By this time Wednesday, the city of Los Angeles could be in a full-blown state of panic. Forget about earthquakes, brushfires or rolling blackouts, which are the customary causes for trouble in Tinseltown. No, it’s the Lakers, who will be trying to avoid an 0-3 start when they host the Utah Jazz. It’s the second game of TNT’s doubleheader, which means everything the Lakers say and do will be analyzed by their star-studded studio panel in a way that would shame Sheldon from
Bernucca column: This is not your father’s lockout
OK, the NBA is back. Now what will it look like? In the days leading up to Christmas – and likely through the first month of a truncated season – there will be a fair amount of hand-wringing about the quality of play. Gloom-and-doom purists will reference the last lockout preceding the 1998-99 season, which by any measure was not among the NBA’s brightest days. In that forgettable season, the NBA was replete with quickly formed teams made up of poorly conditioned