Regular Season

The less Matt Barnes plays in the playoffs, the better for the Lakers? It's starting to look that way. The Lakers' two biggest victories of the postseason heading into Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series Saturday night at Staples Center came with the struggling small forward playing 10 minutes or less. Barnes played 10 minutes Friday in Game 3, a three-point Lakers victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was on the court less than six minutes for the Lakers' Game 7 triumph against the Denver Nuggets in the first round.

The less Matt Barnes plays in the playoffs, the better for the Lakers? It's starting to look that way. The Lakers' two biggest victories of the postseason heading into Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series Saturday night at Staples Center came with the struggling small forward playing 10 minutes or less. Barnes played 10 minutes Friday in Game 3, a three-point Lakers victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was on the court less than six minutes for the Lakers' Game 7 triumph against the Denver Nuggets in the first round.

The Lakers appeared humiliated in their 103-92 loss Thursday to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It came from the crowd. The 18,997 at Staples Center showered them with boos with nine minutes remaining after seeing the Thunder outhustle, outrun and outexecute the Lakers. It came from Russell Westbrook. His 36 points were painful enough. Westbrook even stood at mid-court following his buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the third quarter pretending to shoot two guns and then holstering them.

Time off hasn't dulled Jonathan Quick's reflexes. The Kings' stellar goaltender took two days off the ice but still displayed excellent speed and lateral moves while trying to dodge onrushing reporters at the team's practice facility Tuesday. The media horde succeeded where the No. 1-seeded Vancouver Canucks and No. 2-seeded St. Louis Blues had failed, cornering Quick as the Kings began preparing to face the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference finals later this week.

SACRAMENTO — Getting to know you … Jordan Hill, the Lakers' starting center, had logged 52 previous minutes with the team. Josh McRoberts, their starting power forward, had mostly been an afterthought since midseason. Christian Eyenga, one of their handful of available players off the bench, was making his first appearance as a Laker. A lineup that might have seemed better suited to the Development League than a NBA game was on the court against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night at Power Balance Pavilion as Lakers regulars Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol rested three days before the playoffs.

The Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers split their four games in the regular season: * Nov. 6 at Rose Garden, Trail Blazers 97, Lakers 82: In the Lakers' first loss of the season, Kobe Bryant was out because of a broken hand and Shaquille O'Neal was thrown out early in the fourth quarter after retaliating against Jermaine O'Neal for what the Laker center considered overly rough intentional fouls. Scottie Pippen controlled the action with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. * Dec.

While pro football fans in Cleveland suffer through their first weekend of Brown-out, the NFL returns to Baltimore on Sunday for the first regular-season game in Memorial Stadium since Dec. 18, 1983. "Knowing the players they had in the past and knowing you're going to play on the same field is something special," said offensive tackle Tony Jones of the Baltimore Ravens, referring to Baltimore's rich pro football history written by the Colts, now in Indianapolis.

Saturday's game ended with UCLA Coach Ben Howland screaming at his players — not that usual tough-love-type stuff, mind you. This was sheer happiness. The Bruins had a rough week, with a Sports Illustrated story portraying a program in disarray. It was part of a rough regular season that began with leading scorer Reeves Nelson being tossed off the team. So the Bruins found particular joy in a 75-69 victory over Washington — the Pac-12 Conference's first-place team — that resulted in senior walk-on Tyler Trapani getting pushed around by teammates in the locker room as Howland hollered.

New England quarterback Steve Grogan, who suffered sprained left knee ligaments Sunday, will miss the rest of the regular season, team officials said. Grogan had led the Patriots to six straight wins.

In a game that meant little to either team in the Big West Conference standings, UC Irvine defeated Utah State, 80-76, Saturday night before 7,016 in the Spectrum. It was far from Irvine's best effort of the season. It was Utah State's worst, coming two days after an 84-82 loss to second-ranked Nevada Las Vegas. "I thought we played fair and they played poorly," Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. "I'm just elated to get a win."

