NBA Highlights of the day:

• Sun 14 Jun, Los Angeles Lakers-Orlando 99-86

Kobe Bryant pulled Phil Jackson close, embracing his coach and looking him straight in the eyes. After all they’d been through, this was their moment, their championship, their time. This was the one to top all the others. The one without Shaq. The one to pass Red. Bryant’s seven-year chase of a coveted championship is finally over. He’s got his fourth title, and Jackson his record 10th. One year after failing in the finals, Bryant and the Lakers have redemption, and all the rewards that go with it. The Lakers earned their 15th title on Sunday night as Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 14 and 15 rebounds in a 99-86 Game 5 win over the Orlando Magic, who ran out of comebacks.

NBA Highlights of the day:

• Thu 11 Jun, Los Angeles Lakers-Orlando 99-91 OT

Arms raised in triumph, Derek Fisher walked up the floor looking as if he had just landed the knockout punch. He delivered two. Fisher forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left in regulation and then drilled another with 31.3 seconds to go in overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Orlando Magic 99-91 in Game 4 on Thursday night to open a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals. Kobe Bryant is one win from an NBA title to call his own. The Lakers are one victory from title No. 15 and redemption for last year’s loss to Boston.

NBA Highlights of the day:

• Tue 9 Jun, Los Angeles Lakers-Orlando 104-108

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 3 on Tuesday night to pull within 2-1. Orlando shot a finals record 63 percent - including another record 75 percent in the first half - to snap a six-game finals losing streak and avoid falling into an 0-3 hole that 88 previous teams in postseason history have been unable to escape.

NBA Highlights of the day:

• Sun 7 Jun, Orlando-Los Angeles Lakers 96-101 OT

The Los Angeles Lakers pulled out a gritty 101-96 overtime victory over the Orlando Magic to take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers with 29 points but Los Angeles were nowhere near as dominant as they were in a series-opening 100-75 whitewash of the Magic, who could have won the game in regulation on Sunday had Courtney Lee’s alley-oop lay-in attempt at the buzzer not rimmed out.

NBA Highlights of the day:

• Thu 4 Jun, Orlando-Los Angeles Lakers 75-100

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. Bryant, playing like a man possessed, scored 40 points and the Los Angeles Lakers, who have waited nearly one year for a chance to erase bitter memories of a Boston beatdown and a championship they felt belonged to them, pounded the Orlando Magic 100-75 in Game 1 on Thursday night.