LOS ANGELES — For your New York Knicks, please welcome, at guard, No. 17, Kobe Bryant!

Wrong team, wrong number, but it’s just a video game commercial.
The commercial for 2K Sports’ NBA 2K10 game debuted Thursday night during Game 1 of the NBA finals. In the spot, director and Knicks superfan Spike Lee tries to argue that a Knicks player, not Bryant, should be on the cover of the game, showing a few possibilities on the current team. When he finally gives in and accepts that it has to be Bryant, he unveils a picture of Bryant in a Knicks jersey wearing No. 17.
Bryant said he hadn’t seen the spot, but called it “just Spike being Spike.”
Bryant couldn’t don his usual No. 24 for the ad, because it was Bill Bradley’s number in New York and is retired.
The Knicks have salary cap space to make a run at a top free agent next summer, with rampant speculation that LeBron James is their No. 1 target. But Bryant wouldn’t say what he would do if he was 25 and the Knicks offered him a maximum salary to come play for Mike D’Antoni in New York.
“Don’t get me caught up in the LeBron sweepstakes, OK? That’s a really nice way of asking,” he said, flashing a smile for one of the rare times during the finals. “But I won’t go there.”

GRUMPY AND GRUMPIER: Kobe Bryant hasn’t been smiling in the NBA finals and said even his kids call him Grumpy.
How about Lakers coach Phil Jackson?
“I call him Mr. Grumpy,” said Lakers executive vice president Jeanie Buss, also Jackson’s girlfriend. “It’s just the pain they went through from losing last season. I saw how long it took Phil to get out of that depression. Kobe was able to go right into Olympic mode, so he just focused all his energy on that. I look at this as a continuation of last season because they never let that go.”
Buss was at the unveiling of the Reading and Learning Center at the Salesian Family Youth Center in Los Angeles on Friday after the Lakers practiced. Commissioner David Stern, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lakers players Derek Fisher and Sasha Vujacic were also there to unveil the room, which included a library stocked with new books, new laptop computers, furniture and presentation equipment.

AND1 OR FINALS: Rafer Alston was a streetball star, but that doesn’t compare to playing in the NBA finals.
Alston, formerly known as “Skip to my Lou” on the famous AND1 Mixtape tour, is happy to be on this stage.
“This is the best. By far, it’s the best time in my life,” said Alston, Orlando’s starting point guard. “You have to understand the difference. In streetball the fans come to see the individual player and in the NBA they want to see their team, and that’s the biggest adjustment you have to make.”
Looks like he’s adjusted just fine.

DOUBLE DOWN? The Orlando Magic couldn’t stop Kobe Bryant, who scored 40 points, his high in an NBA finals game, in a dominant Game 1 performance.
So how about putting another body on him?
That question certainly made the rounds Friday before Orlando had its practice session at Staples Center. Don’t expect the Magic to give away any strategies, though.
“We’re going to make sure we make an adjustment on everybody,” said Mickael Pietrus, who split time with rookie Courtney Lee guarding Bryant. “The thing we’re going to try to do is make sure he doesn’t move freely. Hopefully we’re going to come out hard on him.”
So is that a yes on doubling the Lakers’ star?
“I’m not going to give you my game plan. People read the news, so it’s all about team,” Pietrus said. “Sometimes you have to say stuff and sometimes you have to keep stuff for yourself. (But) we’re going to make some changes, so hopefully you guys are going to see it.”

SCRUFFY SASHA: Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic says his scruffy beard isn’t coming off until the finals are finished. He and teammate Pau Gasol are the hairiest bunch on the team, with overflowing locks and facial hair.
“I shaved a couple of times, but I said I wasn’t going to shave in the playoffs. Not until we get that,” said Vujacic, pointing to the trophy drawing on the media banners.
“I don’t think it’s superstition. The best excuse for me is that I say that I’m just lazy and I don’t want to shave but it looks really good for me. It makes me look older because I really have a babyface.”
And Gasol’s looks?
Well, “I think he looks better like that,” Vujacic said.

DISNEY DUDS: In this Disneyland vs. Disney World NBA finals, Mickey Mouse likes both teams.
The NBA and Disney Consumer Products unveiled a pair of T-shirts Friday, each with the famous character showing support of his neighboring team.
He’s dressed in Magic blue and white in one of them, standing above “The Finals 2009” logo. He’s joined by some friends in the Lakers version of the shirt, where he’s wearing Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 jersey and spinning a basketball on his finger. Disney characters Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck are also on that shirt.
Disneyland is in nearby Anaheim, while Disney World is located in Orlando. The presidents of the resorts already weighed in with a friendly wager.
The shirts are available at both team’s arenas and Web sites, both resorts, and nbastore.com.