For the first time in the past 20 seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers took the court without Kobe Bryant on their roster.The post-Kobe Lakers gave their fans a look at the teams potential in their?120-114 shootout win over the Houston Rockets?on Wednesday.The Lakers won only 17 games during Bryants farewell tour last season. However, hopes are high in Los Angeles as new head coach Luke Walton leads a talented young group of players. Are you optimistic about the Lakers future? Stitched NHL Jerseys . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Fake NHL Jerseys . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. http://www.cheapnhlcustomjerseys.com/ . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. Fake Adidas NHL Jerseys . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Wholesale NHL Jerseys Online .Y. - General manager Billy King says the Brooklyn Nets are looking to add a big man and confirmed the team worked out centre Jason Collins, who would become the first openly gay active NBA player if signed. LOS ANGELES -- Two struggling teams trying to find themselves meet Friday night at Staples Center.The Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns both looked like lost causes lately.The Lakers, who are on a four-game slide, were handed a humiliating 134-95 loss at Houston on Wednesday, the third time they lost by 30 or more points. The Rockets converted 28 Los Angeles turnovers into 42 points and blew the game open by outscoring their counterparts 39-22 in the third quarter.We just didnt compete, Lakers guard Lou Williams told the Los Angeles Times. Williams scored a team-high 24 points but committed six turnovers in the defeat. Simple game to me. Any time you ask me questions, Im not going to give you answers about numbers. Its a simple game. You play hard, play smart, you play together, you give yourself an opportunity to win. We didnt do any of those things.Injuries continue to hamper the Lakers (10-14). They remain without starting point guard DAngelo Russell (sore left knee), starting shooting guard Nick Young (calf strain, right leg), backup guard Jose Calderon (right hamstring strain) and reserve center/forward Tarik Black (right ankle sprain). None of the four is expected to be available against the Suns.Without them, Los Angeles bench, which started out as the most productive in the NBA, is severely depleted. Instead, Lakers coach Luke Walton has been forced to use eight different starting lineups in the past 11 games, including a stretch of five variations in five conseecutive contests.ddddddddddddbviously were missing key players, youre gonna lose games, Walton said, according to the Times, but if were just sitting around as a team saying, Hey, lets just wait for Nick and DAngelo and this guy and that guy to get back, what kind of mindset is that? You come out and you play hard.The Suns (6-16) are in the midst of a parallel slump. Phoenix dropped its past three games and five of its past six, a 109-94 setback at home to the Indiana Pacers being the latest debacle.The Suns are off to one of their worst starts in the past 20 years.We just didnt execute and they did, said Suns guard Devin Booker, who scored 13 points against the Pacers. That was the difference in the game. It comes down to stops. We didnt get those. We know were not the most talented team in the league, so we know every game has to be a dogfight for us. Thats what we have to do.As with the Lakers, defense is one of the problems for Phoenix. The Suns rank 29th in points allowed (113 per game) and are tied for 25th in opponents field-goal shooting (46.4 percent).Los Angeles are giving up an average of 110.3 points per game (27th), and they rank last in opposing teams shooting (48 percent).The Lakers are 26th in turnovers (16.4 per game), and the Suns are 25th (16.3).In their initial meeting on Nov. 6 at Staples, the Lakers defeated the Suns 119-108. ' ' '