He’s lost a step. Maybe a step and a half.

He’s not even close to the pressure defender he used to be. And even back in the day there were those moments when he could be exposed. And not just a little. Sometimes he could be exposed badly by really quick young guards. And the league today is nothing but quick young guards.

Derek Fisher guard Rajon Rondo? John Wall? Derrick Rose? You can hear the chops slurping at nearly every stop around the league. These young people want a piece of that old man.

And finishing with the basketball? Fisher’s mix ups at the basket used to keep Lakers assistant and triangle offense guru Tex Winter grumbling, except when it came time to think about replacing him. Then Tex, like most everyone else on the coaching staff, turned strangely silent.

They knew.

No one else can do all the things that Fisher does for the Lakers. And absolutely no one can do them in the heat of the biggest battles, which is what Fisher has done time and again. He has proved himself every single day of his career, ever since he came out of the University of Arkansas/Little Rock as a late first round draft pick back in 1996.

Fisher has delivered so many big moments in so many games that … Oh, why go on? We could spend all day adding them up here.

Let’s just turn it over to Phil Jackson. Here’s what he had to say after Fisher hit the big shots to deliver the Lakers their 2009 championship:

“Well, it’s character,” Big Chief Triangle replied when asked about Fisher. “We’ve always said the character has got to be in players if they’re going to be great players.  You can’t just draft it.  It’s not just about talent, it’s about character, and he’s a person of high character, brings that to play, not only in just his gamesmanship but also his intestinal fortitude.”

But who cares about that stuff in these smart-ass days of pro hoops?

Yeah, it’s true. Fisher’s market value is no where near $5 mil a year. That’s a joke.

So, yes, for all the stat geeks out there with their calculators and formulas, Fisher is obviously past his prime and not worth the money. They say, “Don’t pay that guy, Dr. Jerry. He’s not worth it.”

Some of these jerks send me messages too. Fish doesn’t fit the XYZ, they say, and if Phil Jackson really knew anything about basketball he’d bench the guy.

Never mind that Fisher just delivered the most amazing performance of his career to secure the 2010 NBA title for Los Angles.

To the stat geek naysayers, Fisher is the joke who’s time has passed.

The Lakers seem to subscribe to that XYZ geek talk because they’re reluctant to bring him back unless he cuts his $5 mil salary in half.

Besides, the Lakers need to save money this year. Things have just gotten too tight financially.

Yes, Mitch and Jerry, you can certainly buy that line of thinking. You can start to believe that Fisher is a luxury for this very talented team.

But that’s sadly narrow thinking. Fisher is an essential. Remember when you brought him back to the Lakers in the 2007 off-season? People said he then he was washed up, a joke.

All he did was play a giant role in three straight trips to the NBA championship series and two titles.

Derek Fisher is a proud, determined man. That pride and determination are the bedrock of his heart. Pay him for that.

Screw these ignorant people who want you to get rid of him. Screw ‘em. They’re just a bunch of booger eaters in my book.

Really it’s very simple, Mitch and Jerry. You must make the smart play. You must reward that pride and determination. Do it, and you will look very smart.

Just Pay Derek Fisher. Please.

Do yourselves, do all of us, that favor. Don’t buy that conventional thinking about market value. The market doesn’t know shit.

Pay Derek Fisher. Please. He’s earned every penny. And he’ll keep earning.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Don’t hold your breath.

Although Buss could have lauded Jackson any time over the past two years as the Lakers won back-to-back NBA titles, the owner’s silence on the matter has been deafening.

I’ve been pointing this out for months, by the way. And Mark Heisler of the L.A. Times, who just this week has offered a ringing endorsement of Byron Scott as a Jackson replacement, has repeatedly taken me to task for it.

But the truth that insiders have been telling me for months is clear.

If Jackson’s going to return as coach, he’s going to have to do it to despite the stony silence of the owner. And he’ll likely have to take a pay cut despite his success.

If Buss doesn’t want to pay Jackson the unheard of price of $12 million per season to coach the team, then he should never have agreed to such a deal when he gave Jackson a pay raise two years ago. You wanted and needed a championship so badly back then that you agreed to boost his money, Dr. Buss?

And now you don’t need a title very badly? That’s what you’re saying with this silence.

To complain about money now that Jackson has delivered two championship teams is unheard of. Win titles and take a pay cut? That’s a low blow, Dr. Jerry. And it’s not just me saying that. It’s your remarkable team captain, Derek Fisher, who discussed the issue in an interview with Ramona Shelbourne.

“As much as it is about his quality of life and how he’s feeling, his energy levels,” Fisher said, “I think his decision could be easier if he wasn’t maybe feeling as though he’s not being fully appreciated, which is how it ultimately makes you feel.

“It’s sad to me,” Fisher told Shelbourne recently, “when you think about what he’s accomplished in his career, that he still always has to deal with these type of scenarios where there’s a question of whether or not he’s the best person for the job, or he’s not really coaching because of the players that he’s had. He’s just a remarkable human being in terms of his approach to managing and coaching the team.

“I think not even just the Lakers, but the NBA as a whole, would lose a big part of what this game has been about the last 20 years if he’s not back. If he’s not back, it changes the whole landscape.”

Fisher, of course, is a free agent guard and will turn 36 in August. Has there ever been a braver, more forthright NBA player? The guy not only laid his heart on the line for the franchise’s 17th title (yes, Lakers won one in 1948 in the old National League), but Fisher is speaking up right now, even though it could cost him dearly.

Teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol have also spoken up, although their contracts are secure and in place. They’ve made it clear where they stand.

Some Lakers fans may let you off the hook for this one, Jerry. It’s obvious you’re gambling that your season ticket holders won’t protest if you let Jackson and Fisher slip away.

