Guards

Birds do it, bees do it, even wildebeests and zebus do it. And during the "Valentine's Day Sex Tour" at Santa Ana Zoo today, visitors will learn exactly how animals court and mate in a captive setting. Wild stuff? Well, the event is for adults only, but zoo curator Connie Sweet said she wouldn't go so far as to slap an R-rating on the tour. Call it PG-13.

LeBron James of the Miami Heat was the leading vote-getter for the All-NBA team, and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant earned his 10th first-team selection, tied for second on the all-time list. Bryant, a first-team pick for the seventh straight season, joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Elgin Baylor , Bob Cousy , Michael Jordan , Bob Pettit and Jerry West with 10 selections to the first team. Karl Malone is the leader with 11. James, who won his third most-valuable-player award, received 118 of a possible 120 first-team votes Thursday from a panel of writers and broadcasters.

When a security firm contracting with Los Angeles County went bankrupt earlier this year, hundreds of workers were not paid for their hours guarding county clinics, Sheriff's Department buildings and Fire Department facilities. On Tuesday, Supervisor Gloria Molina urged county lawyers to find a way to pay them about $200,000 in wages she said they are due, prompting a bitter exchange among her colleagues. International Services Inc., which placed nearly 800 guards in county facilities, filed for bankruptcy after its president and chief executive, Ousama "Sam" Karawia, 45, was charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, grand theft, making false statements and insurance fraud.

AT MINNESOTA When: 5 PDT. Where: Target Center, Minneapolis. On the air: WNBA.com. Records: Sparks 2-0, Lynx 2-0. Record vs. Lynx (2011): 1-4. Update: Sparks guard Sharnee Zoll sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during Monday's practice and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Zoll, who played in Europe the last four seasons before the Sparks signed her in February, averaged seven assists in the team's two exhibition games but did not play in the team's season opener Friday.

Your editors are very righteous that the "lessons of the poll guards must not be obscured." Your editors did not spell out the lessons that they had in mind, but I suspect that different people will come up with very different lessons. For example, I learned that non-citizens (both legal green-card holders and illegals) need have no hesitation to register and vote in any and all U.S. elections. Because of this poll guard settlement, it is unlikely that in the future anyone will feel that they can afford to even think about enforcing the probable felony violations of our registration and voting laws.

If possessing top guards and playing stellar defense is the secret to winning a basketball championship, then Westchester High is the team to beat when action begins tonight. "They're pretty much by themselves in the elite group," said Santa Ana Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight . With banners in the gym celebrating 10 City Section championships and five state championships, Westchester has established a standard of excellence under Coach Ed Azzam that's based on aggressive man-to-man defense.

Readers' questions for our Lakers beat reporter Broderick Turner. Question: I've really enjoyed watching Jordan Farmar's progress this year.  In my opinion, he is developing at a level that will make him a good choice to become the starter at point guard next year.  His turnovers are declining, and he is the only Lakers guard to consistently drive to the basket and attack the rim. My opinion notwithstanding, we all know that both Jordan and Derek Fisher are not under contract for next year, and are eligible to become free agents.

A week before NBA owners are expected to lock out players in a labor dispute, there was a tranquil setting Thursday night at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo as the NBA draft took place. Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said he wasn't going to blow up the team despite suggestions by a "prominent member of the media [Magic Johnson]" that he should. And Kupchak said his guess is that guard Shannon Brown will opt out of his contract and become a free agent. The Lakers used their first two second-round draft picks in Thursday night's NBA draft to select guards, taking Michigan's 6-foot-4 point guard Darius Morris with the 41st pick and College of Charleston's 6-2 combination guard Andrew Goudelock with the 46th pick.

Four guards at a prison in central Denmark who ate a cake baked for them by inmates were hospitalized with suspected narcotic poisoning. Minutes after eating the cake in the wing of Nyborg prison that houses members of the Black Cobra motorcycle gang, a female guard complained of not being able to feel her hands and legs. Lars Erik Siegumfeldt, a spokesman with the Danish Prison and Probation Service, said the guards would not have been suspicious of the gift. "Normally the guards and the inmates are very close in the Danish system," he said.

