Opening pre season tonight

The Utah Jazz brought some serious mettle to the 2008 Western Conference Semis.

After L.A. opened the series with two double-digit home wins, the Jazz responded by taking games three and four in Salt Lake City before dropping the fifth game back in Los Angeles. Ultimately, Kobe Bryant (34 points, six dimes) and Co. closed Utah’s playoff door with a 108-105 victory in Game Six in Utah, as the league MVP pushed L.A. past fellow Olympians Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko (don’t forget the Russians!).

On Tuesday night at the Honda Center – you know, the Pond – in Anaheim, the Lakers are sure to get an equally gritty, equally tough game.

Or … Not. It’s preseason game No. 1, after all.

The Lakers might just as easily be playing the Harlem Globetrotters, or better yet, the Washington Nationals. Wins and losses in the preseason – particularly in the early stages – mean approximately as much as staged arguments between Heidi and Spencer on “The Hills.” ...read full article

Woman charged with stalking Lakers' Luke Walton

Stacy Elizabeth Beshear is accused of following Walton to practice and his home.

An El Segundo woman has been charged with one misdemeanor count for stalking Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton at the team's practice facility in El Segundo and at his Manhattan Beach home.

Stacy Elizabeth Beshear, 34, was arrested Sept. 18 and appeared in Torrance Superior Court on Sept. 22 for arraignment and was released, Sgt. Steve Tobias of the Manhattan Beach Police Dept. said today.

Walton told police last year that Beshear was harassing him in November and December.

"She had been following him to his practice site and following him home and repeatedly asking him to sign basketballs after he'd already done so," Tobias said. "At one point, she got upset and was taking a Sharpie pen to his vehicle after he refused to sign a soccer ball."

Manhattan Beach police then met with Beshear, and she stopped what she was doing...read full article