I've been kind of zoned out lately. I wonder what's new in Celtics Land?
Seems we played a basketball game on June 17. Shoot. We lost it to the dreaded Lakers. Turns out it was for the NBA championship. But, hey, we enjoyed a 13-point lead in the 3rd quarter, and only lost by four measly points. So it stands to reason we'll just bring everyone back, and lick 'em next year.
Right?
Maybe not.
The box score for game 7 shows Kevin Garnett, ostensibly our best player, played 38 minutes and grabbed 3 rebounds. Must be a misprint. Even the ancient and decrepit Artis Gilmore would have grabbed more rebounds than that in 1988. Next up is Paul Pierce. 5-15 in 46 minutes. Ray Allen? 3-14 in 45 minutes. We're talking about the second biggest game of their careers, and the Big Three fell flat on their faces.
The hands of time march on.
Yet management seems intent on bringing them all back and expecting the fan base to get excited. Of course, expecting three basketball players well past their prime to improve, much less play like they are 20-years-old again, flies in the face of everything we know about the effects of aging on the human body in general and professional athletes in particular, unless, of course, your name is Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, or Mark McGuire.
That can't be the plan, now can it?
The problem is that there may not be better option available.
But the so-called "stand-pat" option only gets better. The Celtics starting center, Kendrick Perkins, is out indefinitely with a triple-tear of his knee ligaments. His back-up, Rasheed Wallace, done retired.
And, if rumors are to be believed, the Celtics are interested in signing free agents Brad Miller and Mike Miller. I didn't like them the first time they played for the Celtics under the aliases Raef LaFrentz and Jiri Welsch.
Wait. Wait.
I think I figured this all out.
I've seen this blue print before.
Anyone else think this screenplay sounds familiar?
If not, maybe we can get Glen Taylor to comment about his old buddy Kevin McHale and some of his crazy ideas when he was running the Minnesota Timberwolves. I guess that answers the question about when Danny Ainge will bring Lurch into the fold.
Looks like he already has.
About Me
Junk This Team?
Suppose we get Shaq.
Is that enough?
I say no.
Let Ray go.
Talk openly about rebuilding.
That ought to get Mssrs 34 and 5 out the door.
Go from there.
Danny needs to revisit what he told Red in 1988.
1984 NBA Finals: BOB MCADOO IS ANCIENT CELTIC HISTORY
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media CoverageThe trade was made late at night in February of 1979.
Legend has it that Phyllis George, the former Miss America and the wife of Celtics owner John Y. Brown, watched Bob McAdoo play in Madison Square Garden against the Celtics. She told her husband how much she liked Bob McAdoo and how good he would look in a Celtics uniform.
In the morning, three No. 1 draft choices and the rights to a player to be named later belonged to the New York Knicks. Bob McAdoo was in a Celtics uniform.
"The trade was made over dinner, wasn't it?" someone said to Celtics president Red Auerbach yesterday morning in the Fabulous Forum.
"The trade was made over whiskey," Auerbach grumbled. "Late at night."
The trade stunk.
It was initiated by whim, by caprice, by almost a Marie Antoinette view of the basketball world. There was no sense to it for the Celtics, struggling at the time. There was no sense to it for McAdoo, a player whose scoring talents were not the talents the Celtics needed. There was no sense at all.
"How long did it take for you to realize this was not going to work?" McAdoo was asked yesterday.
"About a week," he said.
"No, sooner than that," he said, changing his mind. "About a day.
"I came to Boston, read all the comments in the papers about how the team had traded away its future, about how bad the trade was. I said, What the hell is this? What am I supposed to do?' I really felt as if I were a pawn, just being moved around."
Nothing fit. None of it.
John Y. Brown had owned the team in Buffalo, where McAdoo had been an instant star, a Rookie of the Year, a Most Valuable Player. Trying to cut expenses, not wanting to pay McAdoo's heavy salary, John Y. had traded him to New York in the first place.
Now John Y. - owning another team in another town - wanted Bob McAdoo back? Crazy.
The Celtics already had a center named Dave Cowens and in this struggling season Cowens also was the coach. The Celtics needed bulk, muscle, someone to work the backboards. What they added was a lithe, smooth, almost effete 6- foot-9 jump shooter.
Nothing fit.