Crossing guards will be required to undergo criminal background checks as part of a contract ratified this week by the local elementary school district. The Fullerton School District and the city will split the cost of the $151,382 crossing guard program, while the city will be responsible for employing the guards from a private company. City Atty. Richard D.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Lakers can only hope that their point guard of the future is better than the one of their recent past. Even if the player who fits both descriptions is Ramon Sessions. After providing a considerable boost upon his acquisition in March, Sessions was a disappointment for most of the Western Conference semifinals. His performance in the Lakers' season-ending 106-90 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 on Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena may have been a new low. Two of Sessions' playoff-worst six turnovers triggered big runs by the Thunder.

Kevin Durant might be listed at 6-feet-9, but an Oklahoma City teammate called the star forward 6-10. And Lakers Coach Mike Brown went so far as to call Durant a 7-footer. No matter, Durant's contribution Saturday was immeasurable in the pivotal Game 4 of the Western Conference best-of-seven semifinal series. Not only did he drain the go-ahead three-pointer with 13.7 seconds left in a 103-100 victory over the Lakers, but he applied stifling defense to Kobe Bryant down the stretch, using his long arms to alter every shot.

Guard Derek Fisher, grand old man of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is the emotional rock of an otherwise young team. "He's the best I've played with or seen in terms of being able to address a team, talk to a team, communicate with guys in a way that's really effective," forward Nick Collison said of Fisher, 37. "It's like having another coach, but he still has the respect of the players. It doesn't feel like he's preaching at you, he just makes a lot of sense. " In that way, the Lakers can only hope that passing the rock doesn't come back to haunt them.

Like many of his teammates, Clippers guard Nick Young has been coping with an injury throughout his team's playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs. His malady hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as Chris Paul's strained right hip flexor or Blake Griffin's sprained left knee, but regardless, Young's tooth really hurts. The Reseda Cleveland High School and USC alum has been putting off dental surgery to extract a wisdom tooth so he could keep playing in the playoffs. After joining the Clippers in March, Young's scoring spark off the bench has quickly become indispensable.

When Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were teammates, Bryant used to joke about the lopsided results of their one-on-one games at the Lakers practice facility. On Friday evening, he proved that he wasn't just bragging. Fisher guarded Bryant on two possessions in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the Lakers Western Conference Semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The mismatch resulted in consecutive baskets for Bryant. In the first sequence, Bryant shot a 14-foot turnaround fade away jumper over Fisher to tie the game at 76-76 with 8:17 remaining.

Throughout the playoff series, Spurs point guard Tony Parker has downplayed his matchup with Clippers point guard Chris Paul. Things were no different Saturday after the Spurs' 96-86 comeback victory, as Parker reiterated that he was not focusing solely on shutting down the Clippers star. But Parker's teammate Tim Duncan did say that the tough defensive assignment makes Parker "even better. " "He couldn't find a rhythm on the offensive end, but he was playing defense really hard," Duncan said.

Armed men firing from pickup trucks and flying in a helicopter attacked a maximum-security prison holding some of Brazil's highest-profile inmates but were repelled by guards, authorities said. No inmates escaped. The federal prison attacked late Sunday houses Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia and Brazilian gang leader Luiz Fernando da Costa -- and officials were investigating whether the gunmen were trying to free either of them. The helicopter never landed, according to a Justice Ministry spokesman who declined to give his name.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Point broken. The Lakers continued to suffer in point-guard production against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ramon Sessions had two points and no assists in 24 minutes of the Lakers' 77-75 loss in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. Steve Blake had five points on one-for-five shooting in almost 27 minutes Wednesday. Blake missed the possible go-ahead shot with 3.9 seconds to play, his three-point attempt from the corner a little long and a tad to the right.

SAN ANTONIO — With Chris Paul clearly slowed by injury, another little point guard stepped in Tuesday to lead the way. With next to no playoff experience, Eric Bledsoe was thrust into the limelight in Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs and responded with a 23-point performance that matched his career high. Bledsoe, though, was about the only bright spot for the Clippers, who were blown away in the second half and fell to the Spurs, 108-92, to open the Western Conference semifinals.