I’m not asking you to pay Jackson. I’m just calling for you to speak up and declare publicly how important he has been to the franchise.

I know that you don’t like that Phil’s an odd, distant kind of guy.

I know you don’t like the triangle offense he runs.

I know you don’t like paying him so much money.

I know you’re eager to prove that you can win one without Phil.

I know you’re not elated that he shacks up with your daughter and sometimes offers his disrespect in all those subtle little ways.

I know you like showing that it’s you, not Jackson, who is in control of the franchise.

I know you think your reputation and image are secure with all those championships you have in your pocket.

I know you’re a proud, stubborn man, but does this have to come down to ego and pride?

Yes, it’s a poker game. Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, one of two top candidates to replace Phil, is “close to accepting” the Cleveland Cavaliers job, according to his agent. What’s the last time an agent made such an announcement? And Byron Scott declared that he’s not waiting around on anyone, another obvious bluff. Are Phil, Scott and Shaw all trying to out-bluff Jerry Buss?

Does it all come down to yet more tiresome games?

Is that what you want as your legacy?

You have a chance to eclipse the Boston Celtics as the team with the most NBA titles, and you’re going to let ego and pride get in the way?

Say it ain’t so. Speak up and ask Phil to return. Show us you’re bigger than these silly games.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Take Game 2 of L.A.’s title bout with the Boston Celtics, for example. After the Lakers took it in the shorts, she started telling friends that she was worried her father, team owner Jerry Buss, already had a deal with assistant coach Brian Shaw to coach the Lakers next season.

“She was worried there was already a deal in place,” explains my impeccable source deep, deep, deep within the Lakers’ inner sanctum, wherever that cave is.

“Everybody is circling like vultures,” said the source, referring to hopefuls Shaw and former NBA coach Byron Scott.

It’s been that way all season, of course. What can you expect if your boyfriend — Lakers coach Phil Jackson — and your father — Southern California’s playboy owner Buss — are the ultimate control freaks?

The two of them have been engaging all year in a tit for tat about whether Jackson will return to coach the team next year.

Buss could have cleared up the situation at any time, but the owner really didn’t want to, as my source explained. “He wants us to remember who’s in control.”

Jackson’s former aides say the same thing about him: The guy is a bitch of a control freak, eager to jump your ass just to show he’s in charge. And while those tendencies were already large for Jackson during his days coaching in Chicago, his ego has ballooned to Thanksgiving Day Macy’s proportions with all the worship and money (better than $12 mil a year) he gets in California.

So all the poor Lakers fans and media have been caught up in a tug of war between these two giant narcissists.

The sign that it might be coming to an end came just this week. No, not at the Lakers evening their series with the Celtics at three games apiece, but in the fact that the Lakers have decided to again raise ticket prices.

A serious Depression has settled up the entertainment industry in L.A., so there’s no way Buss would raise prices with only Brian Shaw as his hole card. “I don’t know how Jerry Buss could raise ticket prices and get everybody (season ticket holders) back next year if he doesn’t have Phil as a coach,” offered the big source, who studies the Lakers’ parlor games and internal divisions up close.

Jackson will try to get the last little twist in their control game by taking as much as a month to announce he’s coming back for another shot. He’ll have a hard time, though, because Buss is determined to get him to take a pay cut, right after supposedly paying him yet an additional $2 million bonus if Jackson wins the title.

That remains a decent-sized IF heading into tonight’s Game 7.

Jackson hasn’t had much fun goosing Buss lately because the Zen Master has had his hands full coaching against these Celtics in the playoffs. “Phil has been resolutely focused on getting through this series,” says the deep insider.

The inner circle can’t think of a more out-of-whack series since 2000 when Rasheed Wallace led Portland in coughing up a huge lead against L.A. in Game 7 of the Western Finals. There’s substantial delight in Jackson’s group in contemplating the fact that Rasheed’s tank job in that game was the thing that jump-started his Lakers dynasty.

They all say, thank you, Sheed. And they won’t mind at all if you go ahead and play a role in assuring a Lakers’ win this Game 7 too.

As for Brian Shaw, everyone in and around the inner sanctum is used to his incessant self-promotion, so nobody sees this thing as horrific disloyalty to Phil, the insider explained. “Brian Shaw has been out for Brian Shaw ever since he joined the staff… He’s always looking to improve his position.”

Excuse me, but that describes just about all assistant coaches in the entire realm. The NBA pays its head coaches millions while its assistants get plumber’s wages. So who can blame BS?

Even without Jeanie’s Shaw assumption, there’s abundant drama in this Game 7, with both Jackson and Boston coach Doc Rivers potentially coaching their last games for their respective teams.

The even money says that Jackson returns in L.A., that Jerry Buss, long a skeptic about Jackson’s approach, has been made a believer this season, watching him make things work.

Perhaps, perhaps. But let’s not forget how crazy things have gotten this season every time the Lakers lose. And, hey, these are the Celtics. They lead the world in making the Lakers loony.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

To celebrate that time when all the ghosts were finally sent packing in Boston Garden, I’m posting this excerpt from The Show, my oral history of the Lakers published by McGraw-Hill.

BREAKTHROUGH

Unfortunately, the Lakers couldn’t get out of town after the 1984 Finals, a series that had brought the franchise an eighth championship defeat at the hands of the Celtics without a single victory. They had to spend one more night in their hotel, trapped inside of Boston with the Celtic blues again. Needless to say, it was a sleepless night. Owner Jerry Buss chain-smoked. Michael Cooper spent the time in deep and miserable mourning sequestered in his room with his wife, Wanda. Coach Pat Riley quickly put away the white tuxedo he had planned to wear for the championship celebration and began thinking about next year.

