Ainge Knows His Place on the Roster

Danny Ainge of the Phoenix Suns has been in the NBA finals six times in the past nine years with three teams--Boston, Portland and Phoenix.

“I’ve just been lucky,” Ainge told Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. “I got to ride the coattails of Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley.

“The reason it didn’t happen with the (Sacramento) Kings was because I was one of their best players, so that meant they couldn’t win.”

Trivia time: The Boston Celtics won eight consecutive NBA championships from 1959 through 1966. How many times did they play the Lakers in the final series?

Marx Brothers movie?Edvins Beitiks of the San Francisco Examiner wins the weird lead of the month award in describing Oakland’s 7-6 victory over Minnesota on June 13:

“The A’s were laid flat on a slab, a white sheet drawn over the body, when, like a scene out of some Abbott and Costello movie, the cadaver sat straight up, its arms holding empty air, making ‘ung-guh’ noises, while skinny nurses and a short-legged doctor ran through the room screaming.”

Long ball: Peter Vecsey of USA Today on John Paxson, the three-point shooting guard of the Chicago Bulls:

“Paxson clearly is basketball’s reply to Reggie Jackson. With a stroke to match. Only this clutch, home-run hitter rarely strikes out. Just call him Mr. Mid-June.”

Yawn: From Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News: “Q: What is your reaction to baseball’s new multi-playoff system? A: Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a flip. The Lords of Baseball can be trusted to screw things up, if not in this way, then another.”

Pitcher’s block: Pirate pitcher Bob Walk, talking to Paul Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after lasting only four innings in a recent game against the San Francisco Giants in Candlestick Park:

“I was messing up. It was a bad game. And I’m unhappy about it. It’s like you’re sitting in front of the typewriter and no words are coming out. You’d get mad.”

Often.

Similar odor: Orestes Destrade of the Florida Marlins, after a skunk wandered into the Marlins’ dugout during a game at San Diego: “The skunk looked scared. I had just struck out. He was probably thinking, ‘You stink worse than I do.’ ”

Trivia answer: Five times, counting the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959.

Quotebook: Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe: “When the NHL finally expands to 31 teams, will Baskin-Robbins be the official sponsor?”