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This was the earlier Rajon Rondo of the NBA playoffs. This was the one who declared himself the best point guard in the league. Not the one who came up lame in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. This was the all-around Rondo, who had a series of huge ...

The talk coming into the game circled around how the Celtics' defense may rival that of the 2008 championship team. On Thursday, the Lakers showed their rendition of defense. They took charges. They caused deflections. They altered and rejected shots inside. In short, they frustrated Boston. That defense coupled ...

To this day, it is referred to simply as 0.4, the last-second shot that first made Derek Fisher famous. In Game 4 of the NBA finals, Fisher may have topped it. Twice. Fisher hit two key 3-pointers - one with 4.6 seconds left in regulation, the other with 31.3 seconds to go in ...

No athlete on the planet - well, at least on this side of the putting green from Tiger Woods - closes quite like Kobe Bryant. He's the ice-in-his-veins killer. The Terminator. The one you call to finish the job. Mr. Clutch. He owns the fourth quarter. Most of the time. But in Game ...

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 ...

Kobe Bryant has changed his look. Gone is the teeth-baring, nose-flaring, eyes-on-the-prize scowl that the Los Angeles Lakers star showed again and again in Game 1 of the NBA finals. The intensity diminished after Game 2, his expression morphing into one of relief and sheer luck. A botched layup by Magic ...

Lucky to have a second chance, the Los Angeles Lakers grabbed it. Kobe Bryant and Co. held on and are in control of the NBA finals - just barely. Orlando rookie Courtney Lee missed a potential winning layup as regulation ended, giving Los Angeles another shot it didn't waste. Pau Gasol scored ...

Behind Kobe Bryant's stone-faced mask and the icy grimace he's wearing in these finals, his eyes are laser locked on one target: His fourth NBA title. His vision is so narrow, so sharp that he can't think about anything but a shiny championship trophy now close enough to touch. To him, these ...

Kobe Bryant has waited a year, a long year, for another chance at NBA title. He's not about to let this one slip away. The Olympic gold medal was nice. Not nearly enough. He covets another golden trophy. "I just want it so bad, that's all,'' Bryant said. "I just want it really ...

His smile has vanished, replaced by something closer to a scowl. His days of joking around are seemingly on hold. Kobe Bryant has gotten deadly serious. He has that look, you've seen the one. It's the cold-blooded, get-out-of-my-way-or-pay glare he'll shoot at a teammate who messes up or an opponent who dares ...