Miami’s Marion could return Monday to face Spurs (Yahoo! Sports)
Miami Heat forward Shawn Marion said he expects to play Monday against San Antonio after missing Saturday’s…

Lakers Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Pau Gasol just missed two championship titles in 2008, but he landed one other title: European Player of the Year.

Gasol was honored by La Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the premier sports journals in the world. It was judged by a panel of players, coaches and basketball journalists.

The runner-up was Portland’s Rudy Fernandez, with Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu running third. Last season’s winner was San Antonio’s Tony Parker. Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki won the award five consecutive seasons before that.

Other notables to have won the award are Arvydas Sabonis (six times), Toni Kukoc (five) and Drazen Petrovic (four). Gasol is the first Spanish player to win the award.

Gasol also became the fourth player to go straight from Europe to the NBA and reach the 10,000-point…

Growth is a slow process for Oden (Yahoo! Sports)
Patience is a necessity for the young Blazers center, who continues to adjust to life in the NBA.

Lakers beat Blazers for 15th straight home win (AP)

Once again, the Lakers have the best record in the NBA — thanks to a little help from the Celtics and Cavaliers. Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 19 and Los Angeles beat the Portland Trail Blazers 100-86 Sunday night for its sixth consecutive victory and 15th straight at home. The defending Western Conference champions realize that not having homecourt advantage against the Celtics in…

NBA Insider: Hawks put up top ‘08 finish

No team finished 2008 like the Hawks , winners of nine of their last 10 games and six straight overall to finish the calendar year.

Year begins with much unresolved in the NBA

It’s getting harder to get a meaningful resolution out of our NBA heroes. Not that it will keep me from persisting, as long as I have a column due that week.