The National Basketball Association is heading into the premier part of its season -- the playoffs, and it has its two biggest attractions in the center of the spotlight.
"That's a road you have to follow if you want to be considered among the great ones because it demonstrates that you're either making the players around you better or management is putting better players around you in order to showcase your talent longer into the playoffs," NBA commissioner David Stern said last week.
"The campaign last year about the finals was, `Where legends are born' and I think you could have said that for the playoffs. You clearly -- in order to write yourself large in NBA history -- you've got to be in the playoffs."
PHOTO: AP
James thought he was headed there last year before a late-season collapse left the Cleveland Cavaliers at home. Now in his third year, he's ready to make up for lost time.
"I don't put timelines on anything," James said following practice on Thursday. "It's unfortunate I didn't make it the last two years, but I'm here now."
Not surprisingly, James and Bryant get the prime slots this weekend. The Cavaliers open their first postseason since 1998 on Saturday afternoon on national television against the Washington Wizards, and the Lakers have the Sunday afternoon TV game for both their opener at Phoenix and Game 4 back at Staples Center next weekend.
In the other best-of-seven series that open today, defending champion San Antonio hosts Sacramento, Chicago visits Miami, and the Los Angeles Clippers host the Denver Nuggets. Also tomorrow, New Jersey hosts Indiana, Milwaukee heads to Detroit, and Memphis visits Dallas.
That last one has caused plenty of debate. The Mavericks (60-22) had the West's second-best record, but they fell to the No. 4 seed because they are in the same division as the Spurs (63-19). So Dallas is forced play a tough opening-round opponent in the Grizzlies, who went 49-33.
"The Mavericks are getting the short end of the stick," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "They're playing the five seed when they should be playing the seven. The fair way to do it is just seed one through eight based on records."
Then again, they may not have wanted to play the No. 7 seed anyway. That's where Bryant lurks -- and he scored 62 points in a game against the Mavs this season.
Neither James nor Bryant is expected to go far: Even if Cleveland gets by Washington -- the Cavs dropped three of four meetings this season -- it would draw powerful Detroit in the second round. The Lakers, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, won only once in four matchups with high-scoring the Suns.
But count them out at your own risk. Bryant averaged 42.5 points against Phoenix, and James finished a sensational regular season with averages of 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists.
"I think we'll see the best of him," Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "There is nobody in this league that can stop him. He's going to get his."
The National Basketball Association set an attendance record for the second straight year, announcing on Thursday that it averaged 17,558 fans for its games this season.
With the league's arenas filled to 91.4 percent capacity, the league bettered last season's average of 17,314. Before that, the previous mark had been 17,252 in 1995-1996.
Commissioner David Stern said in a phone interview that he wasn't surprised by the figures.
"Our teams are getting to be so intent on using the most impressive professional techniques for engaging their fans," he said, "for making the consumer experience so good, that we saw very early on that renewals were going well and that fans were responding in a positive way."
The league does not release individual team totals, but according to sports news Website ESPN.com, Detroit led the way with an average of more than 22,000 for its games at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Chicago and Dallas also drew more than 20,000 per game, with Miami and Cleveland rounding out the top five.
The league's total attendance figure of 21,595,804 also was a record, surpassing the 21,296,497 of last season. A highlight was the performance of the New Orleans Hornets, who were barely outside the top 10 while playing in four different cities following the damage caused by Hurrican Katrina in August.
Not surprisingly, some of the worst figures came from the northwestern part of the US. Portland, which had the NBA's worst record, was last with just over 15,000 fans per game. Seattle was 23rd.
Both teams say they are losing money, and Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen has said he may sell the team. The SuperSonics could move out of Seattle when their lease expires in 2010 if they don't get a better arena deal.
"There's an ebb and flow of building issues in any sports league and we just happen to be in the ebb," Stern said. "Hopefully the flow will pick up, and these things really do have a way of either working themselves out one way or the other."
The NBA also announced that numbers were up in merchandising, sponsorships, visits to NBA.com and television viewership. Much of that business has been overseen by Adam Silver, who was appointed as the league's new deputy commissioner Wednesday.
"We have to be in front of our fans however they consume us and the methodology for consuming us is changing," Stern said.
TIME OUT
National Basketball Association head coaches will be able to directly call timeouts next season, one of six rules changes announced Wednesday following the Board of Governors meetings.
Under the current rules, coaches can only call timeouts if play has been stopped because a player is bleeding.
The other big change will give teams two free throws plus the ball after a clear-path foul, instead of one shot. The other minor changes included:
*If a player is hurt after a Flagrant Foul 1 penalty and can't continue, his coach, instead of the opposing coach, picks a player on the floor to take the shots. The injured player then can't return to the game.
*Free substitution will be allowed during all 20-second timeouts, instead of only the ones during the last 2 minutes or regulation or during overtime.
*If a player not appearing on the active list enters a game, he will be disqualified at the first deal ball and his team will receive a technical foul.
*Players on the free throw line can't extend their arms in front of an opponent until the shooter has released the ball. Also, a player not in a lane space must stand behind the 3-point line and above the free throw line extended until the ball is shot.
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