Commentary, predictions, rumors, maybe some smack on sports in Los Angeles
It was a tale of two teams in Los Angeles Friday night at Staples Center.
For the Los Angeles Clippers, it’s the best of times completely dominating their hallway rivals from start to finish – the Los Angeles Lakers – who are going through the worst of times.
To read the rest of the story and see the video postgame comments, click here.
Prior to these NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics have battled for eleven championships, four of them going to a Game 7 with the Celtics taking them all.
In his 12 previous trips to the NBA Finals (10 wins) Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson’s never had to win the ring in a Game 7. He did win a ring as a player with the New York Knicks in a Game 7 win in 1970 over the Lakers.
Lakers guards Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher have been to the Finals six previous times never having to win it all in a Game 7.
All the current Boston Celtics have never gone to a Game 7 with the ring on the line.
There’s a first for everything and everyone.
It’s a must win for both teams with both team leaders looking at it as just that. Kobe Bryant and Celtics forward Paul Pierce know what’s on the line and know it’s just about one win.
So, here we go. Sure I’m biased. But, honestly, this series should never have gone this far. The Defending Champion Lakers are, clearly, the superior team and should’ve taken this thing in five games.
In game five, the Celtics took the 3-2 series lead at the Garden playing desperately as they should have. They shot over 60 per cent holding the Lakers to about 33 per cent. The Celtics looked like the 1992 Dream Team. The Lakers looked like the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets. Yet, the Celtics were fortunate to come away with a 92-86 win. Kobe Bryant was the only Laker who showed up knocking down 38.
The unbeatable Lakers showed up in Game 6 holding the Celtics to 67 points while the Lakers tallied 89 points for the win. Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom and the Lakers bench turned it up and showed the world why they’re the defending champions.
Unfortunately for the Celtics, center Kendrick Perkins is out damaging knee ligaments in the first quarter of the last game. That leaves plenty of room for Gasol to have his way in the paint. “Big Baby” Glen Davis, Rasheed Wallace, KG and others will platoon to defend Gasol. He’ll have another double-double.
Perkins’ injury makes it a “push” with Lakers center Andrew Bynum nursing a knee that will be operated on after the series. Difference is Bynum’s playing. Bynum’s been tough averaging about eight points, four boards and three blocks in limited minutes. That’s all they need.
It’ll be close for awhile. But look for a Lakers Repeat with another 20 point win. Time for L.A. to party……with championship number 16!
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man given. Be grateful. Conceit is self given. Be careful. John Robert Wooden (1910-2010)
John Robert Wooden was a man who came from humble beginnings never forgetting, in his 99 years on this Earth, where he came from.
Wooden was taught humility by his father, Joshua, who he called the wisest man he’s ever known. In turn, he passed his father’s wisdom on to the two children he and his beloved wife and true love, Nell, had together.
That wisdom was passed down to seven grand-children and 13 great grand-children.
But, it didn’t stop there.
Wooden passed what his father taught him down to the hundreds of student-athletes he coached from Dayton High School in Kentucky, to South Bend Central High School in Indiana, to Indiana State University, to UCLA.
How fortunate they all are.
Friend. Caring. Honest. Grateful. The most humble person you‘ll ever know. Father figure. The best coach.
That’s how former UCLA point guard Henry Bibby described Wooden just a few hours before the legendary Bruins coach passed away from natural causes. Wooden had been at Ronald Reagan Medical Center at UCLA in grave condition for 10 days.
I saw him last weekend. Bibby said. He said to me, ‘Henry, I love you.’ I told him, I love you too, coach.
From 1970 to 1972, Bibby honed basketball skills Wooden taught as the starting point guard for three of UCLA’s 10 National Championship teams under Wooden.
Coach was always so humble. With all our success, he never took the credit. For him it was all about the players who were part of the team.
And like all of Coach Wooden’s players, he learned more than basketball skills, Bibby learned life skills.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re honest with others. Treat people the same and live by your word.
A native of North Carolina, Bibby was being recruited by Norm Sloan at North Carolina State and UCLA. Wooden paid him a recruiting visit along with Kenny Washington, a guard on the Bruins first two National Champions under Coach Wooden.
Of course, the rest is Bruins history and the beginning of an incredible relationship for Bibby.
From learning the proper way of putting on socks and lacing sneakers to avoid blisters, to absorbing philosophies like “failing to prepare is preparing to fail” or “be quick, but don’t hurry” to learning a Pyramid of Success for life on and off the court, Bibby learned well.
He educated me and continued to be ’my father’ throughout my entire career.
Bibby went on to have a successful nine-year career in the NBA playing for four different teams including winning a World Championship in his rookie season with the New York Knickerbockers.*
All the while, almost daily conversations with Coach Wooden for advice.
