Barkley changes his tune on Kobe Bryant

Two years ago, TNT's Charles Barkley branded Kobe Bryant as "selfish" -- he wasn't the first -- and all but accused Bryant of quitting on the Lakers in a Game 7 first-round playoff loss to the Phoenix Suns. ...

Last fall, he said the Lakers should trade Bryant. ...

Wednesday night, after the Lakers torched the Denver Nuggets, TNT's "Inside the NBA" postgame show opened with Barkley chanting, "M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P." ...

Speaking of TNT, kudos to whoever conceived the parody of Bryant's jumping-the-car shoe commercial, with Kenny Smith playing the role of Bryant and flying out of his shoes as a car driven by co-host Ernie Johnson plows into him. ...

Yes, it's on YouTube. ...

Lakers forward and aspiring record executive Lamar Odom says he knows better than to follow the lead of clueless former AAU teammate Ron Artest, who famously asked for time off from the Indiana Pacers during the season a few years ago to promote a CD he'd released through his record label. ...

Says Odom, whose Rich Soil Entertainment label this week announced the August release of an album by rapper Ali Vegas, "I understand that the success that I have on the court only helps whatever else I have on my table." ...

That's a relief. ...

The Lakers might not defend well enough to win the NBA championship, but they defend well enough to get past the defenseless Nuggets. ...

Nuggets center Marcus Camby, an anomaly among the Nuggets as NBA defensive player of the year last season and runner-up this year, is often identified as the second-best player ever to play at Massachusetts. ...

No. 1 is Julius Erving. ...

The Phoenix Suns are not as much fun to watch without Shawn Marion, nor do they appear to be better equipped with Shaquille O'Neal to take out the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs, as they'd hoped. ...

Noting that TV analyst Mark Jackson calls Allen Iverson "arguably the greatest player, pound for pound, that this league has ever seen," reader Pat Ross of Azusa wonders, "How about Nate 'Tiny' Archibald?" ...

Reader John Lochead nominates John Stockton. ...

ESPN's Jon Barry calls the Celtics' anything but subpar trio of Paul Pierce, KevinGarnett and Ray Allen "the PGA Tour." ...

They've also been called the Boston Three Party. ...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asks, "Isn't it amazing that we built a public transportation system and it never connected to Dodger Stadium?" ...

Considering the rail system stops short of LAX, no it's not. ...

If the Angels six months from now can do what they did Thursday, win at Boston with Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Torii Hunter and Casey Kotchman going one for 14, October in Anaheim will be more enjoyable this year. . . .

Dominik "The Dominator" Hasek needs a new nickname after the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings called on Chris Osgood to bail them out against the eighth-seeded Nashville Predators in their first-round playoff series. ...