Joined by his friends Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre, Magic Johnson talked the night away. About music. Cars. Old times. Anything but the series. Occasionally the conversation would drift that way, but they’d steer it away. He had not played well, and the loss was too tender a subject.

Isiah Thomas: “We talked until the morning came, but we never talked about the game much. For that one night I think I was his escape from reality.”

Early the next day Kareem had agreed to appear on the CBS morning news.

Josh Rosenfeld, former Lakers PR man: “When we showed up at the studio, Cedric Maxwell was there. The producer’s idea was to have Cedric and Kareem on together. We were there about 10 minutes, and Cedric was sitting across from Kareem. Cedric had said a lot of things during the series. Kareem asked the producer, ‘Is he on first, or am I on first?’ She said, ‘Oh, no, we want the two of you on together.’ Kareem got up and very politely said, ‘Thank you for inviting me. I can’t do that.’ This poor girl, the producer, she was frantic. She was in tears. She followed us out to the limo and said, ‘We can reformat the show. You can go on after Maxwell.’ Kareem said, ‘No, I’m not in the mood anymore, but thank you.’ Then he explained to me, ‘Maxwell accused Worthy of choking. I can’t be seen on national TV with him. It would be offensive to my teammates.’”

The Lakers’ humiliation would remain for months. Johnson returned to California, where he was set to move into his new Bel-Air mansion, only the furniture hadn’t arrived. His palace sat as empty as his heart, so he hid out for three days in his Culver City apartment. His mother, Christine, phoned to see how he was doing. He told her he just couldn’t talk about it.

Yet everywhere he turned there seemed to be something to read about it. The Celtics were having fun with their victory. McHale even dubbed him “Tragic Johnson.” Asked about the 1984-85 season, Bird said of the Lakers, “I’d like to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves. I’m sure they have guys who feel they didn’t play up to their capabilities.” Asked if he meant Magic, Bird replied, “You think we don’t love it? Magic having nightmares [about his poor play].”

Johnson retorted that he had no need for redemption.

Even worse than the Celtic cockiness was the trashing Johnson took from the LA newspapers. “I sat back when it was over,” he said later, “and I thought, Man, did we just lose one of the great play-off series of all time, or didn’t we? This was one of the greatest in history. Yet all you read was how bad I was.”

Michael Cooper: “Magic has had his trials and tribulations throughout his entire NBA career. That’s the thing I’ve always admired about him. He’s always met them head-on and conquered them to the best of his ability.”

His meeting this Celtics challenge began when the Lakers returned to Palm Springs for training camp that fall.

Byron Scott: “When we walked on the floor that first day of camp, we saw it in everybody’s eyes. This was going to be a serious year.”

Especially for Riley.

Gary Vitti, longtime Laker trainer: “Pat was screwed down pretty tight, like a spring. And it escalated from there.”

Byron Scott: “Riles made us aware of exactly what he wanted. He let us know from day one, ‘I’m gonna work you from the first day of camp to the last day of the play-offs.’ He didn’t let up. That’s the main reason we kept going all year, because we had a coach who wouldn’t let us stop.”

Riley later explained that his team’s psyche was fragile. They had won two championships on their talent, but the Celtics had challenged them with psychological warfare in 1984 and won. The Lakers would have to either form as a team and fight back or fall apart.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “That first series that we gave them in ‘84 really seasoned us. It gave us the mental tenacity that we didn’t always exhibit. We couldn’t outrun everybody. We had to understand that sometimes there were other ways to skin the cat.”

It was something that Paul Westhead had lost his job trying to tell them.

By the 1985 play-offs the Lakers had regained their composure and their strength. The frontcourt was bolstered by the return of Mitch Kupchak and Jamaal Wilkes to go with Kareem, Worthy, Rambis, McAdoo, and Larry Spriggs. The backcourt showed Magic, Scott, Cooper, and McGee. As a group, they were driven by their ‘84 humiliation.

“Those wounds from last June stayed open all summer,” Riley said as the play-offs neared. “Now the misery has subsided, but it never leaves your mind completely. Magic is very sensitive to what people think about him, and in his own mind I think he heard those questions over and over again to the point where he began to rationalize and say, ‘Maybe I do have to concentrate more.’ I think the whole experience has made him grow up in a lot of ways.”

After all, Johnson was a mere 25, and at a time when most pro players were just beginning to feel comfortable in the game, he already owned two championship rings. Across pro basketball, observers sensed that he was about to add to his jewelry collection. The Celtics, however, were conceding nothing. With a 63-19 regular-season finish, they had again claimed the home-court advantage. The Lakers had finished 62-20. And neither team  dallied in the play-offs. Boston dismissed Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadel- phia in quick succession. The Lakers rolled past Phoenix, Portland, and Denver.

For the first time in years, the Finals returned to a 2-3-2 format, with the first two games in Boston, the middle three in Los Angeles, and the last two, if necessary, back in Boston. The situation set up an immense opportunity for the Lakers to steal one in the Garden, then pressure the Celtics back in Los Angeles.

Yet on the eve of the Finals they were struck by old doubts.

James Worthy: “We really weren’t sure of ourselves. We got back to the Finals and said, ‘Golly, we got the Celtics again. How’re we gonna do it?’ We just came out and played like a bunch of women, really. Didn’t have any aggressiveness. No killer instinct. We paid the price for it.”

Which was one final, profound embarrassment. Game 1 opened on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, with both teams cruising on five days’ rest. The Lakers, however, quickly took on the appearance of guys who had just come off two weeks on the graveyard shift. The 38-year-old Kareem, in particular, slogged up and down the court, while Boston center Robert Parish seemed to glide. Often Kareem would just be reaching the top of the key to catch up to the play when all of a sudden the action raced the other way. He finished the day with 12 points and three rebounds. And Johnson had only one rebound. Meanwhile the famed Showtime running game had been slowed to a belly crawl.

