Chris Paul has missed the last three games with a strained left hamstring, but it’s done little to stop the 8-4 Los Angeles Clippers from at least pacing the first place Los Angeles Lakers (10-5) in the Western Conference Pacific Division. While Paul is listed as day-to-day for his on-court activities, the injury luckily didn’t interfere with one of his favorite off-court events – the Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational.

Each year, Paul teams up with the Professional Bowling Association’s biggest names, as well as some of his fellow athletes and a few celebrities, to raise money for the CP3 Foundation. This year’s tournament took place last week and ESPN was on hand to record it, as it will air on Super Bowl Sunday. I’d warn you about spoiler alerts, but you were probably never going to watch it anyway.

Contributing to the cause this year were Michael Strahan, Reggie Bush, Ciara, the guy who played Turtle on “Entourage”, Blake Griffin, a guy from “Grey’s Anatomy”, comedian Kevin Hart, Drew Carey, and pro bowling’s bad boy, Pete Weber, Jr. There were some other people at the event and you can see them after the jump as I try to Google them and figure out who the hell they are.

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Since we last checked in on the big picture of the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder (12-2) and Chicago Bulls (12-3) have made it clear that they’re the early favorites and the teams to beat, despite Chris Bosh’s assurance that his Miami Heat (8-4) are still the best team in the NBA. What a relief that is, too. Because their star and leader, Dwyane Wade, is dealing with a foot injury that typically sidelines players for weeks and even months, I figured the Heat might focus on winning instead of talking. But that would be boring and thankfully Bosh is stepping up.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers (10-5) got their swagger back – namely from Kobe Bryant and his return to MVP form – which leaves the Orlando Magic (9-3) in a precarious situation as the trade deadline nears. As it stands, Lakers center Andrew Bynum is playing almost as good as Dwight Howard, so the Magic could be losing their best trade scenario, and as the Nets continue to blow, Howard has now shifted his focus to the Los Angeles Clippers (7-3), which sucks for Orlando because aside from Blake Griffin and Chris Paul – who won’t be traded – the Clippers have nothing of longterm value to trade.

If you thought that a shortened season would be short on drama, then you were oh so wrong. Welcome once again to our Week in Pictures.

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Last week’s @Storytime featured rapper-turned-wacky-neighbor Ice Cube Twitter-ranting about how David Stern wants the Lakers to start from scratch and how they’d trade the Clippers for an NFL team “any day of the week”, so he can’t be happy to click on With Leather this morning (because Ice Cube reads With Leather) and see Taiwan animating Los Angeles Clipper Chris Paul shoulderblocking a lovelorn Kobe Bryant to the ground.

But here we are, and Next Media Animation has boiled down Kobe Bryant’s collapsing marriage and alleged infidelities to Vanessa Bryant bashing him in the head with a big sign that says DIVORCE. At one point she uses a Superfriends-like video board to communicate with other NBA wives, and at another she puts on a hardhat (?) and digs up a Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy Kobe apparently had buried in the backyard.

I don’t know, the best part is still Chris Paul’s “final boss in a video game” laugh. Taiwan really nailed his personality.

"Who you tryin' to get crazy with, Twitter? Don't you know I'm loco?"

There was already a week’s worth of backlash in the media over David Stern* blocking the trade between the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers that would have teamed Chris Paul with Kobe Bryant by the time that the league announced that Paul had instead been traded to the L.A. Clippers. But yesterday began the entertaining backlash that I had been waiting for, as Lakers fans started their campaign of “Stern hates us, we got screwed.” It’s adorable, really, watching so many people hilariously ignore why Pau Gasol is even a Laker in the first place.

Then last night someone on my Twitter feed retweeted Ice Cube echoing that sentiment, that the Lakers have been screwed because Stern wouldn’t allow the Lakers to get Paul for dirt cheap while making the Houston Rockets do all the heavy lifting. While Cube failed to mention that the Clippers gave up a wealth of talent in Eric Gordon and one of the most valuable 2012 draft picks (Minnesota’s), he did continue on with a rant about how the Lakers own the Clippers and Kobe and Co. will still win another title this year.

You can read his Twitter rant after the jump, and I took the liberty of incorporating his Tweets with my favorite Ice Cube photos. Very funny.

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With Chris Paul now semi-happily shipped out to Los Angeles, the pressure is on for the Lakers to make a big splash and keep up with their fundamentally disabled little brother, the Clippers, who just received the equivalent of a miraculous stem cell therapy. Of course that means that everyone – my Orlando Magic-loving ass included – believes that the Lakers will regress on their stance that they will not give up both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in a trade for Dwight Howard. And of course that stance was just a negotiating tactic in the first place, but now we know that it’s 100% BS.

Meanwhile, Magic GM Otis Smith announced yesterday that he is no longer taking trade offers for Howard while the league’s 29 other GMs all dismissively wanked. Smith’s announcement is also believed to be a negotiating tactic as if he and Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak are mouthing, “You wanna f*ck” at each other from across a night club, waiting for the other to finally drop his pants and take it.

Lost in the mix are poor, little Magic fans, who simply don’t want to see their superstar leave. Take this young Magic fan for instance, as he gives us his best “David after the dentist” impression while he discusses his desire for Howard to stay. I imagine it’s pretty much like Bob Vander Weide’s phone call.

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In what I would think is a pretty cool effort to show love to some people who suffer so much, the Los Angeles Clippers sent Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Eric Gordon on a bus ride with a group of season ticket holders. Together, they could embrace the legacy of Donald Sterling and gently weep into each other’s arms.

Then a funny thing happened. The Clippers and the New Orleans Hornets agreed to a trade involving Chris Paul – again – and after a conference call with Hornets GM Dell Demps, David Stern actually approved it. That’s right, Chris Paul has finally been traded. And that’s awesome for Griffin and Jordan, who chest bumped each other on the bus after someone announced the news that they acquired Paul for Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, Minnesota’s unprotected first round pick in the 2012 draft and… Gordon.

Yikes.

In case you’re wondering, yes, the Los Angeles Lakers are furious over the Clippers getting Paul. As the L.A. Times points out, everyone is talking about the Clippers right now and dreaming of the amazing alley oops that we’re going to see for Griffin this year. But the Lakers, they were supposed to have Paul and Kobe Bryant while shedding everyone but Andrew Bynum so they could also get Dwight Howard. Now, unless they give up their stance and agree to send Bynum and Pau Gasol to the Orlando Magic (spoiler: they will!) the Lakers will be scrambling to start rebuilding soon.

See? The lockout fixed everything. The Lakers are doomed and the small market Clippers have a chance to succeed now. Hooray David Stern, champion of equality!