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NBA Commissioner David Stern stopped by the press room before the game and said he had just met with the referees, I presume to remind them how excited he is about the upcoming Boston-L.A. Finals.
For some reason when this game started, the refs called four fouls on Utah, none on the Lakers, and then tagged Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan with a technical foul.
No need to make it so obvious, guys.
If Stern is worried about a Lakers-Celtics matchup, he ought to be spending most of his time with Boston.
He came here, of course, to hand Bryant the MauricePodoloff Trophy, and as you know, everyone in the NBA would like to win the Podoloff.
Stern, always the NBA salesman, said something ridiculous, like there were many MVP-worthy performances this season, but since there can only be one, oh well, let's give it to Bryant.
The Staples Center crowd, waving MVP placards, wearing "Our MVP" T-shirts and energized by all the freebies, cheered as Bryant told them the Lakers were going to play into June.
It was too loud to hear anything, much less Stern probably say, "thank heavens."
Bryant's promise to the crowd to play into June has the ring of a guarantee, knocking off Utah and whatever team emerges next before traveling to Boston to start the NBA Finals.
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he really wants celtics-lakers and he will do all he can do to make this happen. Im sure.