Just Call Him Bill Sure-Man at the Line

Bill Sharman’s free-throw prowess has been well documented. The eight-time NBA All-Star with the Boston Celtics led the league in free-throw percentage seven seasons overall and five in a row, both NBA records.

So how did the former USC All-American from Porterville, Calif., become so proficient? It took practice, practice, practice.

Sharman’s 57-year-old son, Jerry, said that when he was in fifth and sixth grade he would sometimes go to the gym with his father, who would have to make a set number of free throws in a row, sometimes as many as 50, before they’d get to go home.

“I’d sit there and see him make 48 or 49 in a row,” Jerry Sharman said, “and then he’d miss one. I’d say, ‘Oh, no, this is going to take forever.’ ”

Trivia time: Who is the only NBA player to have made 50 or more consecutive free throws three times?

Powerless: NBA Commissioner David Stern, during a visit to The Times, said the league hadn’t received many complaints from fans about the absence of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony from the All-Star game rosters, not that the league could do anything about it anyway.

“They’ve lost confidence in the professed ability of the NBA to cause everything to come out the way we planned it,” Stern said. “So this is the proof of the non-conspiracy.”

Due process: According to Stern, the only reason Shaquille O’Neal was suspended for one game recently after he criticized officials was because of the obscenities he used during a postgame interview with Channel 9’s John Ireland.

“If you use profanity and then you’re told you’re live [on TV] and you choose to use it again, you sort of cut down our options,” Stern said.

And what about O’Neal’s mention of Stern in his tirade? “That’s almost commonplace -- from Shaq and others,” the commissioner said.

Added responsibilities: After the suspension, Channel 9’s Alan Massengale said: “Laker trainer Gary Vitti is having a terrible time keeping players on the floor this year. His latest treatment is quite unique. He has been spotted rubbing down Shaq’s tongue with a bar of soap.”

Looking back: On this day in 1958, Bill Russell had 41 rebounds as the Celtics defeated the Syracuse Nationals, 119-101.

Trivia answer: Sharman. He had streaks of 50 and 55 during the regular season, and he made 56 in a row during the 1959 playoffs, an NBA playoff record. The Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers in the Finals that year.

And finally: Sometimes it’s better just to leave things alone, as Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ director of basketball operations, found out.

Here’s what Charles Barkley said on TNT the other night: “Danny Ainge called me. I have to apologize to him. Even though he’s doing a lousy job, he doesn’t want me to say that on TV. Danny Ainge is a good friend of mine. He’s made some terrible trades, but he doesn’t want me to say that on TV, so I apologize.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.