Perhaps inspired by Lil Wayne's new song about him, Kobe Bryant powered the Los Angeles Lakers to victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.

Kobe once again led the way for Los Angeles, as his 29 points and 8 assists helped the Lakers top the Orlando Magic in overtime, 101-96. The win gave the Lakers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The veteran guard has played two of his best finals games ever since Wayne released a new pro-Kobe track last week titled, naturally enough, "Kobe Bryant."

Coincidence? Probably. It likely has more to do with his team taking a butt-whipping from the Celtics in the first two games of last year's championship.

Among the many stars spotted watching Bryant's performance yesterday were Diddy, Rihanna, Will.I.Am, Maroon 5's Adam Levine and "High School Musical" star Zac Efron. Longtime Laker fans Jack Nicholson, Andy Garcia, Penny Marshall and Denzel Washington were also in attendance.

Game 3 is set for Tuesday night in Orlando: Get ready paparazzi shots of high-profile Magic fans like Tiger Woods and ... er, that's really it. Maybe Rick Ross and Flo Rida can make the drive up from Miami to spice things up?

Celine Dion: For the 1999 Academy Awards, the diva mixed things up by opting for white and then, apparently styled by by Kris Kross, she wore the jacket backwards! Let's not even get started on the hat.

Madonna: Of course, what Madonna wore at the 2005 VMAs was greatly overshadowed by the fact that she made out with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Angelina Jolie: Angie can be counted on for her edgy red carpet style, and she's embraced the risky tux look more than once: First at the Oscars in 2001 and again this year, when she wore a winter-white tux to the Berlin premiere of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Diane Keaton: Since making menswear hip in "Annie Hall," Diane has donned tuxes at many a formal occasion. She outdid all the men on the red carpet at the 2004 Oscars, where she wore tails, a waistcoat, a long tie, gloves, a watch chain and top hat.

Britney Spears: OK, in the video for "Me Against the Music," both Madonna and Brit are wearing suits, not tuxedos, but since we're not planning on doing this list again anytime soon, they might as well get a shout-out now for their gender-bending getups.

Marlene Dietrich: We're pretty sure all of the ladies above (or at least their stylists) owe some inspiration to this silver-screen sexpot, who sizzled in a top hat and tails in the 1930 film "Morocco."

Chris Brown was expected to appear in court today in Los Angeles but ultimately didn't show, with his lawyer revealing that he's trying to get the case dismissed. Every media outlet in the greater L.A. area, however, did show up — though most of them had swine flu on the brain.

I arrived at the courthouse at 7:30 a.m. to cover Brown's court appearance, along with my camera guy Erick. We circled the building repeatedly, checking every possible entrance, but found no sign of Chris. Now, I find it difficult to form thoughts before my morning cup of coffee, so it took me awhile to realize there were no other press outlets there. Or protesters. Or even paparazzi! (And those guys always show up anywhere in L.A. a celeb might be.)

By this time, we got word that Brown wasn't coming, but I noticed several media trucks gathering at another courthouse. The first thought in my caffeine-free mind was: "Rihanna must be here!"

We high-tailed it five blocks with all our gear and stepped right into a media circus. Another crew told me the lawyers were issuing a statement in 10 minutes. Great! We got our camera ready, wedged our news mic onto the podium, and we were ready to go.

Then I heard rumblings about swine flu. The next slow-forming thought surfaced: "The swine flu?!? This isn't for Rihanna?!?" Apparently the other big story at the courthouse today had something to do with the swine-flu epidemic.

Two breaking-news stories at the same location — what were the chances? Eventually, we got our story as we made our way to the other courthouse just in time to catch Rihanna's lawyer exiting the building. All in a day's work!

In honor of Britney Spears' return to the road, MTV takes you all the way back to 2004, when Brit last set out on her Onyx Hotel Tour.

The Jonas Brothers' road to pop-culture domination hit a rough patch this weekend. The boys' "3D Concert Experience" underperformed at the box office. Looks like Nick, Joe and Kevin will just have to settle for selling out arenas instead of theatres.

Paramore's leading lady is still on the market. Contrary to reports by a Canadian blogger, Hayley Williams is not engaged to Chad from New Found Glory.

Chris Brown was photographed on a jet ski just three weeks after the alleged altercation between him and Rih Rih. If this was before the domestic-violence case, no eyebrows would be raised; now, however, it creates concern and raises many questions.

Beyoncé, R&B's reigning diva, finally opens up about life with Jay-Z. While in the public eye, she is all put-together, but she reveals her messy side — a side that Jay-Z actually gets bothered by.

Did Beyoncé lip-synch at the Oscars? While host Hugh Jackman's breathing and laughter could be heard at times, B's vocals appeared to be mimed.

In the four years between Blink-182's hiatus and reunion, these guys didn't exactly sit on their hands. Take a look at what Mark, Tom and Travis have been up to since 2005.

