster “Avengers” movies and says his center is “as tough as they come” but won’t play if he’s not ready.

The Thunder routed the Lakers 119-90 in the series opener Monday night.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant added 25 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder blasted the weary Los Angeles Lakers 119-90 on Monday night in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Thunder took a 15-point halftime lead, then opened the third quarter with a 15-2 blitz filled with crowd-pleasing 3-pointers and dunks.

Oklahoma City led by as many as 35 points, getting a measure of vengeance for the elbow Metta World Peace delivered to the head of the Thunder’s James Harden three weeks earlier — and without needing dirty tactics to do it.

Thunder starting center Kendrick Perkins limped off after aggravating a hip injury from the first round.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points each for the Lakers and Bynum had 14 rebounds.

The Thunder committed a franchise-record four turnovers.

Two games after trailing by as many as 28 points in a blowout loss in Game 6 in Denver, it got even worse for the Lakers. They responded to that loss by beating the Nuggets 96-87 in a thrilling Game 7 on Saturday night.

They’ll need another big bounce back for Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.

While the Lakers were making a quick turnaround less than 48 hours after ending the first round, the Thunder had eight full days off following their first-round sweep of defending NBA champion Dallas.

It got out of hand just after halftime, in highlight-reel fashion.

Durant lobbed the ball to Westbrook for a two-handed slam, then connected on a 3-pointer from the left wing to draw a timeout from Lakers coach Mike Brown.

That still didn’t slow down Oklahoma City, which got what could have been a costly two-handed dunk from Perkins on its next trip and then another 3 from Durant before Thabo Sefolosha swiped the ball from Bryant and ran out for a layup that made it 74-46 with 8:39 left in the period.

Both coaches started going to their benches with 8½ minutes left, and Los Angeles reserve Devin Ebanks ended up getting ejected with 2:18 to play after walking up to a scrum for the ball after the whistle. Official Greg Willard said at the scorer’s table that he was ejected for “what he said” in drawing a technical foul.

It ended up tying for the 12th-worst blowout in Lakers playoff history.

Perkins returned to the bench but did not come back into the game after getting hurt. He had missed most of the week of practice after straining a muscle in his right hip in the final game of the Dallas series.

The buildup to the game focused largely on it being the first meeting between the teams since World Peace gave Harden a concussion by elbowing him in the head three weeks ago, in the final stretch of the regular season.

World Peace got a seven-game suspension, returning just in time to help L.A. win Game 7 against Denver.

A sold-out crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena wasn’t nearly as happy to see him back, although World Peace — who changed his name from Ron Artest — was hardly fazed by the chorus of boos that greeted him during pregame introductions or again whenever the ball came his way.

World Peace knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key amid boos the first time he touched the ball, set up a two-handed jam by Bynum and drilled another 3 within the first 2½ minutes.

The Thunder turned an early six-point deficit around with a 19-7 run punctuated by Harden’s driving layup that led to a three-point play and a 25-19 lead, and they never trailed again.

If the Lakers’ legs were weary, it showed most on the defensive end. Oklahoma City shot 53 percent and the league’s most turnover-prone team committed only one — Harden’s failed alley-oop pass for Durant that banged off the glass and was grabbed by World Peace — while building a 59-44 halftime lead.

Notes: Bryant tied former teammate Shaquille O’Neal for the third-most playoff games in NBA history with 216. … Perkins was called for a lane violation in the first quarter after arguing with Willard about a call and then walking up to his spot along the lane while Bynum was shooting. Bynum made both foul shots when awarded the extra chance. … Toby Keith’s daughter, Krystal, sang the national anthem.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

His next stop doesn’t figure to be nearly so friendly.

The Lakers start the Western Conference semifinals Monday night at Oklahoma City in the teams’ first meeting since World Peace – formerly known as Ron Artest – gave the Thunder’s James Harden a concussion by hitting him in the head with his elbow.

Oklahoma City has had more than a week to anticipate the matchup after sweeping defending NBA champion Dallas in the first round, giving fans plenty of time to get fired up to welcome a player who became instantly infamous three weeks ago.

“Good, old-fashioned Southern hospitality. That’s the type of reception that I expect that he’ll get, and that’s fair game,” said former teammate Derek Fisher, now a bench player for the Thunder. “The fans will be excited. I’m looking forward to being on this side of these fans this time at this point in the season.

“I can only imagine the amount of energy they have stored up. We’ll have to properly use that energy. Can’t get too caught up in it.”

With Harden leading the way, the Thunder insisted they’re over the incident that happened in the Lakers’ 114-106 double-overtime victory on April 22 in Los Angeles. Instead, they’re focused on reaching the conference finals for a second straight year.

“What can I say? The focus is going out there and doing whatever it takes to win,” Harden said after practice Sunday. “I’m not worried about him or what he has to say.”

World Peace proclaimed after the Lakers’ win over Denver the previous night that he doesn’t shake the hands of substitutions, even his best friends. So Harden, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year, certainly isn’t getting one to go along with the personal apology he never got.

“Shaking hands is, like, so low on our concerns right now, it’s not really an issue,” Oklahoma City forward Nick Collison said.

“I think we’re going to be ready to play.”

Starting center Kendrick Perkins went through Oklahoma City’s practice Sunday for the first time since straining a muscle in his right hip in a Game 4 victory against Dallas eight days earlier.

Collison and Harden said they expect Perkins to play in Game 1, although coach Scott Brooks refuses to make a decision until at least Monday and possibly not until game time.

Perkins was active enough in practice to sweat through his T-shirt, and he appeared to be pain-free during a round of jump shots after practice. He was not made available to speak to reporters.

