Text messages from press row ...

Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers’ opening-round playoff opponents, hold the distinction of being the only team in NBA history to lose a playoff series against a team owned by Donald Sterling. . . .

Including their five-game flameout against Elton Brand and the Clippers in 2006 and three earlier series against the Lakers, the Nuggets are 2-8 in playoff games played in Los Angeles and 0-4 in playoff series against L.A. teams. . . .

The last time the Nuggets played the Lakers in the playoffs, 21 years ago, Alex English was their star and Allen Iverson was 11 years old. . . .

Legal drinking age for Anthony was more than 18 years off. . . .

Longtime Lakers fans will recall that Chick Hearn occasionally referred to the Nuggets as the Nougats, especially when they first joined the NBA. . . .

Perhaps the late Lakers announcer was a Snickers fan. . . .

Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics is listed at 3-1 to be the NBA Finals MVP, according to BodogLife.com, with Kobe Bryant at 4-1, Pau Gasol at 35-1, Lamar Odom at 60-1 and three-time Finals MVP Shaquille O’Neal at 50-1. . . .

Bodog lists the over-under on Bryant’s first-round scoring average at 28.5 points and lists the Lakers at 4-1 to sweep and 2-1 to win in five games. . . .

For almost any other NBA team, a 23-59 record would qualify as an unmitigated disaster, but for the Buffalo Braves/San Diego-L.A. Clippers it doesn’t even qualify as one of the 10 worst seasons in franchise history. . . .

Baron Davis and his no-punches-pulled Golden State Warriors coach, Don Nelson, probably won’t be body surfing together this summer. . . .

That’s quite a rebuilding project facing Ben Howland. . . .

Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo, we hardly knew ye. . . .

If the cost for a family of four to attend games at Dodger Stadium already is $89 more than the cost for a family of four to attend games at Angel Stadium, as Team Marketing Report notes, imagine what the discrepancy might be if Frank McCourt’s team ended a 20-year drought and actually won a playoff series. . . .

Enough already with Pacman Jones and Ocho Cinco. . . .

West Coast fans of the New England Patriots are in for a rare treat next season, when Tom Brady & Co. are scheduled to play at San Francisco and San Diego on consecutive weekends in early October and at Seattle and Oakland on consecutive weekends in early December. . . .

Since the Rams moved to St. Louis after the 1994 season, the 2005 New York Giants are the only East Coast team that has played four West Coast games in a season, according to research by Tim Bazer of Stats LLC. . . .

The New York Jets also are scheduled for four this year. . . .

Conventional wisdom seems to be that Steve McNair’s retirement Thursday left him one yard shy of the Hall of Fame, the distance by which he and the Tennessee Titans fell short of upsetting the St. Louis Rams in the 2000 Super Bowl. . . .

More teams will play in bowl games next season than will play in the 65-team NCAA basketball tournament if proposed games in Salt Lake City, Washington and St. Petersburg, Fla., are approved this month. . . .

Last season, 64 of 71 bowl-eligible teams played in bowl games. . . .

Thursday’s announcement that Georgia State is starting a football program prompts an e-mail from a group that would like the program reinstated at Cal State Fullerton. . . .

The group makes its argument at bringbacktitanfootball.com. . . .

Say what you will about New York Rangers irritant Sean Avery -- yes, most of it is unprintable -- at least he’s drawing attention to the NHL playoffs. . . .

Illustrating anew that everything has its price and the cost of business keeps rising, the Boston Marathon announced that it will allow ads at the start and finish lines of the world’s oldest marathon, breaking a 112-year tradition. . . .

For what it’s worth: Kansas shooting star and Memphis heartbreaker Mario Chalmers was only the second Alaskan featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, following the 1994 lead of Olympic skiing gold medalist Tommy Moe. . . .

Happy birthday to former Times and Orange County Register sports columnist John Hall, who celebrates his 80th on Saturday. . . .

Noting that the pope will say Mass in the Bronx on Sunday, Mike Lopresti of USA Today writes, “Presumably, New Yorkers will be polite and won’t call Benedict XVI the same names they call every other visitor in uniform in Yankee Stadium.” . . .

Don’t bet on it.

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jerome.crowe@latimes.com