I know this is a few days late, but at the end of the Lakers series-clinching win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the Lakers sent Joey Buss to the podium to accept the championship trophy from David Stern.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE LAKERS!  Jerry Buss, the majority owner of the Lakers pictured above, sends his 19-year-old grandson (his caption read “Alternate Governor of the Lakers”, I kid you not) to accept the NBA Finals trophy on global television.  Bill Simmons was also confused at Jerry’s choice to represent the Lakers - an excerpt from a recent article is below.  Read Bill’s full article - I recommend it.  Oh, and if anyone can find the video of the acceptance speech, please share.  I looked everywhere (even for a picture) and came up empty.

OK, this has nothing to do with anything … but I can’t stop thinking about Joey Buss. Granted, there’s a chance I would have been just as tongue-tied on national TV at age 19. But who thought it was a good idea to have him speak extemporaneously in front of a worldwide audience? How did he become the “alternate governor of the Lakers,” and what does that mean? Are people in Southern California frightened that two of their governors are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joey Buss? Did they throw him out there to answer the question, “What would have happened if Fredo had gotten control of the Corleone family?” Did they bring him out to make the Maloofs feel better about themselves as overmatched legacy kids? Has he ever been discreetly stared at by a bunch of country club workers and had one of them say, “Fifty bucks says the Buss kid picks his nose.”

Even though Pau Gasol is one of the uggest dudes in the NBA (see above), he should know better than to dunk on the home team when he’s up five points with three seconds remaining (if you didn’t catch the whole game, watch the highlight and read the story here).  Run the clock out, dummy.  I think Pietrus did the right thing - Ug-Man Magee can have the dunk as long he doesn’t mind a hard foul in his back.  Read what super-biased Lakers fans are saying here.  What do the HAAP readers think?

I’m pretty pumped up for the Lakers/Magic series to kick off Thursday night. I know David Stern and the rest of the world are probably pouting because the Puppet Marketing Machine that is Lebron and Kobe won’t be meeting in the Finals, but whatever, the Magic are a WAY better all-around team. Lebron is amazing (check his and other playoff stats here), but the Cavs had to lose because the Magic are so much more fun to watch.

Also, Magic players are murmuring that All-Star Jameer Nelson may return - “I expect to see him out there at some point in the series,” backup point guard Anthony Johnson said. This would be pretty impressive given Nelson had what was then called season-ending surgery Feb. 19 and his rehab was supposed to take at least another two months. I’m hoping he gets a chance to play, because it’s lose-lose for him psychologically if he doesn’t. If the Magic end up winning the ‘chip, then Jameer feels like the team didn’t need him. If the Magic lose, Jameer feels bad because he didn’t have a chance to help his team out. Here’s to Jameer getting a chance to play…cheers.