Beyond providing resistance to the Lakers’ All-Star frontcourt tandem of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, he’s also the team’s primary enforcer if there’s another dust-up.

“That’s the only thing that we care about: It’s the first to four who wins the series,” Brooks said. “The subplots, that’s part of NBA basketball. You don’t worry about that. If you focus on that, your attention, your focus is not where it needs to be.

“We understand what happened. It happened. We moved on weeks ago.”

That may not hold true for the sellout crowd expected at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

“That’s not my concern. My concern is playing the game of basketball,” World Peace said on TNT after the Lakers’ Game 7 win.

“Everything else is not really – it’s not important to me.”

Fisher has the unique perspective of having won five NBA titles with the Lakers before they traded him away this season. He bought out his contract with the Houston Rockets and signed with Oklahoma City in late March, and perhaps it was inevitable that he would face his former team now.

He agreed with Kobe Bryant’s sentiment that the series would compare to playing against his brother, although he considered even those to be loaded words.

“Your brother oftentimes was the recipient of some of the hardest blows you ever delivered. I’m sure he’s planning to deliver quite a few, and I’ll be ready to deliver some as well,” Fisher said. “It’s going to be fun to just have to compete against the best. That’s what we want to be.”

Beating the Lakers may be the only way to take all the focus off what happened three weeks ago and put it back on the championship chase.

“Hopefully, he has the same feelings that we all have. It’s a bad play. It should have never happened,” Brooks said. “But we’re focused on playing basketball. It’s not going to be between James and Ron. It’s going to be about us playing good basketball as a team to beat that team.”

Steve Blake scored a playoff career-high 19 points and Kobe Bryant had 17 points and eight assists for the Lakers, who blew a 16-point lead in the second half before surviving a finale with wild momentum swings and furious physical play. With Gasol leading an emotional effort, the Lakers narrowly avoided becoming the ninth team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead.

Andrew Bynum had 16 points and a career playoff-high 18 rebounds for Los Angeles, which will open the second round Monday night in Oklahoma City against the second-seeded Thunder.

Ty Lawson and Al Harrington scored 24 points apiece for the sixth-seeded Nuggets, who committed 19 turnovers and managed just 7-of-27 shooting in the fourth quarter. Arron Afflalo scored 15 points in just the third Game 7 in franchise history for the Nuggets, who have lost in the first round in eight of the last nine postseasons – but never with this much excitement.

The Lakers appeared to be in control of the series after a narrow victory in Game 4 last weekend, but the Nuggets rallied for two straight dominant victories. Game 7 was a barn-burner, with both teams blowing significant leads in the final minutes.

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World Peace hit four 3-pointers and energized Los Angeles with tough defense in his return. The former Ron Artest missed Los Angeles’ regular-season finale and the first six games against Denver for viciously elbowing Oklahoma City’s James Harden, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year and one of his probable defensive assignments in the next round.

While World Peace shut down Danilo Gallinari and provided unexpected perimeter scoring, Gasol was the Lakers’ best player on both ends in the finale, playing with renewed passion after a poor Game 6. Bryant didn’t dominate with scoring, but his playmaking helped Blake hit five 3-pointers in a row before missing his sixth attempt.

Gasol put the Lakers ahead for good with a tiebreaking tip-in with 6:30 to play, kicking off an 11-2 Lakers run. Afflalo’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 89-84 with 1:09 to play, but Bryant hit a dramatic 3-pointer before Gasol hit two free throws with 31 seconds left, punctuating his phenomenal game with a sweeping punch of his fist.

The Lakers improved to 15-1 in a Game 7 at home, winning 11 straight since the 1969 NBA finals. They’ve won three straight Game 7s since losing a first-rounder at Phoenix in 2006, also the last time an NBA team blew a 3-1 series lead.

The Lakers narrowly avoided becoming the ninth team to waste a 3-1 lead after losing two closeout games in the previous four days. Los Angeles had been 12-1 in closeout games since acquiring Gasol in 2008 before stumbling twice against the Nuggets, who led for almost every possession of the past two contests.

Gasol’s determination was obvious from the opening tip. The four-time All-Star had just three points and three rebounds in Game 6, but he played the finale with emotion and aggression, hustling for loose balls and rebounds while demonstratively celebrating baskets and playing to the crowd.

The Nuggets fell behind 62-46 midway through the third quarter, but erased the entire Lakers lead in a furious 6 1/2-minute stretch led by Lawson, who scored 13 points in the period. Denver took a lead on the first shot of the fourth, but the Lakers never trailed after Blake’s 3-pointer with 9:03 left.

NOTES: Bryant is 5-1 in Game 7s in his career. … The Lakers played at home on a Saturday night for the first time all season. Their other two Saturday home dates were matinees. … Fans near courtside included Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Barry Diller and Diane Von Furstenberg, Julie Bowen, Zac Efron and rapper The Game.

The club issued its statement a few hours before the third-seeded Lakers hosted the Nuggets in the series finale.

Johnson spoke Friday night on ESPN, where he serves as an analyst. The Hall of Famer sold his minority ownership stake in the Lakers, but is still a club vice president and a close friend of the Buss family, which owns the team.

“The opinion expressed yesterday by Magic Johnson regarding Mike Brown was his personal opinion and was made in his role as a TV analyst,” the team statement read. “His words were not made on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers, and in no way do they reflect the feelings or position of team ownership or management. We are fully committed to and supportive of Mike Brown as head coach of the Lakers.”

Johnson also said 7-footers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol will be “run … out of town” if the 16-time champion Lakers are eliminated by Denver.

A year ago, Brown replaced 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson, who walked away from the franchise after the Lakers’ second-round loss to Dallas last spring. Brown led the Lakers to their fifth straight Pacific Division title and a 41-25 record, but Los Angeles lost two straight closeout games this week against the Nuggets, leading to a winner-take-all Game 7.