After his playing days were over, Bibby began a successful head coaching career in the Continental Basketball Association culminating with nine years at the University of Southern California, UCLA’s arch and cross-town rival. Bibby led the Trojans to three tournament appearances including an Elite Eight appearance in 2001.
All the while, almost daily conversations with Coach Wooden for advice.
Upon his hiring by USC in 1996, Bibby recalled a conversation he had with Coach Wooden.
I told him I’d have a limo pick him up at his house and drive him to and from the Sports Arena if he would come to some games. He laughed and said, ‘Henry, You WON’T get me to a USC game.’
Bibby’s coached the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and has been an assistant coach for a number of NBA teams including his current position with Lionel Hollins and the Memphis Grizzlies.
All the while, almost daily conversations with Coach Wooden for advice.
Often sharing the lessons Coach Wooden taught him as a teenager way back in the 70s to players he’s coached through the years, Bibby said simply,
I owe my entire career to coach Wooden. I’m so grateful to have him in my life. He‘ll always be with me.
Coach Wooden will be with all of us, always. For proof, seek out his players or read the words of a current UCLA student whose parents probably never saw Wooden coach.
Wooden was a coach to all of us. He just used basketball as his vehicle to teach us.
*Bibby’s one of only four players to win an NCAA Title and NBA Title in back-to-back years. The other three are Bill Russell, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Billy Thompson.
What a fabulous time for basketball in the City of Angels……Los Angeles and Boston. Led by Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Phil Jackson the defending world champion Lakers are in the thick of their third straight NBA Finals and facing them, their arch rivals, KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics. INCREDIBLE!
63 champions in the history of “the Association” and these two teams have combined to win 32 of them. Boston has won 17 titles in 21 tries while the L.A./Minneapolis Lakers have earned 15 championships in a staggering 30 tries.
Think about it. The Lakers have represented the West in almost half of the finals while the Celtics have represented the East in a third of them. INCREDIBLE!
This is the 12th time these franchises have clashed head-to-head for the title with the Celtics winning a lop-sided nine of the first eleven including the one two seasons ago.
Lakers came out with purpose in game one of the 12th installment, their 31st finals appearance, at Staples Center in Los Angeles Thursday night beating the Celtics, 102-89.
The Lakers had everything going especially on the defensive end looking like the Celtics usually do……………STRAIGHT UP, PHYSICAL!
Meanwhile, the Celtics looked old, beat up and just plain tired.
The Lakers out-rebounded the Celtics, 42-31. The Lakers limited the Celtics to one for 10 from the three-point line and took the all-important “second chance points” category, 16-0. Quite uncharacteristic of the Celtics.
Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant led everyone with 30 points. Pau Gasol had 23 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Finals “rookie” Ron Artest
had 15 points but gave Celtics forward Paul Pierce fits on the defensive end. Pierce did have 24 points but those were mostly in garbage time. Same goes for Kevin Garnett. He had 16 for Boston but looked like his knees were smarting and was completely out-played by Gasol.
OK. Remember, it’s just game one. In four other meetings between the two teams in the finals, the Lakers have taken the first game only to see the Celtics come back to win three of their 17 championships.
You can bet the Celtics will play more like themselves come game two Sunday back at Staples. They’re champions and Celtic Pride is quite a force when summoned.
Expect game two to be much closer and much more physical on both ends. Expect the Lakers to get a hard-fought win and a two-zero series lead going into Boston for the middle three games of the series next week. ENJOY!
“Bloop Singles”
Individual stats don’t mean a thing here. I could throw them down. But why? You already know them, can find them on many assorted web sites and they speak for themselves.
No doubt that at the moment LeBron James is the most talented basketball player in the world. As he should be. He’s been in the league seven years and he’s only 25. LeBron, the two-time reigning NBA MVP, is “The King of the Court.”
We are ALL WITNESS to the ONE.
Reminds me of a story.
Not too long ago in the “Hoops Kingdom,” there once was a little prince Los Angeleno’s affectionately called “Kid Kobe.” Like LBJ, Kid Kobe entered the “joust” at the tender age of 18 years old. The little prince took his lumps.
Then, under the huge wing of “The Big Aristotle” and a wise wizard, “The Zen Master,” he learned and matured.
The three, along with their merry men, formed a magical “Triangle
” that conquered the kingdom for three straight years and they all became “Lords of the Rings.”
Until the political power-struggle between the trio during the fourth attempt, where they relinquished the kingdom to the “Mad Men from the Motor City” who were guided by the powerful “Larry the Nomad.”
Aristotle left for greener everglades in the “Land of the Sun, Sea and Damsels with Blue Hair.” Zen did as well, riding his motorized stallion to his lair in the North. Kid Kobe was crowned Sole Ruler of the “City of Angels.”
