Nate Mcmillan

Byron Scott should ask for royalties. When he and Sam Perkins played for the Lakers, Scott gave Perkins the nickname "Big Smooth." It stuck. And in Seattle, it took off. Now there's a web site (www.bigsmooth.com) and products such as Big Smooth Chocolate Milk. And yes, Perkins had the nickname copyrighted. * Stay in Seattle long enough and a person will become a coffee drinker. After all, this is the birthplace of Starbucks. SuperSonic guard Nate McMillan gave in about six years ago.

A few more tidbits following an early Tuesday morning interview with Mike D'Antoni, the Lakers' new head coach: -- He says his brother, Dan, will be joining the Lakers' coaching staff but the rest of the staff should remain intact. -- He hasn't talked to defensive-minded coach Nate McMillan, but he says he intends to this summer, although he wouldn't be surprised if McMillan is head coach by that time elsewhere. -- In D'Antoni's first start as an NBA player for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings his assignment was to cover Jerry West.

When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket, ESPN; Radio: 980. Records: Clippers 29-21, Trail Blazers 24-27. Record vs. Trail Blazers : 2-1. Update: The Clippers will play their fourth game of a five-game homestand; they also have a six-game home winning streak. Since the Clippers last played Portland, the Trail Blazers fired coach Nate McMillan and replaced him with Kaleb Canales on an interim basis.

When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket, ESPN; Radio: 980. Records: Clippers 29-21, Trail Blazers 24-27. Record vs. Trail Blazers : 2-1. Update: The Clippers will play their fourth game of a five-game homestand; they also have a six-game home winning streak. Since the Clippers last played Portland, the Trail Blazers fired coach Nate McMillan and replaced him with Kaleb Canales on an interim basis.

Guess again Devin Harris , on his first thought after being traded from New Jersey to Utah: "Playoffs, baby. " Guess again San Antonio's Tim Duncan , to ABC before getting two points and seven rebounds in the Spurs' loss to the Lakers: "I'm older and slower and not as good as I used to be, so I'm happy to be in a system that works. " We thought about it, though Boston Coach Doc Rivers , after losing to the Clippers: "No one cried.

More than two months into his second season as coach of the Clippers, Mike Dunleavy is still looking for a go-to guy, a player who can take over games in the fourth quarter and deliver victories. "I can't say that we have anybody on our team that you can just tag and say, 'OK, I'm going to give you the ball against everybody in the NBA at your position and we're going to dominate,' " the coach said.

No matter what they tried, Notre Dame's 10th-ranked Irish could not fight off an upset loss to the Trojans of Arkansas Little Rock in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regionals Friday at Minneapolis. "They didn't force too many shots," Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said after his team's 90-83 loss. "Even when we pressed them at the end and went up one, they came back and scored. They just smelled it and went after it. They shot 79% in the second half. That's what I'm talking about."

The torture chamber awaits the Lakers again. The arena is called the Rose Garden. The city is Portland. It is where the Lakers have received much pain over the years, a place where they just can't seem to win. They have lost eight consecutive games to the Trail Blazers in Portland. And the Lakers play the Trail Blazers tonight in Portland. "Well, we've got a challenge ahead of us, I guess," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said after practice Thursday. How can they overcome a challenge that the Lakers have failed at since they last won in Portland on Feb. 23, 2005?

Last January, Hunt Archbold of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser-Journal called the usual number to join one of the twice-weekly Southeastern Conference basketball coaches' teleconferences. The operator, however, mistakenly patched him into a teleconference between SEC referees and the league's supervisor of officials, John Guthrie. Here are some of the things he heard while choosing to leave out names: --"You know you can't out-talk [Louisiana State Coach] Dale [Brown]."

With the playoffs approaching, the Clippers had hoped to build some momentum in their final two regular-season games. But the Clippers, who squandered an 11-point third-quarter lead and lost to the Seattle SuperSonics, 100-98, before a crowd of 15,989 Thursday night at the Sports Arena, didn't inspire much confidence as they approach their first-round series against the Houston Rockets.