Brown brushed off Johnson’s comments during the Lakers’ shootaround Saturday morning. Brown has two more guaranteed years on his contract with a fourth-year option, making an average of $4.5 million per season.

“Magic is a good guy, and he’s entitled to his opinion,” Brown said. “Magic has a job to do, and one of his jobs is to voice his opinion. He’s a great guy. There’s nothing for me to be concerned about there. I’m coaching to win this game tonight, and that’s it.”

Denver coach George Karl wasn’t quite as kind shortly before Game 7, saying Magic’s comments were “totally out of control.”

“That statement is wild and crazy,” Karl added. “It’s ESPN-ish. I think he got another year on his contract for that.”

Johnson and other Lakers legends often weigh in with dramatic pronouncements about the current teams. James Worthy frequently provides meaty sound bites in his role as a local television studio analyst — and last year, Johnson famously declared the Lakers should “blow up” the roster after their second-round loss to Dallas.

Johnson has been busy lately with his new job as a part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he still found time to criticize Brown, a successful coach who has won just about everything but a championship.

Brown won 272 games over five seasons with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who fired him in 2010 after losing in the second round. The Cavs reached the NBA finals in 2007, and Brown was the NBA’s coach of the year in 2009 after Cleveland went 66-16.

With a third straight victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, his Nuggets would become just the ninth team to escape a 3-1 series deficit.

Game 7 is on Karl’s 61st birthday, too.

While the Nuggets are rolling, the Lakers are reeling. Denver blew out Los Angeles in Game 6 after taking a huge lead in Game 5. Kobe Bryant was unable to save the Lakers either time.

At least the third-seeded Lakers will be at home. They also might get help from Metta World Peace, who will return from suspension to lead the physical play necessary to slow the Nuggets.

DENVER (CBS/AP) — Ty Lawson scored 32 points, fellow spark plug Corey Brewer added 18 and the Denver Nuggets forced a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series with a dominating 113-96 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

The free-wheeling Nuggets are one win from running the lumbering Lakers right out of the playoffs. Game 7 in the Western Conference series is Saturday night at the Staples Center.

“They played with a lot of confidence and swag, we weren’t there.” Andrew Bynum said.

This will be the Nuggets’ first all-or-nothing playoff game since losing to Utah in Game 7 of the 1994 conference semifinals.

Kobe Bryant followed his 43-point outburst in Game 5 with 31 points in 3½ quarters despite a sour stomach that prevented him from attending the Lakers’ morning shootaround and forced him to take intravenous fluids all day. He took a seat for good with Los Angeles down 101-73 with 7:52 remaining.

The younger but deeper Nuggets have won three of four since dropping the first two games in Los Angeles, and they did it by once again outrunning and outgunning their star-studded counterparts who prefer a half-court game and not the frenetic pace and pickup-game style employed by the Nuggets.

Lawson’s 32 points were a career-playoff high, besting his old mark of 27 set last year.

Bynum pulled down 16 rebounds but made just 4 of 11 shots for 11 points, for the Lakers and Pau Gasol was just 1 of 10 from the field, finishing with three points and three rebounds.

“There is no way I thought what happened out there tonight was going to happen.” Nuggets coach George Karl said.

The Nuggets got another great game from rookie Kenneth Faried, who provided even more energy with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Danilo Gallinari and Andre Miller both had 12 points for Denver, which led 90-68 heading into the fourth quarter.

Brewer iced this one by scoring 11 straight points for Denver to start the fourth quarter, an array of dunks and jumpers that gave the Nuggets their biggest lead at 101-73 and forced the Lakers to throw in the towel and try to rest up Bryant, Bynum and Gasol for Game 7.

Bryant finished the first half with 19 points but he started out slowly and so did the Lakers, who fell behind 13-0 before Bryant scored more than 3½ minutes into the game.

While the Lakers missed their first six shots, the Nuggets quickly set the tone. Lawson hit all four of his 3-pointers as the Nuggets raced to a 23-8 lead.

Lawson also scored 19 points in the first half, including half of the Nuggets’ 30 first-quarter points — matching his per-game scoring average in the playoffs. His basket at the halftime buzzer gave Denver a 54-45 lead after their 15-point cushion had been trimmed to four on Gasol’s only basket, a hook shot that brought he Lakers within 47-43.

Bryant has a history of playing through pain in the playoffs and this season he toughed it out through several injuries, missing minimal time with a concussion, ankle and wrist ailments. Lakers coach Mike Brown said he is “amazed at his mental and physical toughness.”

Bryant was lumbering a bit on defense, though, where he got away with several grabs in the first half. In the opening minutes of the third quarter, however, he was whistled for a flagrant foul after smacking Faried in the head while trying to prevent a fast-break basket.

That was during Denver’s 9-0 run to start the second half, a spurt that doubled their nine-point halftime lead in less than 3 minutes and all but sapped whatever energy the Lakers had left.

Before long, the Pepsi Center was rocking in a blowout as Lawson scored basket after acrobatic basket and the “Beat L.A.!” chants grew ever louder.

Lawson’s 3-pointer from the top of the circle at 1:22 made it 90-65.

Bynum, who irked the Nuggets by saying on the eve of Game 5 that “close-out games are actually kind of easy,” was mum before this one, but the Nuggets were getting more mileage out of his insult with Lawson suggesting, “we’ll probably just put that up again and pretend like we never heard it before.”

Actually, the Nuggets found more motivation in something written in the Lakers’ locker room after the game Tuesday night. Scribbled on the grease board was this message: “Flight. 3 pm. Pack for 3 games.”

