Gambling for Garnett

"Wow," he said, rattling the sports section. "Kevin Garnett. And they've already picked up Ray Allen. Paul Pierce must feel as if Christmas has come early."

"Why would anybody involved with the N.B.A. feel as if Christmas has come early," she asked. "They've got a scandal hanging over them: a referee who's being investigated for betting on games he worked."

"Yeah," he said. "Whatever. The Celtics are gonna be great. Pass the cream."

"Did you read the story about the player who said he doesn't think Tim Donaghy is the only referee who was betting on games and adjusting his calls accordingly?" she asked.

He looked up from the paper, chewing. "Who was that?" he asked. "Is he any good?"

"He wouldn't go on the record," she said.

He ducked back behind the sports section, which featured a big photograph of Kevin Garnett, holding up a Boston Celtics jersey.

"He didn't want anybody to know who he was," she said. "He said he was afraid of repercussions."

"Probably wasn't any good," he said.

"That's not the point," she said.

"Garnett for points....and rebounds. Pierce doesn't have to be all things to all people anymore. Ray Allen in the backcourt. They're gonna be great."

"They're gonna be testifying. Or some of them are. Or they might be," she said.

He pulled the paper down again and looked at her. "Testifying?"

"They might be," she said. "Some of them."

"About what?"

"About the greatest scandal ever to threaten the N.B.A., you goof. About the circumstances that reduced the heretofore confident Commissioner David Stern to a mumbling apologist last week...a man who looked for the first time in his professional life as if he'd rather have been anywhere than in front of a microphone."

For a moment he looked stunned...as if someone had whacked him in the forehead with a mallet. "He hasn't got any problems with the trade, has he? Granted, seven players for one is unusual, but Kevin Garnett is not your run-of-the-mill player."

"Problems with the trade?" she asked. "He's got some problems with the integrity of his league. Unprecedented problems. Last week you said so yourself."

"I said that?" he asked.

"You did," she said. "And listen to you now. You can't wait for the basketball season to start."

"Right," he said. "We should get season tickets. They're gonna be great."