Hey, Old Lakers Had the Same Power Forward

Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News is not impressed with the Lakers: “What does it say about the NBA that a flawed team like the Lakers can be on the verge of winning an NBA championship?

“No point guard. A power forward who determines his age by carbon dating. A center who can’t hit a free throw. An unproductive small forward whose wife goes public in her criticism of Phil Jackson.

” . . . Not to sound like an old fogy, but these Lakers wouldn’t last 10 minutes with the old Celtics--or, for that matter--the old Showtime Lakers.”

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Trivia time: How many golfers have won consecutive U.S. Opens?

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Tales of Tiger: Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe: ‘Tiger, Tiger burning bright. Eye of the Tiger. Tiger Rag. Hold that Tiger. Are you starting to get the picture?

“Take a look at what people were saying before this tournament even started. There is Tiger and there is everyone else. It might as well be a global version of ‘Beat The Pro.’ ”

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More Tiger: “If [Michael] Jordan were coming to the end of the NBA finals,” said Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, “he would be the main attraction this weekend. He is retired.

“He has given way to the Lakers, already being proclaimed a new dynasty before they have won once. Tiger is the attraction. Tiger is going to be the dynasty.”

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Unique: Jay Leno on Steve Young’s retirement; “He is the first recent player to end his career without pleading, ‘Not guilty, your honor.’ ”

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Dumb and dumber: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune on the possibility of Sammy Sosa being traded:

” . . . But the Cubs are dumb. The Cubs have always been dumb. The Cubs rely on dumbness and the ivy blooming on time.

“At times like these I am always reminded of Frank Lloyd Wright complaining that doctors get to bury their mistakes while an architect can only plant vines. Wright had to be a Cub fan.”

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Anxiety: Peter Vecsey in the New York Post: ‘For Game 6, the Lakers need to regain the hunger of a Clipper in pursuit of free agency.”

More from Vecsey: “The NBA decided not to schedule Game 6 for Father’s Day so Shawn Kemp could get a breather.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1942, Boston’s Paul Waner became baseball’s seventh 3,000 hit man when he singled off Pittsburgh’s Rip Sewell.

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FYI: Lou Gehrig was born on this day in 1903.

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Trivia answer: Six, the last being Curtis Strange in 1988-89.

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And finally: Sam Smith in the Chicago Tribune on Indiana Pacer Coach Larry Bird: “He is knowledgeable, honest, frank, and hardly self-important. He retains his humanity in a world of make-believe and obscene wealth.

“He asks only what he would do himself and lives by those principles.”