Grant rings it in

The Magic's Horace Grant, the starting power forward for the Lakers last season when they won their second consecutive NBA title, received his championship ring before the game. He nixed their offer to do it in an on-court, pregame ceremony that would have included some video highlights of his season with the Lakers. Instead, he asked to have the ring quietly delivered to the locker room, where Magic Coach Doc Rivers gave it to him after his pregame talk. Grant passed it around the room and let each teammate hold it. He then had Magic equipment manager Rodney Powell wear it on the bench during the game.

"I didn't really want the spotlight, and I didn't want it to take away from our job [Sunday night]," Grant said, explaining why he declined the on-court presentation. "I'll let everyone on the team take [the ring] home for a night if they want. Then it goes into the case at home in my game room."

Grant is the only player on the Magic roster with an NBA championship ring. As a matter of fact, it's his fourth after earning three with the Chicago Bulls.