www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NMRZzLtgZA

Pau Gasol added 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Lamar Odom scored 18 for the Lakers, who have won seven straight against their Northern California rivals.  But Bryant was the star. He had his 17th career triple-double and first since Jan. 21, 2009, against the Clippers. He had just two triple-doubles the past five seasons, but needed only five games after offseason knee surgery to get one this season.  “I just feel better. I feel fine,” Bryant said. “I’m 100 percent.”

The Kings wouldn’t argue. They had won three of four to begin the season for their best start in seven years. That brought hope among Sacramento fans that a rivalry that had grown stale in recent years could be rekindled to what it was a decade ago when these teams were annually among the top contenders for a title.  But the Lakers dealt the young Kings a dose of reality that beating Cleveland, Toronto and Minnesota is a little different than going up against the two-time defending NBA champions.  “The Lakers don’t even know who we are right now,” coach Paul Westphal said. “We would like to build a rivalry with the best team in the world. … We’ve got to win some games before there’s a rivalry. They’re where we want to be.”

A 3-pointer by rookie DeMarcus Cousins and a basket by reigning Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans helped Sacramento get within six early in the third quarter. The Lakers responded with a 13-1 run that gave them a 79-61 lead and essentially put the game away early. Ron Artest hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 20 points.  The Lakers have scored at least 107 points every game this season and turned the ball over only six times against the Kings as the offense looked in midseason form.  “It’s just picking up where we left off,” coach Phil Jackson said. “Kind of generating energy from the championship season, going out with a lot of knowledge of what we want to do.”
The Lakers got a scare late in the third quarter when Odom was hunched over in pain holding his left hand. He was tended to by the training staff and quickly returned to the game and made a 3-pointer, showing no ill effects.  Just when it appeared as if the Lakers could rest their stars on the back end of back-to-back games, the Kings rallied to cut the lead to 99-92 on a layup by Evans with just under 4 minutes to go.

Fisher answered with a 3-pointer and then got a steal for a three-point play that made it 105-92 with 3:14 to go. Bryant converted a three-point play when he pump-faked to draw a foul on Luther Head and then made a jumper that hit the rim and backboard before falling in to generate cheers from the large contingent of Lakers fans on hand.  “Big play Derek,” Odom said. “The Yankees got Derek Jeter, we got Derek Fisher.”

Bryant hit a pair of 3-pointers over Evans in the opening minutes and then turned into a distributor. He had six assists in the first quarter as the Kings struggled defensively against the Lakers.

NBA Lakers vs Rockets Game Highlights

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zmBwkai6YM

Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, newcomer Steve Blake hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 18.8 seconds left and Los Angeles rallied late for a 112-110 victory over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.  Pau Gasol had 29 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who hung the golden banner celebrating their 16th NBA championship and handed out their impossibly ostentatious rings in a surprisingly touching pregame ceremony.  “It’s always fun when this night comes and there’s a chance to enjoy it,” said Bryant, a five-time champion along with Derek Fisher. “And tonight it was a little more special because we all introduced each other. It’s special. We know the bond that we share, and for Fisher to bring me out there, that was great.”  But the champs then fell behind by 15 points before rallying for a fourth-quarter lead behind a 3-point barrage by Shannon Brown, who scored 14 of his 16 points in a 6½-minute span.

The clubs traded the lead four times in the final minute, but Houston’s Luis Scola missed a difficult scoop shot with 3 seconds left. After officials used a lengthy video review to award possession of the loose ball to Houston with 2.4 seconds to play, Aaron Brooks’ layup attempt at the buzzer was blocked by Lamar Odom.  “Getting those rings, you’re definitely on a high,” said Brown, who turned down significant free-agent offers for a shot at a three-peat. “You have to come back down, because that’s history. That’s something nobody can take away from you ever, but it doesn’t help us in the next game.” “They’re the world champs, and we knew it was going to be tough,” Houston coach Rick Adelman said. “But I thought we responded pretty well. I think for about seven minutes, we just didn’t play the way we’re capable of, and they got back in the game.”

The Rockets didn’t make the celebration easy in the Lakers’ first real home game since that gut-wrenching, come-from-behind victory in Game 7 of the NBA finals four months ago. Los Angeles trailed by 11 points late in the third quarter before a 21-4 run featuring 12 consecutive points.  The Lakers understandably had a little trouble focusing after the pregame festivities.

