Blake

“Downton Abbey" is going to look quite different when it returns for a fourth season. On Friday Siobhan Finneran -- better known to fans as O'Brien, Lady Grantham's constantly scheming, severely coiffed maid -- confirmed that she is leaving the beloved costume drama. Finneran follows co-stars Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay out the door, though it seems likely her character will do so under less tragic circumstances than theirs: In the Season 3 finale, O'Brien was jockeying hard for a new job that would allow her to see more of the world.

Win or go home. It's the slogan for the NBA during the playoffs and it now applies to the Clippers. The reeling Clippers must beat the surging Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, on the road, in Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series or L.A.'s season is over. If the Clippers find a way to win - something they haven't done in the last three games after winning the first two in this best-of-seven series - Game 7 would be Sunday at Staples Center.

Rob Blake was frustrated after the top-seeded San Jose Sharks were upset by the Ducks in the first round of the playoffs last spring. The way he and his teammates are handling it suggests they're ready to shed the tag of being postseason flops. "The anger part is going to be there, but this falls directly on our shoulders," the veteran defenseman said Monday before the Sharks flew to Los Angeles to face the Kings tonight at Staples Center. "It's not often you play on a Presidents' trophy team.

The task the Clippers face in trying to deal with a tough Memphis Grizzlies team has become even more daunting. There is Blake Griffin's sprained right ankle that limited the All-Star forward to about 20 minutes in the Clippers' Game 5 loss Tuesday in the Western Conference playoffs. His X-rays were negative and an MRI showed no structural damage Wednesday. But the Clippers, who trail the Grizzlies, 3-2, have listed Griffin as a game-time decision for their win-or-go-home Game 6 at Memphis on Friday.

Looking very much like the fashion plate celebrated in magazines, complete with stylishly unruly blond mane and plunging black leather-like jacket, Blake Lively sits semiformally on a couch in a suite at the Luxe Hotel. Piled on the table before her: posters of her new movie for signing. Piled on her lap: fruit and dark chocolate. "Want some?" she asks, true to her last name. "It tastes like Easter." Heretofore known for teen-ish roles, Lively covers 10 turbulent years of the title character's younger incarnation in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee."

The booing of Rob Blake needs to stop. Let's not forget the many years of commitment (and hip checks) he gave for the Kings, and helped the Kings to get to their only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. Be true fans of the game and respect Blake--not boo him. Chio Baldocchi Hermosa Beach

With little emotion or inflection in his voice, Blake Griffin said the dreaded thought already had been in his head. One day after the Clippers said their rookie power forward would need knee surgery that would delay his NBA debut until next season, Griffin said Thursday that the decision was "the best choice" for his nascent career. "This has been a possibility in the back of my mind that it might have to happen, so it made it a little bit easier to process," he said. In a nine-minute news conference at the Clippers' training facility in Playa Vista, Griffin said he was "obviously disappointed" but that "it's better to take care of it now and not have to deal with it in the future."

Former King Rob Blake and the Colorado Avalanche will make their first appearance of the season today at Staples Center--and Blake still hasn't forgotten the nasty reception that greeted him here during the playoffs last May. The all-star defenseman blames the Kings for the boos that rained down on him, believing management portrayed him unfairly in contract negotiations that eventually broke down, leading to his trade to the Avalanche last February.

Blake DeWitt spent last winter preparing to become the Dodgers' starting second baseman and what did it get him? Only 31 games in the majors. Constant shuttling back and forth from the Dodgers' triple-A affiliate in New Mexico. A hectic schedule that prevented him from establishing a rhythm at the plate and resulted in a .204 average. Again preparing himself to be the Dodgers' second baseman this off-season, DeWitt said he knows that next year could turn out the same way, that the team could find another veteran free agent to push him out of the lineup and into limbo.

So let me see if I get this right. In all the letters The Times receives, not one was in favor of Rob Blake and his stance against an ultimatum? I find that very hard to believe. I saw true Kings' fans at the last preseason game against Phoenix cheering for Blake when he came out brandishing the "C" on his sweater. The Times seems to be continuing the grudge you have against hockey and Kings' hockey in particular. TRISH CASTRO Montebello

The Clippers have been pushed to the brink of playoff elimination despite a career effort from Chris Paul. Paul tried to carry the Clippers by himself because his running mate, Blake Griffin, could only play 19 minutes 34 seconds because of a sprained right ankle. But for as much as Paul did in tying his career playoff high with 35 points, he alone couldn't take down the Memphis Grizzlies, who won Game 5, 103-93, Tuesday night at Staples Center. BOX SCORE: Memphis 103, Clippers 93 After Memphis big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined for 46 points and 19 rebounds, the Clippers, who won the first two games in this series, now trail the Grizzlies, 3-2. Game 6 is Friday night in Memphis, where the Clippers lost Games 3 and 4 by an average of 16.5 points.

