Good vs. Evil: Guess Which One Is Knicks

Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post commenting on the NBA finals:

“TV will make it into a morality play. The Knicks will be cast as outlaws, because everybody outside of New York loves to hate New York, and they have the perfect villain now in Latrell Sprewell. . . .

“The Spurs, of course, will be cast as Boy Scouts defending the American way of life. Much will be made of how the San Antonio starters all went through four years of college ball.

“We might get interviews of [David] Robinson’s, Tim Duncan’s, and Sean Elliott’s grade school teachers telling us what fine, clean-cut students and model citizens they were.”

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Trivia time: Before this year, when was the last time two coaches who never played in the NBA opposed each other in the championship series?

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Formidable task: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “I will make this prediction: [Shaquille] O’Neal will become a better free-throw shooter with [Phil] Jackson as coach.

“Why? Because Jackson will find a way to ease O’Neal’s mind, make O’Neal see that failure and success are all part of the same circle. You know, that Zen stuff.”

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His legacy: Gar Heard, the new Washington Wizard coach, is known for his last-second shot for Phoenix against Boston in the 1976 NBA finals that extended the game into a third overtime--”The Gar Heard ‘Round the World.”

The Celtics won, however, 128-126, and went on to win the series, four games to two.

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His gurus: New Orlando Magic Coach Doc Rivers on playing for Larry Brown, Mike Fratello and Pat Riley:

“Brown was the ultimate teacher, Fratello was the great preparer, and playing for Riley can’t hurt you.

“Well, physically it can with those five-hour practices. I took something from all of them.”

Fatigue, in Riley’s case.

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FYI: A challenge for Phil Jackson: The best record for a first-year Laker coach was established by Bill Sharman in the 1971-72 season.

The Lakers won 33 consecutive games, still a league record, and had a regular-season record of 69-13, an NBA record at the time. It was broken by Jackson’s Chicago Bulls in the 1995-96 season with 72 wins.

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Profound: Tampa Bay Devil Ray designated hitter Jose Canseco on the best baseball tip he has ever received: “It came from Harold Baines, who told me to keep it simple: See the ball, hit the ball.”

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Trivia answer: 1981, when the Boston Celtics, coached by Bill Fitch, beat Del Harris’ Houston Rockets.

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And finally: Track & Field News reports that the Singapore Tourism Board has linked with IMG in announcing a road mile for Oct. 3, which would pay a million-dollar prize for breaking the track world record of 3 minutes 44.39 seconds.

“The winner will get $100,000 regardless of time, and many of the world’s leaders have been invited. No word if any have accepted.”

Do milers have anything better to do?