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Anthony Davis scored 37 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Rui Hachimura added a career-high 33 points with LeBron James resting as the Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 138-122 last Wednesday night during the last game before their eight-day All-star game break. Davis and Hachimura became the first pair of Lakers teammates to both score 35 plus points in the same game since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 2003. Hachimura made a career-best six threes on his way to his big night. "I want to impa...
EL SEGUNDO – The Los Angeles Lakers will wear their Black Mamba uniforms, co-designed by Lakers Legend Kobe Bryant, on Feb. 8, 2024, at home versus the Denver Nuggets following the unveil of Bryant's statue at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena earlier that day. Bryant, an 18-time NBA All-Star and five-time NBA Champion, will be the seventh Laker to be commemorated with a statue, joining Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jerry West and Chick H...
LOS ANGELES – The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that Los Angeles has been selected to host NBA All-Star 2026. The 75th NBA All-Star Game will take place at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, home of the LA Clippers, on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. This will mark the record seventh NBA All-Star in Los Angeles, and the first time the Intuit Dome will host the annual midseason showcase reaching fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 50 languages. NBA Commissioner A...
The Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (OSHOF) and Jim Thorpe Association released the prestigious Paycom Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List. This list includes 35 of the nation's best defensive backs, representing 10 conferences and one independent university. The preseason watch list is selected by a screening committee whose members compile a list of up to 50 players based on previous performance in NCAA Division I college football and preseason All-America lists. This list is not final, and...
Last Monday, a cascade of chanting rang down from the upper bowl of Staples Center. After chiding the referee for allowing gameplay to resume before he put on the shoe he lost, Anthony Davis picked up his second technical foul and was tossed from the game. Fans were upset at the referees, but fans should have been upset at the Lakers, not the refs. After the 121-103 drubbing from the Chicago Bulls, it begs to ask who these Lakers are and what is their identity? But who are the Lakers, if...
Former Culver City resident Ted Sobel dives into sports and entertainment history with a book that touches the soul of baby boomers, sports enthusiasts of all ages and historical entertainment buffs. His book, 'Touching Greatness' tells a spectacular story of sports and entertainment through the eyes of one of the top sports journalists and broadcasters in Los Angeles history. Sobel credits his young years growing up in Culver City as a great foundation for his future success. He went to...
When Carmelo Anthony was introduced to the media last week after signing a one-year contract he was smiling and confident that his newest role is a great fit for him and his new teammates. Anthony felt it was time to join forces with his longtime friend and superstar LeBron James in order to compete for a championship. “Bron just came to me one time and said, ‘Yo, the time is now, this is the best time.’ “Most people would say we should have gotten together years ago early in our careers, but we were in two different lanes. We were on two dif...
Russell Westbrook entered Staples Center with head coach Frank Vogel and General Manager Rob Pelinka for the first time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers last Tuesday afternoon. Westbrook was all smiles as he sat on the stage in front of his family and over a dozen reporters. Before officially introducing Westbrook to the Los Angeles media, Pelinka publicly thanked the players he traded for Westbrook, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Kentavious Caldwell Pope for being a part of the Laker...
By Eric Lambkins II Sports Reporter Being a Laker epitomizes the allure, glitz and glamor of the City of Los Angeles. From Hollywood A-listers fashionably sitting courtside, to the blaring of Randy Newman's "I Love LA" over the speakers after each win, to the immortalization of Laker legends by Angelino to excel while donning the purple and gold propels Laker players into the pantheon of the game's all-time greats. It also comes with unrealistic expectations of winning a title every year. The...
The Lakers championship season ended six days ago and the buzz has already started. Can they repeat? Will they have the same team? Will Father time catch up to LeBron James? Will free agent Anthony Davis resign with the Lakers? There are still a lot of questions to be answered but one thing is certain. The Lakers weathered the storm and came out on top in one of the most amazing and at the same time unpredictable NBA seasons ever. From the China trip controversies last summer, to the death of...
Los Angeles Lakers forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been named to the All-NBA First Team, it was announced today. It marks the 13th time the Lakers have had multiple First Team selections, a first since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal following the 2003-04 season. The duo led a Lakers squad that finished with a conference-leading 52-19 regular season record in 2019-20 and earned the team's first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2010. James received First Team honors for an...
Anthony Davis has been named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team, it was announced today. It is the fourth time in his eight-year career that Davis has earned All-Defensive honors and marks his second First Team selection, also receiving the recognition in 2017-18. A seven-time NBA All-Star, Davis ranked third in the league in blocks and was one of two players to average at least 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals this season. Opponents shot 38.3 percent from the floor when guarded by Davis, second of...
WNBA Draft Presented by State Farm to Air Live on ESPN, Friday, April 17, at 7 p.m. ET • Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo & Sue Bird in Bristol, Conn.; Holly Rowe Joins Remotely • Numerous First Round Draftees Slated to Join Telecast • Alyssa Altobelli, Gianna Bryant, Payton Chester and Kobe Bryant Honored • Encore Presentation of 2019 WNBA Finals Game 5 Follows on ESPN • Week-Long, Multi-Platform Coverage begins Monday, April 13 The WNBA Draft Presented by State Farm will air live on ESPN, Friday, A...
Kobe Bryant has been elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. Bryant spent all 20 seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers and helped lead the team to five NBA Championships throughout his career. Named NBA Most Valuable Player following the 2007-08 season, Bryant averaged 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 1,346 games with Los Angeles. The league's fourth all-time leading scorer earned All-NBA honors 15 times, was...
The WNBA Draft 2020 presented by State Farm will be held on April 17 as scheduled. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WNBA will conduct a virtual draft without players, guests, and media. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will announce the draft picks live on ESPN2 with coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET, and top prospects will take part remotely. The draft will also be available on the ESPN App. "The WNBA draft is a time to celebrate the exceptional athletes whose hard work and dreams are...
Observer Editor Mitch Chortkoff covered the Lakers for over 6 decades. He was called "Dean of the Laker Writers" by many of his colleagues. Mitch passed away in July of 2018, but he had written a lot about Kobe Bryant. He we are rerunning his column from the December 3, 2017 edition of the Culver City Observer as Kobe was about to retire. "Remember kid. There's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Art Lefleur as Babe Ruth in the movie "The Sandlot" It was...
It's still hard for the Lakers and the rest of the basketball world to move forward after the death of Kobe Bryant of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and eight other people on January 26, but like they say in the entertainment world, "the show must go on." After a moving tribute to Kobe last Friday night at the Staples Center before the game against Portland, the Lakers tried to get back to work on the basketball court. They lost that game but the game seems incidental. "It's hard to put into words,"...
Two Ocean League games this week will determine when and where the Culver City High girls basketball team will be playing when the CIF Division 2A Basketball Playoffs begin next week. The Centaurs are currently in second place with a 6-2 record, two games behind league leader Santa Monica High who is undefeated at 8-0. Last week the girls solidified their second place standing as they overwhelmed Lawndale High, 77-19, at home on Wednesday, January 29. Two nights later they traveled to El...
I have been a sports writer in the City of Los Angles for over 45 years. I have interviewed and covered some of the greatest athletes in the world. I started writing sports when I was a student at UCLA during John Wooden days so my introduction into the sports writing world started with greatness but Kobe Bryant redefined greatness. Bryant, his 13 year old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas last Sunday morning. They were on their way to a girls'...
By Nick Hamilton (@NickHamiltonLA) Special to the Observer Lebron James is one of the most polarizing athletes of our generation in the NBA. On the first day of a new decade, James recorded a triple double, (31 points, 12 assists, and 13 rebounds) in a Lakers 117-107 victory over the Phoenix Suns. It was James' 89th triple double of his career. Much like the late former NBA commissioner David Stern revolutionized the game of basketball, James revolutionized the way athletes approach basketball...
By Nick Hamilton Sports Reporter The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the premiere teams in the NBA and the main reason for their early season success is the play of their dynamic duo Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Davis and James have ingratiated themselves into the championship mentality of the Laker culture. These two players have been virtually unstoppable and Davis has found himself in some elite Laker company after he scored 50 points last Sunday at the Staples Center in a win over the...
It's finally official. Carlos Vela has been named the 2019 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player. For LAFC fans it was a foregone conclusion midway through the season as the 30-year old team captain led the Black and Gold to the best season record ever in MLS history. He did it with style and grace while also setting the league record for most goals in a season with 34. Vela easily beat out Zlatan Ibrahimovic of the L.A. Galaxy, Josef Martinez of Atlanta United FC and Maxi Moralez of NYCFC by...
Imagine a gathering of 20,000 people, all coming together to celebrate their hero, Kobe Bryant, leaving the Lakers. They see both his jerseys, No. 8 & 24 hanging on the dais for display. This outstanding production was one of the best shows of teamwork, just like the Lakers Family knows how to do it. The atmosphere in Staples Center was intimate. The Spirit of Love & Gratitude was to the fullness & we were continually surrounded by High Appreciation. The Lakers shared many of their unique...
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This column by sports editor Mitch Chortkoff appeared two years ago in the Observer and is being run again due to recent requests from readers) It was 1996 and I was in Honolulu covering the Lakers’ training camp. It was an especially important one because General Manager Jerry West had made a spectacular move which resulted in the acquisition of rookie guard Kobe Bryant and center Shaquille O’Neal. In the first few days of the camp I found O’Neal to be outgoing, easy to intervi...
I went to Staples Center Tuesday night. It was just an exhibition game but I wanted to see how much improvement the Lakers have made since Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka took over the difficult task of bringing back to life a once great franchise. I thought a game against Utah, which has rebuilt to become a playoff team, would tell me a lot. And it did. The game was close, the Lakers had leads in the fourth quarter but they lost 105-99. The team with more stars often takes over a close game and t...
