He wants another chance

SAN ANTONIO -- He's been an NBA head coach for two franchises and P.J. Carlesimo is hoping to get a crack at No. 3. Right now, he's content to be Gregg Popovich's right-hand man with the Spurs, a position he's held for five years. As he put it last night before Game 2 of the NBA Finals, which was won by the Spurs, 103-92, over Cleveland, "The situation here is terrific. The good outweighs the bad. But, of course, I'd like another shot."

He said the last two years have led to encouraging discussions with a number of teams, though not a job offer he felt he could take. He hasn't been a head coach in the NBA since 2000, when the Golden State Warriors let him go after three seasons, lowlighted by the Latrell Sprewell choking incident. He also coached Portland for three seasons and led the Blazers to the playoffs in all three years. He's one of the few who went directly from college (Seton Hall) to the NBA and had some success.

There are only two openings at present, Seattle and Sacramento. His name already has surfaced in Seattle, where former Spurs executive Sam Presti has taken over as the team's general manager. The Kings are smarting a bit from Stan Van Gundy's decision to take the Orlando job. Neither team made the playoffs this season.

"I don't want to make a move unless I feel it's a good situation," Carlesimo said. "You want management and ownership willing to make the commitment to win and you want a contract that will give you enough time to win."

Some may think the Spurs' success is somehow working against Carlesimo, but he feels differently. He said that on two occasions during the playoffs (not this year), he interviewed for a job at the San Antonio airport. And, as he put it, "I think if a team wants you badly enough, they'll wait for you. I don't think having to coach this long into the playoffs has ever cost me a job."

Congratulations are in order for Bruce Bowen, whose wife, Yardley, gave birth to a baby boy early Saturday. The child's name is Ozmel and he checked in at 6 pounds 11 ounces. This is the second child for the Bowens. Dad will turn 36 Thursday, which will be Game 4 . . . We're not sure if this speaks to the talent of LeBron James or to the barren playoff history of the Cavaliers, but James, who didn't even participate in the playoffs until last season, already is the No. 1 playoff scorer in franchise history. He moved into the top spot in Game 1 with the sixth of his 14 points, passing Mark Price. James needed 30 games to become the top scorer in Cleveland playoff history. Price appeared in 47 . . . Robert Horry wants to play one more season and if it goes to form, he could retire having played more playoff games than any player in NBA history. Horry appeared in his 227th playoff game last night; only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been in more (237). "Big Shot Rob" has never not made the playoffs and has never been knocked out in Round 1.

Daniel Gibson's team-high 16 points in Game 1 represented the first time in 14 years a rookie has led his team in scoring in an NBA Finals game. He had 15 last night behind James's team-high 25. Richard Dumas of the Phoenix Suns was the last to do so in the 1993 Finals against the Bulls. No rookie had done it in a first game of the NBA Finals since 1976, when Alvan Adams led the Suns in scoring . . . Cleveland coach Mike Brown on the development of Sasha Pavlovic (10 points last night): "I had one of my assistants tell him, 'You're really talented. We just need you to defend.' He looked at [the assistant] and said, 'My offense is my defense.' So we said, 'OK.' And we sat him down for about a year and a half so he could think about it. And he thought about it long and hard and now if you talk to him, I guarantee he'll tell you he's got to defend."