Broderick Turner

LOS ANGELES -- Each time Chauncey Billups steps to the free-throw line he is "very confident," uncluttered by the fear of missing, secure in believing the routine he developed while a kid on the playground has prepared him for success.

Watch Billups closely to see how he is centered with the basket and a "dot" on the floor. He'll take his first dribble to ensure he starts his process correctly.

He'll take two more dribbles and look up to make sure he still is centered with the rim. He'll take one last dribble, look at the floor, look up and spin the basketball in his hands. He'll slightly bend his knees before he shoots, the ball spinning toward the rim, his follow-through always the same.

LOS ANGELES -- The Orlando Magic looked done when it was down 18 points with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter in a recent game against the Miami Heat.

But then the Magic caught fire from three-point range, dropping six three-pointers on the reeling Heat, only to fall short of tying the score when Ryan Anderson missed a three-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining.

LOS ANGELES -- The NBA players' union and the team owners are far apart in their labor dispute, having failed to strike a compromise in two years of on-and-off bargaining.

Their latest meeting, a two-hour session Friday afternoon at a Beverly Hills hotel, was the first since November. It appeared to produce no meaningful progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement that would prevent a potential lockout after the old one expires June 30.

"I'm going to tell my guys to prepare for a lockout," Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA Players Association, said at a news conference later in the day in downtown Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum, still recovering from right knee surgery, has set his own timetable for when he wants to play in a game.

LOS ANGELES -- Andrew Bynum was hurt; Lamar Odom was, too.

Then Game 2 happened against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, and the Los Angeles Lakers' recent injuries in their frontcourt turned into hope for the near future.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The awe of playing against the very Lakers he had grown up watching as a kid living in Southern California faded long ago, James Harden maintained.