CHICAGO -- Off target all night, Kobe Bryant sure was on point when it was over. . His frustration stood out like a breakaway dunk, his comments sharper than any shot he took, after the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Chicago Bulls 95-83 Monday night. The Lakers have lost nine of 11 and six straight on the road. "I remember being frustrated before, but this is different because there are so many pieces, so many things going on," Bryant said. "It is a little different." Where to start with this one? Well, there was Kirk Hinrich scoring a season-high 22 points, Marco Belinelli adding 15 points, and the Bulls pulling away down the stretch. Belinelli came up big in the closing minutes, scoring eight points during an 18-4 run that broke a 75-75 tie. He started it by hitting two free throws after getting fouled by Dwight Howard with 6:54 left in the game, and wrapped two 3-pointers around a layup by Los Angeles Earl Clark, making it 89-79 with 2:27 remaining. The Lakers loss came after coach Mike DAntoni made a surprise lineup switch. He used Pau Gasol off the bench, while starting Clark because he wanted more quickness, but the slide continued on a night when Bryant and Howard were mostly nonfactors against a Bulls team without Luol Deng and still awaiting the return of Derrick Rose. Steve Nash led the Lakers with 18 points, while Bryant finished with just 16 on 7-of-22 shooting, ending a run of 24 games with 20 or more points. "Very, very tough, very, very frustrating, trying to keep my cool," Bryant said. "It is embarrassing. It is not even embarrassing. I am a big history guy. Playing here in this arena with these incredible fans, youre in the house of MJ, Pippen, PJ (Phil Jackson) built, to put this kind of brand of basketball on the floor is just not acceptable." Bryant even mentioned ditching DAntonis up-tempo style in favour of posting up more. "Were going to have to look at some things," he said. "Were going to have to change something. Probably going to have to post the ball a lot more, slow the game down a lot more. Thats just my intuition, but thats my gut right now. I have to take a look at the film again, but were definitely going to have to change something." Howard had just eight points and nine rebounds while picking up five fouls. Clark and Metta World Peace scored 12 apiece, and Gasol added 15 points and 12 rebounds in his new reserve role. "It isnt against him, its better for us right now," DAntoni said of Gasol before the game. "Were going to try to work through it and see what we can do. Things do change, things happen, I cant see the future but were ready to go forward." The move caught Gasol off guard. "I have no idea," he said when asked about his future in Los Angeles. "I cant really worry about something that is out of my hands so I am just going to stay positive and do my best, but it is not something I am too thrilled about. I wasnt expecting it. But right now we have bigger things to worry about as a group. As a team player thats what Im most concerned about." Hinrich hit 9 of 11 shots and nailed three 3-pointers. Belinelli and Nate Robinson (11 points) also hit three, and the Bulls were 9 of 17 overall from long range. Joakim Noah added 13 rebounds and a season-best six blocks after sitting out the final 22 minutes, 53 seconds of Saturdays loss to Memphis. He blamed himself for the benching the other night, saying, "That was all me." Noah was angry at coach Tom Thibodeau for taking him out of the game and acknowledged saying some things he regretted. He wouldnt say if he and Thibodeau discussed the incident, but he made it clear he had no one to blame but himself. "I admit it," he said. "It was my fault. I shouldnt have said the things that I said." Carlos Boozer chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds. Richard Hamilton scored 13, although he shot just 6 of 18. Jimmy Butler, making his second straight start with Deng (sore right hamstring) sidelined, scored 10 while trying to guard Bryant. And Chicago won this one in regulation after playing three straight overtime games. NOTES: Thibodeau said Rose is "very close" to starting full contact drills in practice, the next step in the star point guards recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Could it happen this week? "Yeah -- it could," Thibodeau said. Is it scheduled to happen this week? Thibodeau said, "It could." He also said Rose will have to go through full-contact drills "for an extended amount of time" and that he wont be playing after "one or two days of contact." [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-tom-crabtree-jersey-... Crabtree Jersey . From the NHLs standpoint, being in a position to deprive players of income represents pretty meaningful leverage during CBA negotiations. . Sebastian Collberg, Elias Lindholm, Filip Sandberg and Filip Forsberg scored for Sweden (1-0), while Mikael Vikstrand added two assists. Lukas Sedlak had the only goal for the Czech Republic (0-1) while Matej Machovsky stopped 37 shots. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-vincent-jackson-jers... . Radwanska double faulted twice in the eighth game of the last set when Petrova broke the Pole to go ahead 5-3 before winning the match in the next game with a smash to the corner. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-josh-freeman-jersey-... Freeman Jersey . Rookies Jordan Pacheco and DJ LeMahieu each homered, leading the Rockies to a 7-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday for a three-game series sweep. . -- Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels will outspend the Oakland Athletics any day. TORONTO -- Another NHL lockout is beginning to feel like an inevitability. Unable to move beyond the philosophical stage of talks, the owners and players have watched another week slip by without progress. They sat down together for a quick session Thursday morning before reporting the same significant gap that has existed all along. The main issue that divides them is far from complex. "We believe were paying out more than we should be," said commissioner Gary Bettman. "Its as simple as that." Of course, the NHL Players Association doesnt quite see it that way. Executive director Donald Fehr has acknowledged theres room for some flexibility in that area -- last weeks proposal included three years with a slightly lower share in revenues for the players -- but he hasnt come to the table in a conciliatory mood after taking over a union that capitulated during the last round of negotiations. "Everybody understands that employers would always like to pay less," said Fehr. "Thats not a surprise to anybody -- its disappointing sometimes -- but its not a surprise." He went on to add that the services his constituents provide are irreplaceable. "From the players standpoint, they want a fair agreement, they want one that is equitable, they want one that recognizes their contribution," said Fehr. With both sides so entrenched, real negotiations have yet to begin even though the Sept. 15 deadline for a lockout is fast approaching. The parties attempted to make some progress Wednesday by clearing the meeting room of everyone but the key figures: Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly along with Fehr and his brother Steve Fehr, the unions No. 2 man. They soon discovered there was little common ground. Those same four men will reopen talks next Tuesday in New York during what promises to be a key negotiation session. The sides have tentatively blocked off the rest of the week for meetings as well, but they must first determine if theres anything worth talking about. Thats far from guaranteed. A league that lost the entire 2004-05 season to a lockout is in real danger of having the start of another one disrupted for the same reason. The current CBA has seen the NHL grow from a $2.1-billion industry to one that pulls in $3.3-billionn annually -- a fact that isnt lost on either side. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-chas-henry-jersey-yu... Henry Jersey. "We recovered well last time because we have the worlds greatest fans," said Bettman. The essential difference between the offers put forward so far is perhaps best articulated in terms of their impact on the salary cap. Under the NHLs initial proposal, it would fall to $50.8 million for next season. The NHLPAs would see it set near $69 million. The league is also believed to have verbally raised the possibility of seeing the players share in revenue drop incrementally rather than all at once. Theoretically, it could be done at a rate that is matched by an expected increase in revenues -- essentially keeping salaries constant over the duration of the agreement while owners take in more profit. So far, the union hasnt shown much interest in negotiating off of that kind of model. While its natural to assume the parties might be more willing to make concessions as Sept. 15 nears, Fehr pointed out that they already know whats at stake. "If theres going to be a lockout -- and thats something that the owners will choose or not choose -- then you would have missed games, you would have lost revenue, you would have lost paycheques," he said. "But that doesnt mean that the parties dont understand going into it that that would be the case." With the possibility of a lockout becoming more real, the posturing is starting to begin. Bettman lamented Thursday that the union wasnt ready to open talks a year ago -- the commissioner did say throughout the season there was more than enough time to make a deal -- while Fehr continues to point out that Sept. 15 is only a deadline because the NHL has made it one. The bottom line is that they need to make an agreement and there isnt one in sight. Seven years ago, the sides battled one another over the philosophical view of whether the sport needed a salary cap. With that out of the way, this fight is all about money, although Bettman declined to go into detail when asked why the owners were seeking such significant givebacks. "Im not going to get into a public debate on that," he said. "Obviously, if we didnt think that there were issues that needed to be addressed we wouldnt be in this type of negotiation." . ' ' '