And the Celtics?

They placed a huge red welt on the Lakers’ scar from the previous year, 148-114. Scott Wedman hit 11 for 11 from the floor, including four three-pointers. Danny Ainge fired in six straight buckets at the end of the first quarter to finish the period with 15 points. “It was one of those days,” Boston coach K. C. Jones said, “where if you turn around and close your eyes, the ball’s gonna go in.”

Abruptly, the Celtics quieted their trash talking, as if they sensed that they had gone too far. They hadn’t expected it to be this easy. And the last thing they wanted to do was rile the Lakers. “It’s definitely time to back off,” Maxwell said. “It’s not like backgammon or cribbage, where if you beat someone bad enough you get two wins.”

But it was too late. The teams didn’t play again until Thursday, and there was an uneasy air in Boston despite the big win.

The next morning in the Lakers’ film sessions, Kareem moved to the front row, rather than recline in the farther reaches as he usually did. And he didn’t blink when Riley ran and reran the gruesome evidence of his terrible performance. In fact, the captain went to each of his teammates later and personally apologized for his effort.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “That horrible game, the Memorial Day Massacre. That was mainly me. I remember watching the film of that game. The camera would follow the ball, and I would always be at the back of the pack. I’d be out of camera range, always bringing up the rear. I realized I simply wasn’t keeping up with the play. I had worn down over the course of the playoffs. So we had like three days before we played. The massacre was on Sunday, and we didn’t play again until Thursday. And I did like a mini training camp. I just made myself get my cardiovascular back to where it should be. I told everybody, I promised, that whatever happened on the next game I would give my best, whatever that was. Pat was trying to accommodate me minute-wise, but I don’t get into shape unless I work myself into shape. I got to play. So the more time I spent on the bench, it really wasn’t getting the job done. We needed a different way of approaching it.”

James Worthy: “A lot of the discussion was pointed at Kareem. But it was all of us, because none of us played well. But he was our leader.”

“He made a contract with us that it would never happen again. Ever,” Riley said later. “That game was a blessing in disguise. It strengthened the fiber of this team. Ever since then, Kareem had this took, this air, about him.”

James Worthy: “That set the tone. That game was the turning point in Laker history, I think. We came back strong and Kareem led the way. Riley, too. He stepped forward. It was the turning point in his career, too. He took his coaching to another level. It brought the last development of his coaching technique. It was to utilize all aspects. After that particular game it wasn’t pretty. It was factual. It was the truth, and it was presented to us in a way we couldn’t deny. We had to go out and do something about it.”

As the second game approached, the Lakers knew exactly what they had to do. “Our break starts with good, tough defense,” Rambis said. “That forces teams out of their offense. Then we must control the boards. That’s where the work comes in. If we do those two things, the fast break is the easiest part.”

Before Game 2 on Thursday, Kareem went to Riley and asked if his father, Al Alcindor, could ride on the team bus to the Garden. Riley consented and thought of his own father.

Gary Vitti: “Pat talked about when he was a little boy. His big brothers would take him down to the playground. He was the smallest guy out there, and he’d get beat up every day and go home crying. They’d take him home, and his father would say, ‘Take Pat back down there tomorrow.’ And the big brothers would say, ‘Dad, the guy’s getting beat up.’ His father said, ‘Take him back. At some point, you gotta plant your feet, kick some ass, and make a stand.’”

Just before he died, the elder Riley had reminded his son that to survive you had to make that stand. Riley recalled those words to his players in his pregame talk. It was time, he said, to make a stand.

Gary Vitti: “That’s why Pat is what he is today, those types of influences. Riles is an inspiring guy. I mean after hearing him, I wanted to go out there and kick some ass, too.”

And the Lakers did. Kareem, in particular, reasserted himself with 30 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks. Cooper hit eight of nine from the floor to finish with 22 points. And just like that, the Lakers evened the series, 109-102. Best of all, they had stolen a game in the Garden and now returned to the Forum for three straight.

“They expected us to crawl into a hole,” Lakers assistant Dave Wohl said of the Celtics. “It’s like the bully on the block who keeps taking your lunch money every day. Finally you get tired of it and you whack him.”

They hosted the Celtics on Sunday afternoon and really whacked ‘em again, returning the favor of Game 1, 136-111. This time Worthy was the man, with 29 points. But Kareem’s presence was felt again, too. He had 26 points and 14 rebounds.

At one point, Boston had led, 48-38, but Worthy dominated the second quarter and Los Angeles charged to a 65-59 edge at intermission. The Lakers ran away in the second half, during which Kareem became the league’s all-time leading play-off scorer with 4,458 points.

Bird, meanwhile, had fallen into a two-game shooting slump, going 17 for 42. He had been troubled by a chronically sore right elbow and bad back, although some speculated his real trouble was Cooper’s defense.

As with ‘84, the series was marked by physical play, although this time it was the Lakers who gained an edge. “We’re not out to physically harm them,” Kareem offered. “But I wouldn’t mind hurting their feelings.” Before Game 4, the NBA’s vice president of operations, Scotty Stirling, warned each coach that fighting and extra rough play would be met with fines and suspensions. Riley told his players of Stirling’s warning, but K. C. Jones chose not to. With their uninhibited play, the Celtics stayed in it, and the game came down to one final possession. Bird had the ball but faced a double-team, so he dumped it off to D. J. above the foul line. From there, Johnson drilled the winner with two seconds left. Boston had evened the series and regained its home-court advantage, 107-105.

