Ben Bolch

The Times' high school basketball rankings by Ben Bolch:

WESTERN CONFERENCE LAKERS VS. SPURS 2. San Antonio 58-24 (Home: 35-6; Road: 23-18) 7. Lakers 45-37 (Home: 29-12; Road: 16-25) Season series: San Antonio, 2-1. Key stat: Kobe Bryant will play zero games in the series after tearing his left Achilles' tendon April 12, taking his averages of 27.3 points and 6.0 assists off the board. His presence may be even more irreplaceable. Outlook: The Lakers unveiled a template for beating San Antonio in their most recent meeting, playing lockdown defense to disrupt the Spurs' precision passing game while holding them to 37.1% shooting in a 91-86 victory.

No. 4 TEXAS vs. No. 5 USC * at Spokane, Wash. -- If USC has an advantage, it would seem to be that the Trojans are a veteran group, while the Longhorns start four freshmen and a sophomore. --BEN BOLCH

To loosely paraphrase Newton's laws of motion, for every NBA postseason award there is an equal and opposite honor. So in addition to LeBron James as the game's best player, may we humbly submit DeSagana Diop as its worst? The Charlotte Bobcats center has somehow appeared in 22 games this season, making one start, despite averaging 0.7 points and making a robust 29.6% of his shots. If he played 36 minutes per game at his current production level, he would still average only 2.5 points.

Update -- Alvarez, a veteran left-hander who has a 0.00 earned-run average in two starts and a 17 1/3-inning scoreless streak, appears to be the ideal candidate to help the Dodgers end their four-game losing streak. Philadelphia has recovered after a slow start, pulling within 1 1/2 games of the Florida Marlins in the NL East. Padilla has rebounded since losing his first four decisions. -- Ben Bolch

Clippers tonight VS. UTAH When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Prime. Radio: 980. Records: Clippers 21-29, Utah 31-18. Record vs. Utah: 0-1. Update: The Jazz has an eight-game win streak, but six were at home. It has a losing record on the road. Carlos Boozer (19.2 points a game) is expected to return from a strained calf. -- Ben Bolch

vs. UC Davis, Monday at Pauley Pavilion, 7:30 p.m., Prime Ticket: The Aggies (4-5) will be playing their first game since Dec. 4, when they defeated Division II Notre Dame de Namur, 80-53. Senior guard Joe Harden leads UC Davis in points (15.3) and rebounds (6.1). ? Ben Bolch

Clippers tonight AT CLEVELAND When: 3 PST. Where: Quicken Loans Arena. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980. Records: Clippers 20-26, Cavaliers 37-11. Record vs. Cavaliers: 0-1. Update: The Clippers meet an Eastern Conference power that's on a seven-game winning streak. Cleveland is expected to be without guard Mo Williams, who has a sprained shoulder, and possibly guard Delonte West, who is recovering from a broken finger.

Beating the odds There's finally something inspiring about the Dallas Mavericks. The team that appears destined to go from NBA champions to missing the playoffs in two years has a heartwarming story in Chris Wright , the first known player in the league to have multiple sclerosis. Doctors told the former Georgetown star point guard that his career was over last year after his foot gave out while running sprints during a practice with a professional team in Turkey. Wright also lost sensation in and felt pain and numbness in his right hand, right arm and right leg, triggering visits to specialists who diagnosed him with multiple sclerosis.

Passing it on Brandon Jennings is mastering more than the first half of his job description. The Milwaukee Bucks point guard proved he was a natural scorer only seven games into his NBA career, when he splurged for 55 points against Golden State. Overall, the former Compton Dominguez High star has scored 30 or more points 23 times in his first four pro seasons. Something he had not done until last week: collect 10 or more assists in three consecutive games. It started when Jennings logged a career-high 19 assists in a victory over Toronto on March 2. He showed it would not be just a passing fancy when he collected 17 assists two nights later in a triumph against Utah.

The ring's the thing Kobe Bryant's disapproval brought a smile to the face of Derek Fisher on Friday when the newest member of the Oklahoma City Thunder was told his former teammate was miffed Fisher had become another impediment to a sixth championship ring. Fisher is also going for his sixth ring, so let the chase commence. "I think at this point that's what it's about," said Fisher, 38. "I think I heard him say it a couple of days ago and it's no different for me. That's why we play, to win. "For me personally and for this team, of course we want to win a championship.

Looking ahead CLIPPERS AT LAKERS , Thursday at 7:30 p.m. TV: TNT. There might be more than a few Stanley Roberts references going around this week. The burly center was the best player on the court the last time the Clippers secured a victory in a season series against the Lakers, their 101-93 triumph on March 30, 1993, at the Sports Arena giving them wins in three of five head-to-head meetings that season. The Clippers hold a 2-0 edge in the series this season heading into what will be a designated home game for the Lakers.

CLIPPERS AT MIAMI: Friday at 5 p.m. PST. TV: ESPN. The Clippers are coming! The Clippers are coming! South Beach is on red alert over the arrival of one of the NBA's top teams, provided Chris Paul is in the lineup. The Clippers are 29-10 when Paul plays this season as opposed to only 5-5 when he has sat out because of a bruised kneecap. The Clippers split the first two games of a season-long eight-game trip without their star point guard, but hope to have him and injured shooting guard Chauncey Billups back before reaching Miami.

The fall guy Losing was the only possible outcome for Alvin Gentry after the Phoenix Suns put him in a no-win situation. Management said goodbye to franchise cornerstones Steve Nash and Grant Hill over the summer, setting up its coach for a not-so-fond farewell. It should have come as no surprise that a team with nine new players and three new starters would regularly struggle to score 100 points and fail to hold fourth-quarter leads. Blame the Suns' 13-28 record on owner Robert Sarver and Lon Babby , president of basketball operations, not Gentry, who did his best with meager resources.

LAKERS AT CLIPPERS, 7:30 p.m. Friday. TV: ESPN. The Clippers don't own Los Angeles, but they have inquired about a season-long lease. The city's allegedly lesser NBA team also happens to be the one with the league's best winning percentage and a franchise-record 16-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Lakers are happy to be back to .500 after two months filled with more turmoil than a Lifetime movie. They have won six of seven games, making their title hopes no longer seem quite so farfetched.

Lakers tonight vs. Detroit Where: Staples Center. When: 6:30. On the air: TV: Time Warner Cable SportsNet; Radio: 710, 1330. Records: Lakers 0-3, Pistons 0-2. Update: A matchup involving teams that are a combined 0-5 probably wasn't what Time Warner Cable executives envisioned when they gave the Lakers a deal that could pay them $5 billion over the next 25 years. Of course, Detroit was expected to be bad; the Lakers weren't. The Pistons are in full-fledged rebuilding mode, with one notable holdover in Tayshaun Prince.