February 17, 1985
The Lakers have a point to prove today. They think they are better than the Celtics , but everywhere they go people talk about LA's Massachusetts Meltdown last spring.
The Lakers swept the Celtics in the 1983-84 regular-season series and felt they should have swept Boston in the championship round, too. They also felt they should have beaten Boston in the Garden last month.
Something happens when the Lakers face the Celtics. Pat Riley's greyhounds dominate the game for 46 minutes, then let it slip away. Magic Johnson misses free throws, James Worthy makes bad passes, etc.
The Lakers led the Celtics by three and had the basketball with 50 seconds left in the Garden last month. Then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had his pass stolen by Danny Ainge, Magic missed a couple of easy taps, and Kevin McHale (shooting 3 for 12 at the time) won it with a basket at the buzzer. It was a painful flashback of the championship series.
There's more. The Lakers are 3-6 against upper-echelon Eastern Conference teams this season, and folks are saying that LA's finesse can't compete with Eastern brawn.
NBA America will be watching the Lakers very closely this afternoon (3:45, Channel 7). Boston is fighting for a share of first place in the Atlantic (which really means something this year), but he Lakers need this one to have any hopes of getting the Celtic monkey off their back in Kareem's lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment