Nets, Knicks meet with LeBron

Source: ESPN.com: CLEVELAND -- As they made their exit, the New Jersey Nets passed the New York Knicks in the driveway of the parking garage.

Everyone came to see LeBron James.Nets billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov, rap mogul Jay-Z, coach Avery Johnson and other team officials spent more than 90 minutes making a presentation on Thursday to James, the two-time MVP and budding global icon who became the most celebrated free agent in history at 12:01 a.m.

NBA: Lakers retract offer to Odom

By SOLANGE REYNER, Associated Press Writer Jul 15, 4:12 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP)—The Los Angeles Lakers have retracted an offer to Lamar Odom(notes), saying that talks to re-sign the free agent have stalled.

Lakers public relations director John Black said the team had taken the offer off the table in the past two days.

“There are specifics behind why we pulled it, but that’s not something we’re going to get into,” Black said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Lakers owner Jerry Buss had offered Odom two deals. One was worth $36 million for four years and the other was for $10 million a season for three years.

Odom, who will turn 30 in November, made $14.1 million this past season.

Black said talks with Odom’s agent Jeff Schwartz have been on and off.

“We haven’t heard from him in the past few days and talks have not been consistent,” Black said.

Odom played a key role off the bench in the Lakers’ championship run. He averaged 12.3 points and 9.1 rebounds during the playoffs.

LA Lakers as the 2009 NBA Champions

Better together: Kobe and Phil

ORLANDO -- Maybe we need to start a new theme: Kobe Bryant can't win a championship without Phil Jackson.
The great irony of Bryant's drive for independence from Shaquille O'Neal was that it reinforced the philosophy that you can't do it on your own. Everyone needs help, and the method for Bryant to acquire the greatest individual reward of his career -- the 2009 NBA Finals MVP trophy -- was to buy into the wisdom of his coach and former nemesis. In turn, the final steps of Bryant's evolution allowed Jackson to stand alone as the coach with the most championships in the history of the league.

Over the five years during Jackson's first stint as Bryant's coach, the two had grown as distant as California and Maine. Jackson asked management to trade the young star. And when it looked like Jackson wouldn't be back after the 2003-04 season, Bryant's response was "I don't care."

Contrast that to the lovefest of recent days, when Bryant said, "I've been spoiled my whole career playing with Phil. It's hard to imagine playing for anyone else, obviously. I grew up with him."

Jackson praised Bryant's growth, recalling a conversation they had early in Bryant's career after yet another game in which the ascending star got caught up in his own agenda, this time a one-on-one battle with Vince Carter in Toronto:

"I talked to him a little bit about leadership and the quality and his ability to be a leader, and he said, 'I'm ready to be a captain right now.' And I said, 'But no one is ready to follow you.'

"In those eight years that have ensued from that period, he's learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him, and I think that's really important for him to have learned that, because he knew that he had to give to get back in return. And so he's become a giver rather than just a guy that's a demanding leader, and that's been great for him and great to watch."

How did they get to this point? They had to reach the bottom first.Jackson has always been about encouraging a path of self-discovery for his players, that there was education to be found in defeat just as well as in victory. He has demonstrated that he's willing to lose a regular-season game to prove a greater point. During the tumultuous 2003-04 campaign, with the Kobe-Shaq feud having surpassed the point of being reconcilable and Jackson's own future with the team in jeopardy, Derek Fisher wondered aloud whether Jackson would be willing to sacrifice the entire season to teach a lasting lesson.

The Lakers had more ammunition than ever before, with Gary Payton and Karl Malone joining O'Neal and Bryant, yet the older players were agitated by Bryant's frequent ventures into the Kobe Zone, where he'd try to do everything on his own. Jackson, wary of encroaching on Bryant while his young star dealt with his sexual assault case in Colorado, never reined Kobe in. He didn't do much of anything, really, while the team finally collapsed under its own weight during a five-game NBA Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons.

"I think it taught all of us a lot about the fact that you can't just put guys on a team and think that you're going to win just because guys have accomplished certain things in their careers," Fisher recalled, five years later. "Which is why it's always been weird to me that Phil's always been questioned about how good a coach he was. Because if it was just about talent we would have won a championship that year. There has to be a willingness to believe."

Jackson was gone within a week of the last game of the 2004 Finals. Within half a season the next year, Bryant and the Lakers would come to appreciate what they'd lost. It turned out the triangle offense, which Bryant had often found restrictive, was the best fit for him. Instead of placing him in the middle of the court, where double-teams could easily trap him, the triangle isolated him on the wing. So after the team floundered under Rudy Tomjanovich, he stepped aside as coach during the first year of his five-year contract. Jackson was off visiting former Bulls center Luc Longley in Australia when the news broke, and when a Los Angeles Times reporter reached him by e-mail, Jackson replied that he was having a good time body-surfing ... and would consider coming back to the Lakers.

This time Jackson got his terms -- an eight-figure salary -- and a more compliant Bryant, who had tried it his way and failed. Jackson allowed Bryant a year of indulgence, shooting at will and averaging 35 points a game, because the team wasn't ready to contend for a championship anyway. But after Fisher returned and Andrew Bynum improved and Pau Gasol arrived, the rules changed. Bryant went from demanding a trade to winning a Most Valuable Player award -- still in a Lakers jersey.

Hit the TiVo forward button a couple of times to get to Sunday night. In the quarter that delivered the championship -- when the Lakers outscored the Orlando Magic 30-18 in the second period of Game 5 -- Bryant scored only four points. And yet his imprint was all over the turnaround from a six-point deficit to a 12-point lead, as the Lakers put on a showcase of offensive efficiency and unyielding defense. He was setting up his teammates and he was driving them as well, exhorting them as they seized their opportunity to drive a stake through the Magic's heart.

Everyone on the court looked like a star, and this brings up something that Bryant and Jackson don't receive enough credit for: Players are at their best when they hook up with them. Look at Trevor Ariza, a bit player in New York and Orlando, now a valuable starter on a championship team. Shannon Brown, a throw-in during the money-saving trade of Vladimir Radmanovic to Charlotte, gave the Lakers some productive playoff minutes. Smush Parker averaged more than 11 points per game in his two seasons with the Lakers, then was out of the league two years after he left them.What's it like to be around one of the best coach-player combinations ever?

"You find yourself almost in awe sometimes," said Brown, who was a Bulls fan growing up in Chicago. "When I first got here, it was like, this is one of the guys I grew up watching, coach six championships, where I'm from. I'm like, that's Phil Jackson, man. Then I look at Kobe, he's got three of them [rings] back to back to back, one of the greatest to ever touch the ball. And I get to learn from them.

"I've learned determination, confidence, just to seize the moment. It's stuff you already know, but when you get with a combination like that, it boosts it a little bit."

So many other Lakers were boosted in these Finals, with two strong finishing performances from Ariza, a shot for the ages by Fisher, and a demonstration of Gasol's skills, which Lamar Odom said rank "up there with the best post players ever."

Late in Game 5, Orlando called a 20-second timeout and the Lakers gathered by the bench, high-fiving and hugging. Jackson stood back and smiled like a proud parent. He doesn't spend a lot of time in the huddles in the first place, usually strategizing with his assistants before stepping in at the last minute to deliver instructions. This time he never joined them, allowing them to have their moment to themselves.

After the game Jackson would have a unique encounter: a handshake with Bill Russell, the only other former player and head coach with a double-digit championship ring collection. It was a brief exchange, no doubt iced by Russell's affinity for his coach, the late Red Auerbach, whom Jackson had just relegated to second place on the list of NBA championship coaches.

As Jackson went to the stage for the trophy presentation I asked his agent, Todd Musburger, if this would be the last time we'd see Jackson on an NBA court. Jackson, 63, has a year and $12 million left on his contract, but a variety of physical ailments have made the job more difficult. And at this point what's left to accomplish? So is this it?

"No," Musburger said. "We've had a number of discussions about what he'd do, win or lose. He didn't want to leave under either scenario."

Jackson has yet to give official confirmation that he is returning. Bryant can opt out of his contract as well, although Saturday he gave his strongest hint yet that he doesn't plan on leaving the Lakers even if he does opt out. The future can change quickly in the NBA.

One of Jackson's strongest themes is to stay in the moment and Sunday was theirs. Bryant said he lured Jackson into the team huddle in the locker room so they could douse him with champagne, the victors' bathing ritual that the aging coach had avoided after his more recent championships.

The players wanted him to be a part of it.

"He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in," Bryant said. "Because this is a special time ... and for us to be the team that got him that 10th championship, that historic 10th championship, is special for us."

They locked in a tight embrace, the vast gap that once existed between them now completely erased. Sometimes dependence can feel pretty good.

Magic prove no match as Kobe, Lakers claim 15th NBA crown

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Kobe Bryant pulled Phil Jackson close, embracing his coach and looking him straight in the eyes. After all they'd been through, this was their moment, their championship, their time. This was the one to top all the others.

The one without Shaq.

The one to pass Red.

Bryant's seven-year chase of a coveted championship is finally over. He's got his fourth title, and Jackson his record 10th. One year after failing in the finals, Bryant and the Lakers have redemption, and all the rewards that go with it.

The Lakers earned their 15th title on Sunday night as Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 14 and 15 rebounds in a 99-86 Game 5 win over the Orlando Magic, who ran out of comebacks.

It took longer than Bryant expected, but he has stepped out of former teammate Shaquille O'Neal's enormous shadow -- at last. His fourth championship secured a strong case can be made for Bryant being the league's best player since Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers.

Bryant, who averaged 32.4 points and was named finals MVP, said the can-he-win-without-Shaq talk annoyed him.

"It was like Chinese water torture," he said. "I would cringe every time. I was just like, it's a challenge I'm just going to have to accept because there's no way I'm going to argue it. You can say it until you're blue in the face and rationalize it until you're blue in the face, but it's not going anywhere until you do something about it.
"I think we as a team answered the call because they understood the challenge that I had, and we all embraced it."

O'Neal, now with the Phoenix Suns, was glad to see Bryant win another title.

"Congratulations kobe, u deserve it," O'Neal said on his Twitter page. "You played great. Enjoy it my man enjoy it."

Bryant's former coach now stands alone.

Jackson, the chilled-out, bow-legged Zen Master who won six league titles in the 1990s with Jordan in Chicago, now has won four with Los Angeles and broke a tie with legendary Boston coach Red Auerbach as the winningest coach in finals history."I'll smoke the cigar tonight in memory of Red," Jackson said. "He was a great guy."

Bryant and Jackson, whose relationship strained and briefly snapped under the weight of success, are again at the top of their games.

Together.

Jackson, who once called Bryant "a selfish player" now sees the 30-year-old in a far different light.

"He's learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him," Jackson said. "That's really important for him to have learned that because he knew that he had to give to get back in return, and so he's become a giver rather than just a guy that's a demanding leader. That's been great for him and great to watch."

Nothing was going to stop Bryant, who spent the postseason scowling, snarling, baring his teeth and all but breathing fire at anything in his path. For weeks, the All-Star has worn his game face. His daughters called him Grumpy. Only when the victory was his in the final seconds did he allow himself to smile.

"I was just completely locked in," he said. "I was grumpy for a while and now I'm just ecstatic, like a kid in a candy store."

After the final horn, Bryant leaped into the air and was quickly engulfed by his teammates, who bounced around the floor of Amway Arena. Bryant then gave his long, heartfelt hug and shared a few words with Jackson before sweeping up his little girls, both wearing gold Lakers dresses, into his arms.

It was just as he dreamed.

"It finally felt like a big old monkey was off my back," he said. "It felt so good to be able to have this moment. For this moment to be here and to reflect back on the season and everything that you've been through, it's top of the list, man."Bryant had come up short twice in the finals before, in 2004 with O'Neal against Detroit, and again last season against the Celtics in the renewal of the league's best rivalry. The Lakers were beaten in six games, losing the finale in Boston by 39 points, a humiliating beatdown that Bryant and his teammates had trouble shaking.

They went to training camp with one goal in mind. This was going to be their season, and except for a few minor missteps, it was.

In the locker room afterward, Bryant made sure Jackson got a champagne shower.

"He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in because this is a special time," Bryant said. "For us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us."

After beating Utah in the first round, Los Angeles was forced to go seven games against Houston, which lost center Yao Ming to an injury. The Lakers then took care of Denver in six games, setting up a matchup with the shoot-from-their-hips Magic, who made their first visit to the finals since O'Neal took them there in 1995.

Orlando will be haunted by moments in a series that swung on a few plays and had two overtime games.

After losing Game 1 by 25 points, the Magic had their chance in Game 2 but rookie Courtney Lee missed an alley-oop layup in the final second of regulation. In Game 4, Dwight Howard clanged two free throws with 11.1 seconds, and the Magic allowed Derek Fisher to nail a game-tying 3-pointer to force OT.

Howard, the Magic's superhero center, was hardly a factor in Game 5. He scored 11 points, took just nine shots and never got a chance to get going. Rashard Lewis scored 18 points, but was only 3 of 12 on 3s for Orlando, which after living on the 3, finally died by it.

The Magic went just 8 of 27 from long range.

"I thought our guys fought hard," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But they just had an answer for everything."

Orlando was trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals. They had rallied to knock off Philadelphia and Boston, and then upset LeBron James and Cleveland in the conference finals. The Magic always felt they had a shot at history.

Bryant, though, wouldn't be denied his place.

Orlando's magical mystery tour came to a quick end.

"It hurts," Howard said. "It hurts a lot. But you can learn a lot from losing. Sometimes you've got to lose to win."

As teammates, Bryant and O'Neal were nearly unbeatable on the court. Off it, there were problems.

The pair won three straight titles together from 2000-02, but the Bryant-O'Neal dynasty became dysfunctional as both fought for control with Jackson publicly siding with his All-Star center. It all eventually crumbled in 2004 when O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat.

Bryant was blamed for the breakup, and as the years passed, his many critics said he couldn't win one by himself. He couldn't, but the addition of Gasol, who came over in a stunning trade from Memphis last season, filled O'Neal's massive void at center and gave Bryant help.

Fisher, who has four rings himself, came back to L.A. after stints in Golden State and Utah and became a steadying force. If not for his two key 3-pointers in Game 4, this series would still be going.

The Lakers were anything but The Kobe Show.

They got help from their entire roster as Odom, Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum, who missed most of last season and the playoffs with a knee injury, came through.

It all came together.

"To have the attitude of we're going to become a better defensive team, a better rebounding team and then to actually do it and to see it all happen, it feels like I'm dreaming.

"I can't believe this moment is here."

Game notes
Jackson received a congratulatory phone call from Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ... Bryant had five assists and led the Lakers in each game.

Orlando makes magic in Game 3

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Missing for two games, Orlando found its Magic touch.

Making easy shots and tough ones from everywhere, the Magic won their first game in two visits to the NBA finals as Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis scored 21 points apiece in a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 on Tuesday night to pull within 2-1.Orlando shot a finals record 63 percent -- including another record 75 percent in the first half -- to snap a six-game finals losing streak and avoid falling into an 0-3 hole that 88 previous teams in postseason history have been unable to escape.

"Well, it was going in the basket. That always works," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "That formula's always tried and true."

Kobe Bryant, seeking a fourth title and his first since 2002, scored 31 points for the Lakers but the superstar had just 10 points in the second half and went only 4 of 15 from the field after the first quarter. He also missed five free throws, points that could have given the Lakers that 3-0 lead.

Game 4 is Thursday night, and Game 5 -- now necessary -- will be at Amway Arena on Sunday.

The Lakers, going for their 15th title and looking to redeem themselves for losing to Boston last season, have lost their stranglehold.

"This is a tough team, not a cupcake team," Bryant said. "Extremely well coached, execute well and we've got our work cut out."

With their season 48 minutes from all but disappearing, the Magic, hosting their first finals game since 1995, had five players score at least 18 points. Rafer Alston, who was just 3 of 17 from the field in the first two games, had 20 and Hedo Turkoglu and Mickael Pietrus 18 each.

"We've got to play like this," Howard said. "When guys are attacking we're tough to guard."

Pau Gasol scored 23 points but had just three rebounds and the Lakers were only 16 of 26 from the line.

For a while, it appeared the Magic, who shot just 36 percent while dropping Games 1 and 2 at Staples Center, couldn't or wouldn't miss.

From 20 feet, swish. From 10 feet, nothing but net. Layups, runners, banks, pull-ups, didn't matter. You name it, if it went up, more times than not it went in.

Orlando made 24 of 32 shots in the first half and only cooled off a little in the third quarter as they entered the fourth at a 65 percent clip and clinging to an 81-75 lead.

Bryant sat out the first 4:47 of the fourth, and when he finally subbed in, the Lakers were still down by five and unable to do anything to stop the Magic's marksmanship.

But then, Orlando began to misfire at the worst time possible.

After Pietrus was long with a wide-open 3, Gasol was fouled at the other end and made two free throws to make it 99 all with 2:41 remaining. Orlando's rowdy crowd, which waited 14 years for a chance to welcome the Larry O'Brien Trophy to town, grew nervous.

"Oh, boy," muttered one fan near the media section.

But Pietrus calmed fears by dunking in a rare miss to put the Magic up two, and when Lewis hit a jumper -- it was originally called a 3 but replays showed his right foot was on the line -- Orlando was up 104-101.

Howard was called for a questionable foul on a drive by Bryant, who then split his two free throws. When he went to the Lakers bench during a timeout that followed, Bryant hit himself in the head for letting two more valuable points slip away.

Orlando couldn't capitalize, though, and the Lakers got the ball back when Lewis missed a baseline jumper and the rebound went off him and out of bounds.

Bryant, who scored 17 in the first quarter and 21 by halftime, then maybe tried to do too much. He crossed over to get past Pietrus, but Howard, the league's defensive player of the year known mostly for his blocks underneath, made like a point guard and tipped the ball away. Pietrus was fouled and made both to make it 106-102.

The Lakers suddenly became desperate. Instead of working the ball into Gasol or Lamar Odom, they fired away from outside.

They couldn't shoot with the Magic.

Bryant missed a 3, Trevor Ariza misfired on one, Bryant clanged another and Derek Fisher was long as the Lakers went 0 for 4 on a possession where they had to have points. Bryant did score on a putback with .05 seconds left, but it was too late and although there was still time left, confetti began to fall to the court.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson felt Bryant looked tired down the stretch.

"We're all frail as humans," he said. "Sometimes not as much as others."

Orlando, which was swept by the Houston Rockets 14 years ago, could finally celebrate winning one on pro basketball's biggest stage.

Bryant fouled Lewis with .02 seconds to go, and as Magic fans hugged and danced at an outcome they longed for, he dropped two more to seal it.

The last time Orlando hosted a finals game, Howard was a 9-year-old kid in Atlanta and Shaquille O'Neal was the Magic's Superman.

Outside the cramped arena, which had a red Superman cape hanging off one wall, Orlando fans, one of them dressed as Jack Nicholson and carrying a sign that read: "Jack, You Can't Handle The Truth," gathered on the sidewalks hoping this would be a night their team could get back into the series.

They believed.

This was their magic night.

Game notes
Orlando's 0-6 start in the finals was the second longest in league history, surpassed only by the Baltimore Bullets, who dropped their first nine. ... Van Gundy, a college point guard at SUNY-Brockport, still holds the school record for free throw accuracy (154 of 171), a mark he dismisses. "I probably got to the line 120 times in four years," he said, "and I was playing for my father. So that tells you how good I was. I was an awful player."

Lakers need OT to topple Orlando in Game 2

LOS ANGELES -- Stopped cold by a pick near the free-throw line, Kobe Bryant watched as Orlando's Courtney Lee headed toward the basket and a shot at history.Bryant was frozen. Suddenly, the Los Angeles Lakers' march to a 15th NBA title -- and his dream of a fourth -- would be much tougher.Lee's last-second shot went up, and went out.

Lucky.

The Lakers remain in control of the NBA Finals -- just barely.

Lee missed a potential game-winning alley-oop as regulation ended, giving Los Angeles another shot it didn't waste. Pau Gasol scored seven points in overtime and Bryant finished with 29 as the Lakers, so dominant in the series opener, survived with a 101-96 win over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday night.

"I was obviously relieved when he missed that shot," Gasol said. "It could have been a heartbreaker and right now we could be in a totally different situation."If Orlando doesn't come back and win this series, Lee's miss may go down as one of the biggest gaffes in finals history. He had a chance to give the Magic its first finals win.

"We missed it. I don't know what else to say," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We executed well, Hedo [Turkoglu] made a great pass. I'm not trying to be a pain ... Hedo made a great pass and he just missed it."

Orlando may not get a better shot to beat the Lakers.

Alley-oops.

"We blew a lot of assignments tonight -- a lot of assignments -- and we still managed to get a win," Bryant said.

