Kobe Bryant had 38 points to win a scoring duel with Dirk Nowitzki, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 103-99 Sunday in a matchup of teams fighting to get in the playoff race.

With chants of MVP from a strong contingent of Lakers fans, Bryant scored 14 in the fourth, including seven in the final 3 minutes to hold off a spirited Dallas effort.

Nowitzki finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds for the Mavericks, who had a chance to pull virtually even with the Lakers for ninth place in the Western Conference. Houston is in eighth, with a cushion of several games.

Bryant, who also had 12 rebounds and seven assists, was playing in Mark Cuban’s building two days after the outspoken Dallas owner suggested in a radio interview that the Lakers might have to consider dumping the five-time NBA champion through the amnesty clause.

Steve Nash had 13 of his 20 in the second half against his former team in a game that neither team led by more than six.

– Reported by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press

The Los Angeles Lakers already have lost more games this season (29) than they have in any full season since 2007, and big man Dwight Howard says he knows his inconsistent energy and struggles with conditioning have cost his team some of them.

“You’ve got to have energy and I want to bring that energy every night,” Howard said in a revealing interview Saturday afternoon. “That’s my job. They count on me to be that guy. I just know how much more effective I will be when I’m in better shape. And, unfortunately, it’s cost us a lot of games.”

Howard said his conditioning has improved throughout the season, but he’s still “not even close” to where he wants to be, and where he once was before undergoing back surgery in the offseason.

“I knew that would be a process. The better shape I’m in, the more active I can be and the more I’m able to do on the floor,” he said. “But it was a struggle at first because I just didn’t have it in the tank, especially on defense.”

– Reported by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles

Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, Dwight Howard had 19 points and 16 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers capped a trying week with a gritty 111-107 victory over the slumping Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.

Hours after longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss was buried, and a day after a moving memorial service punctuated by eulogies from Bryant and other franchise greats, the team got back to basketball with a much-needed victory at Staples Center.

Bryant scored 11 points in the final 5 1/2 minutes and the Lakers won for the seventh time in 10 games. They remained ninth in the Western Conference playoff race, 3 1/2 games behind Houston for the final spot with 26 remaining. Portland trails Los Angeles by 1 1/2 games.

Howard, looking for his sixth rebounding title in seven seasons, came in averaging an NBA-best and 11.8 boards per game. The Lakers are 19-12 when he gets double digits in rebounds, and 11 of those losses have come on nights when he grabbed 14 or more. They wasted 26 boards in a home loss to Denver on Jan. 6, and 20 in a Dec. 11 loss at Cleveland.

Antawn Jamison scored 16 points off the bench, helping to hand Portland its season-worst seventh straight loss. The Trail Blazers have lost five straight road games and 10 of their last 11 away from the Rose Garden.

J.J. Hickson had 22 points and 11 rebounds for Portland, and Nicolas Batum also scored 22. Two-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 15 points in 34 foul-plagued minutes after picking up his fifth personal with 8 minutes remaining.

Damian Lillard added 19 points. All of Portland’s starters scored in double figures, while the bench produced just 14 points.

– Reported by Joe Resnick of the Associated Press

Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace put on his Cookie Monster pajamas and came to the rescue of his nephew and brother who had been detained by police outside his condo complex earlier this week, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Unknown to World Peace, three men working for his Artest Media Group were shooting a scene about life on the streets and were staging a shootout with fake guns when the police showed up.

“I’m in my underwear, and my son says, ‘Hey Dad, there’s police at the door,’” World Peace told the Times on Wednesday. “So I jump out. I’m nervous. I see these police with rifles and scopes. I’m like, ‘What happened?’ I don’t know what’s going on at this point. ‘What happened, what happened?’ And then the police was like, ‘The building is being taken over by guys downstairs.’”

World Peace’s nephew and younger brother Isaiah had already tried to straighten out the situation but weren’t carrying identification, so they were detained by police. The men asked officers to verify their story with World Peace.

– Reported by ESPN Los Angeles

The recent All-Star break afforded him a rare amount of rest for his sore body stemmed from 10-month-old back surgery and an aggravated labrum in his right shoulder. That four-day stretch also coincided with Howard working with the Lakers’ training staff on various conditioning drills to improve his explosiveness and timing.

“It’s been tough because of the injuries,” Howard said. “But we’re just going to try to bust it out. I’m going to try to get into the best shape I can. The better shape I’m in, the more active I can be.”

But it’s not just about effort. It’s about execution.

The Lakers spent plenty of time during Tuesday’s practice ironing out how Nash and Howard would play the pick-and-roll. Nash often lamented the lack of time together. Howard often griped about how they couldn’t read the opposing team’s defenses. The Lakers’ coaches wished Howard would show a stronger effort and will to overcome such variables.

– Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times (Blog)

Despite all that has gone wrong in Dwight Howard’s first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, general manager Mitch Kupchak says the team is still hitching its wagon to the All-Star center.

“Dwight is our future,” Kupchak told “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on ESPN Radio on Wednesday. “Kobe [Bryant] has one more year on his deal [this year, plus one]. That’s all I can bank on or this organization can bank on. I have no idea if he wants to continue to play beyond next year. As of now, we’re looking at a two-year window, [and that] plays to the urgency of the situation and how we build the team. … This team’s window to win is this year and next year.”

Kupchak reiterated his public stance that the 27-year old Howard is off the market with the NBA trade deadline looming Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

“We’ve been very consistent,” Kupchak said. “We’re not trading Dwight Howard. … He will not be traded and there’s nothing that anybody can do today to call me today and ask me, ‘Would you do this?’ and get a positive result.”

Kupchak called Howard the best center in the league and expressed how difficult it is to acquire talent like that, especially with the restrictions in place since the league’s new collective bargaining agreement was ratified.

– Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles

Kobe Bryant quotes on the late Jerry Buss

Q: On the impact Dr. Buss had on him and if he finds it ironic the Lakers will be facing the team he most wanted to beat the most on Wednesday (Boston):

Bryant: Yeah, I do. To me, personally, he obviously believed in me since Day 1 being a 17-year-old kid to where I am now. His competitive spirit, his vision where this organization should be and how it should go beyond basketball with the global outreach that he had on his mind. We talked quite a bit about that and we talked about the old times. He’s obviously had a profound impact on me, to say the least.

Q: On Dr. Buss having an influence in him staying with the Lakers:

Bryant: Of course. I think in 2007 was really the big one. I had to make a choice and believing in him, which wasn’t very hard to do once I took a step back and see everything that he accomplished. I had a chance to sit down with him and we talked about what his vision was and his vision for rebuilding this team and rebuilding this team quickly. It was easy for me because I was a Lakers fan growing up, so I saw how many championships he’d been able to win and see how many times he was able to rebuild. It was a pretty easy call for me.

Q: On his talk with Dr. Buss about rebuilding the team:

Bryant: He went into a little bit of the salary cap, free agents and all this other stuff, which, his memory was pretty remarkable in terms of what he was able to remember, the space he had available, who was available and how he was going to put it all together. When somebody has that kind of detail, it’s pretty easy to roll with.

Q: On if he’s concerned about the future of the organization:

Bryant: It’s tough. It’s tough to follow in those shoes. I think the important thing to do is to take the lessons he’s taught – and I’m sure there are many – and things that they’ve learned from him, and try to carry it on to the future.

– Reported by Trevor Wong of the Lakers.com Blog

Pau Gasol slowly but surely made his way to the interview table.

That’s because he’s used crutches ever since tearing the plantar fascia of his right foot during the Lakers’ win two weeks ago against Brooklyn, an injury that will keep him out for at least an additional four to six weeks.

Such a timetable means Gasol could return as early as March 22 when the Lakers host the Washington Wizards at Staples Center. At that point, the Lakers would have 13 games remaining on their schedule.

How optimistic does Gasol feel that he could return before the season ends?

“I hope,” Gasol said. “It’s a thing you take one day at a time and you go with the symptoms and see how well they go and quick the body is able to heal with a simple injury. It varies from different individuals.”

– Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Kobe Bryant a Piston?

It could’ve happened before the 2007-08 season, if Bryant would’ve waived his no-trade clause, according to a report by Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Pistons and Lakers agreed in principle on a deal but Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, who passed away early Monday, and Bryant, who wanted out of Los Angeles but Detroit wasn’t one of his preferred destinations, passed.

A source confirmed the Pistons and Lakers agreed on a deal, which most likely included Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Amir Johnson and a future first-round pick for Bryant, who wound up being the 2007-08 MVP.

Another league source said former Piston Grant Hill, who was a free agent that summer as a member of the Orlando Magic, would’ve likely returned to the Pistons to fill Prince’s void at small forward.

– Reported by Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News

If Dwight Howard knew then what he knows now, he would probably still be with the Orlando Magic.

Or so says ESPN and ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who says Howard’s struggles with the dysfunctional Los Angles Lakers probably makes him pine for his glory days in Orlando.

“I think he thought he wanted a big market, but I think what he’s realizing is that he needs a smaller environment where the fans and media overlook whatever weaknesses he has,” Jeff said on our Open Mike radio show. “He had it great in Orlando, and I think only after you leave do you realize just how good you had it. Unfortunately, you can’t go back home again.

“Those years in Orlando, you could have made the case that no one was more valuable to a team than Dwight Howard was to the Magic. That guy could have been the MVP a couple of times and should have gotten stronger consideration for what he accomplished. For whatever reason, I think he’s lost his way.”

