Yesterday, the basketball world lost one of its most beloved figures with the passing of Dr. Jerry Buss, 80, owner of the L.A. Lakers since 1979. He embodied the American dream, rising from near poverty to help foster, nurture and own a team he loved and helped lead to their 10 NBA championships under his 34-year command. He branded, befriended, and bolstered the team, created their "Showtime" slogan, and turned its $16 million value into billion-dollar franchise. We celebrate his legacy with a photo roundup of some candid and memorable moments from his life and career.

Jerry Buss celebrates 1985 NBA Finals with the L.A. Lakers [via]

Los Angeles and the basketball world mourns a hero with the passing of beloved L.A. Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, 80, who lost his battle with cancer this morning. Under his ownership since 1979, the Lakers won 10 NBA Championships. More»

-Tumblr video artists like Jerome LOL and seapunks are pissed at Rihanna for totally ripping off their style with the green screen visual effects for her performance of "Diamonds" on "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend. [Buzzfeed] More»

-Yesterday was Lakers Media Day and there are a bunch of fun photos of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace together as your new starting five. Are we pumped? [Daily News]

-Following last year's headliners Kanye West and Jay-Z, Rihanna is slated to perform at the upcoming Victoria's Secret Fashion Show alongside the Angels. [HuffPo] More»

• An attempted robbery by an ex-employee of a Marina Del Rey medicinal marijuana dispensary turned into a thorough whupping when the martial-arts trained owner opened a can on the would-be robber and his friends. [LAist]
• Looking to answer the successful buzz of Google's recently-shipped mid-sized Nexus tablet, Apple is reportedly looking to come out with a smaller-sized (7.85-inch, according to the report) model of the iPad to supplement (but not replace) their full-sized, 9-inch screen models. [NYT]
• Think Lakers fans are excited about Steve Nash coming to town? Check out these videos (taken both from Nash's perspective and the other car's) of some ecstatic fans passing a can of Keystone Light to a taxi-riding Nash at full speed on the freeway. There's some skepticism that it's viral marketing for Keystone, but that would suggest that they have a marketing budget that can accommodate famous people. [LAist]
• Occupy LA representatives assert that the clashes that occurred with police during last week's DTLA "Chalk Walk" amount to police brutality and misconduct and claim to have videos to support their claims. [LA Weekly]

There's no doubt that the re-emergence (if you count a blip in '06 as the "emergence") of the Clippers as a respectable playoff contender has ignited a bit of a cross-town rivalry. Lakers fans see Clippers fans as bandwagon jumpers throwing themselves at a flavor of the week, and Clippers fans see Lakers fans as entitled older brothers desperately hiding their fear of being supplanted atop the food chain. Since it kinda sorta seems like neither team may get out of the Western Conference Semifinals, we may not be able to settle this on the court, so instead, let's go for the next best thing and figure out who's bringing the serious star power to the Staples Center these days. Hint: it's not the L.A. Sparks. More»

Getting suspended from your basketball team during the playoffs is a tricky situation. You want to appear contrite for your actions and supportive of your teammates, but you're not allowed on the sidelines (or actually, in the building) for the games themselves. So if, as in Lakers forward Metta "Ron Artest" World Peace's case, you're sitting out first round of the playoffs for delivering a pro wrestling style flying elbow to the side of James Harden's dome, what should you do on game night to show the world that you're itching to get back on the court? I'm guessing "go clubbing in Hollywood" is not in the top 10. More»

Josh Brolin

Spring signifies many things, from rebirth and new beginnings to a whole new mank bro season of exposed feral pit hair. And as we examined last year in our pioneering studies of bro on bro love at Lakers games, for the Staples Center, it means a season of fertile grounds alongside the Lakers' home court for budding celebrity bromance. Tuesday night we got some frisky business with Jack Black, Ashton Kutcher and Jeffrey Katzenberg (poor guy was hardcore third-wheeling them) but we could not have predicted the surprise MVP of the night when Josh Brolin stepped onto the scene like a fratboy on Spanish Fly at homecoming weekend. But on the real, sorry Leo, you've been topped; homie bro'ed the shit out of you. Let's take a look. More»

• In a remarkably depressing announcement, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announces that the city is more than $220 million short on the budget and city employees should prepare for "a large number" of layoffs. Hope they bought their lottery tickets! [LAT] More»

Since the Los Angeles Clippers moved here from San Diego in 1984, they have shared a "rivalry" with their championship-winning neighbors the Lakers that makes the relationship between Germany and Poland look equitable and balanced. Historically crippled by terrible signings, fan apathy, perpetually awful luck, and Ricky Davis, it seemed to most people as if the Clips were destined to be an eternal punchline. But in sports, conventional wisdom is only true until it's not anymore, and Monday night (in a game that admittedly means nothing) Chris Paul and the Clippers looked a hell of a lot better than Kobe and the Lakers. More»

While most of our Daily Style Philes lately have focused on monsters of one sort or another– whether they happen to play one on television or just act like one in general– today's subject is probably the only one whose sheer physical abilities might actually deserve that qualification. That's right, we're talking about the Clippers' Blake Griffin, the most explosive power forward to happen to Los Angeles basketball since A.C. Green (at least on his wedding night). Oh yeah, and guess what? He's also a pretty funny dude. More»