These are the games that defined the Lakers' recent runs to the NBA Finals, three consecutive appearances until their forgettable flop last season. If there was a series they could close out, the Lakers were almost automatic, going 12-1 since acquiring Pau Gasol in 2008. Their lone mistake was a Game 6 loss to Houston in the 2009 conference semifinals, though they quickly atoned by eliminating the Rockets in the next game and taking the NBA championship four weeks later in Orlando.

Tear away all the bizarreness of the regular season, the rush to play 66 games and the craziness that came with it (three-point shots by Andrew Bynum, anyone?). The Lakers no longer care. They're on to bigger things … they hope. There's enough at stake to create at least a partial script. Kobe Bryant's relentless chase of a sixth championship ring. Coach Mike Brown's final grade for his first season with the Lakers. Bynum's chance to wipe away his embarrassing exit from last year's playoffs.

SACRAMENTO — Getting to know you … Jordan Hill, the Lakers' starting center, had logged 52 previous minutes with the team. Josh McRoberts, their starting power forward, had mostly been an afterthought since midseason. Christian Eyenga, one of their handful of available players off the bench, was making his first appearance as a Laker. A lineup that might have seemed better suited to the Development League than a NBA game was on the court against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night at Power Balance Pavilion as Lakers regulars Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol rested three days before the playoffs.

SACRAMENTO - Kobe Bryant made a handful of half-court shots Thursday in a playful competition with teammates and assistant coach Chuck Person, but the Lakers star won't make so much as a layup against Sacramento. Lakers Coach Mike Brown said Bryant would sit out the team's final regular-season game and concede the NBA scoring title to Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant. Bryant needed 38 points to surpass Durant for what would have been his third scoring title. Durant averaged 28.0 points per game, a tick above Bryant's 27.9.

SACRAMENTO -- Anyone seeking deep insight into the Lakers was bound to be disappointed. The team rested starters Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and played a hodgepodge of reserves during a 113-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night at Power Balance Pavilion in their regular-season finale. On the bright side, the playoffs start for the Lakers on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center against the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers won three of four meetings between the teams during the regular season.

After 16 years, I thought it was impossible to be startled by anything Kobe Bryant did with a basketball. Until Thursday, when he gave it up. He could have soared, yet decided to sit. He could have made individual history, yet decided to focus on a team championship. He could have played the star, yet decided to be the leader. Needing to score 38 points in a meaningless season finale against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night to win his third individual scoring title, Bryant instead decided to rest for the upcoming postseason.

The 25th-ranked Loyola Marymount women's volleyball team will finish the regular season with two West Coast Conference matches this weekend. The Lions (21-7, 9-3 in WCC play) will play at Gonzaga (10-18, 5-7) tonight and Portland (3-27, 0-12) on Saturday. Loyola is tied with San Diego for second place in the WCC. Defending league champion Santa Clara (21-7, 11-1) leads the league. Freshmen outside hitters Suzanne Radcliffe and Kim Blankinship lead the Lions with 309 and 276 kills, respectively.

  Reporting from New York -- With Chris Paul sitting out with a mild left groin strain, the Clippers lost to the New York Knicks, 99-93, Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The fifth-place Clippers are now a half-game behind the fourth-place Memphis Grizzlies for home-court advantage in their Western Conference playoff series that starts this weekend. All the Clippers had to do was win and they would have gotten home court. The Clippers have to hope the Grizzlies lose at home Thursday night to the Orlando Magic in order to open the playoffs at home.

NEW YORK -- Chris Paul will not play against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night because of a mild left groin strain. Paul worked out before the game at Madison Square Garden and wanted to play, but Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro decided to rest his All-Star point guard so he'll be ready to play against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. [Updated at 5:08 p.m. April 25: Paul is in uniform on the bench, but he will not play. ] Paul was injured against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.