The next round will start in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have the home court to open the conference semifinals. Now the Lakers need to return to L.A. and figure out a way to slow down the Nuggets to order to make it to the matchup that seemingly everybody expected before the Nuggets turned this series into a dogfight.

Earlier Thursday, Nuggets reserve center Chris “Birdman” Andersen was excused indefinitely from all team-related activities after Douglas County sheriff’s deputies searched his home as part of an investigation by the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit.

The 10-year pro hadn’t played in the postseason after averaging 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds during the regular season, when his playing time dropped dramatically as young players gobbled up more minutes.

Notes: Metta World Peace served the final game of his seven-game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the head last month. He’s been practicing with the Lakers but left the arena before games, as required by the league. … Lawson’s previous playoff best was 27 points against the Thunder on April 25, 2011. His career high is 37 points.

Update:  Coach Mike Brown says Bryant will play, even though he threw up on the team bus to the arena.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Just hours away from a pivotal Game 6 in Denver, Kobe Bryant has missed the team’s shootaround Thursday morning because of a bout with gastroenteritis.

Lakers correspondent Mike Trudell is tweeting that the Lakers star, who sunk three 3-pointers in a row late in Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets but failed to carry his team to a win, missed the shootaround, despite looking OK after landing and doing an interview with Lakers play-by-play announcer John Ireland.

The last time the Lakers and the Nuggets played a Game 6 during the playoffs, Bryant dominated with 35 points and the Lakers closed out the series and went on to win the 2009 NBA Finals.

“We’ll refrain from speculating, but Kobe (gastroenteritis) obviously has a history of playing through everything in the playoffs,” Trudell later tweeted. More will be known about Bryant’s status about 90 minutes before tipoff at 7:30 p.m. tonight on KCAL 9.

Symptoms of gastroenteritis include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain and cramping.

The California Horse Racing Board is considering the case, which involves “milkshaking,” the illegal practice of giving a horse a blend of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes. The mixture is designed to reduce fatigue and enhance performance.

O’Neill faces his third total carbon dioxide violation in California and fourth in a career that has spanned 25 years.

Speaking at Pimlico Race Course on Thursday, where he is overseeing Derby winner I’ll Have Another in preparation for the May 19 Preakness, O’Neill adamantly denied the charge.

“I swear on my kids’ eyes I never milkshaked a horse,” O’Neill said. “We had some people in charge of California racing I think didn’t like a few of us that were doing well. Anyway, it’s all being heard by the courts and I’m very confident everything will be fine.”

The California board could consider O’Neill’s latest violation as early as May 24, although the board meeting’s agenda has yet to be announced.

O’Neill’s most recent violation dates from an Aug. 25, 2010, race at Del Mar in California. A blood test on his horse Argenta showed elevated levels of TCO2 before it finished eighth.

He faces penalties ranging from a minimum 90-day suspension and a $5,000 fine to a maximum 180-day suspension and fine of $15,000 depending on whether a hearing officer’s report finds aggravating circumstances or not.

O’Neill would have the right to appeal any punishment; a judge could issue a stay that would allow him to continue training.

It’s likely the process won’t be resolved until after O’Neill is done with his bid to make I’ll Have Another the sport’s first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

“It’s really old stuff that’s still in litigation. I’ll probably be retired by the time they come up with a verdict,” O’Neill said. “I’m very confident everything will be dropped.”

O’Neill isn’t the first trainer to have to answer to medication violations during the Triple Crown.

Jeff Mullins, a Californian who trained I Want Revenge, faced questions about being tripped up on tests measuring levels of sodium bicarbonate involving some of his horses when that colt was the 2009 Kentucky Derby morning-line favorite.

Rick Dutrow, trainer of 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, acknowledged he regularly injected the horse with a then-legal steroid.

On Thursday, O’Neill watched I’ll Have Another gallop effortlessly on a muddy track. He said the horse is in excellent form and showing no ill effects from his breathtaking run in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, where the chestnut colt bolted past pacesetter Bodemeister in the final 100 yards to win.

O’Neill said I’ll Have Another has gone through the usual physical and blood testing during his three races this year without problem.

“They’ve done everything but pick him up by the hooves and shake his ears,” he said, adding that he thinks there’s “zero chance” he would be suspended during the Triple Crown series.

The trainer apparently isn’t going to let his problems in California have any influence on the job he’s got ahead of him leading up to the Preakness.

“It’s very frustrating. But I’ve put in about $250,000 in lawyer’s fees and will let them worry about all that stuff,” he said. “It won’t affect us at all here. It’s all so ridiculous.”

He filed a federal lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board in March 2011, suggesting the state’s drug testing program could be flawed. A CHRB official said Thursday that the federal court told O’Neill he had to first resolve his issues at the administrative level before going higher.

“Through the expensive investigative work we’re trying to figure out how it all happened,” O’Neill said. “We’ve gathered a lot of data on how Lasix has an effect on the chemistry of the horse and all that stuff.”

Gripping a cup of coffee and wearing a broad smile, O’Neill appeared to have not a worry in the world as he stood in front of the stakes barn while I’ll Have Another received a bath.

“After running that big of a race and then it only being four days ago and here on a new track, a new barn area, he looks fantastic,” O’Neill said. “His appetite is great. You can see his coat is shiny. He does look fantastic.”

O’Neill opted to bring I’ll Have Another to Pimlico on Monday to let the horse get acclimated with his surroundings. Because most of the other entrants won’t arrive until next week, it was almost as if I’ll Have Another had the place of himself.

