On the bright side, we just hatched an entire generation that now understands what it means to be a Lakers fan.
It had been 24 years since the Lakers took a fall that was anything like Thursday night's.
After the Lakers' debacle in the 1984 Finals, which even Boston's Larry Bird said they should have won, the Lakers had started a star-studded new tradition with six titles and nine Finals appearances, not to mention all the sub-plots.
No young Lakers fan could understand the suffering that tradition was built on . . . the six Finals losses to the Celtics in the '60s that still haunt Jerry West . . . who inspired Pat Riley, the Lakers' Captain Ahab, whose world seemed to crumble in the 1984 Finals loss after leading in the last minutes of Games 1 through 4 . . . after which Magic Johnson went home and shut himself in for weeks.
At least, no young fan could understand it until Thursday when their younger, deeper Lakers blew a 24-point lead over the older but demonstrably tougher Celtics.
That quickly the 2008 Finals went from about to be tied, 2-2, to 3-1 and about over.
Today every Lakers fan is Jerry West.
--LA Times
Did it ever occur to anyone that the Celtics third-string point guard, Eddie House, is probably every bit as good as the Lakers starting point guard, Deep Sea Fisher?
Does anyone understand that in the biggest game of the year James Posey, the first wing off the Celtics bench, scored 18 points, including two dagger-in-your heart threes that closed the deal, while his counterpart, Sasha the European Three-Point specialist, went 1 for 9?
Does everyone understand that PJ Brown is the main reason the Celtics haven't missed a beat while Kendrick Perkins has been hurt and in foul trouble in the Finals? Someone tell me who is the Lakers version of PJ Brown.
And what about Sam Cassell, one of the difference-makers in game 1--has Jordan Farmar been a difference maker in any of the games?
Leon Powe was a difference maker in game 2. Luke Walton, buddy, where ya bin?
It is only appropriate that the same media which gave the C's no credit all year long will now write the history of the 2008 Finals as a history of what the Lakers lost instead of what the Celtics won.
3 comments:
I really have been irritated about all the stories talking about the Lakers choking. They didn't choke. They were strangled by the Celtics defense. The media still isn't giving the Celtics full credit.
Oh yeah. And the Celtics bench has been coming through for them all season. Everyone talks about the Celtics having no bench. You said it well my friend. The Celtics bench has it all over the Lakers bench.
Seriously, we are talking about the celtics third unit or deep bench outperforming the lakers second unit or rotational players.
Post a Comment