The going was tough for the young and hungry ruler. Many changes occurred at his triangular table. He soon realized “the needs of the many, out-weigh the needs of the one.” He threatened to leave his kingdom to try and conquer another if he couldn’t surround himself with Knights worthy to become “Lords.”
Seeing the unrest, and at the behest of “The Doctor,” the Zen Master returned from the North to reunite with his Young Ruler. Oddly enough, the Ruler HAD knights worthy surrounding him all along. The “Power of the Triangle” was what made the Ruler and his Knights a fabulous show for all times. However, as valiantly as they battled, “The Angeleno’s” could not climb out of the “Valley of the Sun.” The ruler pleaded for help.
During the middle of the next attempt, a “Spanish Conqueror,” majestic among his people and ruler of his court, was summoned. The new trio and their band of merry men began to steamroll through the Western Civilization, which included “setting the army from the valley of the sun.” The, now, experienced Ruler was happy again and loaded with knights to again take his rightful place atop the whole hoops kingdom.
Alas, in his quest, the Ruler and his army were stopped by the “Green Leprechauns” from the East who, at the expense of The Angeleno’s, added rings to their not so hidden treasures.
The Ambitious Ruler vowed he would regain the ring. In the next attempt, his 30th year on this Earth, The Angeleno’s ascended to the top of the Hoops Kingdom.
The Ruler was “Lord of the Rings” once again. And they lived………………
Of course, the story was about Kobe Bryant and the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers. What drives “Kid Kobe” is winning. In the Kobe Era, the Lakers have won four rings in six attempts. Kobe’s got one league Most Valuable Player Award and one Finals MVP. The difference, the Four Rings.
At the moment, for “King James” it’s about individual stats. Two league MVP’s. Zero for one in the Finals.
Brings me to this. The Cleveland Cavaliers have assembled a team around LeBron that’s absolutely good enough to win a World Championship. After two straight bad losses in the Eastern Conference Semi’s to the Boston Celtics it looks as if he seems to lack two skills Kobe’s mastered. LeBron’s not a facilitator, meaning he still doesn’t know how to bring out the immense talents of his teammates, especially when he’s having an off night. Also, LeBron’s clearly not the closer Kobe is. He can, but not consistently, go for the jugular and put an opponent away the way Kobe can.
In the Cavaliers 32-point game five loss to the Celtics, Lebron was so not in the loop, he looked more like the 12th man off the bench. Subsequently, his teammates, who are programmed to defer to LeBron, looked so lost it appeared they had never played basketball before that particular game. Except for four-time world champion Shaquille O’Neal who is playing consistently well in these playoffs.
Sure, you’ve got to give plenty of the blame for the Cavs horrendous play on King James. But, I think Cleveland head coach Mike Brown has to take plenty of heat because the rest of the team seems lost when LeBron is having an “off night.”
Says plenty about Lakers coach Phil Jackson. He won his ten rings, and is on his way to battling for number 11, because all his players are big parts of any game-plan. Kobe’s the focal point as Michael Jordan was with the Chicago Bulls. But the rest of the team, which is ten deep, understand they have to contribute, even when Kobe has an “off night,” if the Lakers are to win.
At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, both LeBron and Kobe were part of the Gold Medal winning Team USA. Who was the absolute leader of that team? Kobe.
Realize LeBron’s just 25 while Kobe’s now 31. “King James” will have his moments and championships. Realize the Cavaliers, despite that tank-job losing to the Celtics 120-88, are still alive. Free agent to be “King James” can still conquer the court and get a ring this year.
However, I think it’s way pre-mature that people have passed the “Best Player on the Planet Torch” from Kobe to LeBron. For one reason and one reason only.
LeBron may be “King James”. But Kobe IS “The Lord of the Rings.”
So many things to write about in the sports world, not enough time. Every time I begin to write on a sports topic, I get distracted by another.
Major league baseball’s in full swing. The NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs. The NFL Draft.
I’ll write about the NBA Playoffs and the defending world champion Los Angeles Lakers. I’ll also write about some guy named Denton Ramsey.
So, you’re asking yourself, “What does this Denton guy have to do with the Lakers.” Good question. Here’s the answer. He’s a Texas sports geek who writes for a site called bleacher report. He’s also a Laker-hater. Which is all well and good.
He’s also a dreamer.
