■Still waiting for Kobe to win one of these games all by himself.
■Phil Jackson took a shot at Doc Rivers and the Celtics yesterday, saying, “You can be provocative and get out there and act kind of like they do if you want to and get in people’s faces and do that, but that’s not the way I like to coach a team. That’s not what I consider positive coaching, and that’s what I like to think is the right way to do things.’’
■ How many of you ever heard of 50/50 balls before these playoffs? Now it’s part of the language. I swear I heard kids at the Brighton Y talking about who was coming up with the most 50/50 balls during a pickup game.
■Totally underplayed story around these parts was the loss of Andrew Bynum in Game 4. After games of 28, 39, and 29 minutes, Bynum was stuck on the pine because of a right knee injury, playing only 12 minutes Thursday. Big Baby doesn’t take over Game 4 if Bynum is on the floor. Bynum’s presence changes everything — for both teams. Stay tuned.
■Best moment in the first two games in Los Angeles came when the KissCam at Staples Center panned to Dustin Hoffman during a timeout and he planted one on the lips of Jason Bateman. Must have been Hoffman’s “Tootsie’’ role coming back to him. Would Robert Mitchum have done that?
■I’m not one to get on anybody’s hairstyle, but somebody has to tell Tom Brady the Justin Bieber look has got to go. Bieber is 16. Tom is our QB and can’t go out of the house looking like mom dressed him for church.
■Paul Pierce refusing to give Ron Artest credit reminds me of Larry Bird’s reaction when Michael Cooper, Robert Reid, and/or Paul Pressey got credit for playing great defense on him.
■Before the Celtics took the court for Game 4, photographers outside the locker room saw Doc Rivers pacing the corridor, screaming about “11 illegal screens.’’
■Imagine Spygate breaking in the middle of this series and you have an idea of what it’s like in Los Angeles with Southern Cal getting spanked by the NCAA in the middle of the Finals.