“I thought he looked great,” O’Neill said of the workout. “One of the great things about I’ll Have Another is he’s got such a beautiful, long stride. You saw it here today. He’s maintained that on whatever surface he’s on. That’s what I was looking for. I just wanted to see him really stretch and he did. He looks no worse for the wear.”

Neither does O’Neill, who has kept a hectic schedule since last Saturday’s rousing win. If he’s worried about what California racing officials are considering, it certainly isn’t evident by his actions or demeanor.

“I’m having an absolute blast,” O’Neill said. “Back home, I did the Jim Rome Show. I did all these cool interviews. I was at the Laker game the other night and they interviewed us, (jockey) Mario (Gutierrez) and I. It’s been an absolute dream. Who knows if we’ll ever do this again? Hopefully, we’ll do this multiple times, but we’re soaking it all up and enjoying every moment of it.”

Asked if he dared think about winning the Triple Crown, O’Neill replied, “You don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Our next big one is the Preakness. Hopefully he runs huge there and obviously, if that were to happen and he comes out of it good, New York (for the Belmont) here we come.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Ron Hanavan confirmed that the search took place Thursday as part of an investigation conducted by the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit. Andersen has not been arrested and Hanavan said no arrest warrant has been issued.

The department began investigating Andersen in February after receiving information from a law enforcement agency in California. Hanavan declined to release details, including the nature of any pending charges, citing an ongoing investigation. He says they’re asking that the case be sealed.

Andersen was present at shootaround Thursday. The Nuggets face the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night for game 6 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

This is the statement from the Denver Nuggets: The Denver Nuggets are aware of today’s media reports involving forward/center Chris Andersen. It involves a legal investigation and we are awaiting further details. Chris has been excused from all team-related activities indefinitely as he deals with the reported investigation. Per team policy, the Nuggets will not comment on any ongoing legal circumstance involving any player or employee.

A message left at Andersen’s home wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

DENVER (CBS) -KCAL 9′s and Lakers play-by-play radio announcer John Ireland spoke to Kobe Bryant after the Los Angeles Lakers arrived to their Denver hotel for Game 6 on Thursday.

The last time the Lakers faced the Nuggets in a game 6, Kobe dominated with 35 points and LA closed-out the Nuggets 119-92 to head to the 2009 NBA Finals.

“We have to execute extremely well. The biggest thing for us defensively is to get back on transition and not doing anything offensively that is really going to put us in a predicament.”

Ireland then asked him about the criticism Andrew Bynum got for saying close-out games are the easiest, “I plan to talk to him a little bit tomorrow and about certain things he needs to adjust. It’s Game 6.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) Andre Miller scored 24 points, including two free throws with 12.8 seconds left, and the Denver Nuggets survived Kobe Bryant‘s late scoring barrage in a 43-point performance, avoiding playoff elimination with a 102-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

JaVale McGee had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Nuggets, who trimmed the Lakers’ series lead to 3-2, but only after a hair-raising finish.

Denver had a 15-point lead midway through the fourth quarter against the lifeless Lakers, but Bryant engineered a stunning comeback before his final three shots missed. Bryant scored 12 points in the final 4:47, hitting four 3-pointers that trimmed the Nuggets’ lead to 98-96 with 59 seconds left.

Bryant then missed a potential tying 5-footer and a 3-pointer, but Denver missed two free throws before Ramon Sessions hit a 3-pointer with 12.8 seconds left, trimming the Nuggets’ lead to one point.

Los Angeles had two more chances to tie after the veteran Miller’s free throws, but Bryant and Sessions missed 3-pointers near the buzzer.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Denver.

Arron Afflalo scored 19 points and Danilo Gallinari added 14 for the Nuggets, while rookie Kenneth Faried had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Andrew Bynum had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who lost a closeout playoff game at home for the first time since May 4, 2006, against Phoenix. Until Bryant’s big finish, Los Angeles mustered little passion for the occasion, playing the second half under steady boos from their fans.

Bynum indirectly tweaked the Nuggets on Monday when he proclaimed elimination games are “actually kind of easy” because an opponent will sometimes give up quickly when facing adversity. Denver coach George Karl planned to mention the quote to his team, and the Nuggets played like a team that isn’t going anywhere.

The Nuggets still must win two games to advance to the second round for just the second time in nine years, but they have already accomplished something rare by winning Game 5. Los Angeles had closed out a playoff series on the first try in 11 of its previous 12 opportunities, and the Lakers won 12 of their last 13 closeout games under departed coach Phil Jackson.

The Lakers never trailed in the first two games of the series, but they never led in Game 5 after their very first basket made it 2-0.

The Lakers thought they had taken control of the series with a final-minute rally to win a tight Game 4, but the Nuggets have outplayed the third-seeded Lakers for long stretches of the series. Denver was sharper and more determined from the opening tip in Game 5, while the Lakers played a disorganized, disinterested 3 1/2 quarters until the late rally.

In the best game of his first career playoff series, McGee threw down a mind-boggling array of dunks and converted alley-oop passes while dominating the Lakers’ superstar duo of 7-footers. McGee dunked on a 60-foot alley-oop pass from Miller early in the fourth quarter, and he stared down the Lakers’ fans after dunking while getting fouled with 6:35 to play, putting the Nuggets ahead by 15.

Pau Gasol had just nine points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, while Matt Barnes scored 11 points.

The Lakers failed to complete their first playoff series victory under coach Mike Brown exactly one year after Dallas swept the Lakers in the second round of last year’s postseason, ending 11-time NBA champion coach Jackson’s career – for now, anyway.

Los Angeles’ loss means starting forward Metta World Peace will finish his seven-game suspension during the first round. World Peace was banned for viciously elbowing Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the Lakers’ penultimate regular-season game.

