Questions of Heart Tiresome

Media sessions at the NBA Finals have shaken out to measuring the height, weight and depth of determination of individual Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, their so-called “hearts,” which the home team apparently has in abundance.

The Lakers are slightly exasperated by the references, though more from the questions than from the people’s choice of who gets to wear the big-heart crown. The relevance ranks somewhere near the pounds per square inch of air pumped into the basketballs, but on come the inquiries nevertheless.

“I don’t know how you can compare the fight,” Rick Fox said, patiently.

Asked to rate the 76ers’ drive with those of past playoff opponents, he sighed.

“Honestly, I think all those teams put up valid fights,” he said. “What time they broke, cashed in, recognized their chances are slim, have come at different times. [Philadelphia] is a team that is in the midst of playing for a championship, so their fight is still pretty big. San Antonio’s fight was pretty big up until Game 4. Portland was the same until the last quarter of Game 3. No one actually sees themselves as losing until it’s pretty evident. Right now, this team should have no reason to think that they’ve lost the series. They’ve had opportunities to win, and therefore their fight is big, and so’s ours.”

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Though Robert Horry recently said he would not exercise the opt-out clause on his contract, making him Laker property for the next two seasons, he has not formally notified the club.

He has about three weeks to change his mind, though no one expects that.

“I think it’s clear he’s one of the better players on our team,” Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “I don’t know where we’d be without him last night. What he’s done for us this year and during the playoffs, he’s such an integral part of the team. Our hope is he’s happy with us and he’d be here for the remainder of his contract.”

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The Lakers don’t have a pick in the June 27 draft, and don’t appear likely to trade in, but could benefit from the overflow created by the large number of underclassmen and high school players who declared for the draft.

“Who wouldn’t want a top five or six pick?” Kupchak said. “But that’s not how it works. To get a pick like that, you have to give up something extremely valuable. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

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Brian Shaw returned to Oakland on Monday morning to be with his wife, Nikki, who is expecting a child any day.

Shaw probably will miss today’s practice, but is expected to return in time for Game 4, a 9 p.m. EDT start Wednesday.