Lakers

The free giveaways made sense, handed off to all Lakers fans as they entered Staples Center. White towels to wave. The Lakers completed the symbolism by waving the white flag, throwing in the towel, whatever metaphor you chose in a season-ending 103-82 playoff loss Sunday to the San Antonio Spurs. BOX SCORE: San Antonio 103, Lakers 82 Even the fourth-quarter "We Want Phil" chants weren't very forceful as the Lakers got swept in the first round for the first time since 1967.

This talk of whether the Lakers should re-sign Dwight Howard is a no-brainer. D12 is the superstar the Lakers need to build their future on. Fans and the media have been too hard on a guy recovering from serious back surgery, forced to take a back seat to Kobe, trying to perform in the wrong system while being coached by the wrong coach and all the while trying to live up to Shaq-sized expectations. We all better give him a break or he will take the first offer out of town and leave the Lakers and us fans holding the bag. Gino Cirignano Playa del Rey :: Advice to Dwight Howard: Move on. The Lakers are not the team for you, at least not now. You are a very good player but not a leader like Chris Paul to the Clippers.

It's become a record-breaking playoff run for the Lakers, not the kind they ever expected when Steve Nash put ink to paper last July, followed a month later by the Dwight Howard acquisition. The Lakers have lost three consecutive playoff games by double digits only one other time (1970 against Phoenix), according to Elias. They just suffered their most one-sided playoff defeat at home. And they haven't been swept in the first round since 1967 by the San Francisco Warriors in what was called the Western Division playoffs.

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.

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.

Faint chants could be heard as Andrew Goudelock stepped to the free-throw line late in the first quarter. “MVP!” fans yelled halfheartedly inside Staples Center, as if they were almost embarrassed it had come to this for the Lakers. The newly minted most valuable player of the Development League did what he could in a performance worthy of basketball's biggest stage Friday night, but there was no saving the Lakers during a 120-89 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series.

The Hack-a-Howard strategy might get hacked. At the very least, the NBA realizes that the lack of a strong intentional-foul rule tends to dim the viewing experience. "It slows the game down," said Joel Litvin , NBA president of basketball operations. "This is a rule that does apply in the last two minutes of the game, so why shouldn't it apply for the first 46?" Translation: Intentional fouling is bad for business. Dwight Howard has often been a target of other teams trying to drain points from the Lakers.

The Lakers guard stepped to the foul line and the familiar chant rose from the Staples Center crowd. “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!” Three wondrous letters symbolized the sorry end of a season. The Lakers fans were chanting for their only MVP still on his feet - Development League MVP Andrew Goudelock. He was purchased from basketball's minor leagues less than two weeks ago to replace injured Kobe Bryant. He had been placed in the starting lineup two hours earlier to replace injured Steve Nash.

SAN ANTONIO - The Lakers didn't have a great regular season. They're also lagging in awards attention. Dwight Howard was 14th in the voting for defensive player of the year, receiving one first-place vote and four third-place votes. Howard seemed surprised, if not mildly irritated, to finish that far behind. Memphis center Marc Gasol won the award, which was announced Wednesday by the league. "That's funny," Howard said of his distant finish. "That's OK. We've got next year and I've got a long time.

SAN ANTONIO - - Maybe Kobe Bryant should go back to tweeting during games. Maybe Metta World Peace should try harder to get in touch with the Dalai Lama. Maybe the Lakers' injuries will finally recede, because they're quickly running out of backcourt players. The sky continued to fall amid too many maybes Wednesday, the Lakers losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 102-91, in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference series. BOX SCORE: Spurs 102, Lakers 91 Then they lined up in the trainer's room, seemingly one by one. Steve Blake will get an ultrasound exam Thursday after sustaining a strained right hamstring on a fourth-quarter drive.