In his latest scribes on b/r, Ramsey sites his Top Five Reasons the LA Lakers Won’t Win A NBA Title This Season. His reasons seem to be from his heart or what he hopes will happen. You should read them. I’ll go through them here because he doesn’t support any of his reasons with facts:
REALLY! No kidding, Denton. That’s why they call it PLAYOFFS!! If the Lakers weren’t beatable, there wouldn’t be a need for playoffs. Seems to me the Lakers were taken to the brink by Houston last post-season on their way to franchise title number 15. Denver went six in the conference finals while Orlando fell in five for the title. Could’ve gone either way in each series. But it didn’t. It went the Lakers’ way.
Here’s why it‘s highly possible it‘ll happen again:
Kobe Bryant’s a creator, facilitator and the best finisher in the game today. He can score from anywhere on the floor and in the air. He can dish to anyone of his teammates from anywhere on the floor and in the air. The Lakers have a front-court of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and defender Ron Artest. Off the bench comes Lamar Odom. No team in the Western Conference can handle that front court. Their only weakness is point-guard. But in “The Triangle,” a point guard isn’t the most important piece of the puzzle. None of Phil Jackson’s champions, be it in Chicago or Los Angeles, ever had a great point guard. The “quarterback” of The Triangle is the shooting guard. Kobe and some guy named Michael Jordan play the role perfectly.
Anyway, the Utah Jazz will be without Mehmet Okur because of his achilles injury in the Denver series. That leaves Carlos Boozer and this 7”1” Kyrylo Fesenko-guy that helps in spurts. Kind of reminds me of the Jazz center in the 80s, 7’4” Mark Eaton. He couldn’t do anything against Kareem or Magic’s “Showtime Lakers.” This Fasenko-guy won’t do much against the quicker tandem of Gasol and Bynum. The Spurs Tim Duncan won’t be able to do much with his aging ankles and heels against Pau and Drew either. Especially in a seven-game series. Phoenix’s Amar’e Stoudemire ………… right.
Every round’s an Upset Alert when taking on the Lakers. But, see reason number one. That Jazz team in the 80s, with Eaton, Malone, Stockton and Bailey, was “due” against the Showtime Lakers as well. Never happened. Today’s incarnation will meet the same fate. They’re “due” having been ousted the last two playoff seasons by this Lakers’ incarnation. But, the Jazz aren’t any better than the last two years. They’re solid, play tough, have a huge point-guard advantage with Deron Williams. But, so do all the other teams in the post-season. Doesn’t matter. It’s all up front and the Jazz don’t have enough to take four out of seven from the Lakers.
Again, see reason number one. Tim Duncan is old. Well, his feet and ankles are. He can’t sustain it any longer against the young Lakers’ front line to take four out of seven. Richard Jefferson’s a bust. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are a bit banged-up. They beat Dallas because they’re an outside shooting team with Dirk Nowitzki. Even with Dallas’ acquisitions of Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, it wasn’t enough. They were better defensively. But those two didn’t change their mentality on offense. The Mavs shot outside playing right into San Antonio’s hands.
The Lakers will take it to the rim against the slower and older Spurs putting Duncan and company in foul trouble. Spurs could win a game, maybe two. But, they’re too old and can’t match the Lakers starters or reserves to take four games from L.A.
True. Phil Jackson may not win his eleventh title as a coach this year. True. This could be his last year coaching the Lakers. That’s because his contract is up whenever the Lakers are done this year. Doesn’t mean he won’t sign another contract which is a good possibility. If he doesn’t, it doesn’t mean he’s leaving L.A. Published reports have him, possibly, moving to the Clippers and enticing LeBron James to share Los Angeles with Kobe. Those are just rumors. But, intriguing none-the-less.
Oh. It’s true that Jackson’s won all these titles as a coach because he’s had all these super-stars on his teams. Wonder if Red Auerbach’s Celtics would’ve won without that hall-of-fame roster of Russell, Cousey, Havlicek, Nelson, White and Silas among others. Or maybe Red Holtzman’s Knicks with Frazier, Monroe, Barnett, Bradly, Reed, Lucas and Debusschere. How about Popovich’s Spurs with Duncan, Robinson, Ginobili and Parker. Every Championship winning coach, in all sports, has super-stars. No coach wins with second-teamers or scrubs.
Anyway, if the Lakers should repeat as Champions, expect Jackson to be back on the bench next season. He’d have to go for his fourth “three-peat” if title eleven happens for him this year.
So what. So does every player on every team.
Bottom line is this. If the Lakers take the ball to the rack (which opens up the outside game) against all of their Western Conference opponents, they’ll have a smooth road to the NBA Finals.
It could get a bit difficult for them if they happen to play Cleveland for the Championship. LeBron’s Cavaliers have added parts like Shaq to beat Dwight Howard and the Magic in the Eastern Conference and, maybe, the Lakers in the Finals. But, if I were a betting man, I’d STILL bet on the Lakers to win it all.
Do I hear chants of “3-Peat” yet?
On Any Given Sports Day 