Guess again Devin Harris , on his first thought after being traded from New Jersey to Utah: "Playoffs, baby. " Guess again San Antonio's Tim Duncan , to ABC before getting two points and seven rebounds in the Spurs' loss to the Lakers: "I'm older and slower and not as good as I used to be, so I'm happy to be in a system that works. " We thought about it, though Boston Coach Doc Rivers , after losing to the Clippers: "No one cried.

The torture chamber awaits the Lakers again. The arena is called the Rose Garden. The city is Portland. It is where the Lakers have received much pain over the years, a place where they just can't seem to win. They have lost eight consecutive games to the Trail Blazers in Portland. And the Lakers play the Trail Blazers tonight in Portland. "Well, we've got a challenge ahead of us, I guess," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said after practice Thursday. How can they overcome a challenge that the Lakers have failed at since they last won in Portland on Feb. 23, 2005?

Mr. Sonic, meet Team Turmoil. Nate McMillan is embarking on one of the most challenging jobs offered in the NBA this off-season: head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. It's a team that over the past five years has dealt with player misbehavior, personnel changes from the front office down, fan disenchantment and two years without a postseason.

More than two months into his second season as coach of the Clippers, Mike Dunleavy is still looking for a go-to guy, a player who can take over games in the fourth quarter and deliver victories. "I can't say that we have anybody on our team that you can just tag and say, 'OK, I'm going to give you the ball against everybody in the NBA at your position and we're going to dominate,' " the coach said.

Byron Scott should ask for royalties. When he and Sam Perkins played for the Lakers, Scott gave Perkins the nickname "Big Smooth." It stuck. And in Seattle, it took off. Now there's a web site (www.bigsmooth.com) and products such as Big Smooth Chocolate Milk. And yes, Perkins had the nickname copyrighted. * Stay in Seattle long enough and a person will become a coffee drinker. After all, this is the birthplace of Starbucks. SuperSonic guard Nate McMillan gave in about six years ago.

Last January, Hunt Archbold of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser-Journal called the usual number to join one of the twice-weekly Southeastern Conference basketball coaches' teleconferences. The operator, however, mistakenly patched him into a teleconference between SEC referees and the league's supervisor of officials, John Guthrie. Here are some of the things he heard while choosing to leave out names: --"You know you can't out-talk [Louisiana State Coach] Dale [Brown]."

Another Dumpty fell off the wall, or was nudged by Magic Johnson, who seemed to pause as if for dramatic emphasis until the home team went ahead in the closing minutes and the record crowd was going wild before applying the coup de grace. With the Lakers down, 109-106, in the last 3:09, he scored on three successive trips down the floor, and over went the SuperSonics.

The Seattle SuperSonics hardly make a love match for the Lakers. Xavier McDaniel, for one, makes no secret of the fact that he hates the Lakers--and not just Wes Matthews, the Laker reserve whose windpipe still constricts at the sight of the X man. Hate the Lakers? The SuperSonics have trouble loving one another, as player wives Bobbie Jo Lister and Monique Ellis proved in graphic fashion when they went toe-to-toe in a postgame brawl earlier this winter.

He's outlasted K.C. Jones and Bernie Bickerstaff. He's earned his stripes by enduring, among other things, crazy episodes like the fight between the wives of Dale Ellis and Alton Lister, a locker room threat by a former teammate to shoot Gary Payton, and the time when Ellis popped Xavier McDaniel, starting a brawl that spilled out of the gym and into the streets like one of those saloon brawls in the old west.

With the playoffs approaching, the Clippers had hoped to build some momentum in their final two regular-season games. But the Clippers, who squandered an 11-point third-quarter lead and lost to the Seattle SuperSonics, 100-98, before a crowd of 15,989 Thursday night at the Sports Arena, didn't inspire much confidence as they approach their first-round series against the Houston Rockets.