Kobe Bryant netted 40 points for the 100th time as the Los Angeles Lakers avoided their third straight loss against the Detroit Pistons last night at the Staples Center. Detroit created a late game run after being down 25 heading into the fourth quarter, proceeding to outscore LA 30-18. Unfortunately for them not enough time remained, resulting in a 106-93 Lakers victory.

Bryant now trails just Michael Jordan (173) and Wilt Chamberlain (271) on the NBA’s list of most career 40-point games. “It’s a true honor,” said Bryant. “A lot of work went into it, and when I look back on that, I can’t believe I had 100 of those games. It’s just a good feeling.”

The Lakers will be hosting the Chicago Bulls tonight before the Oklahoma City Thunder make their way to LA on Sunday. Los Angeles Lakers tickets are available now!

Kobe Bryant led his defending champion Los Angeles Lakers with 29 points as they went on to outscore the Phoenix Suns 121-102 last night at the Staples Center. Steve Nash and the Suns have failed to beat the Lakers in five of their last six matchups. LA didn’t have any problems playing right along and overshadowing the Suns run and gun type style.

“It’s just tough matchups all around,” Phoenix said coach Alvin Gentry. “They just took us out of everything we tried to do. We miss a dunk, and they come back with a three-point play. We miss an open shot, and then they come down with a 3-point shot. They’re a great basketball team. I don’t know if they have a weakness, after looking around.”

Andrew Bynum in his first game back from elbow problems earned game MVP rights with 26 points and 15 rebounds.  “I got my legs back, and I’m fresh,” said Bynum. “As far as the elbow goes, I’m going to continue getting treatment. It hurts a little bit, but it’s going to be that way for a little while.”

Jared Dudley led the Suns in scoring with 14 points off the bench.  They are next set to host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. This Friday the Lakers will be tested in a rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals verses the Denver Nuggets.

Kobe Bryant after receiving his fourth NBA Championship ring went back to work with 33 points as the Los Angeles Lakers went on to defeat their in-town rival LA Clippers 99-92 at the Staples Center. Every Laker on the team earned a ring from their 2008-2009 title except for Ron Artest, who joined the squad after trading places with now Houston Rockets small forward Trevor Ariza earlier this year.

Andrew Bynum on his 22nd birthday contributed with 26 points and 13 rebounds. While the Lakers were somewhat distracted by the banners, crowd and general memories of the summers events, the Clippers actually hung around. Eric Gordon, Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman netted 21, 18, and 14 in their efforts to stay with the defending champs.  All it took was a Kobe/Odom take over early in the fourth for the Lakers to pull away.

“It’s always tough to play games after those kind of ceremonies,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson (Has won ten NBA titles as head coach with Chicago/LA). “Some of the energy is always difficult to maintain because there is a lot of energy that’s kind of dissipated when you go out and have that kind of ceremony. You’re not ready to step up and march to the tune of this season right yet.” 

The Lakers will next welcome the Dallas Mavericks to LA this Friday at 10:30 PM ET. Los Angeles Lakers tickets are available now!

Heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko and challenger Cristobal Arreola have recently reached an agreement to fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, September 26th.  Klitschko was originally planning to brawl England’s David Hay until Hay ditched him, later signing a contract to fight Nikolai Valuev instead.  In search of a new opponent the 27-0 Arreola was brought up a conversation.  The 6-foot-4 250 pounder has not faced many notable opponents, but is coming off a fourth-round KO victory over former title challenger Jameel McCline.  Trainer Henry Ramirez had some bold words for the match-up ahead.  “He will fight his fight and he’s going to make history. We’re not coming for any moral victories. We’ve going to win the damn fight,” said Ramirez.

The Staples Center is familiar territory to Klitschko, as he fought two of the most significant fights of his career there.  He once challenged the defending champ Lennox Lewis in LA, and collected his first piece of heavyweight hardware there after defeating Corrie Sanders. The 6-foot-7 250 pound Ukraine native holds a 37-2 record with 36 KO’s.  Manager Bernd Boente commented on the upcoming fight, saying “I think this is a very interesting fight with two fighters who have great knockout percentages and only very few people think this fight goes the distance. … We are looking forward to coming back to the U.S. again, which is still a very important market for us.”

Don’t miss your chance to see the premiere fight of the year! Tickets to the WBC Title Fight between Vitali Klitschko and Crisobal Arreola are available here with us at Aceticket.com!

Orlando led after the first quarter of game five; but like the rest of the series it was all Lakers from there on. Kobe Bryant had 30 points, nearly playing the entirety of the game. Seven years since his last ring, Kobe finally proved that he could do it without Shaq. The finals MVP averaged over 32 points a game, with 7.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds in five games against the East’s best. After losing the 2004 finals to the Detroit Pistons, and a humiliating 38-point loss to the Celtics in game 6 last year, Bryant and company dominated the Orlando Magic.