Game 5 two nights later in the Forum was another showdown. The Lakers went on a 14-3 run at the close of the half to take a 64-51 lead. They stretched it to 89-72 after intermission, until the Celtics closed to within four at 101-97 with six minutes left. But Magic hit three shots and Kareem added four more, giving him 36 on the day, as the Lakers walked away with a 3-2 lead, 120-111.

“People didn’t think we could win close games,” Johnson said afterward.

From there it went back to Boston. Lakers GM Jerry West didn’t dare make the trip for fear of spooking the proceedings. Across the country old Lakers held their breath and watched the tube. After eight painful losses, this seemed to be the best chance yet to end Boston’s domination. The Celtics would have to win the final two games. With a mere 38 hours’ rest between games, that just didn’t seem possible.

Kareem was there again, this time with 29 points, 18 of them in the second half when it mattered. The score was tied at 55 at intermission.

Kareem sat much of the second period in foul trouble while Mitch Kupchak did admirable work as a backup. The Celtics had played only seven people in the first half, and Magic could see that they were tired. It was written on their faces. Riley told him to keep pushing it at them, not to worry about turnovers. Just keep up the pressure.

He did.

And the Celtics did something they had never ever done before. They gave up a championship on their home floor, on the hallowed parquet, 111-100. Boston forward Kevin McHale had kept them alive with 36 points, but he got his sixth foul with more than five minutes left. And, thanks in part to Cooper’s defense, Larry Bird was closing out a 12-for-29 afternoon. “I thought I’d have a great game today,” he said afterward.

In the end, the Lakers’ victory was signaled by the squeaking of sneakers in the deathly quiet Garden as the crowd slipped away. It was the same crowd that had so riotously jostled the Lakers the year before.

“We made ‘em lose it,” Johnson said with satisfaction.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “They fought as dirty as they could until they realized they were gonna lose. Then they came back with Celtic pride and all this crap. Being able to shut those people up in Boston Garden, that was so satisfying. Even though we came back to LA and lost a game, we didn’t lose any momentum. That was the first year where James really just started to dominate. He just emerged in such a spectacular, wonderful way. It was a nice thing to see. He could finish the break and he could post up. He was just so versatile. And we had Mitch Kupchak and Bob McAdoo on the bench. It was just great stuff.”

Kareem was named the MVP. “He defies logic,” Riley said of the 38-year-old Laker center. “He’s the most unique and durable athlete of our time, the best you’ll ever see. You better enjoy him while he’s here.”

Johnson’s trophy was the sweet redemption he had said he didn’t need. “You wait so long to get back,” he admitted afterward. “A whole year. That’s the hard part. But that’s what makes this game interesting. It’s made me stronger. You have to deal with the different situations and see if you can come back.”

For Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss, the celebration was quieter and very personal.

Jerry Buss: “The Garden was nearly empty with the reporters taking notes in the locker rooms and writing their stories.  Hampton Mears, one of my old friends, and I slipped out to the center of the Garden parquet. We giggled and exchange high fives. The most odious sentence in all of sport — the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics— wasn’t true anymore.”

From the Garden, the Lakers retreated to their hotel, where at last Riley got to celebrate in his white tuxedo from the year before.

The team’s next business was to vote on Pres. Ronald Reagan’s invitation to visit the White House. If the coaches hadn’t cast ballots, too, the team might have passed. It was a close vote, but the ‘85 champions visited the presidential quarters. They were tossed about on a bumpy flight into Washington, but once there Kareem and Riley had a nice chat with Mr. Reagan. Then it was on to LA.

Byron Scott: “We wanted to get back home to party with our families and friends.”

Across the country, old Lakers felt a weight lifted.

Pat Riley: “All those Celtic skeletons came out of the closet.”

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Can Rondo prolong the careers of the Big Three? Garnett just turned 34, Pierce 33 in Oct, + Allen 35 in July. Prolly not much past this year.

Note: Question should include Doc Rivers? Can the rewards of coaching Rondo keep him in the job?

Dwight Howard has gotten better in the post, but the truth? He’s still a year or two away, and that’s if he works insanely hard.

But his post play has been one of the glaring weaknesses for the Magic. Hell, post play has been a glaring weakness for the league. Teams that have it fare well. Teams that don’t ultimately get embarrassed. Want to win, LeBron? Get yo ass in the posts. Don’t believe me? Ask MJ.

Watching Celts/ORL is like watching 1 of those horror flicks where the monsters pull out the victims’ hearts and eat ‘em raw. It’s bloody.

This offseason is the grandest game of pickup basketball in the history of hoops. Who knows how to pick a side? Gonna take mucho smarts.

Now’s the time for young free agents. It’s pickup. Get your team together and u can play Bill Russell for a decade. Hesitate + lose. Pickup.

I don’t think Jerry Buss will sit with a pat hand after the season, but you have to wonder because he isn’t rushing to sign up Phil Jackson. That’s letting personal get in the way of business.

Celts’ message to LeBron + others: Don’t waste time; band together; build a force. It’s pickup. Get your team together. Can’t do it alone.

Truth: If Michael Jordan had been a free agent with the power to pick his own team, he’d have Joe Wolf + other UNC blood. Gotta be careful in pickup.

Truth: MJ is lucky he had Jerry Krause helping him play pickup, even though Krause was far from perfect and pretty whack a lot of times.

Some years the playoffs go on and on like a bad joke. This feels like one of those years, but we’re all hoping for a great punch line June 1

Jerry Sloan says it’s a simple game if you lay your heart on the line every night. What happens when a team like Boston takes your heart?

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

LeBron James’ management team, led by his former teammate Maverick Carter, has officially announced that his decision on which team he picks as a free agent this summer will be based entirely on the opportunity to win championships.

Money will not be an issue for LeBron James. Repeat, money will not be an issue.

