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Mark Heisler

James goes from king to emperor with no clothes

Last updated Monday, June 13, 2011 - 4:20pm

MIAMI -- Looks as if he brought some bad karma with him to South Beach too.

LeBron James, who had been disappearing in fourth quarters in the NBA Finals, left even earlier Sunday night, recalling the legendary falls taken by Wilt Chamberlain, the only other NBA superstar as controversial as he is.

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Jerry Buss can pass control of the Lakers to son Jim, but can he pass along his business smarts?

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, June 12, 2011 - 3:45pm

LOS ANGELES -- Where have you gone, Jerry Buss?

If sports are a shared experience handed down from fathers to sons, it's not every dad who can give his boy the NBA's glamour franchise.

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Lakers find they still have a heart

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - 6:18pm

LOS ANGELES -- What could go wrong now?

Oh, yeah, what has gone wrong all those other times.

It's not the big dog in the fight but the fight in the big dog, the Lakers learned in Game 1 of this series against the undermanned New Orleans Hornets ... and in Games 1, 2, 4 and 6 of the 2008 Finals against underdog Boston ... and in Game 4 of the 2009 second-round series against Houston without Yao Ming ... and in Games 2, 4 and 5 of the 2010 Finals as the favorite once more against Boston.

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Looking glass or rabbit hole for the Lakers?

Mark Heisler Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, April 11, 2011 - 4:46pm

LOS ANGELES -- And the White Knight is talking backwards/And the Red Queen's "off with her head" ...

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Anthony and Stoudemire, a match made NOT in heaven

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, April 3, 2011 - 4:04pm

". . . Are the Knicks set up better now to become an NBA champion than LeBron and them?"

--Mike Lupica

New York Daily News

March 10, 2011

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A superstar, Elgin Baylor, nobody knew; a Lakers team nobody saw

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 6:11pm

LOS ANGELES -- It was 50 years ago today, the Lakers' band began to play. . . .

As they do today, the Lakers had marquee idols at courtside -- or at least one, Doris Day -- and their own stars, led by, arguably, the best player of his day.

So much for similarities.

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One-of-a-kind Jerry West gets a statue

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, February 6, 2011 - 4:20pm

LOS ANGELES -- Fittingly, if belatedly, Jerry West's statue will be unveiled outside Staples Center next week alongside Wayne Gretzky's (2002), Magic Johnson's (2004), Oscar De La Hoya's (2008) and Chick Hearn's (2010)....

Even if they're drawing names out of a hat to determine the order.

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Shaq is showing his true colors with Celtics

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, January 30, 2011 - 6:25pm

LOS ANGELES -- You loved him in purple and gold.

You missed him when he put on the red, white and black in Miami.

You may have lost track when he was the Big Cactus in Phoenix before donning wine and gold in Cleveland, where he was going to "win a ring for the King."

But now . . . green?

Et tu, Shaquille?

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Labor in the NBA: Getting story lines crossed

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - 5:56pm

LOS ANGELES -- I don't even know who you are anymore. ... In the happy days when David Stern was the only commissioner who had never lost a game to a work stoppage, he once opened talks by announcing, "Call me Easy Dave." In 1998, No Longer as Easy Dave kissed off the record he was so proud of, locked the players out for two months and came within a twitch of pulling the plug on the season.

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New year's greetings from dysfunctional NBA family

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, January 2, 2011 - 5:33pm

LOS ANGELES -- Happy New Year?

Depends on whom you ask.

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The ups and downs of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James

Los Angeles Times, Mark Heisler

Last updated Sunday, December 26, 2010 - 8:32pm

LOS ANGELES -- This makes two Christmases since Justin Timberlake, narrating Nike's "Dream Season 23 & 24" before Kobe Bryant and LeBron James met in the 2009 NBA Finals, warbled:

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It isn't all about Lakers and Heat, as things turn out

Mark Heisler, The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, December 5, 2010 - 8:28pm

LOS ANGELES -- What dream season was that again?

Amid the gnashing of teeth/jubilation at Miami's woes, the NBA's most eagerly awaited season ever is wandering off script.

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Help's not on the way for Lakers, or Clippers' Griffin

Mark Heisler, The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, November 29, 2010 - 5:49pm

LOS ANGELES -- It was a Sunday in November, like a lot of Sundays in November.

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Stunned by a toddler's death

Mark Heisler, The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - 1:44pm

LOS ANGELES -- Showing I'm as much in the little box we could call Lakerdom, or Clipper Nation, or fans of any team in any town, I didn't set out to do it.

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