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Despite immense amounts of media hype, video game simulations, and commercials featuring everything from sports drinks to muppets; the NBA is not getting a Kobe/Lebron finals match-up. The Lakers/Magic finals series could be far more entertaining, as Orlando is a more well-rounded squad than the Lebron-centric Cavs. On the way to the championship series, the Magic eliminated the last two Eastern Conference Champions (including the defending NBA Champion Celtics), and beat a very capable 76ers team.

The Los Angeles Lakers were taken to the brink by a Tracy McGrady-less rockets, and traded licks with a very tough Denver Nuggets squad. While neither of the two teams have played as many as last year’s 7-game-series-heavy Celtics, both have been through multiple drawn out matchups with tough opponents. Expect Laker forward “Candy Man” Lamar Odom and his Magic counterpart Hedo Turkgolu to vie for most 3-pointers, as an undercard to the Kobe/Howard athletics.

The series starts on Thursday night, so get your 2009 NBA Finals tickets now!

The Houston Rockets won a very physical game 1 against the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. The Lakers fell behind early, and never managed to catch up again. “I think we were hungry to win the first game, like we had in the first game of the last (series),” Rockets Center Yao Ming told the AP. “We know we have to respect them. They will come back strong in Game 2.” Ming was briefly sidelined by a knee-to-knee collision with LA’s Kobe Bryant, but returned later. Yao hit a jumper and converted all six trips to the free throw line.

Despite a 32-point effort from Bryant, the Lakers fell short.”I’m fine,” Bryant said in a post-game interview. “My energy felt fine, I was OK. “We just blew some defensive assignments at key moments.” Los Angeles looks to take advantage of home court advantage in game 2, scheduled for Wednesday night at 10:30pm Eastern.

Los Angeles Lakers playoff tickets and Houston Rockets Playoff tickets are available now!

The Los Angeles Lakers will be the #1 rank in the Western conference going into the 2009 playoffs.  They are currently 64-17 with just one game to go against the Utah Jazz.  Utah sits at the #8 seed with a lot riding on their last regular season match up.  If they can beat LA, they might be able to avoid playing them in the opening round.

The Dallas Mavericks are now one game ahead of the Jazz with a 49-32 record.  Whoever LA will match up against they will keep their confidence, knowing they haven?t lost this season to either team.  After coming so close to winning an NBA title last season, the Lakers have only improved.  Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol have been stellar all season, as Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic, and Trevor Ariza have given more than enough support.

The one team that might be able to stop the Lakers run early on will be the San Antonio Spurs in the second round.  They hold the #5 seed in the West but have been on a roll the last couple of weeks.  Between Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili, they know what it takes to win a championship.  If the Lakers and Spurs meet in the second round, it should make for one of the most thrilling series all year.

Game 1 for the Lakers will take place at the Staples Center Saturday, April 18th.  Los Angeles Lakers Playoff Tickets are now available!

20 straight wins would have been a great Christmas present from the Boston Celtics to their fans but alas they were bound to lose one sooner or later.  Most in Boston would have preffered any team beat them other than the Los Angeles Lakers however.  The Lakers won this mini battle yesterday at the Staples Center with an impressive defensive showing in their 92-83 win over Boston.  The win improved the Lakers’ record to 24-5 while the Celtics move to 27-3.  The game between last year’s Championship rivals had the feel of a Finals game despite the fact that this season isn’t half over. Both teams still have a long road ahead before they meet in any seriously important games.

Kobe Bryant was the scoring leader for the Lakers in this one with 27 points and 9 rebounds.  Boston meanwhile got a great shooting game out of Kevin Garnett who added 22 points and 9 rebounds.  Paul Pierce scored 20 with 10 rebounds but failed to score in the crucial 4th quarter.  The win for the Lakers was Phil Jackson’s 1,000th career win as a head coach.

The Celtics and Lakers will meet again on 2/5/09 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Celtics vs Lakers tickets are available for this game.

All the Los Angeles Lakers needed was a bit of hometown loving, and that’s exactly what they got in Tuesday nights 87-81 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center in downtown LA. Kobe Bryant scored 36 points and led the Lakers to a key victory pulling the series to a 2-1 Boston edge. The win improves LA’s home record during the 2008 playoffs to a perfect 9-0 and again forces the question about whether the Celtics road struggles will continue.

Last night’s display by Bryant clearly showed any doubters why he is in fact the reigning MVP of the NBA. Boston knew the man could flat out play, but they had yet to see him take over a game the way he did Tuesday. When he was given space, he’d nail the open jumper. The minute the double teams came flying his way, he was able to distribute the ball to teammates for high percentage looks. On the defensive end he was able to shut down Paul Pierce, holding him to only 6 points on a 2-14 shooting effort.

The clutch performance could not have come at a better time because no team in the NBA Finals has even been able to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a championship.

“What I tried to do with my teammates is just stay calm,” Bryant said. “It wasn’t the end of the world. They did a great job of defending home court. We knew we had to come here and do the same. They feed off of my confidence and I have all the confidence in the world that we can come here and win.”

