SPORTS
October 7, 2008 | Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
Everybody loves a winner, even during troubled economic times. The Lakers season-ticket holders renewed at a 99% rate for the upcoming season, an impressive percentage during robust financial periods, but much more so given the current slowdown. The Lakers were within two victories of winning an NBA championship last season, and their fans have followed, hoping for a continued uptick in the franchise's fortunes.
SPORTS
January 11, 2004 | Bill Plaschke
Kobe Bryant has said he wants to test the free-agent market this summer, maybe try life as a big Jordan in a small pond. Well, for the last five games, he has. With Shaquille O'Neal planted on the bench, Bryant has been the man, throwing up dozens of shots off hundreds of dribbles, jacking, jabbing, juking. And, oh yeah, losing. Which, in the last seven years, is what happens nearly half the time when Bryant plays and O'Neal doesn't.
SPORTS
February 10, 1999 | TIM KAWAKAMI, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Yeah, he said it. As a joke, Nick Van Exel insists. To get the guys laughing at a tough time. And he was misunderstood, he says now, not for the first, but for the worst and last time as a Laker. Van Exel said and did a lot of dead-serious things as a Laker, some wild, suspension-provoking things, and this is what he's going to be remembered for? "1-2-3 . . . Cancun!" It was a cold, cold time for the Lakers.
SPORTS
December 13, 2001 | Tim Brown
Deandre Hillman, 17, died in August of cardiac arrest. He died on an outdoor basketball court in Columbus, Ohio, two games into a hot night, while friends poured water over him. He was 6-foot-5, a varsity player at nearby Whitehall-Yearling High, with a chance to be very good. There was something else about Deandre Hillman. "He looked just like me," Laker forward Samaki Walker said Wednesday afternoon. Hillman was Walker's nephew, his brother's oldest child.
SPORTS
May 20, 2000 | Bill Plaschke
Old A.C. Green. Sitting like a dean. Watching the Lakers go far. Along came a bear, and sat on his hair. And everyone said, Dude, that's bizarre. * This is the story about the little green bear that sometimes sits atop the head of the Lakers' big power forward. Don't laugh. This is serious. He is an important figure. He represents an important ethic. He is about strength, endurance, respect. We're talking, of course, about the bear.
SPORTS
May 11, 2003 | Steve Springer, Times Staff Writer
Laker Coach Phil Jackson underwent an angioplasty to unblock an artery in his heart Saturday, the day before a crucial Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs. As the Lakers try for a fourth consecutive NBA championship, the procedure marks another turn in a tumultuous season that included the death of the team's legendary broadcaster, player injuries and inconsistency.