SATURDAY'S SIX THOUGHTS

2) When you are seated on press row, or in my case, at the very highest point of Staples Center that still has seating, and blogging during the action, you can lose perspective on exactly what you are witnessing. What we saw on Thursday was the greatest comeback in an NBA Finals game ever, and this by the visiting team. Sometimes I think that has more clarity when you're sitting on the couch, listening to the commentators, than when you are there in person.

    Think about it: The Lakers lead 35-14 after one quarter, the greatest deficit at the end of the 1st quarter in Finals history. They lead by 24, 45-21, midway through the second quarter. The 18-point halftime lead? Only one team squandered a greater lead and that was in Game 2 of the 1948 NBA Finals. The lead was 21 points and the teams were the Baltimore Bullets (Who can forget Kleggie Hermsen?) and Philadelphia Warriors. The Bullets, also on the road, trailed 41-20 at halftime before winning 66-63 and eventually winning the series.

    I'll go out on a limb and say that Dr. Jack Ramsay was the radio analyst for that game.

3) Excellent move by David Stern to hold a press conference about 40 minutes before the Game 4 tip-off. Stern, ever-sharp, called the conference to put out the fires concerning the Tim Donaghy allegations before they raged out of control.

Calling Stern the most astute commissioner in pro sports is like calling Leonardo da Vinci the most talented man in 15th-century Florence, which is to say that it is brutally inadequate praise. And yet poor Commissioner Stern undermined his entire purpose for being there by his response to a question early in the press conference. Asked if the game-fixing allegations were threatening to overwhelm the Celtics-Lakers Finals this week, Stern fixed his inquisitor with that This-is-why-I-run-the-NBA-and-why-you're-wearing-a-golf-shirt-to-do-your-job stare, but then he flubbed:

    "I don't quite understand the question, really," Stern replied. "With respect to overwhelming, I can tell you that we've had three games-- three games? Yeah, okay, this is Game 4."

 When the commish is a little foggy as to what game of the Finals it is half an hour before tip-off, well, then I can certainly understand the question. Can't you?
    One other funny moment from that gathering. Stern was limited for time and there were lots of media wanting to ask at least one question. Most never had the chance. But that didn't stop L.A. Times columnist Mark Heisler from attempting to ask three questions. He asked the first, then as soon as Stern finished answering, had a follow-up. You can somewhat understand that, although even there he was being a little greedy. Stern was civil, though, and replied. Then Heisler attempted a third question--the man has cojones-- seeming to forget that he was one of about 150 people gathered. Stern cut him off the way a bartender cuts off Kobe after he's imbibed "a lot of winer, a lot of beer, a couple shots, maybe like twenty of them...."

4) Hideki Matsui hits a grand slam on his 34th birthday. That's pretty cool. I'm sure Elias can tell us, or already has, how often that has happened in Major League history.

5) Shouldn't Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band receive royalties every time Chris Martin appears in that faux-military garb? I love Martin and Coldplay, but the attention the band is receiving right now, it's as if everyone is trying to will this album to be the next The Joshua Tree. And it isn't. In fact, Death Cab For Cutie's "I Will Possess Your Heart" is a tune that sticks to you much longer than "Viva La Vida".

6) Funny line in the L.A. Times' "Morning Briefing" section on Thursday. It was reported that thieves burglarized a jewelry store in Massacuhesetts where Super Bowl rings that were to be given to staff of the New York Giants were being stored. The burglars  cut a hole through the roof, then dropped in and removed a safe weighing half a ton. And again, in Massachusetts of all places. The item's final line said simply, "Just when you really need surveillance video."