During the first quarter, neither team jumped out to a large lead and both looked a little jet lagged coming out of the gates. The Lakers missed their first five shots from the floor while the Celtics started the game only 1-8 from the field. After a huge free throw discrepancy in Game 2 in which Boston attempted 38 compared to LA’s 10, the Lakers were able to get to the line 14 times in the first quarter, setting the tone early.

“We just wanted to play,” said Bryant, whose only blemish on the night was an 11-of-18 performance from the foul line. “I don’t think anyone was feeling desperate.”

With 4:01 left on the clock in first half, Kobe calmly knocked down an 18 foot jump shot which opened up the Lakers largest first half lead making the score 40-29. The Celtics were able to put together a little run to close the quarter and the halftime score had LA on top 43-37.

Boston was able to control play in the 3rd quarter outscoring LA 25-17 to take a 62-60 lead heading into the last frame on play. Ray Allen paced the Celtics scoring 10 in the quarter and finished with 25 on the night hitting five 3-point shots, but it was not enough to overcome Kobe and the Lakers 4th quarter effort.

“As bad as we played, we still had opportunities,” Allen said. “That’s the positive. We can look at it, but I don’t think on either side of the floor we were good. We had so much more room for improvement.”

For the first five minutes of the 4th quarter both teams traded bucket for bucket. The momentum would shift on a pivotal shot that came from Bryant with 6:55 left to play. With the Celtics leading by two points at 68-66, a slow defensive rotation left the MVP wide open at the top of the key. Kobe hadn’t been this wide open since he participated in the 3-point shoot out competition a few years ago during the All-Star weekend. Knowing the importance of the shot, he was able to completely collect himself before draining the 3-point trey which would put LA up for good.

A quick spurt capped by a Pau Gasol tip in would make the score 77-70 in favor of the Lakers and things began looking grim for the Celtics. Coming out of a timeout, Boston was able to roll off six quick points and trim the score back to a two point game, 78-76 with 2:41 left to play.

After a missed 3-point attempt by Sasha Vujacic, the Celtics had the ball with a little over 2 minutes left to play and a chance to tie the score. A broken offensive set resulted in an off balance runner by reserve PG Eddie House that did not fall. The Lakers made them pay for the poor choice in shot selection on the next possession. Vujacic redeemed himself and nailed a 3-point jump shot right in front of the Celtics bench, putting LA back up by 5 with under 2 minutes to play.

With lots of playoff experience, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was able to calm his young roster down and help them hold on for the Game 3 victory.

“Kobe was fantastic but I thought Vujacic was the key to the game,” Jackson said. “I said before we are going to have to win a game when Kobe Bryant plays well. We know that. But when that happens, we have to shut off the other avenues.”

L.A’s defensive intensity improved dramatically with the change of coasts. In Boston, LA had allowed the Celtics to score an average of 103 points per game in Games 1 & 2 of the Finals. Game 3 they limited the Celtics to 81 points and held them to a .349 shooting percentage, their 2nd worst percentage in 23 games of the 2008 playoffs.

The Celtics certainly had plenty of chances to steal this game but every time they pulled close, Bryant was able to take matters into his own hands.

Even though Bryant’s performance was an unbelievable effort, some C’s fans may still have a little bone to pick with coach Doc Rivers. Before last night’s game, reserve PG Eddie House had seen exactly 10 seconds of action over the course of the Celtics four previous playoff wins. Rivers had been using Sam Cassell for the most part in the role of back up PG to starter Rajon Rondo. For whatever reason, Rivers decided to call House’s number last night in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Nothing against Eddie House, he’s a great set shooter and can certainly knock down a 3-point shot when he’s open and has the time to set, but what was Doc thinking putting him in the game last night and giving him the green light to fire away? House attempted a ridiculous number of 8 shots in 19 minutes of action. It may not sound that bad if you haven’t been following the C’s playoff run, but here’s some food for thought. Before last night’s game, House had only attempted 6 shots in the previous 8 games in only 17 minutes of combined action. That’s .75 shots and 2.125 minutes per game.

Did we miss something Doc? Was your plan all along to save Eddie for the big game pressure situation with everything on the line? Does that mean you’re thinking about sending Brian Scalabrine in there for Game 4?

One thing is for sure, for the Celtics to win in L.A. they are going to need the Big Three to all produce. In the Game 3 loss, Pierce and Kevin Garnett both had sub par outings and that cannot happen if Boston expects to win. Lets be realistic, Leon Powe is not going to score 21 points a game, nor is Rondo going to dish out 16 assists every night like their Game 2 lines.

The environment in LA is hostile and nothing like that of Boston, but that’s no excuse. Now is the time for the Celtics to simply make the necessary adjustments and shake off the road loss. They’ve shut down Kobe and the Lakers four times already this year, last night he merely got the best of them.

Hats off to Kobe, but lesson learned, don’t let it happen again.