The Lakers got off to a 3-for-12 start and fell behind after leading the first two home games of the series from start to finish. Neither team was particularly sharp in the first half, with the Lakers trailing 49-43 at the break after making just 15 of 45 shots despite 18 points from Bryant.

Denver enforced its preferred speedy tempo on the walk-it-up Lakers for long stretches, repeatedly beating the Lakers back with fast breaks and sharp passes. Each time the Lakers managed to get close, the Nuggets responded with a rally, including a 10-2 surge to close the third quarter.

Notes: Before the game, Brown chuckled mirthlessly at the conspiracy theory suggesting the Lakers might tank Game 5 to burn off World Peace’s suspension before facing Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. … Miller was hit with a technical foul in the second quarter after a hard foul on Bynum, who got a T of his own in the third quarter for shoving Faried after a basket. … Afflalo finally awoke offensively after averaging just 9 points in the first four games of the series. … Fans near courtside included Larry David, British boxer Amir Khan and comedian Harland Williams.

Bryant wore the protective mask for 11 games after Miami guard Dwyane Wade broke his nose during the All-Star Game in Orlando on February 26.

The money made from the auction will go to benefit the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation’s Youth Homelessness Initiative.

The auction went for 7 days and ended on Tuesday, March 9th 2012 at 4P.M. PST.

• eBay’s Posting

Rashaun Haylock (CBS) @RHaylock  – There are 1,000,001 cliches you can come up with pertaining to a break up. Both good and bad.

Sunday night could very well have been the end of an era. The finale, perhaps, of the 35-year marriage between the Lakers and KCAL9.

I’ll abstain from the cliches and instead opt for honesty.

I won’t pretend that I’ve been around for all 35 years of the marriage. If so, it would be far from the truth considering I haven’t been on God’s green earth for that long.

But like many of you, I grew up watching the Lakers on KCAL9.

Like you, when the Lakers were on, I was glued to the front of the TV inhaling every, single word that came out of the mouth of the great Chick Hearn. I listened as he told me that Earvin “Magic” Johnson was 6’9″ 220 out of Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan.

Or how Big Game James hailed from North Carolina and how it was a homecoming for him whenever the team would visit the then-Charlotte Hornets.

Or how Reggie Miller is a local boy from UCLA and has a sister named Cheryl.

Or even how Byron Scott played at nearby Morningside High School and has a wife named Anita.

And who could forget the constant bickering from Chick aimed at his producer Susan Stratton.

I listened intently as taped interviews with him and stars like Hakeem Olajuwon played at halftime of Lakers games. I looked forward to it. Chick not only taught us the game, but he introduced us to these players who made a living dribbling the round, bouncy ball.

He taught us what a simulcast was.

Growing up, I didn’t have cable, so I couldn’t watch the Lakers on Prime Ticket or Prime Sports or FOX Sports West unless I was over a friend or relative’s house. The Lakers on KCAL9 was, literally, all I knew.

Chick’s detail became ingrained as the mic was passed on to Paul Sunderland, Joel Meyers, and lastly Bill MacDonald.

The product on the floor spoiled us as KCAL9 was an outlet to watch some of the greatest players to ever step foot in the NBA do their thing.

Los Angeles could have very well been known at Titletown as they spoiled us with championship banners and Victory parades of which were seen right here on the home of the Lakers.

For the past seven years, I’ve had the luxury to play a small part in Lakers broadcasts on KCAL9. When you do the math, that’s just one-fifth of the time the Lakers have been here on this station.

It’s just a small piece of the pie, but a slice nonetheless that means a great deal to me. I’ve watched some of, who I feel, are the best in the business put the pictures together that came across your television during LTV Pre and Postgames along with Lakers game broadcasts.

There were people I watched take care of LTV like they were guarding there very own child. There was Lou Cook and Patrick Smith writing sensational stories. I’ve seen Kharlo Gharabegian, Nik Kuo, and Armen Keuilian make them all come to life with their great editorial skills. Before any of that became possible, there was Glenn Shimada and Brian Singer, Danny Ayala, and Rodney Hunt to capture shots through a lens like it’s nobody’s business. All under the watchful eye of W. Scott Henry, affectionately known as “Shenry” around these parts.

And that’s just to name a few. There’s more where that came from and plenty more before my one-fifth ever came along.

If, Sunday proved to be the last hoorah for the Lakers and KCAL9, what a way to go out. A win, in the playoffs nonetheless, to give the Lakers a 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets. The pictures at the end of the broadcast told the story.

35 years. That in itself is a loaded statement.

What a ride. I’m just glad I got my one-fifth.

EL SEGUNDO  (CBS/AP) — Although Kobe Bryant’s late-game effectiveness has been debated and dissected over the past 16 years, he seems to love it whenever he doesn’t have to take the Los Angeles Lakers’ last shot.

That generally means the Lakers are taking care of business by themselves.

After Bryant took a supporting role in a dramatic win in Game 4, they’ll attempt to close out the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.

Bryant scored 69 points in the series’ two games at Staples Center, but just 44 in two games in Denver. Instead, he doubled his assists total and encouraged his teammates to step up.

“Defenses are relying on me, Pau and Andrew to not trust our guys, and if they keep hitting them (shots) , it puts them in a predicament.” Bryant said.

They did, with cold-blooded 3-pointers by point guards Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake closing out Game 4.

The young Nuggets are impressed, but they hope they’re not done gathering knowledge about playoff intensity just yet.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets was briefly interrupted when a 20-year-old female fan walked out on the court in the second quarter Sunday night.

The woman, identified by police as Savannah McMillan-Christmas of Denver, walked several steps onto the court as Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson brought the ball past half-court. Officials blew the whistle to stop play with 1:10 left and McMillan-Christmas was escorted away by security.

