Nba, Pau Gasol | featured news

With the Memphis Grizzlies’ 86-70 victory over the Utah Jazz, the Lakers are bound for the playoffs, where they will rely on Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol... When Mike D’Antoni took over as the Lakers’ coach in November, he felt that he had a big problem. Two of them, actually. He did not think there was any way he could keep Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol on the court at the same time.

Dwight Howard missed a two-handed dunk on his first shot, and the night never got much better for the Los Angeles Lakers. When Howard and Steve Nash took their places alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol under the Hollywood spotlight, the Lakers opened a season of enormous expectations with an equally big dud of a performance. Darren Collison scored 17 points, Brandan Wright added 14, and the Dallas Mavericks spoiled the Lakers debuts of Howard and Steve Nash with a 99-91 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The deal means the Lakers get Howard; the Magic get Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, just drafted Moe Harkless (No. 15 pick in this draft) and a first round pick from each of the three other teams; the Sixers get Andrew Bynum and take on Jason Richardson and his contract; the Nuggets get Andre Iguodala. That varies from the original report but fits with reports that Pau Gasol is not part of the deal. Expect some changes in the final form, but that seems to be the core of it.

Pau Gasol was consumed by determination, holding off Kenneth Faried with one arm and relentlessly tipping the ball at the hoop with the other in the fourth quarter of Game 7. One, two, three, four - five! - offensive rebounds later, the ball finally surrendered and dropped through the hoop....

An epic trade that would have made Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant teammates in Los Angeles was vetoed Thursday night by N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern in a decision that rocked the league just as it emerged from a five-month lockout... New Orleans would have received Lamar Odom from the Lakers, and Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic from the Rockets. Martin is among the league’s top scorers, Odom is a versatile big man and Scola is a skilled and rugged power forward. In addition, the Hornets would have received the Knicks’ first-round draft pick in 2012, which the Rockets acquired in a previous trade. Houston would have received Pau Gasol from the Lakers.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and hit two go-ahead free throws with 19.5 seconds left before Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant made a crucial turnover, and the Dallas Mavericks rallied for a 96-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, Pau Gasol snapped out of his playoff funk with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers took control of their first-round playoff series with a 100-86 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.

Carlos Boozer drove the lane, and his shot was disdainfully blocked by Lamar Odom. The Utah forward grabbed the ball to try another - and Pau Gasol took a turn swatting it....

Pau Gasol scored 25 points and Andrew Bynum added 21 as the Los Angeles Lakers crushed the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-87 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Kobe Bryant is staying with the Los Angeles Lakers for another three years.  The deal means the Lakers achieved two main objectives going into the season — signing Bryant and Pau Gasol to extensions.