In LA, of course, it will forever be known as The Great Collapse. My friend Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times, who's been around here long enough to remember when there were no Laker Girls, says Game 4 represents the second-worst catastrophe in (Los Angeles) Laker history. The untoppable numero uno was the Balloon Game, the infamous Game 7 loss to the aged Celtics in 1969.
--Bob Ryan
I was hopeful the Cs would win this series, but it never occurred to me that the green would inflict this type of permanent damage to the Laker psyche. Jerry West, who one day will be revealed to have played a role in getting Gasol from Memphis to LA, must be crushed. As I have noted over the past month, West has talked publicly about never having gotten over losing to the Celtics again...and again...and again. And as Bill Simmons noted, Jerry West was sobbing tears of joy when he presented the Western Conference championship trophy to Mitch and the boys in May.
For some reason, I don't hate the L's as much as I used to. But the evil part of me still takes satisfaction from soaking this all in.
5 comments:
I hate the Laker even more than I used to. That may have something to do with Kobe being my least favorite person and player ever.
We need one more game and they have to win it Sunday. Flying back to Boston with all those injuries will aggravate them and they will struggle in game 6.
Besides, I would love nothing better than to see them take the game on the Lakers' floor. Sweet revenge. The curse of the balloons!
I am not old enough for the 80's Celtics vs Lakers rivalry so I really care less if it's the Lakers or the Spurs or anybody else. The only thing I want is the championship. That being said I think the Lakers will be back in the future, just like after Magic took the blame for the loss in '84, some people thought he would never get over it but he did. If Kobe is truly great he will bring the Lakers back in '09. But that's next year and the C's need to focus on ending it on Sunday.
I say Doc's going with KG and four guns in game 5. The Lakers have no inside presence anyway. So it's gonna be KG, Ray Ray, Paul, Eddie, and James for large stretches of the game.
That should bring home banner number 17.
We'll see how great Kobe is. Before this year but after the KG trade, my brother, the die hard laker fan, said the Cs should trade pierce for Kobe.
I said no thanks.
He laughed, as if to say Paul Pierce isn't even two classes below Kobe much less in the same class.
Going by Finals performance, my brother was right.
Pierce is a class above Kobe.
Don't feel sorry for the WORST NBA FANBASE, the Laker fanbase.
As a witness to Game 4, I saw how weak the fans are when their team is losing and this is even weaker than the weak Laker cheering when it looks like a blowout!
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