Nash and Spike have got game

One of the odder couplings of the press tour came Thursday when Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash and New York Knicks fan Spike Lee shared a stage to promote their upcoming projects for ESPN Films.

Lee directed a documentary, “Game Day With Kobe,” that is slated to air in the fall. The director, who struck up a friendship with Lakers star Kobe Bryant while shooting a commercial in Rome, used 30 cameras for his portrait, which centers on a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Meanwhile, Nash, a longtime film enthusiast, is making his directorial debut for an ESPN documentary about Terry Fox, a young athlete who died of cancer in 1981. Fox inspired fellow Canadians with his heroic goal to run across the country to raise money for cancer research. Despite having an artificial leg, he ran more than 3,000 miles before illness eventually forced him to quit.

Naturally, with Lee, the director of such films as “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X” and “Jungle Fever,” on stage, the questions veered toward the political. Asked about the chances of Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, winning the White House in November, Lee confidently predicted victory.

“It’s going to be one of the most historic moments in American history, world history,” he said. “Everything will be affected by this seismic change in the universe.”

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-- Martin Miller