That should be great news for the Los Angeles Lakers, because no team has had success over the past decade like the guys in Forum Blue and Gold and their coach, Phil Jackson.

Nothing more dramatically points out just how badly team owner Jerry Buss needs to dispense with all this drama about Jackson’s status.

Not only does James badly want to join a winning organization, but he sorely needs a coach who will not hesitate to coach him.

PJ will not hesitate to coach him. Only a person like “ten rings,” as he is called in Lakers online circles, can truly stand up to James and coach him like any supremely talented player needs to be coached.

Critics have long crowed that the main reason Jackson has always won is that he has always coached the best.

Well, here’s the bare and harsh truth. There are so many ass kissers and uncertain creatures populating the ranks of coaching and management today in the NBA that it’s hard to find someone who can do what needs to be done and say what needs to be said.

Jackson is that rare guy who can coach a superstar. It is the bedrock of Jackson’s rare and special ability.

Tex Winter was a retired college coach with a great career record when he came to the Chicago Bulls in 1985 to help coach a young Michael Jordan. Winter, who has never backed down from aggressively coaching stars and role players alike, once told me how intimidated he felt the first time he watched Jordan in practice.

Once he got over that sense of intimidation, Winter was the kind of guy who wouldn’t hesitate to get on Jordan about any little detail, from fundamentals like his chest passing to team things like ball movement. Winter often spoke of how he admired Jackson’s ability to work with and coach the game’s very best. In that sense, Jackson and Winter used to feed off each other. That’s what made them so special. They actually coached the superstars.

But the NBA is a players’ league and its best players, especially the elite players like James,  have long intimidated those around them. That’s why their coaching staffs become coddlers and their personal managers become Yes Men.

LeBron James is on just such an island right now. He’s 25 and has just come off the most disastrous season of his career. He must make an excellent choice as a free agent. Very much is as stake. He and Carter know that they face wasting his immense talent if they have many more seasons like 2010.

All of which means Lakers owner Jerry Buss needs to drop the mind games he is playing with Jackson and offer the coach the contract he deserves. If he can’t offer a contract immediately, Buss could still quell all the media speculation by reassuring Jackson and Lakers fans that the coach will be welcomed and rewarded for his work.

There has been talk that Buss wants Jackson to take a substantial pay cut from his humongous $12 million a year salary. Jackson has already indicated he’ll make concessions.

These two giant egos — coach and owner — need to settle their differences so that the Lakers can compete for James. Signing such a player would obviously secure the franchise’s future.

Yes, the Lakers are about to return to the NBA Finals for a highly challenging series against the Boston Celtics.

But the future is now for Buss as well as it is for LeBron James. Lakers fans can only hope the owner is too smart to let his cool relationship with Jackson get in the way of securing a once-in-a-lifetime player like James.

Buss already has a once-in-a-lifetime coach. Perhaps the team owner will wake up during these playoffs and realize that.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Yet when he does make a mistake, it’s often a real lulu, a stupendous boner.

For example, there was the time late in his tenure with the Chicago Bulls that ole PJ decided to send a special lady friend some of that fancy Victoria Secret style underwear. The only problem was, according to team employees who laughed themselves silly over the incident, he allegedly put the wrong address on the package. When the carrier couldn’t deliver the underwear and returned it to his office, Jackson’s secretary assumed it was something he had purchased for his wife and directed the package to her.

A hard rain fell after that one.

Those same Bulls employees swore that the wayward underwear had originally been sent to a lady in Arizona.

You’d think that would have been enough to teach Big Chief Triangle a lesson. Leave the state alone, son.

But Jackson likes to get into those tweak-the-opponent modes during the play-offs, so now we have the great immigration caper. Jackson apparently forgot his bad karma with the desert and committed one of the silliest mistakes of his venerable career when he opened his mouth about Arizona’s controversial new approach to enforcing  immigration laws.

Worst of all, Jackson decided to address the issue just as his Lakers were about to take on the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference finals. Strangest of all, Jackson, who has a progressive, liberal image dating back to his hippie days playing for the New York Knicks, seemed to support the hard-line approach of Arizona’s Republican governor, who has pushed the crackdown.

All of a sudden here’s PJ coming across like one of those angry tea-bagger militants, and like that he’s driven a wedge into a Lakers fan base that once worshiped the Zen Master. Instead, Jackson was greeted for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals by Lakers fans protesting his political posturing.

And that doesn’t even touch the miffed and hurt co-workers in the Lakers organization and on the roster (see Kobe Bryant’s wife) offended by his statements.

How bad is it?

Well, Jackson girlfriend Jeanie Buss and her sidekicks — I’ll call them the Jackson inner core — went to work soon after his blunder with a major damage control effort that included contacting all the media and spinning the situation as best they could. They employed that old Lakers PR flack John Black in getting the word out and phoned all their personal media connections.

Heck, they even contacted me, which suggests how desperate they are. They knew I’d probably do something like drag up the silly underwear episode, but, hey, they needed to control the damage with Jackson’s all-important base — Lakers fans.

Fortunately, Jeanie Buss is absolutely fantastic at damage control because all of the Los Angeles media are sweet on her, not to mention the fans themselves. Even I admit to falling under her lure.

“She’s some kind of gal,” Tex Winter once told me after he met Jeanie for the first time. If she can snare Tex’s affection, she can have mine any day.

So here I go helping the PJ cause with a bit of spin mixed in with my own observations.

One of the issues is that Jackson and Jeanie’s father, team owner Jerry Buss, have a stand-offish relationship that has left to question whether Jackson will return to coach the Lakers next year. His contract is up, and Jerry Buss doesn’t seem overly fond of Jackson, who has something of a history stirring up the shit with owners and organizations.

