Nba Finals

Not since Michael Jordan's final championship has an NBA game drawn a bigger audience than last week's seventh game of the Lakers-Celtics series. The Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that 28.2 million people watched Kobe Bryant's Lakers win their second straight NBA Finals. Except for the Olympics, Nielsen said Thursday's game was the most-watched show on network TV in the summer since the finale of the first "Survivor" season in August 2000. •Lakers center Andrew Bynum's injured right knee has been drained for the third time in recent weeks, and he will have surgery next month.

IN THE MID-1980s, I fell hopelessly, fanatically and totally in love with professional basketball. There were three reasons for my unbridled passion for the game. Each of those reasons is no longer playing: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.Johnson first retired in late 1991 when he tested HIV-positive. Bird left a year or so later because of back problems. Jordan announced this week that he was hanging up his Nikes.The National Basketball Association's golden era -- which began in 1980, when Magic and Bird entered the league -- ended this week with Jordan's retirement.

The Community Sports Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, honors those who have gained prominence and/or have made a substantial contribution to recreational sports programs in Howard County. This year's inductees are Lou Chillemi, Joe Friend, Dave Grabowski, Skip McAfee, Gus Novotny, Norbert O'Donnell andDon Smith. Their stories are being told over a two-week period. This is the first installment.See pages 68-71. The induction ceremony will be held at the 10th annual Celebration of Sports, Oct. 9, at the Turf Valley Resort, in Ellicott City.

April 20, 2002: The Ravens select Miami safety Ed Reed with their No. 1 pick (24th overall) in the NFL draft. It's the first time the club has failed to get a college player ranked among its top 15 choices. April 20, 1985: The Skipjacks, Baltimore's American Hockey League team, defeat the Rochester Americans, 6-1, to advance to the Calder Cup semifinals. Jon Casey's 20 saves spark the Skipjacks, who'll go on to reach the finals before losing to the Sherbrooke Canadiens. April 19, 1971: Fred Carter's basket gives the visiting Bullets a 93-91 Game 7 over their nemeses, the New York Knicks, and sends Baltimore to the NBA Finals.

Two wins away from the NBA Finals, the Celtics have plenty of reasons for confidence. But overconfidence? Don't count on it, no matter what Paul Pierce said. Before leaving the court after Boston took a 2-0 lead over the Magic with a 95-92 win on Tuesday night, Pierce said in a live 60-second television interview that the Celtics were coming home to close it out. Coach Doc Rivers said Thursday he didn't like the remark, although he was pleased that Pierce was confident.

PHOENIX — Throughout his career, Kobe Bryant never has been one to forget a slight, a doubter or an opponent who has defeated him and his Lakers. Now that Bryant and the Lakers are about to face the Celtics in the NBA Finals, the same Boston team that defeated Los Angeles in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals by an embarrassing 39 points to win the championship, he didn't make this out to be about revenge. The Lakers had just defeated the Suns 111-103 Saturday night to win the Western Conference finals in six games, and Bryant was saying he "didn't give a damn" whom the Lakers played in the Finals.

You'll hear plenty of jokes and quips about Jamie Moyer's age in the coming days, after the Orioles agreed to a minor-league deal with the 49-year-old lefty yesterday . To get you started, here are a few nuggets to consider about the oldest pitcher to ever win a game in the big leagues. ** Moyer was born during the  John F. Kennedy  administration (Nov. 18, 1962). The high school seniors the Orioles drafted this week were born while Bill Clinton was in office. That's seven presidents later.

HOUSTON -- Why not the Houston Rockets? Why not again?Why? Because you don't win with a sixth-place team that struggled all season, you don't win without a true power forward, and you don't win with a bunch of CBA and European league castoffs.But the Houston Rockets again are NBA champions, ending an improbable run to the title with a 113-101 win over the Orlando Magic last night that completed a four-game sweep and a playoff stretch in which they knocked off the top four teams in the NBA."

PHILADELPHIA - Larry Brown and Allen Iverson haven't been the smoothest pairing known to the basketball world, so their hug near the end of the Philadelphia 76ers' 108-91 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals last night was something more than the standard coach and star player wrapping their arms around each other. Brown, the peripatetic coach and basketball lifer with the perpetual hangdog look, and Iverson, the rap star wanna-be with the troubled past, embraced warmly with 51 seconds to go and the Sixers assured of their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1983, the picture of a hard-earned detente turned into mutual affection.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Oh, boy.Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy.Magic and Michael. Michael and Magic.The heart and soul of the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the bread and butter of the Chicago Bulls.The Most Valuable Player vs. the Most Unbelievable Player.The best playing at their best against the best.And here's the best part. We get to watch (Channel 2's telethon on Sunday notwithstanding).We get to watch the NBA Finals we've been waiting for. We get to watch the NBA Finals we've been hoping for. We get to watch the NBA Finals we deserve.