Pau Gasol News

OFF TO IZMIR: The Tall Blacks were drawn in Group D with Spain, France, Canada, Lithuania and Lebanon for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

It was only one victory, albeit a remarkable one, but there was something instructive about the Lakers' last-second victory over the Miami Heat on Friday.

Did you attend this game? If so, start chronicling your sports memories today with ESPN's Sports Passport.

Kobe Bryant banked in a 3-pointer over Dwyane Wade's defense at the buzzer, ending the superstars' sensational duel and sending the Los Angeles Lakers to their eighth straight victory, 108-107 over the Miami Heat on Friday night.

By Henry Abbott Ron Artest has always brought a certain devil-may-care attitude to the court.

A seemingly random sequence of numbers which may be of little relevance outside of playing the lotto, but not to the Los Angeles Lakers.

By The Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN Stats & Information The Spurs, who host the Jazz on Thursday, have won 20 consecutive home games against Utah, dating back to May 1999.

After shuffling through last season coping with a raft of injuries and a lack of depth, the Mavericks beefed up the roster in the offseason in an attempt to push the team back into contention.

Many people will disagree with him being on the list, I'm sure. Statistically, he looks pretty average.

Mike Bresnahan covers the Lakers for The Times and ties up loose ends on the day of his self-designated "Lakers game of the week." The Lakers play tonight at Denver.

LeBron James likes to talk. But he has been talking too much lately, and his constant yakking has left him with some 'splaining to do.

Because his right hamstring had been slow to heal, Lakers forward Pau Gasol decided to undergo an examination, one facet of which was a sonogram that revealed he might have a slight tear.

Mike Krzyzewski wants more gold medals and NCAA titles, but more than anything, he craves the moments.

Basketball has long been an American pastime - the game was invented in Massachusetts and has been played primarily in the United States and dominated by America-born players for the majority of its century-plus existence.

MADRID ? It's a preseason game for both teams. Starters may not be the same as they will be in the regular season, the rotation certainly will not, and even if the game's on the line late, there may be an NBA All-Star and/or Olympian ? or two or three or four ? watching from the bench.

MADRID ? They went from a British city where Basketball still is as foreign to many as driving on the wrong side of the road to one in Spain where the game is not just familiar but actually rather popular.

A serious grab bag of entries from around the blogosphere this week, though in light of international tours, David Stern's vague non-proclamations, and the imminent tipoff to the season, all things basketball were a bit overshadowed by the NBA beast.

Low Priced Vacations to America with Tickets to the Best NBA Games of the Season.

Isn't he? The league announced last week that Kobe Bryant sells more NBA jerseys in Europe than any other player.

Greivis Vasquez didn't gravitate to baseball. The expectation was that he should.