Jackson’s only true power against Jerry Buss is Jackson’s own popularity with Lakers fans. He and Jeanie used that popularity to help him get rehired in 2005 after Jerry Buss fired him in 2004.

So it’s not smart that Jackson offended his base with his stance on immigration. And it’s not smart that he would do so during the playoffs when the team is trying to build the tremendous championship focus that Jackson’s great teams have been known for.

Does all of this give Jerry Buss more leeway in cutting Jackson loose after the season? It sure seems like it could. If Jackson pisses off the fans, well, he’s in trouble.

However, that’s not entirely the case. To get a breakdown on the Jeanie spin and other inside dope, we’ll turn to my usual reliable source. He’s tight with Jeanie and Phil and always knows exactly what’s going on. They rely on him to get the inside word out, and he does. We’ll call him The Pernicious Phil Insider. Maybe this will make Mark Heisler of the L.A. Times happier. Heisler gets so frustrated that all the inside poop escapes him. Heisler runs around trying to throw water on all the Internet stories, which leaves him hardly any time at all for doing any real reporting. But I digress…

“I think he made a rookie mistake,” the Pernicious Phil Insider said of Jackson. “It’s a no-win situation all over the place. He misread the crowd and he misread the politics and he got outside of his game.”

Then the Insider started talking about Phil’s “nuanced” language being misunderstood.

Plus, the Insider said, Phil was just searching for something to tweak the Suns, because their organization had come out strong against the new immigration enforcement.

I told him I thought that was a silly defense for Phil. Why spin it?

Personally, I think that Phil should just come out and say, “Look, I’m a dope. I’m not really as smart as I try to act all the time. I did something really stupid by opening my mouth about this immigration thing. I have no idea what I’m talking about, so if it’s OK with everyone I’ll get back to what I do know, and that’s basketball.”

Yes, it would require Jackson humbling himself, which may be physically impossible with the size of his ego. But if he did that, people would forget all this in about three hours, less than a single news cycle.

Jackson, though, has been so goofy and coy in his news conferences that reporters seem intent on asking him lots about it and holding his feet to the fire.

As for the whole thing providing Jerry Buss with ample reason not to bring Phil back next year at his exorbitant salary of $12 million per season, the Insider did point out some things that make sense.

Jerry Buss has been reminded during these playoffs of just how good a coach Phil Jackson is. “With any other coach, they don’t survive that first round against Oklahoma City,” the Insider says.

After all, Phil uses Tex Winter’s triangle offense to get such a high degree of efficiency out of the team’s role players that he’s worth every penny of his big bucks.

Will Jerry Buss really want to gamble on another coach next season? That, of course, is the question.

Jackson himself seemed to be pouting a bit in the wake of the uproar over his comments and suggested to one radio interviewer that he just might retire after the season.

The Insider reminds us all that Jackson is cranky this time of year and it’ll take only a week back in Montana during the off-season before he’s bored and wants to coach again.

If that’s the case, Phil, do yourself a favor and leave immigration policy to people who understand the full range of human issues involved. While you’re at it, don’t send off any more fancy underwear either. And most important of all, look out for those Celtics. They got something nasty coming for ya.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

I reported more than two months ago that there was some conflict within the Los Angeles Lakers, that Phil Jackson (Jeanie’s boyfriend) might not come back to coach the team next year because her father (Lakers owner Jerry Buss) might not want him back.

Jackson himself confirmed as much during the season by offering obtuse comments to reporters about the Lakers asking him to take a cut from his $12 million annual salary, the highest in the league or any other league for that matter.

I had reported that Jeanie Buss had privately expressed concern about the idea that her father and her brother Jim Buss, who runs the basketball side of the family business, might fire Jackson as they had in 2004. “I just know they’re gonna do it,” Jeanie told friends back in February.

When I reported the inside conflict, she went public in refuting me, saying that there were no problems, that things were fine.

So now, as the Lakers prepare for Game 6 of their first round series with Oklahoma City, why would she bring up the topic and tell the L.A. media that Jackson will probably coach somewhere next season? Why raise that distraction for the team?

The simple answer is that she’s nervous, explained one of the insiders in this murky world of Buss palace games. “She respects and fears her father,” said one particularly good source inside the Buss menagerie. “She’s a fragile person in that way.”

Jackson saw the issue with his pay/tenure coming early in the season. That’s why he spoke up about it in front of the New York media at the time.

He indicated then that the Busses wanted him to take a pay cut, and months later he confirmed that notion by musing about it again for reporters.

Earlier in the season, he had defiantly indicated he would take no pay cut. Why would you, he asked reporters rhetorically.

Then, later in the season, he seemed to give in a bit, by acknowledging in another press session that Jerry Buss was laying out a lot of money for the team, that the owner’s situation was tight.

Jackson, meanwhile, isn’t giving the issue a thought at the moment.

He’s locked in, as he always is this time of year, on one thing — the business of coaching in the playoffs. He brooks few distractions in the midst of the kind of challenge the young Thunder team has thrown his way.

Yet, if you think about it — and nobody thinks things through like Jerry Buss — Buss has presented Jackson with the ultimate challenge. The owner has implied a pay cut is in the offing (rumored to be a drop to $8-9 million, which in itself is a strange way of rewarding a coach for taking your team to the championship).

But Buss has set it up so that Jackson is literally coaching for his check. If the Lakers win, it seems highly unlikely that Buss would cut his pay, let alone dismiss Jackson.

In other words, Buss has the coach hustling for a $4 million bonus that won’t cost Buss a cent. Best of all, the $4 mil is coming from money that Jackson is already earning.

Pretty good stuff, Jer.

