Kobe Bryant

The biggest home in Los Angeles County is ready for a new nickname: The 56,500-square-foot Manor, dubbed Candyland after owner Candy Spelling, has been sold to another wealthy socialite, British heiress Petra Ecclestone, in an all-cash deal for $85 million. As steep as that price is, it's not a record or even close to what Spelling was asking. The priciest Southland home transaction was the 2000 sale of an 8-acre estate in Bel-Air to financial executive Gary Winnick in a deal that included the trade of other land, for a total value of about $94 million.

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.

OKLAHOMA CITY — It was Mount Rushmore crumbling, piece by piece. It was the Grand Canyon shrinking, inch by inch. It was the greatest closer in basketball history closing a playoff game — and perhaps a season — down upon his own fingers with such force that an entire city still wails in shock and pain. Leading the Oklahoma City Thunder by seven points with two minutes remaining in Game 2 of their second-round series Wednesday, the Lakers put the ball in the hands of the great and trusted Kobe Bryant.

- - The Times' Mike Bresnahan reports Kobe Bryant plans to have his exit meeting with Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Coach Mike Brown later this week over lunch at an undisclosed location. Bresnahan reports Bryant wanted a little more time to decompress from the Lakers' loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

The carrot remains dangling there for Kobe Bryant to grab. With two regular-season games left, the Lakers star has a legitimate shot to grab the NBA's scoring title. He leads the league with an average of 27.89 points, while Thunder forward Kevin Durant strails with 27.79 points. A significant performance for Bryant in the Lakers' game Sunday against the Thunder would widen the gap and lead to ongoing commentary on how he's beating Father Time in his 16th NBA season. But he maintains that hardly sounds enticing.

When a Lakers icon buys the Dodgers, you can bet current Lakers take notice. Lakers stars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol had a lot to say after the news broke Tuesday night that the group headed by Magic Johnson will be the Dodgers' new owners. "I'm upset he didn't cut me in," Bryant said jokingly. "I'm going to have to talk to him about that. " But Bryant has a hard time seeing himself ever owning a sports team. "No. Well, I mean, if it's in a big market like Los Angeles or something like that, then yeah.

Even before Kobe Bryant went through a full pre-game workout Wednesday prior to the Lakers-Warriors game, Lakers development coach Phil Handy saw some signs earlier this week that suggested the Lakers' star would return to the court soon. Though Bryant had only shown he could walk pain-free while nursing a sore left shin, that didn't prevent him from working out earlier this week. Handy said he worked with Bryant for an hour on Monday followed by a 45-minute workout Tuesday, mostly centered on taking shots in the low post and on the block with minimal movement and jumping.

Within a one-month span, Derek Fisher found out that both the Lakers' front office and the executive board of the National Basketball Players Assn. don't want him around. The Lakers traded Fisher last month to the Houston Rockets for Jordan Hill, partly to pave the way for Ramon Sessions' arrival as the team's starting point guard as well as to free up the payroll from Fisher's $3.4 million salary next season. This week, the executive board for the NBPA voted 8-0 that it had lost confidence in Fisher's ability to lead and asked for his resignation as the union president.

Game stories -- The Times' Mike Bresnahan highlights Kobe Bryant's acknowledgment he felt fatigued in the Lakers' 88-85 overtime loss Tuesday to the Detroit Pistons. -- The Orange County Register's Kevin Ding centers his game story on Bryant's struggles. -- The Detroit Free Press' Vince Ellis and the Detroit News' Vincent Goodwill credit Rodney Stuckey's contributions. -- The Daily News' Elliott Teaford focuses on the Lakers' continual road struggles.

Here's a few Jeopardy! questions: He went three of 20 from the field, despite having the easiest and most appropriate looks at the rim. He ended a perfectly executed final play by clanking a wide-open three-pointer. He routinely missed layups. Had you answered with "Who is Kobe Bryant?" the audience likely would've laughed at you. But Alex Trebek would have said "that is correct" before eventually advancing to the Final Jeopardy! round. The Lakers' 103-99 loss Sunday to the Utah Jazz remained mystifying for Bryant who posted 15 points, missed 17 shots from the field, including one-of-six shooting from three-point range, and committed seven turnovers.

Ramon Sessions, Jordan Hill and Devin Ebanks are all potential free agents in July, with the Lakers showing varying degrees of interest in them. Tuesday was the first day of the rest of the Lakers' off-season. Already, there were very few answers. Six players went through annual exit meetings with Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Coach Mike Brown, most of them saying the same thing afterward to reporters: See you in training camp ... maybe? Ramon Sessions and Metta World Peace were the headliners Tuesday, with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum scheduled to appear Wednesday at the Lakers' training facility for individual 30-minute sessions.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- As the red and blue streamers dropped from the sky around the fallen Lakers faces, it felt like more than the end of a series. With "Takin' Care of Business" thumping and thousands rhythmically clapping around the staggering Lakers bodies, it felt like more than the end of a season. What happened here on a strange and sad Monday night felt like the end of an era. PHOTOS: Lakers vs. Thunder, Game 5 Kobe Bryant's window to win a sixth championship in Los Angeles may have officially shut, and who knows whether he will want to stick around to spend his final years pressing his nose against the glass?

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.

After spending a season fighting age, battling immaturity, struggling with old habits and jabbing with a new coach, the Lakers have ended up where we pretty much thought they would. Out of breath and on the ropes. Their veteran star is exhausted and annoyed. Their kid center is angry and distant. Their power forward is uncertain and embattled. And their season is officially on the brink after they blew a 13-point lead in a 103-100 loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday in the fourth and perhaps deciding game of their first-round playoff series.

Some things to take from the Lakers' 99-96 Game 3 victory Friday over the Oklahoma City Thunder. 1. The Lakers salvaged their season. I'll break down the particulars, but a Game 3 victory ensured the Lakers 2011-12 season remains intact. Yeah, there's still a Game 4, but there's no way the Lakers would overcome a 3-0 deficit. It's even debatable the Lakers would duplicate their Game 4 embarrassment last season against the Dallas Mavericks.

Game stories -- The Times' Mike Bresnahan calls Kobe Bryant the "masked marvel. " -- The Orange County Register's Kevin Ding highlights Bryant's 31-point effort in the Lakers ' 104-85 victory Wednesday over the Minnesota Timberwolves . -- The Daily News' Elliott Teaford marvels at Bryant's 31-point performance against Minnesota despite wearing a plastic mask. -- The Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda details how the Timberwolves struggled without Kevin Love.

  Game stories -- The Times' John Cherwa reports that Lakers guard Kobe Bryant suffered a nasal fracture during the 2012 NBA All-Star game and would be evaluated Monday in Los Angeles by an ear, nose and throat specialist. -- The New York Times' Howard Beck focuses on the Bryant passing Michael Jordan for the most points in NBA All-Star history. -- The Orange County Register's Janis Carr noted it was a rough night for Bryant and Andrew Bynum in the 2012 NBA All-Star game.

So, the Thunder want to force Kobe Bryant out of his game.Oklahoma City will double and triple team him to limit his dominance. The Thunder hopes the strategy will force him into a role as facilitator. The brash and aggressive combination of James Harden and Thabo Sefolosha try to goad the Lakers' star into needlessly throwing up shots.Oh, it works sometimes.