"Watchmen" co-creator Alan Moore apparently isn't fond of Hollywood adaptations of his work. This has made a tough job for director Zack Snyder, who spilled the beans during Saturday's post-"Spoilers" Q&A.

Although "Resident Evil 5" won't be released until March 13, Producer Jun Takeuchi has already dished about the game, including player reactions to controls, loading times and why there is no Wii version.

We here at MTV News are a pretty diverse bunch, so the views expressed by some in our more official-type year-end lists (like James Montgomery's Top 25 Albums and Best Songs, and the Mixtape Monday Awards) are not necessarily shared by the rest of the newsroom. So, this week we gave everyone else a chance to chime in with their own lists and explain (or defend) their choices. You'll find all of the staff faves of 2008 here.

By Christina Garibaldi, Daily News Coordinator

Pop music seemed to rule the airwaves this year, from the Jonas Brothers to Miley Cyrus to Taylor Swift, so here's a look at the biggest pop stars of 2008.

10. Pink: Turning her heartbreak into a smash single with "So What," Pink made a huge comeback in 2008.

9. Leona Lewis: I believe there was a period of two months this year when you could not go anywhere without hearing "Bleeding Love."

8. Demi Lovato: She's adorable and talented, and she and best friend Selena Gomez had a YouTube fight with Miley Cyrus. What more can you ask for?

(Find out what who Christina picked as the top pop start for 2008, after the jump!)

7. Chris Brown: Even though he's at number seven, Chris Brown had probably the biggest year out of everyone on this list. With smash hits like "Forever" and "No Air," it looks like Chris is going to be around for a long time.

6. Jonas Brothers: Making all the teen girls swoon, these boys certainly have made their mark in 2008. Plus, like me, they are from New Jersey, which automatically gets them on my list.

5. Miley Cyrus: The teen pop star had it all this year: a hit album, about five photo scandals and a private birthday party at Disneyland — just a normal year for any 16 year old.

4. Katy Perry: After releasing two of the biggest singles of the year, Katy Perry proved that she was no one hit wonder.

3. Taylor Swift: With the biggest debut album sales of a female artist in 2008, Taylor Swift has been everywhere, and is still talking about that breakup with Joe Jonas!

2. Britney Spears: She had one of the biggest comebacks to date and proved to everyone that she is still the princess of pop.

1. Rihanna: Everything this girl touches turns to gold. With her impeccable style and songs that you just can't get out of your head, Rihanna definitely deserves the top pop star of 2008.

Who was your top pop star of 2008? Let us know in the comments!

Not surprisingly, high school was a pre-eminent theme of the night, as teen soap "Gossip Girl" walked away with six surfboards, including Choice TV Show, Drama and TV Breakout Show.

"Gossip Girl" wasn't the only big winner: Teen dreams the Jonas Brothers surfed away with six awards as well, including a jointly shared Male Hottie Award.

And let's not forget that fellow teen sensation Chris Brown won four awards, including Choice Hook-Up (Let's be clear: it was for his duet with Jordin Sparks, not his much-rumored real-life hookup with Rihanna).

And of course there was a winner declared in the M&M Cru/ ACDC dance battle! Although everyone gave it their best, Miley and the M&M Cru were proclaimed winners — which is exactly what ACDC's Adam Sevani knew would happen when he went up against Miley.

MTV News was on the red carpet before the show (check out the hot photos right here!) and we caught up with just about everybody, from the Jonas Brothers — who told us how excited they are about their VMA nomination and performance — Chris Brown — who promises he's going gangsta in his forthcoming movie "Heist" — Danity Kane, Lauren Conrad and loads more! We'll be rolling out this material starting today, so keep your eyes peeled!

From 2005's "Pon de Replay" to 2006's "S.O.S." to last year's "Umbrella" (ella-ella-eh-eh ... sorry, I had to), the leggy songstress takes her role as purveyor of catchy tunes very seriously. As she once told MTV News, "It's important for me to make sure that my hottest song comes out in the summer." Hottest song in the summer! Get it!? Anyway!

Naturally, she's got something ready for 2008: "Disturbia," penned by boyfriend Chris Brown, her latest single off her new reissue, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, promises to be the song of the season. At least, that's what she says. It's a tune she so took to that she "couldn't wait," to put it on the next album. So she opted to offer it to the masses, just in time to remain on her throne for the time being.

It does have some of those magical Rihanna summer-jam ingredients: simple dance beat, machine-enhanced vocals, random syllable repetition (move over "ella," and make room for "bum-bum-bee-dum"). But what do you think? Can Rihanna claim the title for yet another year? Or should the queen prepare to abdicate? And if "Disturbia" isn't the song that'll permeate my brain from all directions on the beach, then what will it be? You tell us!