Buss Getting Last Laugh Jerry Buss heard it all: Shaq makes your team better. Shaq gives other teams a headache. Shaq will bring the Lakers back. So, of course, Buss went with Kobe. And, of course, Buss took a public-relations pounding. Of all the insults hurled at him in the aftermath, being called the second-best NBA owner in Los Angeles was the ultimate. But now, less than two years later, and two days after Bryant went Jordanesque on the Suns, Buss looks like the smartest person in basketball. Only one question remains: Do you apologize now or after the Lakers win the series? -- Newsday Lakers Feel Reborn Twenty-four hours came and went. The Lakers still couldn't exhale. Kobe Bryant had rushed to meet up with his wife at the hospital, Smush Parker grappled with the 36 text messages and dozens of voice mails that lit up his cellphone, and the team as a whole attempted, emphasis on attempted, to downplay a possible series with the Clippers. Bryant had the busiest time of anyone Laker-related, running to an undisclosed Orange County hospital to meet up with his wife, Vanessa, within hours after hitting two shots that were already budding on legendary. Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant was born Monday at 2:03 a.m. -- Los Angeles Times Proving To Be A Steal Whatever the odds were of Smush Parker coming up with a steal against Steve Nash in the final seconds of regulation Sunday, the odds were even smaller that the Lakers guard would find himself in that position to begin with. This time last year, Parker was watching the playoffs at home in NewYork, wondering where his next job in pro basketball would come. He had yet to stick on three NBA teams and had finished the season in the developmental league. -- Los Angeles Daily News