– By Mike Bianchi, columnist for the Orlando Sentinel

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak denied a CBSSports.com report that the Lakers and Celtics were in preliminary talks to trade Dwight Howard for Rajon Rondo.

“I haven’t talked to Danny Ainge in weeks,” Kupchak told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard. “I made the statement a week or two ago that we’re not going to trade Dwight Howard and that hasn’t changed.”

When asked if a possible Howard-for-Rondo trade was discussed when he spoke to the Celtics weeks ago, Kupchak again said no. He said at no point this season has a Howard-for-Rondo trade been discussed.

– Reported by ESPN.com

The Los Angeles Clippers have no banners on the walls or in the rafters at Staples Center. They would need decades to measure up to the Lakers’ history.

And they don’t care. The past is easy to overlook in Hollywood. The present belongs to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and the Clippers, who are running Staples Center with style this season.

Paul had 24 points and 13 assists, Griffin scored 18 of his 22 points in a spectacular first quarter and the Clippers cemented their supremacy in Los Angeles with a 125-101 victory over the Lakers on Thursday night.

Chauncey Billups hit five 3-pointers while scoring 21 points for the Clippers, who never trailed as they roared into the All-Star break by clinching the season series in their city rivalry for the first time in 20 years. The Clippers have won the Staples Center co-tenants’ first three games of the season, with Los Angeles’ longtime underdogs burying the 16-time champions in this latest meeting under a wave of 16 3-pointers…

Caron Butler had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who lead Golden State by seven games atop the Pacific Division standings. The win was their fourth straight in an impressive five-night stretch heading into what could be a memorable All-Star game for Los Angeles’ teams, which are contributing four of the West’s five starters this weekend in Houston…

Kobe Bryant had 20 points and 11 assists for the Lakers, who head to the break in 10th place in the Western Conference, four games below .500 with little reason to suspect things will get a whole lot better - particularly without Pau Gasol, who’s likely out until April with the latest in their series of serious injuries…

The Clippers lost Lamar Odom in the second quarter when the longtime Lakers big man got poked in the left eye. … The Lakers’ Jodie Meeks converted a four-point play late in the third quarter.

– Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

In theory, NBA All-Star weekend will give plenty of Lakers time to clear their minds and rest their dinged up bodies.

But not Dwight Howard, and the reasons go beyond his plan to participate in what will be his eighth All-Star appearance despite having a aggravated right shoulder and a surgically repaired back.

“Our team trainers are going to come and we’re going to get a lot of work in while I’m there,” Howard said. “I’m trying to get into better shape. That’s my main goal. All the stuff I’ll be doing, I’ll do just to make sure I get into better shape.”

– Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Lakers owner Jerry Buss has cancer and is at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a report Thursday by Radaronline.com in which a source suggested Buss is nearing death.

Buss’ cancer was learned previously by the Register but not published out of respect for the Buss family’s wishes.

Buss, 79, has been called the greatest owner in pro sports history for his 10 NBA championships with the Lakers, in addition to being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Buss bought the Lakers in 1979 and currently owns 66 percent of the team.

On Aug. 22, Buss’ daughter and Lakers executive vice president of business operations Jeanie Buss posted to her Twitter account: “For all those who asked, Dr. Buss is doing really well, even spending time visiting with Kobe yesterday. My dad’s pumped for #Lakers season!”

– Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register

Just when the Los Angeles Lakers thought their season was fully saturated with weirdness, Kobe Bryant made one shot and committed eight turnovers in one of the worst games of his career - and the Lakers still beat Phoenix.

Although the Lakers keep finding new ways to flummox their fans and themselves, they’re also still finding ways to win.

Dwight Howard had 19 points and 18 rebounds, Antawn Jamison added 19 points, and the Lakers survived Bryant’s bizarre four-point performance for their eighth victory in 11 games, 91-85 over the Suns on Tuesday night.

Even in this tumultuous season jam-packed with statistical oddities and high-profile failures, the Lakers’ latest victory is a curiosity. Returning from a seven-game road trip, the Lakers hung on to win despite the fifth-leading scorer in NBA history, who had never played this many minutes (36) with just one field goal in his 17-season career.

Bryant didn’t attempt a shot in the first half and scored his first basket with 2:13 to play, finishing 1 for 8 in his lowest-scoring game since Jan. 13, 2005, when he left a game against Cleveland after six minutes with an injury.

Yet after the win, he greeted his horrific statistics with a smile.

”I thought it was great, actually,” Bryant said. ”Obviously, scoring four points, going 1 for 8, that’s not necessarily a recipe for success. … But it’s not about us as individuals. It’s about what we can do to help the team.”

