It wasn't too long ago that the Blake Griffin show was all for naught

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Lakers will continue to get top billing in Los Angeles over the Clippers (and second and maybe third), even with their Christmas Day humbling by the Heat.Online shop - 2011 new shoes, watches, sunglasses, handbags online

But kudos to the other team in La-La land for giving its most-loyal fan base quite the holiday treat in recent weeks, winning five of six games in a stretch that began on Dec. 17 and continued with a 100-99 win over the lowly Sacramento Kings on Monday night at Arco Arena.

It wasn't too long ago that the Blake Griffin show was all for naught, with the rookie forward wowing the league at large with his incredible feats of athleticism, but the Clippers losing 13 of their first 14 games. At home or on the road, Griffin, who was playing with a starting group that included three rookies and two second-year players, was a portrait of frustration after games at his locker. With his head hanging low, he would answer questions in robotic form, doing his media duty without complaint while clearly fuming on the inside.

Yet this mini-stretch has changed the mood for him and his team. And lest anyone discount it as irrelevant, consider the following: the 29-win Clippers team of 2009-10 won five of six games just once all season, never won more than four games in a row (once) while winning at least three straight just three times. This version, with Griffin receiving plenty of help from Most Improved Player candidate and the team's leading scorer, Eric Gordon, is now 9-9 since starting the season 1-13.They love Chanel sunglasses 2011 and barbour sale from online shop.

"(The losing) was getting to me," said Griffin, who broke his left kneecap just before the start of his original rookie season and required surgery that delayed this fantastic debut. "It's never fun to lose, but I really felt like a lot of it was on my shoulders. With all the injuries we had (namely to Baron Davis and Chris Kaman), myself, Eric (Bledsoe) and DeAndre (Jordan) were kind of like the older guys, especially with the starting group. But at the same time, we were getting better."

Beating the Kings the way they did sparked a Clippers chorus of 'a win is a win' sentiments, but coach Vinny Del Negro was right when saying that "any win in general is good for us." Even if they tried to give it away.

Ryan Gomes inexcusably fouled Tyreke Evans on a 3-point attempt with 1.9 seconds left, then his teammates allowed the Kings to corral the rebound when the guard missed his final free-throw attempt. A DeMarcus Cousins tip-in was off-target, and Evans missed a put-back from the lane that would have won it.Welcome for pillow pets wholesale.

Senators forward Jason Spezza (shoulder) is out indefinitely

After stymieing the Kings through 40 minutes, making 30 saves, Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi allowed four goals on seven shots in the third as San Jose lost for the first time in five games, 4-0.Online shop - 2011 new shoes, watches, sunglasses, handbags online

Los Angeles has won nine of its past 12 games, and during that span, it has outscored its opponents 16-4 in the third period.

"If you just keep going with it, you are hoping something breaks or gives - and then it does, and you go from there," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "It was that stay-with-it attitude all the way through the sixty minutes."

Jonathan Quick made 24 saves, 10 in the third, for the shutout.

Trevor Lewis, former Shark Marco Sturm and Dustin Brown scored in a five-minute span early in the third period to break open the game, and Brown added a late breakaway goal. Anze Kopitar had three assists.

Sturm, who played for San Jose from 1997 through 2005 before being traded to Boston, got his first goal since the Bruins traded him to the Kings on Dec. 11.

The Sharks were sluggish in their first game following a three-day break, taking more than 12 minutes to put a shot on net and getting few good chances. Los Angeles held a 15-1 edge in shots at one point in the first period, but it was unable to get the puck past Niemi, making his second straight start after sitting three games.

"Without him, it could have been 4-0 in the first," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "That was just outworked, outhustled, outmuscled, and outcommitted, and it was pretty evident in the first period."

Play was more even in the second, but neither team was able to solve the opposing goalie, each of whom stopped quality scoring opportunities.Chanel sunglasses 2011 and barbour sale from online shop are very popular now.

