There’s no guarantees for Lakers this time around

The Lakers’ size and experience, plus the return of Andrew Bynum, should carry Kobe Bryant & Co. past the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA’s youngest playoff team. …

After that, it’s anybody’s guess. …

Speaking of Bryant, his 81-point game was only the 10th-greatest moment in Staples Center history? …

Kevin Durant and the Thunder already have exceeded expectations just by reaching the playoffs. …

The Lakers have not. …

Before Durant, the youngest scoring champion in NBA history was Max Zaslofsky of the 1947-48 Chicago Stags, also known as one of the few Jewish stars in NBA history. …

Michael Jordan was a 10-time NBA scoring champion. …

Trying to curry favor with NBA officials, a specialty of Phil Jackson’s, is nothing new, but former Lakers owner Bob Short once picked an inappropriate time to make a pitch. …

In 1960, after the Minneapolis Lakers’ club-owned airplane was forced to make an emergency landing in an Iowa cornfield, Short said, “We know the officials are against us in the NBA, and the fans haven’t been with us in attendance, but now we know the Lord is trying to save us from dying.” …

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, scheduled to pitch Saturday against the Dodgers, has worn the same now ratty cap for each of his 92 major league appearances. …

Vladimir Guerrero is off to a flying start in Texas. …

“After reading the Kings made the playoffs,” reader Richard Turnage of Burbank e-mails to note, “only one conclusion can be reached: I just stepped out of a hot tub time machine!” …

Nomadic Larry Brown was on hand for the New Jersey Nets’ first and last games at the Meadowlands — as coach of the Nets in 1981 and coach of the Charlotte Bobcats this week. …

In between, he coached six other NBA teams, plus Kansas. …

On this date 70 years ago, in 40-degree weather at Chicago, Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians pitched the only opening-day no-hitter in major league baseball history. …

A 90-second video of highlights from Saturday’s USC football scrimmage, showing freshman Dillon Baxter’s spectacular touchdown run and DaJohn Harris’ strip of Mitch Mustain, has been viewed on YouTube nearly 2 million times. …

Butler Coach Brad Stevens, claiming he was no genius in spotting the potential of lightly recruited Gordon Hayward, a projected top-15 NBA draft pick: “How many guys can handle, pass, shoot and put both elbows above the rim off either foot?” …

Yes, Ray McCallum and Trey Zeigler opted to play for their fathers, but when was the last time UCLA lost out to Detroit Mercy and Central Michigan on basketball recruits? …

In a “Saturday Night Live” parody of Nike’s new Tiger Woods TV ad, an Earl Woods-like voiceover notes, “I know this goes without saying, but when I’m gone please don’t use my voice in a commercial — and if you do, please don’t make it for a commercial trying to sell sneakers after a sex scandal.” …

Concludes the admonition, “But you know that, right?” …

It seems not. …

In each of the last three events that both Woods and Phil Mickelson were entered, Mickelson won. …

Magic Johnson claims to have met all 30,000 of the men and women he employs in urban areas in 24 states, one more reason he’s an unlikely candidate for “Undercover Boss.” …

An NFL stadium in Chavez Ravine, which has been discussed, sounds pretty good — unless tailgating is prohibited. …

With former partner Kerri Walsh due to deliver a second child next month, two-time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor teams with Nicole Branagh this weekend as the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour kicks off in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. …

We all know that Jerry Jones has a history with Bill Parcells, but what’s his beef against Tim Tebow? …

Baron Davis talks about the Clippers’ need to find an identity as if Donald Sterling & Co. hadn’t just spent the last quarter-century forging perhaps the most indelible image in sports.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com