McMillan-Christmas was arrested for investigation of trespassing and taken to a detention facility for booking, said Denver police Det. Todd Erickson, part of the security detail at Pepsi Center.

The TNT broadcast, citing arena security sources, reported that the woman had a history of “stalking or following several players” and that she was “basically banned from the arena” for those incidents.

Erickson said he was at his post near the Denver bench when he spotted McMillan-Christmas stepping onto the floor near mid-court in front of startled Nuggets guard Andre Miller.

“I happened to see her walk on to the court and I thought, `Uh, oh,”‘ Erickson said.

He hustled over to her and, with other security personnel, told her she had to go back to her seat.

She responded by asking, “Where’s Kenyon?” an apparent reference to former Nuggets player Kenyon Martin.

Yahoo Sports reported that the woman was “screaming” in the direction of the Nuggets bench and that she “stalked” former Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin during his time in Denver.

Martin played for the Nuggets from 2004 to 2011 before signing with the Los Angeles Clippers for the 2011-2012 season.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

DENVER (CBS/AP) –Kobe Bryant scored 22 points, Andrew Bynum added 19 and the Los Angeles Lakers’ stars got plenty of help from their supporting cast in a 92-88 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

The Lakers can wrap it up Tuesday night when the series shifts back to Staples Center for Game 5.

Game 4 Gallery

“Our teammates are stepping up, we’re really playing hard. “  Bynum said. ” Jordan (Hill) was the difference.”

Hill was big for L.A., posting a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Steve Blake scored 10 points, including a key 3-pointer in the final minute as the Lakers overcame a six-point halftime hole and a 71-70 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

Ramon Sessions scored 12 points and also had a big 3 in the final minute for L.A.

Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets with 20 points, and Andre Miller had 15.

DENVER (CBS/AP) — Ty Lawson scored 25 points and the Denver Nuggets raced to an early 24-point lead on their way to a 99-84 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night in Game 3 of their first-round series.

JaVale McGee had 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, who will try to even the best-of-seven series at two games each on Sunday night at the Pepsi Center.

The Nuggets grabbed a 55-39 halftime lead by stifling Andrew Bynum down low and forcing Kobe Bryant to work harder for his baskets.

Although both Bynum and Bryant got it going after halftime and the Lakers cut their deficit to four points in the third quarter, the hole was too big to climb out of.

Bryant finished with 22 points on 7-of-23 shooting and Bynum had 18 points and 12 rebounds.

The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series, 2-1.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

LTV Begins At 7PM

DENVER (AP) Speedy point guard Ty Lawson believes more running and better rebounding will get the Denver
Nuggets back into their first-round series with the Los Angeles Lakers.

And coach George Karl thinks it boils down to controlling the paint, preventing Lakers center Andrew Bynum from dominating down low.

Or the trick to turning this series around could be something as simple as this: Playing with a lead for once.

See, the Nuggets haven’t even led for so much as one trip down the floor in falling into a 2-0 hole against the Lakers. That’s why the Nuggets are hoping for a fast start in Game 3 on Friday night at Pepsi Center.

They hope to jump out on top and get the boisterous crowd into the action early.

Maybe that will provide a spark.

Denver was blown out in Game 1 as Bynum posted a triple-double with 10 points, 10 blocks and 13 rebounds in a 103-88 rout.

But there was a point in Game 2 when Denver had the Lakers a little nervous. Trailing by as many as 19 in the third quarter, the Nuggets stormed back to make it a game, only to fade at the finish and fall 104-100.

They’re trying to use that furious comeback as motivation for Game 3. It’s given them confidence in a series where Kobe Bryant and Bynum have been so difficult to defend.

“In the second half, looked like we played with a lot of heart,” Lawson said. “Played our game for the first time in the series. If we get that into the game on Friday, then I think we have a good chance of winning.”

The Nuggets’ brand of basketball is predicated on speeding up the court. That’s not usually a solid recipe for the postseason, when teams tend to run more of a half-court system.

But they’ll keep pushing the pace and trying to wear down a Lakers team that doesn’t easily exhaust.

“When we do get the ball, just run them, because they’re not that fast,” Lawson said.

Lawson has hardly turned in the type of postseason he would’ve envisioned. He struggled in the opener – finishing with as many assists (2) as turnovers – before finding his rhythm in the second game with a team-high 25 points.

He insisted he needs to attack more against the Lakers, taking the action right to the big men.

Oh, and help out on the glass when he can.

“That’s the big thing,” Lawson said. “That’s the No. 1 key we need to do – get Bynum off the boards. From us guards, if there’s nobody around us, go hit a big. Go get in Bynum’s body, bump him, make sure he doesn’t get a rebound.”

Easier said than done.

So far, Bynum is having a fantastic series. Bryant, too – but that’s to be expected.

Bryant put up a stellar performance in Game 2, scoring 38 points on a rather efficient 15-of-29 shooting.

“He’s one of the best,” Gallinari said. “When he has those kinds of games, there’s not a lot to things you can do.”

Especially when he’s this well rested. Bryant missed eight of the last 10 regular-season games and now he looks almost fresher on the floor.

“I thought the break was good for him, because I had been playing him a lot of minutes, too, probably more than you want,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “When you have the luxury of a guy like Kobe, you might ask him to do a bit more than you’d like, so it was good for him to sit out a few games and get his body back to where it was. It was a good thing for him.”

The player flying under the radar is Pau Gasol, a versatile center who has Karl quite concerned. Gasol has been doing a little bit of everything for the Lakers.

“The numbers say Bynum and Kobe are killing us. I might vote for saying, get Gasol off the court,” Karl said, grinning. “His decisions and feel for the game are contagious.”

