Text messages from press row ...

Two years ago, TNT’s Charles Barkley branded Kobe Bryant as “selfish” -- he wasn’t the first -- and all but accused Bryant of quitting on the Lakers in a Game 7 first-round playoff loss to the Phoenix Suns. ...

Last fall, he said the Lakers should trade Bryant. ...

Wednesday night, after the Lakers torched the Denver Nuggets, TNT’s “Inside the NBA” postgame show opened with Barkley chanting, “M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P.” ...

Speaking of TNT, kudos to whoever conceived the parody of Bryant’s jumping-the-car shoe commercial, with Kenny Smith playing the role of Bryant and flying out of his shoes as a car driven by co-host Ernie Johnson plows into him. ...

Yes, it’s on YouTube. ...

Lakers forward and aspiring record executive Lamar Odom says he knows better than to follow the lead of clueless former AAU teammate Ron Artest, who famously asked for time off from the Indiana Pacers during the season a few years ago to promote a CD he’d released through his record label. ...

Says Odom, whose Rich Soil Entertainment label this week announced the August release of an album by rapper Ali Vegas, “I understand that the success that I have on the court only helps whatever else I have on my table.” ...

That’s a relief. ...

The Lakers might not defend well enough to win the NBA championship, but they defend well enough to get past the defenseless Nuggets. ...

Nuggets center Marcus Camby, an anomaly among the Nuggets as NBA defensive player of the year last season and runner-up this year, is often identified as the second-best player ever to play at Massachusetts. ...

No. 1 is Julius Erving. ...

The Phoenix Suns are not as much fun to watch without Shawn Marion, nor do they appear to be better equipped with Shaquille O’Neal to take out the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs, as they’d hoped. ...

Noting that TV analyst Mark Jackson calls Allen Iverson “arguably the greatest player, pound for pound, that this league has ever seen,” reader Pat Ross of Azusa wonders, “How about Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald?” ...

Reader John Lochead nominates John Stockton. ...

ESPN’s Jon Barry calls the Celtics’ anything but subpar trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen “the PGA Tour.” ...

They’ve also been called the Boston Three Party. ...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asks, “Isn’t it amazing that we built a public transportation system and it never connected to Dodger Stadium?” ...

Considering the rail system stops short of LAX, no it’s not. ...

If the Angels six months from now can do what they did Thursday, win at Boston with Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Torii Hunter and Casey Kotchman going one for 14, October in Anaheim will be more enjoyable this year. . . .

Dominik “The Dominator” Hasek needs a new nickname after the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings called on Chris Osgood to bail them out against the eighth-seeded Nashville Predators in their first-round playoff series. ...

Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne need to decide before the middle of next season whether they’re returning to the Ducks. ...

Skateboarding champion and “Life of Ryan” heartthrob Ryan Sheckler donated his customized Range Rover to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, lobbied his fans to raise more than $200,000 for the cause and Sunday in Century City will hand over the car to Drake Kemper, a recently turned 17-year-old stand-up comedian whose efforts raised about one-fifth of the total. ...

Nebraska’s spring football game last Saturday drew a crowd of 80,149, or more than double what USC and UCLA will draw this spring combined. ...

Michael Torres, a junior transfer from USC, had a 25-game hitting streak end Sunday but is hitting .342 at Texas after hitting .253 at USC last season. ...

Longtime NFL fans may have noted that the 2008 season wraps up Dec. 28, the 50th anniversary of the Baltimore Colts’ fondly remembered 23-17 overtime victory over the New York Giants for the 1958 NFL championship. ...

Johnny Unitas starred in what many still regard as “The Best Game Ever,” as Sports Illustrated calls it on the cover of its current issue. ...

New Jersey, please forgive. ...

Rocker Bruce Springsteen is from the Garden State, of course, as is sixth man J.R. Smith of the Nuggets, even if an error in this space Wednesday put their hometown of Freehold in New York. ...

Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.

--

jerome.crowe@latimes.com