The Lakers will have a most valuable player in their backcourt Friday. It won't be Kobe Bryant. It may not be Steve Nash. That could leave Andrew Goudelock, selected as MVP of the NBA's Development League on Thursday after a season's worth of memorable performances against such teams as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and the Maine Red Claws. Next up for Goudelock: the San Antonio Spurs, in Game 3 of the Lakers' Western Conference first-round playoff series at Staples Center. A Lakers season that has included some surprising backcourt combinations - Bryant as a point guard, Nash as a hybrid shooting guard - could yield an even more unlikely union after another wave of injuries to Nash, Steve Blake and Jodie Meeks.

The Lakers' locker room was an inexplicably steamy 77 degrees an hour before their playoff game. Yeah, they felt the heat. They got pushed off the court by the San Antonio Spurs and almost surely will be ejected soon from the Western Conference playoffs after an 120-89 loss Friday at Staples Center. Fans booed in the second quarter, somehow sensing this could be the Lakers' worst home playoff loss ever. It was. No longer holding that title was a 106-77 loss to Portland in the 2000 Western Conference finals.

MEMPHIS, Tenn - With all the pushing, shoving, grabbing and holding that goes on between Blake Griffin and Zach Randolph , Griffin was asked if it has been easy to maintain his composure in the battle of All-Star power forwards. "Not really," Griffin acknowledged. And yet Griffin has. That's because he knows the Clippers need him during the Western Conference first-round series against the Grizzlies. "Sometimes it's a call you don't agree with," Griffin said, "but that's like every other game.

A push and a shove here, a grab and hold there. A knee, an elbow, a pull-down and a throw to the side. That's what all have come to expect when Clippers All-Star power forward Blake Griffin and Memphis All-Star power forward Zach Randolph face off in a game. It's what happened during four regular-season games. It's what happened during Game 1 of the teams' Western Conference first-round playoff series Saturday night, a 112-91 Clippers victory. And it's expected to be the same when the teams meet again in Game 2 Monday night at Staples Center.

The Lakers just beat the San Antonio Spurs last Sunday and played them closely in two losses earlier this season. Nobody seems to care. Try finding somebody - anybody - not wearing purple and gold who would pick the Lakers to win this first-round playoff series. Oddsmakers certainly don't like them, making the Spurs decisive favorites, as most second-seeded teams are against seventh-seeded teams. MGM Resorts International has the Lakers as 51/2 to 1 underdogs. Gambling website Bovada has them as 6 to 1 going into Sunday's series opener in San Antonio.

Rob Blake is one of the top three defensemen in the NHL. The entire hockey media talk about his dominance and his ability. However, no one talks about King management with the same reverence. The hockey community seems to take it for granted that the Kings will never win and that it is only fitting that Blake be allowed to win the Cup with a true contender. What is wrong with this picture? The Kings have a very exciting team this year and are in the playoff hunt. The talk should be about what it will take to make them a true Stanley Cup contender.

How about this, Dave Taylor? You go to Toronto instead of Rob Blake, and stay there. Now, we all understand, Mr. Taylor, that you are doing this for "the good of the sport," but how about signing Blake for the good of the team and the fans. King brass, take a good look around the league at all the other teams that are salivating and waiting for you to make this mistake. DEAN FORSYTH Highland It has become apparent that Dave Taylor is in way over his head in the Rob Blake situation.

How do the Lakers (44-37) match up at the point guard position Wednesday night when they host the Houston Rockets (45-36) -- in a game that could determine if the Lakers finish in seventh, eighth or ninth place? Point Guard -- Probable Starters: Steve Blake vs. Jeremy Lin Steve Nash won't play against the Rockets as he tries to recover from injury (nerve irritation, hamstring, etc.), which once again means Steve Blake will get the start at point guard against Houston's Jeremy Lin. Blake is a better defender than Nash (and any of the other Lakers reserves)

The White Mamba. The Blake Mamba. Whatever nickname you could conjure for Steve Blake on Sunday night worked. The Lakers guard scored 18 points in his first 18 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs, actually surpassing the nearly point-a-minute pace Kobe Bryant had produced two days before his torn left Achilles' tendon appeared to rupture his team's season. "Man, it's almost you don't even think anymore," Blake said of a stretch in which he made seven of his first eight shots.