When it was finally over, Bryant, Derek Fisher and the Lakers jogged to the locker room, smiling and high-fiving fans along the way.

Hedo Turkoglu, who threw the perfect lob pass on Lee's ill-fated shot, trudged through the tunnel dejected, a towel hanging from his head.

Gasol added 24 and 10 rebounds and Lamar Odom 19 points for the Lakers, who won Game 1 by 25 but needed 53 minutes to put away the Magic.

Rashard Lewis scored 34 -- 18 in the second quarter alone -- and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando.

Game 3 is Tuesday night at Orlando's Amway Arena, which will be hosting a finals game for the first time since June 9, 1995.

With the score tied at 88-88 in regulation, Lee missed the first of two late-game shots when he drove the lane and misfired on a contested layup with 10.5 seconds remaining.The Lakers called time with 9.1 seconds to play, and after Odom caught the inbounds pass, he quickly gave it to Bryant, who drove into a crowd. Bryant attempted an off-balance 12-footer, but his shot was blocked from behind by Turkoglu with 1.8 seconds left.

The horn sounded, the clock expired to zeros and Jack Nicholson and the star-studded Staples Center crowd braced for overtime.

But the officials huddled at the scorer's table and decided to put 0.6 seconds back on the clock because Turkoglu grabbed the ball and called timeout.

Turkoglu couldn't find anyone open on the inbounds and was forced to call another timeout. On the Magic's second attempt, Lee got free on a perfectly executed play and caught Turkoglu's long lob pass as he neared the left side of the basket. But with 7-foot Gasol closing in on him, Lee's shot caromed off the backboard and front of the rim.

Howard dunked in the miss as Lee put his hands behind his head in disbelief and began a long walk back to the bench as his teammates tried to console him.

So close. So far.

"I caught it and just tried to make a play," Lee said. "We didn't lose the game just because I missed the layup. We could have won the game."

Howard, who had seven of Orlando's 20 turnovers, didn't want to put too much emphasis on Lee's miss.

"We had our chances to win," he said. "We turned the ball over too much. That got them the win."

Bryant, who got caught paying more attention to Orlando's outside shooters than Lee, knew how fortunate the Lakers were to hang on.

"It was just a brilliant play," Bryant said. "It was just a very, very smart play that he [Van Gundy] drew up. He knew my eye was more on the shooters coming up and just a hell of a play by a hell of a coach."

Fourteen years to the day, the Magic have more finals misery.

On June 7, 1995, Orlando had a chance to put Houston away in Game 1, but Magic guard Nick Anderson missed four late free throws in a 120-118 loss to the Rockets, who went on to sweep the series.

The Magic will head home thinking about what might have been. They could be tied 1-1, and with the next three games scheduled in front of their frenzied fans, they could have denied Bryant and the Lakers their first title since 2002.

Now, in a season of comebacks, they'll need their biggest one.

Bryant, who scored 40 in the opener, finished with eight assists and seven turnovers.

Lewis transformed into Orlando's version of Bryant in the second quarter, scoring 18 of the Magic's 20 points to keep them close. The 6-foot-10 forward's size and exceptional range make him an impossible cover for the Lakers.

With Howard unable to get open and Orlando's other shooters still searching for their touch, Lewis carried the load. He made four consecutive 3-pointers to end the half and the Magic, despite shooting just 32 percent, were within 38-35 at the break.

If not for Lewis, Orlando would have been in big trouble because Howard looked hopeless.

For a long stretch, Superman was more like The Invisible Man.

At times, it seemed as if there were six or seven Lakers on the floor as they swarmed Howard, who made just 1 of 4 shots and had four turnovers.

"I was frustrated tonight and in the first game," Howard said. "But being the leader on my team, my teammates cannot see me frustrated. I've got to play through all the different situations and learn from them."

Game notes
Celebrities in the house included actors Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Warren Beatty, and Denzel Washington, who visited with former NBA stars Gary Payton, Chris Webber and Steve Smith. "We could compete with his team," Washington cracked to the aging trio. "For about a quarter." ... The Lakers are 12-12 in Game 2s since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. ... With his Game 1 performance, Bryant became just the fourth player to have at least 40 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a finals game. Jerry West (1969), Michael Jordan (1993) and Shaquille O'Neal (2002) are the others.