Slamball is ready to jump back into the game
A reconfigured version, which resembles a street-style basketball game on trampolines, has the backing of the IMG firm and is ready to launch a league, with preview event set for L.A. in June

latimes.com
MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
It's the story of his career: Bryant finishes a game any ordinary player would have left with a sore back, but his overtime performance draws criticism. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
League MVP vows to be ready for Game 5 against Utah on Wednesday at Staples Center, but the back spasms that hampered him Sunday could diminish his game again. >>

LAKERS
Back pain is one of the most common medical problems and will affect about eight out of 10 people during their lifetimes. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
Cleveland ties the series at 2-2 with an 88-77 victory that drops Boston to 0-5 this postseason on the road. >>

May 12, 2008
BILL PLASCHKE
Beset by back spasms, he tries to carry team to victory after having a big hand in forcing extra period. But did his teammates defer too much or did he try to go it alone? >>

UTAH 123, LAKERS 115 (OT)
Bryant is injured early, misfires late, and Lakers fail to execute in overtime as Jazz wins to tie series, 2-2. Turiaf is ejected, and Utah's bench outscores L.A.'s, 39-16. >>

JERRY CROWE
Text messages from press row . . . >>

LAKERS REPORT
Backup center's flagrant foul and ejection in second quarter leaves Lakers short-handed at the position, forcing Gasol to play 48 minutes in overtime loss to Utah. >>

UTAH REPORT
Utah's reserves score a postseason-high 39 points, while Lakers subs account for only 16 points, 11 of them coming from Sasha Vujacic. >>

MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
With back spasms, Kobe Bryant isn't the same, especially late in a 123-115 Lakers overtime loss to the Jazz, although he turns playmaker to help force the extra period. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
SAN ANTONIO -- Warming up before Game 4, Tim Duncan decided to have a little fun. He threw the ball behind his back and between his legs, then went up for the lay-in. >>

May 11, 2008
BILL PLASCHKE
As series with Utah gets tight, Lakers need the hot-and-cold Sasha Vujacic to keep things loose, and to hit a few key jumpers in the bargain. >>

KURT STREETER
The Boston star, accused of making a 'menacing gesture' that was seen as a gang sign, has given much back to the L.A. community and doesn't deserve such treatment. >>

MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
They can't wait to get Andrew Bynum back, but that won't be until next season and this bunch is doing OK. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
Utah returns to practice with a chance to even the series on Sunday in Game 4. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
Pau Gasol isn't happy with his performance in Game 3, the Lakers' first defeat in more than a month. >>

BEHIND THE LINES
The Lakers are three-point road underdogs for today's Game 4 against Utah in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals. >>

NBA ROUNDUP
Playing without injured Billups, they hold off Magic to take 3-1 series lead. >>

NBA REPORT
Former Suns coach reportedly gets a four-year contract worth $24 million to go to New York. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
Staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up loose ends before Lakers playoff games. >>

May 10, 2008
BILL PLASCHKE
Center's disappearing act at the first sign of playoff adversity is a troubling sign for the Lakers. >>

UTAH 104, LAKERS 99
Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur have big games to get Utah back in the series, as L.A. suffers its first loss of the postseason. >>

JERRY CROWE
Text messages from press row . . . >>

WNBA
With the WNBA season to begin May 17, the Los Angeles Sparks rookie stars in commercials that reach out to male sports fans. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
The Utah forward who was unsettled by his less-than-expected performance in Game 2 comes through in Game 3 victory for Jazz. >>

LAKERS REPORT
Fisher has early foul trouble and Farmar can't make a shot as the point guards struggle. >>

MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
Lakers' stroll through playoffs is interrupted by their first postseason loss, 104-99 in Utah. Another defeat Sunday and they'll have a serious series on their hands. >>

May 9, 2008
THE STATS LLC LINE
STATS LLC provides a statistical windfall of information as the Lakers play Utah in Salt Lake City. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
As the longest tenured coach in all of the major professional sports, he sticks to the bread-and-butter pick-and-roll system that has been so effective. He guides team against Lakers again tonight. >>

MARK HEISLER ON THE NBA
It's been a year since the point guard endured one of the most dramatic days in his life -- playing for Utah in a playoff game hours after his daughter underwent cancer surgery. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
A quick lead is the best formula for playing in Utah, where the fans get extra loud. >>

JERRY CROWE
Text messages from press row . . . >>

SOUND AND VISION
Marge Hearn says her late husband would have enjoyed how the Lakers have played so far in the postseason. >>

BILL DWYRE
The mere mortals in Los Angeles are used to living alongside some high-powered stars, but the hero worship lavished upon the Lakers star, the newly minted NBA MVP, transcends all. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Being winless in a best-of-seven playoff series historically has not boded well for NBA teams. But Utah has worked its way out of that hole before. >>

NBA ROUNDUP
San Antonio, blown out in the first two games of the series, gets 31 points apiece from Parker and Ginobili in a 110-99 victory to avoid an 0-3 deficit. >>

BEHIND THE LINES
His Jazz team is down 2-0 in series to Lakers, but he can hark back to being in a similar situation as a player with Chicago in 1971. >>

LAKERS / BRESNAHAN'S TAKE
Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends before Lakers playoff games. >>

AROUND THE NBA
The point guard will be a game-time decision after straining his hamstring early in a Game 3 loss to the Orlando Magic. >>

