How you view the game depends on where you're sitting.

From my perch in the nosebleed section, what some have called a blocked shot looked like an assist. I refer to Commissioner David Stern's comment before Sunday's NBA All-Star Game at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"We did a one-game thing at the Thomas & Mack," Stern said. "They're not equipped to hold major-league events in that building."

Give or take a traffic jam and complaints from casino and restaurant employees, NBA All-Star Weekend was as successful as it was flashy. A nothing game was invigorated by the sky-walking sizzle of Las Vegas.

Stern's remark made some homers who dream of an NBA franchise of our own pull out their crying towels. To them, it sounded like a rejection.

Was the commissioner sending a message? Surely he was saying, "Calm down, Vegas. Between the gambling bugaboo and the arena anorexia, you're so not ready to take the next step."

From my cheap seat, Stern's rebuke was an assist. Or, at least it will count as an assist if Mayor Oscar Goodman can make the shot he's preparing in April for the NBA's Board of Governors.

Stern's comment tells more about the state of mind of the commissioner and the league than its officials might yet want to admit. There's clearly a warming of relations between the league and Las Vegas. By criticizing the Thomas & Mack, Stern effectively moved the discussion to the next stage.

In short, it was an assist.

While most observers are focused on the question of whether the NBA will compromise its long-standing position on placing a franchise in close proximity to Las Vegas' legalized sports betting, that issue actually poses a relatively uncomplicated problem. The simple, reasonable compromise is commonly called the "UNLV Rule," which enabled sports books to take college bets as long as Rebels games were off the board. That rule has since been rescinded.

It's less well-known, but the NBA and NHL previously reached agreements associated with Las Vegas and sports betting. When ITT-Sheraton purchased Caesars Palace in the mid-1990s at a time the corporate giant also owned part of the New York Knicks, a decision was made to take NBA games off the board in the Caesars sports book. With high-profile casino owners running the Sacramento Kings, and legalized gambling in 48 states, the league has gradually changed its gaming philosophy.

If the spirit of compromise prevails, an NBA version of the UNLV rule would probably settle the gambling dispute in an atmosphere that finds younger franchise owners such as Mark Cuban and the Maloof family focused on the sizzle over the sin in Las Vegas.

The tougher call will be deciding on the location and financing of a new sports arena. Goodman has said he's received several credible offers from developers promising to build an arena without direct public financing. (Land discounts, juicy tax breaks and set asides are another issue.)

Settling on a location for a new arena and encouraging reluctant residents to embrace the big picture are greater problems than solving the sports betting question. Will the community embrace an NBA franchise that doesn't win a gaudy amount of games? With more than nine of 10 seats filled throughout the league on a given night, the NBA wouldn't have much patience with finicky Vegas crowds.

Stern has been admittedly reluctant to blend the professional sports league with the scent of gambling, no matter how state-regulated and publicly traded. He knows that one turnover, a single scandal -- and a player merely betting on NBA games would qualify as a scandal to many Americans -- and the league would be ridiculed for gambling on Vegas.

But, at some level, it appears Stern has been overruled.

A week ago, Stern came to Goodman's office at City Hall and essentially told him, "The ball is in your court."

"With me, that was like the most major breakthrough imaginable," Goodman said. "I was given a shot, whereas before I had no shot.

"We're going to get ourselves a team. There's no doubt."

Stern has become an unlikely, and some would say reluctant, assist man.

Now it's up to Goodman to sink the shot.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.