Bryant couldn’t agree more.

“Pau has always been willing to do anything for victory for us,” Bryant said. “We’re fortunate to have him here, because he’s a rare breed, a guy who doesn’t really demand the ball all the time. So it allows me and Andrew to do what we do, and he’s still able to be very effective in what he does anyway. He has a huge impact on the team.”

With his team against the wall, Karl was asked if he thought they could climb their way back into the series.

“If you followed us all year long, every time everybody thought the worst was going to happen, it never happened,” Karl said. “Yeah, I believe in them and I trust in them. We’re not this consistent, perfect team. We have to do some things to make our motor go, but when it goes, it’s pretty good. I think it’s going to go on Friday night.”

The Lakers are certainly preparing for just that.

“They’re great at home, so we’ve got to try to control the tempo for 48 minutes and not let them get up and down the court like they want to do,” Lakers point guard Ramon Sessions said. “They’re definitely going to come out with a sense of urgency, because at this time of the year, it’s win or go home.”

AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

DENVER (CBS/AP) — Speedy point guard Ty Lawson believes more running and better rebounding will get the Denver Nuggets back into their first-round series with the Los Angeles Lakers.

And coach George Karl thinks it boils down to controlling the paint, preventing Lakers center Andrew Bynum from dominating down low.

Or the trick to turning this series around could be something as simple as this: Playing with a lead for once.

See, the Nuggets haven’t even led for so much as one trip down the floor in falling into a 2-0 hole against the Lakers. That’s why the Nuggets are hoping for a fast start in Game 3 on Friday night at Pepsi Center.

They hope to jump out on top and get the boisterous crowd into the action early.

Maybe that will provide a spark.

“We definitely have to have a good start, especially at home and especially against them,” Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari said.

Denver was blown out in Game 1 as Bynum posted a triple-double with 10 points, 10 blocks and 13 rebounds in a 103-88 rout.

But there was a point in Game 2 when Denver had the Lakers a little nervous. Trailing by as many as 19 in the third quarter, the Nuggets stormed back to make it a game, only to fade at the finish and fall 104-100.

They’re trying to use that furious comeback as motivation for Game 3. It’s given them confidence in a series where Kobe Bryant and Bynum have been so difficult to defend.

“In the second half, looked like we played with a lot of heart,” Lawson said. “Played our game for the first time in the series. If we get that into the game on Friday, then I think we have a good chance of winning.”

The Nuggets’ brand of basketball is predicated on speeding up the court. That’s not usually a solid recipe for the postseason, when teams tend to run more of a half-court system.

But they’ll keep pushing the pace and trying to wear down a Lakers team that doesn’t easily exhaust.

“When we do get the ball, just run them, because they’re not that fast,” Lawson said.

Lawson has hardly turned in the type of postseason he would’ve envisioned. He struggled in the opener – finishing with as many assists (2) as turnovers – before finding his rhythm in the second game with a team-high 25 points.

He insisted he needs to attack more against the Lakers, taking the action right to the big men.

Oh, and help out on the glass when he can.

“That’s the big thing,” Lawson said. “That’s the No. 1 key we need to do – get Bynum off the boards. From us guards, if there’s nobody around us, go hit a big. Go get in Bynum’s body, bump him, make sure he doesn’t get a rebound.”

Easier said than done.

So far, Bynum is having a fantastic series. Bryant, too – but that’s to be expected.

Bryant put up a stellar performance in Game 2, scoring 38 points on a rather efficient 15-of-29 shooting.

“He’s one of the best,” Gallinari said. “When he has those kinds of games, there’s not a lot to things you can do.”

Especially when he’s this well rested. Bryant missed eight of the last 10 regular-season games and now he looks almost fresher on the floor.

“I thought the break was good for him, because I had been playing him a lot of minutes, too, probably more than you want,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “When you have the luxury of a guy like Kobe, you might ask him to do a bit more than you’d like, so it was good for him to sit out a few games and get his body back to where it was. It was a good thing for him.”

The player flying under the radar is Pau Gasol, a versatile center who has Karl quite concerned. Gasol has been doing a little bit of everything for the Lakers.

“The numbers say Bynum and Kobe are killing us. I might vote for saying, get Gasol off the court,” Karl said, grinning. “His decisions and feel for the game are contagious.”

Bryant couldn’t agree more.

“Pau has always been willing to do anything for victory for us,” Bryant said. “We’re fortunate to have him here, because he’s a rare breed, a guy who doesn’t really demand the ball all the time. So it allows me and Andrew to do what we do, and he’s still able to be very effective in what he does anyway. He has a huge impact on the team.”

With his team against the wall, Karl was asked if he thought they could climb their way back into the series.

“If you followed us all year long, every time everybody thought the worst was going to happen, it never happened,” Karl said. “Yeah, I believe in them and I trust in them. We’re not this consistent, perfect team. We have to do some things to make our motor go, but when it goes, it’s pretty good. I think it’s going to go on Friday night.”

The Lakers are certainly preparing for just that.

“They’re great at home, so we’ve got to try to control the tempo for 48 minutes and not let them get up and down the court like they want to do,” Lakers point guard Ramon Sessions said. “They’re definitely going to come out with a sense of urgency, because at this time of the year, it’s win or go home.”

Game 2 will be televised on KCAL9 at 7pm, starting with LTV.

AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

TBS said Thursday that World Peace would sit down with Conan O’Brien on Monday night. The former Ron Artest is suspended for seven games, which will carry through at least late next week. The Lakers don’t have a game Monday.

World Peace had a scheduled appearance for the show on April 22, but MWP’s publicist cancelled the day after the elbow to Harden’s head.

World Peace has five more games to sit to complete his suspension.