The nine remaining Lakers’ rings are small asteroids of excess designed by owner Jerry Buss. They feature 16 oversized diamonds for each Lakers title, a three-dimensional rendering of each player’s face and even a small piece of leather from a basketball used in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. In contrast, the ring ceremony was all heart. NBA commissioner David Stern and Lakers executive Jeanie Buss stood at center court waiting for coach Phil Jackson, who accepted his 11th ring and said a few kind words before introducing forward Luke Walton, who introduced Odom, who introduced Ron Artest — all the way to Fisher introducing Bryant to thunderous applause.  “I think that the players were emboldened by the ring,” Jackson said. “I think they were excited about it, so that part of it, I thought was good. I just didn’t think we played with the right speed and tempo in the first half. We got a lot of shots, not a lot of them good.”

The Lakers hung in with scoring from Bryant and Gasol, and Blake hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute of the third quarter to trim Houston’s lead to five points entering the fourth.  Brown’s layup put the Lakers ahead 88-86 with 9:08 left near the end of the Lakers’ big run, but Houston took a 108-107 lead with 53 seconds left. Gasol and Scola traded baskets before Blake came open on the perimeter and confidently drained his third 3-pointer.  “It feels great to contribute in your first game, but it’s even better to win in your first game,” Blake said.  Sign up for Lakers News Alerts at LakerBuzz.com

No. 1: Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are the greatest franchise ever because of their incredible collection of trademark stars.

1. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: 80.2 POINTS PER SEASON (1947-2010)

• Wins: 3,027
• Playoff wins: 426
• Series wins: 106
• Titles: 16
• All-Stars: 127
• Best player: Magic Johnson
• Best coach: Phil Jackson
• Best team: 1971-72 (69-13, won NBA title)
• Intangibles: +150. Endless stream of superstars — on the court and in the seats.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-yiQmDDMKc

Magic. Kareem. Jerry West. Kobe. Shaq. When it comes to superstars, the Lakers are so far out in front of everybody else it’s not even funny — their all-time starting five would crush any other team’s; in fact, it might be better than that of the rest of the league’s put together. So star-studded is their legacy that I left Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and George Mikan off my five-man team that opened this paragraph, also neglecting the likes of James Worthy, Bob McAdoo and Gail Goodrich

And those big names won, too. Although the Celtics have more championships, the Lakers have more of everything else — wins, playoff wins, playoff series wins and conference titles. About the only thing that hurts L.A. in the all-time rankings is the penalty for relocating from Minnesota to Los Angeles in the 1950s.

The story begins with the Mikan years up north, where he led Minneapolis to five championships in six seasons in the formative years of the NBA. As the league’s first dominant big man, he established something of a tradition.

FRANCHISE HISTORY

Los Angeles Lakers (1960-Present)

Minneapolis Lakers (1948-60)

Since then, the Lakers have almost always had at least one monstrous big man — Mikan, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Pau Gasol — and one electrifying perimeter star to go with him (Magic, Jerry West, Baylor, Kobe).  About the only thing the Lakers haven’t been able to do is best the Celtics head-to-head. In 11 meetings against Boston in the Finals, L.A. has prevailed just three times. In that regard, Baylor’s Minneapolis team got the ball rolling in 1958-59 in the team’s last season before heading west, and in the ’60s, Chamberlain and West were foiled by the Celtics five times

Ultimately, those Lakers broke through with a 69-13 season in 1971-72 that featured a 33-game winning streak — still a record for North American pro team sports — to win the team’s first title in L.A.  After a brief lull in the late ’70s, they would get five more rings when Magic arrived to join forces with Kareem. Although there was one more painful loss to Boston interposed — a seven-game defeat in 1984 — L.A. avenged it by becoming the first team in nearly two decades to repeat as champs, winning in 1987 and 1988. A hamstring injury to Magic Johnson in the Finals the next year derailed the Lakers’ quest for a three-peat, but they would get one a decade and a half later after Phil Jackson came to Tinseltown to guide Shaq and Kobe.

That team provided plenty of last-second excitement — most notably the alley-oop from Kobe to Shaq that cemented a Game 7 conference finals comeback win over Portland in 2000 — and produced one of the most dominant playoff runs in history with a 15-1 romp through the field in 2001.  Amazingly, the franchise has missed the playoffs only five times in its 62 years. The Lakers, who have played in seven Finals in the new century, are now only one title behind the hated Celtics after defending their title in 2010 with a dramatic seven-game win over Boston.