Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Ira Winderman column: Pat Riley appreciates Lakers' passion when it comes to catching Celti

Sunday for the Miami Heat, it's the Boston Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena. Friday, it's the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.

That not only means facing the past two NBA champions, but also the league's signature franchises.

Last week, in his State of the Lakers sitdown with the team's beat writers, Lakers owner Jerry Buss made it clear that the reason he is willing to spend nearly $113 million in payroll and luxury tax this season is to move closer to settling a score.

"We want to win as many championships as we possibly can," Buss said. "We're still a few shy of our rival and our intention is to catch them."

Buss never said the words "Boston" or "Celtics." But with 2009 providing the Lakers with their 15th NBA championship the message was clear. For those who lost track, the 2008 championship was the Celtics' 17th.

At 76, fast-tracking the chase is essential for Buss.

To Heat President Pat Riley, who delivered four of those championships to Buss as Lakers coach, the heightened pursuit is nothing less than expected.

"I was there when he bought the team," Riley said last week during a quiet moment after practice. "He bought it from Jack Kent Cooke. I had read about Jerry and I read about how he earned his money in the real-estate business, but his dream, his absolute dream, all those years, from the '60s and the '70s, being a Laker fan, was to own the team. He had this incredible passion to own the Lakers and to buy them."

Riley was a Lakers assistant coach when Buss purchased the team in 1979.

"The day that he bought them, he couldn't believe it, it was like a dream come true," Riley said. "And I think that's what he's carried with him throughout his 30 years there. Everything he's put into the team is really about winning."

And, of course, beating the Celtics.

But Riley said that part of the equation is merely wanting to be on top.

"The fixation on the Celtics, Jerry's legacy and what it is he wants to do in his life, is to have more championships than anybody else," Riley said. "If it was New York, he'd go after New York. The Lakers and the Celtics have been it, and I think that's his fixation. I think he'll do whatever he has to do to try to accomplish that, especially when he has the talent he has."

A professional poker player, Buss essentially has gone all-in this season, with a $91.3 million payroll compounded by a $21.4 million payment to the league in dollar-for-dollar tax for exceeding the luxury-tax threshold.

"Like all gamblers," Buss said, "we feel like we're on a run."

As someone who has soared above the tax when he thought his team had its championship moment, Riley appreciates Buss' Lakers are in a different position than most teams.

"I do think," Riley said, "there are probably two, three franchises that transcend the economy. They are one of them."

IN THE LANE

STILL VENTING: Having required his share of cortisone shots while with the Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal last week landed another backhanded slap when talking about how the Cavaliers have been treating his shoulder strain. "I was cursing and screaming and trying to get them to shoot me up, but they wouldn't do it," O'Neal claimed. "You can tell it's a good organization; they told me no. They had me do it through regular rehab." O'Neal was injured Nov. 12 while defending Michael Beasley. "I went up to block Beasley's dunk in the first half and my shoulder got jammed," he said.

LINGERING MEMORY: Two weeks after the fact, Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao still is hearing about being posterized by a Dwyane Wade dunk. "He got me," Varejao said. "There is nothing I can do. I wasn't the first one and I won't be the last."

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: If last Sunday's game-winning jumper against the New Orleans Hornets by Udonis Haslem felt oddly familiar, well, it was. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the third time the Heat forward had provided a go-ahead, game-winning basket in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. He also did it with three-tenths of a second to play against the Washington Wizards on March 11, 2007, and with 6.3 seconds left against the Detroit Pistons last March 22.

TELLING TALK?: Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh, an impending 2010 free agent, offered an interesting take a week ago about his place in the NBA's vaunted 2003 draft class, perhaps offering a signal that playing alongside LeBron James or Dwyane Wade might not be his preferred mode. "Every day I turn on the TV and they're taking about guys, especially my draft class, '03 draft class and this and that," he said. "They keep bringing all this up and I never hear my name unless I'm like second honorable mention or something like that." Hmm.

SAND DOLLARS: Memphis Grizzlies guard Jamaal Tinsley said among the ways he stayed in shape for his NBA return after sitting out last season was moving to South Florida and running on the beach. "The only thing I could control was staying in shape," said Tinsley, who was paid to stay home last season by the Pacers, in the wake of several off-court incidents. Tinsley, whose agent has expressed interest in delivering him to the Heat last summer, well could push past Mike Conley in the Grizzlies' rotation, already up to second string after moving ahead of Marcus Williams. "It's just nice to have a veteran who understands," said coach Lionel Hollins. "He's out there controlling things."

TURNING DOWN THE A.C.: The last time the Heat faced the Denver Nuggets, Anthony Carter was in George Karl's starting lineup. When the Heat arrives Thursday in Denver, the former Heat guard could be out of the Nuggets' rotation. The return of J.R. Smith combined with the emergence of rookie Ty Lawson has reduced Carter to an afterthought. "There's no question that I trust A.C. as a basketball player," Karl said. "When, and if, an opportunity opens up, I'm going to give it to him. But right now that situation doesn't exist."

OVERHEARD

"It's just a sport." -- Iranian center Hamed Haddadi of the Grizzlies, on shaking hands at center court last week with Israeli center Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings. Because Iran does not recognize Israel, it is the first time the two international standouts had interacted.

BY THE NUMBERS

3,000. To follow up last week's note on what the Grizzlies are going to do with that number of pre-ordered Allen Iverson promotional jerseys now that the guard no longer is with Memphis, the team has decided to ship them to Tanzania, where the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program will distribute them to those in need in the homeland of Grizzlies center Hasheem Thabeet. The team instead will distribute Marc Gasol jerseys.

Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinderman@SunSentinel.com. Material from Sun Sentinel interviews, wire services, other beat writers and league and team sources was used in this report.

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