He shoots, he scores

Took my honey to her first Lakers game tonight, and she wasn't disappointed. The Lakers romped over the Warriors 130-113, Kobe scored 31 and our seats were close enough for plenty of face time with Pau Gasol, John McEnroe (and for me, Frank Robinson.) The biggest chant of the night was not DE-FENSE but TA-COS — the crowd groaned when Golden State went over 100 points and we all lost our giveaway of free tacos. The biggest cheer was for Lakers rookie Sun Yue, who has struggled this season and entered the final minutes without a point in the game. Every time he touched the ball the whole building willed him to connect, and when Sun sank a jumper with 26 seconds left the place erupted.

Oddity of the night: A pre-game rock band from Chabad marked the end of Hanukkah on the plaza at L.A. Live. By game's end, all evidence of Jewishness was gone and recorded Christmas music blared while a fake tree changed colors. * Photos!: Ed Fuentes, who blogs at View from a Loft and Blogdowntown, got pictures of the band and of Robert Downey Jr. helping to light the menorah. Flickr

This was my third visit to L.A. Live since the grand opening. Those who predicted Times Square West must be feeling let down, if not embarrassed. Lucky Strike Lanes looks fun, but in sum L.A. Live (still unfinished, admittedly) is a big, sterile food mall with way, way too much advertising forced on you non-stop. The ESPN Zone kitchen exhaust piped onto the plaza is unfortunate, too. It's nice new bling for Downtowners, but there are more welcoming hangouts elsewhere and better restaurants pretty much everywhere. We enjoyed our meat at Lawry's Carvery, but I'll eat my hat if L.A. Live becomes much more than a pass-through for Angelenos headed to a game or a concert.

Photo of Sun Yue scoring: AP Photo/Jeff Lewis via Yahoo