No one is complaining about Derek Fisher now

All those Lakers fans who wanted Derek Fisher run out of town a few months back must be biting their tongues.…

As Fisher keeps reminding us, there’s a reason Phil Jackson is partial to iron-willed, battle-tested veterans.…

Fisher, on the rush he gets when delivering in the clutch: “It’s like being a kid, man; you just never get tired of that candy.” …

Sounds like Lamar Odom.…

Kevin Garnett, who’d been derided by some as the Counterfeit Ticket, returned to his Big Ticket form in Game 3.…

At this point, however, Pau Gasol is at least Garnett’s equal.…

Irving Azoff, manager of the Eagles rock band and a longtime Lakers season ticket-holder, tells BusinessWeek magazine, “There isn’t any more prestigious possession in this town than a Lakers courtside seat,” adding that the prime location is “only slightly more prestigious than owning your own plane.” …

A report that David Geffen is hot to buy a controlling interest in the Clippers, a source close to the entertainment mogul tells Times columnist Patrick Goldstein, is “pure nonsense.” …

Against Jonathan Broxton, even Albert Pujols looks mortal.…

Maybe the cost-conscious Dodgers didn’t waste a first-round draft pick on a player they won’t be able to sign — right-hander Zach Lee, a quarterback, is committed to playing football at Louisiana State — but you can’t knock fans for wondering.…

Though Commissioner Bud Selig insists that “most baseball people” are opposed to expanding the use of instant replay, 78% of respondents in a USA Today/Gallup poll say they’re for it.…

The deeper into the season they get, the better Torii Hunter and the Angels seem to play.…

Stephen Strasburg, who compared the hoopla surrounding his spectacular major league debut to a wedding in that “you can’t remember a single thing,” was married in January.…

He and the Nationals will be at Dodger Stadium in August.…

Officials in Strasburg, Va., by the way, rejected a proposal to temporarily rename the town Stephen Strasburg.…

Jeremiah Masoli might still be in good graces if he’d managed his behavior as well as he did Oregon’s offense.…

The Sporting News predicts that Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys will win the NFC title next season, becoming the first team to play the Super Bowl on its home field, but will lose in the championship game to Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets.…

Isaac Bruce, retiring after 16 seasons, was the last Los Angeles Ram still playing in the NFL.…

Bruce, who ranks among the NFL’s all-time leaders in several receiving categories, played in Anaheim as a rookie in 1994 before the Rams packed up and left for St. Louis.…

Adrian Peterson, trying to solve his fumbling problems, is carrying a sand-filled, 14-pound football in spring drills.…

Reggie Jackson, drafted by the then-Kansas City Athletics with the No. 2 pick in the 1966 amateur draft, is the highest-drafted player ever inducted into the Hall of Fame.…

Jackson surely will lose that distinction when Ken Griffey Jr., the No. 1 pick in 1987, becomes Hall-eligible.…

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg was a 20th-round pick.…

One in three respondents to a global survey by the Nielsen Co. picked Brazil to win the World Cup.…

Spain is the betting favorite.…

On this date in 1944, due to a wartime shortage of players, Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds became the youngest player to appear in a major league game — at 15 years 316 days.…

By comparison, Andrew Bynum was relatively long in the tooth when he made his Lakers debut six days after his 18th birthday in 2005, becoming the youngest NBA player.…

Cal State Omaha T-shirts, orange with blue and white lettering saluting Cal State Fullerton’s 16 trips to the College World Series, might not go over too well at UCLA this weekend.…

The real estate developer who christened two Chatsworth cul-de-sacs Laker Court and Celtic Court is Ted Stein, a former Airport Commission president and longtime Lakers fan. …

The NCAA’s investigation of the USC athletic program, which started in March 2006, lasted longer than the Civil War.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com