Meanwhile, the essence of Jeanie’s statement has been true since I first reported it in February. Jackson feels good physically and wants to coach next year. So if he doesn’t coach the Lakers, Jackson’s inclined to coach somewhere else, which sets up all sorts of intrigue around the league.

One of the big incentives is that the following year, 2011-12, figures to be a lock-out year of labor troubles in the NBA, and Buss knows that Jackson wants to win another title before the league shuts down in a dispute over money.

Of course, that door swings both ways. It means that Buss isn’t real eager to start over with a new coaching change only to have to shut the operation down with labor troubles. No, it’s in Buss’s interest to keep Jackson. The owner knows it. Jackson knows it. They are the two brightest bulbs in the entire NBA, facing off against each other in a bluff-fest.

Question is, is Buss just playing a little poker for the chips Jackson has sitting on the table? Or is Buss really ready to be free of Big Chief Triangle, as they used to derisively call Jackson, and his control offense?

We won’t really know until the season plays out. So sweet Jeanie should be in a real tizzy by the time that happens.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Oklahoma City is one of those places where true fans can actually find their way into the building. Ain’t it grand?

In L.A., most of the true fans can’t even afford nosebleed. They are destined to ache from afar, screaming and crying, sometimes weeping for joy at their TV sets, living and dying with each moment on the screen, tapping out their fears and joys in chatrooms, gathering in online enclaves to emerge full-blown in their fanatical alter egos. They go by the names of Troll Man, The Outlaw, Faith, Jon K., Tom, pfunk, GameFaceOn, Shivarising, yellofever, and whatever. You get the picture. If this was Oakland, they just might be an Angel.

For Game 5 against the Thunder, the Lakers need to take all those nice Hollywood folks with the court-side and lower-bowl seats and bus them out to a wine party in Brentwood and they need to replace those nice folks with the great unwashed, the true fanatics. Yes, make them put on clean T-shirts, but get the great mob of those who live their lives for no higher cause than the Los Angeles Lakers, folks who have been drinking Budweiser since breakfast, folks who maybe don’t smell so good, who froth and snort with anger at every Kobe no-call.

You know, folks who would donate a kidney just to be there.

Anyway, get those folks in Jerry Buss’s money seats for Game 5 Tuesday night. Even the playing field, or court, a bit.

Just once, banish all of that Hollywood Cool from the building — okay, you can keep Jack there, but he has to play it like The Shining — and let the Lakers have the true insanity of the faithful behind them for every second of a game, let them slobber and drool all over David Stern and intimidate the officials within an inch of their lives.

Make it so the TV guys want to get out their noise meters and marvel at the true potential for permanent hearing damage, like one of those Black Oak Arkansas concerts from the seventies, or old Chicago Stadium in the eighties when Bill Laimbeer was at the line.

In other words, Game 5 is time for Staples Center to get real, to become a no-gavotting zone.

And it has to start early. The Thunder have to hear it during warm-ups. Think how it would un-nerve the young fellas from OKC, to be greeted by some sort of snarling Philly, smelly pits, mindless horde of L.A.’s finest apartment dwellers who would yell things that would make even sweet Jeanie blush.

Now, that’s what I would call a Hollywood fantasy. But it’ll never happen. It would take Frank Capra to pull it off, and he died long ago.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

When Jerry Buss lays his cards on the table, you have little choice but to sit back in awe.

The Lakers owner has re-signed Kobe Bryant for Jordan-level money. MJ made $30 mil per season over his final campaigns with the Chicago Bulls.

Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports report that Bryant today signed for three years and roughly $90 mil, an extension that will take him through the 2014 season and into his mid 30s.

In his day, Jordan did the extraordinary by proving that a guard could still dominate pro basketball in his mid 30s. Bryant has neared many of Jordan’s mileposts, but this will clearly be the most daunting of those challenges.

And Buss is willing to pay to see if Bryant can do it. It is an astounding show of faith in a competitor for the ages. It suggests an almost unprecedented relationship between an owner and a player.

Even Jordan has to envy such a relationship, such respect. And it’s not a gift. Kobe Bryant has earned every penny of it.

In fact, with Artest and Gasol back for the same duration, Buss had made a huge commitment to talent. He has given Bryant an opportunity to establish an unrivaled legacy.

Even so, Bryant will need good fortune in the coming seasons to achieve it. But the big thing here is the show of support and respect from Jerry Buss.

There’s little wonder that Buss can sit back and wait to read the situation with coach Phil Jackson. As he nears his 80th birthday, Buss has the talent in his pocket. His hand is as strong as any ever played by any owner in pro sports.

Even Phil Jackson has to survey this table in awe. No wonder he has begun hinting recently about taking a pay cut. In Jerry Buss, Jackson has met his match. His longtime mentor Tex Winter always said that Jackson is such a strong personality, so brilliant, that he needs someone around him to stand up to him.

For years, Winter has been that person, but Winter has been slowed by a stroke. It’s clear now that Buss stands up to Jackson in a fashion that no one else can come close to matching.

Buss has a lineup that any coach would die to lead.

If Jackson walks away from this team, or is denied the opportunity to coach it to another title in 2011, Buss has assured that he will be able to pick from the top coaching talent in the business as a replacement.

When Jackson was sent packing in 2004, the team erred stupendously in signing Rudy Tomjanovich, a setback that cost it dearly competitively and financially.

It’s a smart bet that Buss won’t repeat that error.

By signing Bryant, Buss has set the capstone on his era in Los Angeles. He has assured his own legacy and silenced any critics (such as me ;0).

My hat is off. There has never been such an owner in the history of American sports.

If Bryant and his Lakers find good fortune, they will win championships during this three years.

And if they don’t, no one — not even I — can say they missed it due to a lack of commitment.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.