Bryant counteracted his nine assists -just one in the second half - with a raft of turnovers, yet the Lakers survived against one of the NBA’s worst teams with big plays from Howard, Steve Nash and Metta World Peace, who scored 17 points. Bryant finally got an 8-foot leaner to fall, keeping the Lakers in control.

– Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

The Lakers are scrambling just to scrape into the playoffs, but coach Mike D’Antoni sounds skeptical that any move before the Feb. 21 trade deadline would do anything beneficial to the team’s fortunes.

“It would add somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing and it could take a while,” D’Antoni said. “You’re playing games you have to win and we might not even play them. That’s a hard thing. As an organization, I’m sure we’ll keep looking and talking and if something makes sense, we’ll do it.”

But Lakers fans shouldn’t get their hopes up after D’Antoni spoke with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak last weekend in Miami.

“We are who we are,” D’Antoni said. “It’s good. We have that mindset. But I’m sure he’s always looking, thinking and talking to everybody.”

– Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

LeBron James scored 32 points on 12-for-18 shooting in a record-setting show, Dwyane Wade scored 30 and the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-97 on Sunday for their fifth straight win.

It was James’ fifth straight game with at least 30 points, a franchise record. He also joined Adrian Dantley (1979) and Moses Malone (1982) as the only NBA players to score at least 30 and shoot at least 60 percent in five straight outings, the team said.

”Don’t take it for granted,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”He’s making greatness look easy.”

Mario Chalmers scored 13 and Chris Bosh finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat.

Kobe Bryant had 28 points and nine assists for the Lakers, who also got 18 points from Earl Clark. The Lakers had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter, while Miami had none…

Dwight Howard and Steve Nash each scored 15 for the Lakers…

Wade also shot 12 for 18 for Miami, which shot 55 percent as a team and held a 38-29 edge in rebounding. James scored 20 in the second half and Wade had 18 in the final two quarters, but the defending NBA champions weren’t able to pull away until the final minutes…

Rapper Lil Wayne - a semi-regular in the crowd at Heat games - was there for the first half, then tweeted that he was ejected for rooting for the Lakers. Security personnel were seen talking to the rapper at halftime, and a Heat spokesman said after the game that he chose to leave on his own and was not ejected.

– Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

When asked about the unfolding soap opera in Los Angeles, Dwight Sr. defended his son and criticized both Bryant and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni.

“I told him before he said it publicly, ‘It’s your career. No person can say what you need to do or not do. You can’t worry about what Kobe or anybody else says,’” the elder Howard said. “Nobody can say what Kobe said — that’s stepping into another man’s shoes. I understand what Kobe was trying to do, but he went about it the wrong way. He’s trying to win a championship. But Dwight has to tell Kobe, ‘I appreciate your opinion, but that doesn’t matter. We’re two men on this team. We need to be reasonable about this.’”

Dwight Sr. said he believed Bryant was trying to motivate his son, but that the advice was misplaced, adding: “The problem is the coach. (D’Antoni) needs to step in and say, ‘You guys have got to be quiet. We’re trying to secure something here. Dwight is probably looking at the coach, thinking, ‘What are you going to do?’ I promise, if that had been Stan Van Gundy, that wouldn’t have happened. (Howard) wouldn’t have been admonished publicly. I think the coach has a lot to do with who controls Kobe’s mouth right now.”

– Reported by Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (Blog)

Paul Pierce scored 24 points and led a third-quarter surge as the Boston Celtics routed the Los Angeles Lakers 116-95 on Thursday night, improving to 6-0 since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a torn knee ligament.

The Lakers had cut a 58-44 halftime deficit to 72-61 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Then the Celtics went on a 23-8 run and led 95-69 going into the fourth. Pierce started the surge with a three-point play and ended it with a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, giving him 12 points in the period.

Kobe Bryant scored 27 to lead the Lakers, who suffered their worst loss of the season despite the return of Dwight Howard after he missed three games with a sore right shoulder.

The win was Boston’s biggest of the season.

The Lakers had won six of their previous seven games, including all three without Howard, and had moved three games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West…

Kevin Garnett had 15 points and became the 16th player in NBA history to score 25,000 when he hit an 11-foot turnaround jumper that gave him six for the game and put the Celtics ahead 39-29 with 8:08 left in the half. Jeff Green had 19 points and Jason Terry added 15.

– Reported by Howard Ulman of the Associated Press

Los Angeles Lakers forward/center Pau Gasol, who injured his right foot in Tuesday’s game against the Nets in Brooklyn, returned to Los Angeles from Boston this morning where he was examined by foot specialist Dr. Kenneth Jung.

Jung’s diagnosis confirmed that Gasol has a tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot. Gasol is expected to be out a minimum of 6-8 weeks.