This Shot Probably Deserved a Chaser

George Mikan, who died last week, had a brother, Ed, who also played center in the NBA. The two, at times, went at it.

Slater Martin, George Mikan’s teammate with the Minneapolis Lakers, recalled a game in Chicago. Ed Mikan played for the Stags, and afterward they all went to a tavern owned by the Mikans’ parents.

“Ed was all bruised and nicked up,” Martin told the Houston Chronicle. “He had a cut over his eye, scratches on his face.

“His mother, who was Croatian and called George Georgie, on this night said, ‘Georgie, why beat up your brother like that?’

“He said, ‘Mama, if you had been out there, I’d have beat you up too.’ ”

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Trivia time: Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA record for rebounds in a game with 55 for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Boston Celtics in 1960. Who holds the record for rebounds in an NBA Finals game?

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More Mikan: At Mikan’s funeral Monday at Scottsdale, Ariz., former Laker teammate and Hall of Famer Vern Mikkelsen recalled playing against Mikan in college, when Mikan was at DePaul and Mikkelsen at Minnesota’s Hamline University.

Mikkelsen, who was held to one basket in the first half, said he complimented Mikan at halftime, saying he was glad that he’d got at least one basket.

According to Mikkelsen, Mikan said, “And you won’t get another.”

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No image problem here: Magic Johnson, among those on an ABC conference call to promote the NBA Finals, was asked by San Antonio News-Express television writer Jeannie Jackle if the Spurs’ national image was getting any better.

“I wish we, and by we I mean the Lakers, had the Spurs’ image,” Johnson said.

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One possible solution: Things couldn’t be looking much bleaker for the San Francisco 49ers, what with the release of the off-color training video that the San Francisco Chronicle’s Scott Ostler calls the “feel-queasy film of the summer.”

Ostler offers this advice: “People are laughing at the 49ers. What to do? When all else fails, try playing better football.”

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Bar exams: Dan Freeman, a retired computer consultant, has set a goal of visiting 1,000 bars this year, Associated Press reported.

“Just goes to show the lengths some guys will go to get David Wells’ autograph,” Dwight Perry wrote in the Seattle Times.

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A real longshot: From an Associated Press dispatch out of New Zealand:

“A 6-year-old racehorse named Rain, Hail or Shine died in its paddock -- after being struck by lightning.”

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Trivia answer: Bill Russell, with 40 for the Celtics. He set the record against the St. Louis Hawks in 1960 and tied it against the Lakers in 1962.

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And finally: Alan Schwarz of the New York Times, on the relative anonymity of baseball’s draft compared to the NFL’s draft or the NBA’s:

“If no one has heard of the players, can the draft make a sound?”

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