After the first part of Leroy Smith‘s eye-opening expose, get up close and personal with his creative process as he and Manny create his hit single, “My Gift to the Game.”

Los Angeles based UNDFTD is always reppin’ their hometown, and this tee calling out the Lakers’ foes is no different. Read More »

Beyond the obvious — that would be making some jumpers and not getting dragged into the oubliette by Kobe — one thing that needs to happen for Orlando to have a chance in today’s Game 2 is for them to get some production out of the point guard spot. The Lakers have shown a weakness in letting opposing PG’s get savage buckets on Derek Fisher, from Deron Williams to Aaron Brooks to Chauncey Billups. In Game 1, Rafer Alston showed he can get past D-Fish off the dribble with no problem, but Skip needs to make something happen once he gets in the lane. Read More »

Friday was pretty quiet for the day after the opening act of the NBA Finals. Then again, funerals tend to be that way. Seriously though, only the most giddy Lakers fans (that includes you, Spike Lee) are completely writing off the Magic after the Game 1 piecing, but anyone who saw the game or just saw the score has to admit Orlando has a lot of work to do to make this series competitive. Read More »

Last night you might have noticed that Kobe Bryant debuted a special Finals edition of the Zoom Kobe IV. This edition features a new low-cut design that weighs just 11.6 ounces and includes details from the 2008-09 season including: Read More »

The audio aftermath of last night’s 25-point Lakers rout of the Magic in Game 1 has two distinct sides: L.A. fans sticking their chests out and bragging, and Magic fans rationalizing, “It’s just one game. It was just nerves. We’ll be OK.”

And that’s where they’re wrong. If in fact bad nerves — or “first-game jitters” or whatever you want to call it — is the problem, Orlando is not going to be OK. Read More »

I love this. I don’t know whether Kobe a) is actually as grumpy as he seems, or b) truly believes what he’s saying. But I don’t care. Even if it’s all some sort of maniacal act, this press conference has officially made me believe that he would kill a drifter if it meant winning the ‘chip.

The best moment of this 7-minute interview has got to be when someone off camera starts their question with a “Hi Kob…” right around the 4:15 mark, which Kobe meets with an approving nod. Then the camera pans right and it’s a Lakers Rastafarian.

Warriors fans should think about doing what Knicks fans did outside MSG when things got really bad with Isiah. In typical salty New York fashion, they picketed on a side street with a giant pink slip, begging for the organization to get rid of ‘Zeke.

The only problem for the Golden State faithful would be choosing who they want fired. You could lop off the entire brain trust at the top of that organization and they’d probably be better off. Read More »

And you thought the puppets were a Kobe steam-fest…

In our NBA Finals preview/picks from yesterday, Dime’s Austin Burton wrote: “Kobe doesn’t have to drop 40 points a night and re-baptize Dwight Howard to bring home his fourth Larry O’Brien trophy and his first Finals MVP. He doesn’t have to outshine anything Jordan, Magic or Bird did in their championship years to drop the ‘He never won without Shaq‘ label. All he has to do is win. Whether he does it scoring 21 with seven dimes or getting 30 points on 30 shots, whether it takes four games or seven, he just has to win.” Or, as we learned last night, Kobe could drop 40 points and do the facilitating thing, which he did as the Lakers dominated in a Game 1 blowout … Read More »