"I'm just embarrassed," San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle said. "It was a terrible effort. There were a lot of line changes and faceoffs where things could happen. ... A lot of us took the night off, and against a team as good as that, it can't happen."

Other games:

Detroit's Chris Osgood stopped a season-high 46 shots in a 4-3 overtime win in Colorado, becoming the 10th goalie in league history to reach 400 wins. ... Rick Nash had two assists in a 4-3 shootout win over visiting Minnesota to become Columbus' all-time assists leader with 206, passing David Vyborny (204). ... Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff made 25 saves to beat visiting Buffalo 5-2. ... David Krejci scored both of Boston's regulation goals in a 3-2 shootout win over host Florida. ... The Rangers' Matt Gilroy had two goals in a 7-2 win over the visiting Islanders.

Briefly:

Senators forward Jason Spezza (shoulder) is out indefinitely. ... Red Wings forward Danny Cleary (ankle) will miss at least a month.Welcome for pillow pets wholesale.

Marie was found dead at her Pasadena home Sunday

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Marie, a protege of funk singer Rick James, was one of the few white musicians to score hits on the R&B charts, with 'I Need Your Lovin' and 'Lovergirl' in the '80s.Teena Marie, the singer-songwriter known for such funk-infused 1980s hits as "I Need Your Lovin'" and "Lovergirl," and one of the few white musicians to achieve renown on the R&B charts, has died. She was 54.

Marie was found dead at her Pasadena home Sunday, Pasadena Police Lt. Diego Torres said. Police and paramedics were called to her home about 3 p.m. after her daughter found her unconscious, Torres said.

Reviewing her performance in 1981 at the Long Beach Arena, Dennis Hunt wrote in The Times: "A tiny young woman with a powerful voice, Marie is a terrific singer and, quite frankly, better than nearly all her black competitors."

Born Mary Christine Brockert on March 5, 1956, in Santa Monica, Marie was raised in a predominantly black area of Venice and began singing professionally at age 8. Soon after graduating from Venice High School she signed with Motown Records, where she met funk music pioneer Rick James, who would become her mentor, musical collaborator and lover, a relationship she described as "fiery."

He produced her 1979 debut album, "Wild and Peaceful," which went gold and featured her first hit single, a duet with James called "I'm a Sucker for Your Love."

She recounted later that Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., unsure how black audiences might react to her image, decided the album cover should feature a seascape with clouds rather than her photograph.

"He just wanted people to hear the music first, and then it wouldn't matter to people what color I was," she told the Boston Globe in 2004.

Many R&B enthusiasts who loved her strong, bluesy vocals didn't realize she was white until her photograph was featured on her second album, "Lady T" in 1980. By then she already had a large following in the black community.She is wearing sunglasses 2011 , it is chanel sunglasses 2011 .

In an effort to reach a broader pop audience, she signed on as the opening act on the Shaun Cassidy tour in 1979, which made for an unlikely match-up. Cassidy's fans were mostly young white girls.

"It was a rough situation for me given the way I sing and with my band being black," Marie told The Times in 1980. "Those young girls didn't know my music, and they couldn't really relate to me or the band."

Marie quarreled with Motown over royalties and fought to be released from her contract. The legal battle, which was settled in the early 1980s, resulted in the Brockert Initiative, named for her, which curbs a record company's power to keep musicians under contract while refusing to release their music.

"It wasn't something I set out to do," she told The Times in 2004. "I just wanted to get away from Motown and have a good life. But it helped a lot of people, like Luther Vandross and the Mary Jane Girls and a lot of different artists, to be able to get out of their contracts."

Marie, sometimes called the "Ivory Queen of Soul," went on to produce her own albums. She largely vanished from the public eye in the early 1990s after the birth of her daughter, Alia, saying she wanted to devote herself to motherhood. In 2004 she put out her first new album in a decade, "La Dona," featuring the track "Still in Love," which earned her a Grammy nomination.

That year, she was devastated by the death of James, with whom she had been touring, and stopped working for a time. She began touring again in recent years after battling a prescription-drug addiction.

A complete list of survivors was not available.

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