A few minutes later, the truth was as undeniable as that 7-foot Spaniard. Although the Nuggets drove them to the brink of playoff collapse, the Los Angeles Lakers still have the tenacity to win on the biggest nights of the postseason.
Even when Kobe Bryant doesn't lead them.
Gasol had 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots, Metta World Peace scored 15 points in his return from a seven-game suspension, and the Lakers outlasted Denver for a thrilling 96-87 victory Saturday night to win their first-round series.
Steve Blake scored a playoff career-high 19 points and Bryant had a quiet 17 points and eight assists against regular double-teams for the Lakers, who blew a 16-point lead in the second half before surviving a finale with wild momentum swings and furious physical play.
With Gasol leading the Lakers' emotional effort — exemplified by those five offensive rebounds on a single, unbelievable tip play with 7:10 left — the Lakers narrowly avoided becoming the ninth team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead.
''We were aggressive,'' Gasol said. ''We attacked the paint better. We pounded the boards as hard as we could, every single time. ... Our backs against the wall also had something to do with it.''
Andrew Bynum had 16 points, a career playoff-high 18 rebounds and six blocked shots for Los Angeles, which must open the second round Monday night in Oklahoma City against the second-seeded Thunder.
Ty Lawson and Al Harrington scored 24 points apiece for the sixth-seeded Nuggets, who committed 19 turnovers and managed just 7-of-27 shooting in the fourth quarter. Arron Afflalo scored 15 points in just the third Game 7 in franchise history for the Nuggets, who have lost in the first round in eight of the last nine postseasons — but never with this much excitement.
She's the female star of the highest grossing movie of all time (James Cameron's "Avatar"), and the female lead in J.J. Abrams' popular "Star Trek" franchise. She's also a Calvin Klein underwear model and she's been romantically linked to the Sexiest Man Alive (actor Bradley Cooper).
With that kind of resume, you would think actress Zoe Saldana could grace the cover of any magazine in the world. But the 33-year-old actress tells The Huffington Post exclusively that's not the case. "I can't yet pose for any magazine. I wish I could," the soft-spoken actress told us on the red carpet at the Cosmopolitan for Latinas launch party Wednesday night in New York City.
"There are a lot of magazines that are still sort of...that only cater to a certain demographic and only put certain people on their covers," she added. "And that's fine - I never lose hope that one day certain big magazines can broaden their exposure of what is an American face," added the half-Dominican, half-Puerto Rican actress.
Zaldana says magazines have tremendous power to bring about change. "I never like to get political, but when you have the ability, through your media, to influence a large mass of people, I would want to be a part of the evolving cycle of progress vs. keeping things the way that they are. I think that I speak for a lot of us, Americans, that I would want to see a little more diversity," she said.
"For the love of God, we have a Black president," Saldana added. "That should've set the tone on a lot of things that should've been a little quicker, and it's not enough."
Saldana says she feels it's important to address these kinds of issues. "I feel like I need to contribute my two cents in terms of something that should be happening more," she said. "But that said, I'm always a person that's half-full, and magazines like Cosmopolitan for Latinas are doing what others should be doing more of."
Cosmpolitan for Latinas, a new magazine aimed at acculturated Latinas in the U.S., launched earlier this month. Zaldana is the magazine's first ever cover girl - an honor that she takes very seriously. "For me to have been invited to be the first on their cover, I feel so honored and grateful," Saldana said. "To be seen and to be respected for my work and acknowledged as a true American Latina...means a lot to me."
Feliz día de las madres from HuffPost Latino Voices!
Latina moms are some of the hardest working people in America. They sacrifice and work tirelessly in (and outside of) the home to provide for their families, and most importantly, they love their kids unconditionally.
Latina moms in Hollywood are no different, and with Mother's Day 'fever' in the air, we decided to pay tribute to some of our favorite famous mamis, including half-Spanish actress Elsa Pataky ("Fast Five"), who just gave birth to her first child with actor Chris Hemsworth ("The Avengers") on Friday, a baby girl named India Rose!
The FICO credit score equation might be a black box, but there have been thousands of articles written about what you should and shouldn't do when it comes to your credit score. Most of them are pretty obvious--pay your credit card bills on time, don't apply for a lot of credit, and keep your nose clean. There are, however, a lot of weird ways you can hurt your score without you even realizing it.
Closing Credit Cards. This has become less "strange" in recent years, but closing your credit cards can hurt your score. What seems like simple financial housecleaning actually affects a variety of factors that go into your credit score. When you close a card, your credit limit drops, which increases your credit utilization (bad). If that card is older than most of the other cards you have, the average age of existing accounts will also fall (bad). These are not as bad as an account in collections, but they could mean the difference between a good credit score and a bad one.
Not Filling Out A Moving Form. When you move, it's often important to report your change of address to the United States Postal Service or you risk missing important mailings like credit card and utility bills. The last thing you want to do is be behind on payments because that will be reported to the credit bureaus. Some credit card companies will report you as soon as you are 30 days late. While you're at it, be sure to hold your mail when you go away. You don't want someone stealing your mail and your identity.
Asking Banker to Check Score. If you have friends who work at banks, especially if they are in lending, you might be tempted to ask them to check your credit score for free. Rather than jump through the hoops of free credit score companies or paying for it yourself, it might seem harmless to ask a friend to look it up. Besides probably being misuse of company resources, this will hurt your credit score because that small favor will result in a hard inquiry on your report. When you look up your own score, the credit bureaus treat it as a soft inquiry because you are asking about yourself. When you ask your bank, all the bureau see is a bank requesting your score, as if you had applied for a loan.
Metta World Peace has no interest in making a bury-the-hatchet peace gesture with Oklahoma City's James Harden at the onset of the Los Angeles Lakers' Western Conference semifinals series against the Thunder.
Eastern Conference Playoffs
"I don't shake substitutes' hands," World Peace said after contributing 15 points, five rebounds and four steals in the Lakers' 96-87 Game 7 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday in his first appearance since serving a seven-game suspension for his elbow to Harden's head last month.
Harden is not just any substitute of course, he's the Sixth Man of the Year who suffered a concussion in the second quarter of the Lakers' 114-106 double-overtime win over the Thunder on April 22 after World Peace's elbow following a dunk dropped him to the floor.
World Peace issued a statement of apology following the incident and told reporters in his first public comments about the suspension nearly two weeks ago that he reached out to check on Harden's health through a third party.
However, World Peace has yet to contact Harden directly and said that he has no plans to even acknowledge the Thunder's versatile wing player on the court before Game 1 on Monday.
"My concern is executing the coaches' game plan and that's what my concern is," World Peace said when asked if he had any thoughts about facing Harden for the first time since the suspension.
The mercurial Lakers forward went on to say that the entire Thunder team has a habit of ignoring the common NBA ritual of showing mutual respect before tipoff with a handshake or fist pound.
SportsNation: Lakers vs. Thunder!
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"I shake everybody's hand before the game, but Oklahoma City, they don't shake hands," World Peace said. "Only some of them, but I don't think they really shake hands before the game. Kendrick Perkins and now (Russell) Westbrook don't shake hands either. (Russell) used to shake hands, but now he don't shake hands anymore."
World Peace said that his failed handshake attempts with Perkins date back to the 2010 Finals when Perkins was a member of the Boston Celtics.
"I used to go and shake hands," World Peace said. "I've been playing against Kendrick forever. Kendrick, he'll never shake your hand so I'd have to go and find Kendrick and shake his hand. In Boston, every game I'd have to go to him and say, 'Hey,' and then tap him on the butt. He don't touch my hand. But, I'm getting tired of making that walk."
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