Above The Rim: The Laker Debut.

Lakers 105, Nets 90 – If Kobe’s hurting and gets only six points, the addition of Pau Gasol means it won’t hurt the Lakers as much. Gasol scored 24 and grabbed 12 boards in his Laker debut against hapless New Jersey. So, first Gasol, now potentially O’Neal — when does Kidd get dealt?

Cavs 114, Celtics 113 – 33 points, 12 assists, nine boards, five steals. Good stat line for LeBron James against a Boston team still without KG. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 21, Ray Allen had 24, Paul Pierce had 19.

Spurs 116, Pacers 89 – An up-tempo offensive game turns into a case of San Antonio putting the screws to Indiana — the Pacers shot only 18 percent in the third quarter. You either have to be awful or being very well defended to shoot that poorly at any point.

Tennesse 104, Florida 82 – Six threes apiece for Chris Lofton (26 points) and JaJuan Smith (23 points), with 13 buckets beyond the arc for the Volunteers. Shoot out the lights, indeed.

Butler 71, Valparaiso 68 – A.J. Graves scores 20 for the Bulldogs, while Pete Campbell hits 17 and the game-winning three after a comeback against the Crusaders.

Drake 73, Illinois State 70 – Watch out for another group of Bulldogs. Drake isn’t going to get itself into any Elite Eight or Final Four talk any time soon, but any team that wins 20 straight games is something to fear. An 18-2 run in the second half against the Redbirds sets the stage for the comeback.

Photo: AP/Bill Kostroun

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