NEW YORK -- If it helps them to sleep better at night thinking the result of The NBA Finals would be reversed had Karl Malone remained healthy, Laker fans, by all means, are encouraged to dream on.
And if Kobe Bryant wants us to believe the season-ending injury to Horace Grant, whose career curdled the last time he was a Laker, was greatly underestimated we'll gladly indulge his musing if it comforts him.
Yet, we're still left with the pitiless truth: The Pistons bought into Larry Brown and the Lakers sold out Phil Jackson.