The newest member of the media covering the Lakers-Nuggets series is one Kevin Love, working for NBA TV.
The former Bruin and current member of the Minnesota Timberwolves used his old-school ties to snag a pregame interview with Jordan Farmar, then stood around and talked with a number of reporters who'd covered him at UCLA.
"So this is now the way to start a career in journalism?" someone wondered. "When you don't really need the paycheck?"
Love smiled. "Yeah, and you only need one year of college."
Just fine: Phil Jackson, in his pregame session, was asked what he thought of the $25,000 fine the NBA assessed for his criticism of the officiating after Game 4.
"Not very well," he said. "I didn't think very good of it at all.
"I thought I was very conciliatory, tried to soft-pedal it. My comments -- I didn't go through the litany of things that we certainly have over this series. But that's the league. That's the league for you. They'll come back and hammer you."
You might wonder how much of a hammer a $25,000 fine is for someone making $11 million a year. (Proportionately, it's about the same as a fine of $227.27 for someone making $100,000 annually).
"I refuse to comment on that," Jackson said. "I think that the just thing to say is it doesn't matter. If it was a $10 fine, it would still bother me. "Parking tickets still bother me."
Does that mean Jackson gets parking tickets?
"No," he said. "My kids do, though. I refuse to pay them for them any more, though."
In a follow-up, Jackson was asked if the complaints were just a case of playing mind games.
"I hope so," he said. "God, I hope so. That would be really good, wouldn't it?"
Was he genuinely upset, then, or just planting a seed?
"I'm a gardener. I like that analogy." He paused.
"Constantly."
Upon further review: Jackson was also asked about the trend of flagrant and technical fouls being added or rescinded upon league review.
"A few years ago," he said, "when they came up with the flagrant fouls and then they kind of wanted to get into it, one of the lead officials ... said, that may not be a flagrant foul. It may be a flagrant foul. But hell, I'm going to call them all and let them sort it out back in the office.
"That I understood. The idea of not calling them and then being changed in the other hand, I didn't know. That's one of the things I just don't know.
"As I said yesterday, we might need some candidates for Supreme Court justices to be sitting in situations, because there's so many judgments going on."
Big vs. small: In light, perhaps, of Pau Gasol's request to get the ball more, Jackson was asked if big men can earn more touches, perhaps by rebounding or running the floor well.
"That's the way guards are supposed to play," said Jackson, who -- it should be recalled -- was a forward in his playing days. "If a big guy covers your butt on a drive, or he gets a rebound, or runs the court way, that's the way you learn how to play this game.
"Or else the big guys take the air out of the ball and tell the guards they can't dribble the ball any more. They have to pass it. That was what we used to threaten the guards with: 'We'll take all the air out of the ball.
Now what are you going to do?' "