NBAStore.com set a record for such sales in the first 24 hours, according to SportsBusiness Daily. >>

May 8, 2008
T.J. SIMERS
With the NBA commissioner in town and probably hoping for a Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals, the referees get whistle-happy against Utah. >>

LAKERS 120, UTAH 110
Bryant gets MVP trophy, then leads Lakers to 2-0 edge in series. >>

LAKERS REPORT
If the 20-year-old center doesn't feel better in three to four weeks, he might have exploratory surgery on a sore left knee that has kept him sidelined since Jan. 13. >>

MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
When do the playoffs start? >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
Rashard Lewis scores 33 points and the Magic defeats the Pistons. >>

AROUND THE NBA
Atlanta Hawks General Manager Billy Knight is stepping down, effective July 1. >>

May 7, 2008
BILL PLASCHKE
What makes the Lakers guard so difficult off the court is precisely what makes him so great on the court. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Kobe gets 82 first-place votes to easily outdistance runner-up Paul of New Orleans. >>

JERRY CROWE
Text messages from press row . . . >>

BEHIND THE LINES
They have made it look easy so far in playoffs. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Utah, down 1-0, will try for a split in L.A. before heading home, where it lost only four times in the regular season. >>

LAKERS / BRESNAHAN'S TAKE
Staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends before Lakers playoff games. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Cavaliers forward scores only 12 points on two-for-18 shooting and misses a big layup in the final seconds of a 76-72 loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. >>

May 6, 2008
MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
Last May, the Lakers star was trashing the organization, on his way to demanding a trade. This May he's MVP and they're back in title hunt. How'd they get from there to here? >>

May 5, 2008
MARK HEISLER / ON THE NBA
Sloan says the right things but doesn’t appear too happy with his team after the Game 1 loss to Lakers. >>

May 6, 2008
CROWE'S NEST
Former Lakers coach was there at creation, when Globetrotters impresario Abe Saperstein introduced the three-point shot in the short-lived American Basketball League. >>

LAKERS REPORT
After being thoroughly overwhelmed on the boards, 58-41, in Game 1 victory, the Lakers work on increasing physicality. The Jazz has issues too, mainly how to deal with Kobe Bryant. >>

NBA ROUNDUP
San Antonio gets left with an 0-2 series deficit for the first time since 2001 as Paul (30 points and 12 assists) and New Orleans pick up where they left off in Game 1 with a 102-84 victory. >>

May 4, 2008
LAKERS UPDATE
Kobe admits he didn't think he'd win the award during his career, but he says team's focus is on next series against the Utah Jazz. >>

May 6, 2008
PRO BASKETBALL
Utah forward Carlos Boozer says limiting the Lakers star's free throws and defending him better are keys to avoiding a second-round exit. >>

May 5, 2008
T.J. SIMERS
A review of Lakers playoff game No. 5 -- 11 wins to go >>

BILL PLASCHKE
His franchise-playoff record 21 made free throws are what makes the difference in Sunday's Lakers' victory over the Utah Jazz. Coach Phil Jackson calls it the team's 'biggest scoring threat.' >>

LAKERS 109, UTAH 98
They take all the punishment the rugged Jazz doles out and make enough free throws to win Game 1 of second-round series. Bryant has 38 points, a team-record 21 of them at the line. >>

LAKERS REPORT
They are outrebounded, 58-41, in Game 1 victory over Utah, including 25-8 on the offensive glass. That 'won't work,' Odom says. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Despite his relative inexperience, the guard gets to choose the team's plays, as his coach defers. But his usually reliable shooting was missing Sunday against the Lakers. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Boston leads by 18 at halftime on the way to a 99-65 victory over the Hawks and a second-round meeting with LeBron James and the Cavaliers. >>

May 4, 2008
BILL PLASCHKE
Last spring, in a whirlwind of events that captured the attention of a nation, a cancerous tumor was discovered in the left eye of his infant daughter. >>

LAKERS Q & A
L.A.'s newest impact player talks about living in Southern California, things he likes about being in the Southland, his life away from the court and much more. >>

MARK HEISLER ON THE NBA
Stockton and Malone have been replaced by Williams and Boozer, but this much hasn't changed: Utah, and Sloan, still figure to be thorns in Lakers' side. >>

PRO BASKETBALL
Lakers and league MVP Bryant haven't had a game in six days since sweeping Denver. They're eager to get back into it in the second round against Utah. >>

NEW ORLEANS 101, SAN ANTONIO 82
NEW ORLEANS -- David West scored a career playoff-high 30 points to lead the New Orleans Hornets to a 101-82 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their Western Division semifinal playoff series Saturday night. >>

DETROIT 91, ORLANDO 72
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Hedo Turkoglu's uncontested dunk early in the second half gave the Orlando Magic its first lead. Less than a minute later, the Detroit Pistons took over. >>

NBA PLAYOFFS
The NBA today revised the schedule for the Lakers-Utah playoff series. >>

May 3, 2008
NBA
Stern will make the official presentation to Lakers star next week. >>

Your Vote
Can the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz in their Western Conference semifinal series?

Yes, they'll sweep another opponent
Yes, but Utah will beat them at least once
Yes, but it'll be a seven-game series
No, the Jazz are too physical
Lakers' Glory Days
Times sportswriter Steve Springer recalls the Showtime era, the '60s and the '70s.



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