Father's Day: Jimmy and Dei Lynam

THIS WAS THE Portland Trail Blazers' in-game huddle, head coach Jack Ramsay presiding, assistant Jim Lynam a few steps away. By NBA rule, there was a young woman holding an extended microphone over the gathering, picking up sound for the Blazers' telecast.

Ramsay waved the mike off once, twice, three times. The third time, the young woman - refusing to step away - said, "You do your job, I'll do mine."

The young woman was Dei Lynam, Jim's daughter.

She was getting paid $25 a game.

She was 15.

The mike stayed.

Dei, now 44, has been an anchor for Comcast SportsNet, and is now the 76ers/NBA insider for its website. She paid her dues at UCLA, where she earned a degree in psychology, and at TV stops in Madison, Wis., and Cincinnati. She and husband Tim Riviere have two sons, but she will always be the daughter of a coach.

She has made all the coaching moves with her father, from Fairfield, American, Saint Joseph's, the Trail Blazers and on and on. Jim, a former coach and general manager of the Sixers, served this season as an assistant to the since-fired Eddie Jordan.

Part of the fabric of the family is that they've never needed a designated holiday to share time.

"We spend a lot of time together," Jim said. "We don't need a special occasion to appreciate and enjoy [one another]."

For Dei, that's the way it has been since she was 8, when she started traveling with Jim, a legendary coaching and teaching presence at summer camps and clinics.

"Growing up, I wanted to be at every clinic at which he spoke," Dei said. "I liked his company, I liked playing ball and I was fascinated at how people responded to his charisma. It's part of his personality. It can come out at a golf outing, when he's on TV, or at the kitchen table."

When Jim left Portland to coach the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers, Dei stayed behind to complete her senior year in Lake Oswego, Ore. When Jim left Saint Joseph's to join the Blazers, he recalls being apprehensive, as much as he wanted the job, because he was unsure how his son, Jim (more widely known simply as "H"), and daughter would handle it.

"If my parents had said we were moving 3,000 miles, I'd have said, 'Good luck,' " Jim said. "Dei was the one pushing for it a little, saying it would be a new adventure. That put me at ease."

That, though, wasn't as it seemed. The Lynams were leaving Labor Day weekend.

"There must have been 40 teenage girls at the airport, friends of [sister] Kathy and Dei. Kathy was staying behind, to finish her senior year at Cardinal O'Hara as president of the senior class," Jim recalled. "They all had one thing in common: They were staying. Dei, who was going to be a sophomore in high school, was leaving.

"I could tell on the plane that she was struggling. The reality had hit her. For 3 months, she had a tough time. The only thing that was normal in her life was playing ball. Eventually, Kay suggested getting her a job with the Blazers."

And that's how Dei, a point guard in high school, got to hold the extended mike.

"Sports," Jim said, "was her anchor."

Again, the fabric of the family. There was a day when Dei had a break from classes at UCLA, Jim's team had a game in Denver. She decided to catch a flight, to spend some valuable time with her father.

"I got there at 4 a.m.," Dei said. "There wasn't a soul in the airport. But there was Dad, waiting for me."

(Phil Jasner and his son, Andy, were the first father and son to cover an NBA All-Star Game and the NBA Finals together. Phil has been at the Daily News since 1972. Andy is currently a freelance sports writer in the Philadelphia area.)