"Bob came to us, and he was that big piece in the puzzle that didn't fit," Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell said. "He was that piece left over at the end, the one you hold in your hand and say, Now where is this supposed to go?' "
There were some other situations, spinning on the side, that also were not great for Bob McAdoo at the time. His marriage was falling apart. His father was sick, dying, in North Carolina. There was an uncomfortable buzz in his personal life and now there was this uncomfortable buzz in his professional life.
He had been checked into a situation that seemed beyond his control."He was a great player who went bad," Red Auerbach said. "Very bad."
"What's bad?" someone asked.
"The first day he was mad because he wasn't starting," Auerbach said. "He didn't know the plays or anything, and he was mad because he wasn't starting. Then, at the end of the year, remember, he didn't play the final nine games because he wanted to protect his scoring average. Said he had a cold or something. "If that isn't going bad, then what is?"
"We'd won five straight games before he came to us and then we he got here, we started losing," said Maxwell, who became McAdoo's roommate and friend in Boston. "Everything just fell on him.
"People underestimate him because of the way he looks, never showing emotion. He's a lot like Robert Parish that way. He's competitive, as competitive as anyone I've ever known, in anything he does, but it just doesn't show. People don't like that. They want to see the rah-rah."
He was a Celtic for only the final three months of that '79 season. As soon as John Y. and Phyllis had departed for the governor's manse in Kentucky - "Ooooh, John! Let's try politics now!" - Auerbach shuffled McAdoo to Detroit for two No. 1 draft picks and the rights to M.L. Carr. The McAdoo- Celtics story was over.
Until now.
"I'm going out to dinner with him tonight," Cedric Maxwell said. "We were supposed to go out after the game on Sunday, but I backed out after the way the Lakers beat us the way they did. It would be like going out to dinner with someone who robbed your house, took all your silverware and your money.
"Tonight we'll go out and talk. We did the same thing in Boston. He was at my house until 2 in the morning. Just talking about the games."
Bob McAdoo, of course, is now a Laker. He is part of the full-court buzz- saw that is cutting through the Celtics. LA is ahead, 2-1, in these NBA finals, looking as if it will rip the Celtics apart again in Game 4 tomorrow night at the Forum. The loose ends of McAdoo's life have been tied in tidy square knots. He is averaging 28 minutes, 14 points and 7 rebounds a game.
Thirty-two-year-old Bob McAdoo is enjoying himself.
"I'm coming off the bench," he said. "I'm just one of the factors in the game. If we win, everything is spread around. If things go bad, same thing. The heat's not all on me. I've had my glory in Buffalo and in New York. I don't have to play 40 minutes and score 30 points and have 15 rebounds. I just want to win."
He has been with the Lakers for three years, and this is his third NBA finals series. The knocks about attitude and style slowly have disappeared. ("He's playing good basketball," Red Auerbach said.) There is a tranquility about his situation. An enjoyment.
"What's the worst memory you have of Boston?" he was asked. "Dave Cowens wanted to send me into a game when there were two minutes left," he said. "I was the third-leading scorer in the league, and I hadn't played the entire game, and he wanted me to go in with two minutes left."
"What'd you do?"
"I didn't go," Bob McAdoo said with a little smile on his face.
All of that seemed like ancient history now. Ancient, ancient history.
1984 NBA Finals: Game 3 Box Score
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media CoverageBOSTON CELTICS
fg..fga.ft.fta...r. a.pf.pts
Bird 9 16 12 15 7 2 3 30
Maxwell 3 6 3 4 4 5 4 9
Parish 3 9 3 4 12 0 2 9
Henderson 4 9 2 4 2 3 2 10
D. Johnson 2 8 0 1 2 1 3 4
McHale 5 13 2 3 4 2 1 12
Wedman 7 18 0 0 10 4 5 16
Buckner 3 5 0 0 0 3 4 6
Ainge 1 5 0 0 1 2 2 2
Carr 1 5 0 0 1 1 2 2
Kite 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 0
Clark 2 5 0 0 0 0 3 4
Rebounds 12
Totals 40 101 22 31 56 23 33 104
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
fg..fga.ft.fta...r. a.pf.pts
Rambis 7 7 3 5 5 0 4 17
Worthy 6 11 1 3 4 3 3 13
Abdul-Jbbr 9 19 6 9 9 3 3 24
Cooper 6 13 5 5 6 5 4 17
E. Johnson 4 6 6 10 11 21 3 14
McAdoo 8 16 5 7 7 0 4 21
Wilkes 2 6 2 2 5 1 3 6
Scott 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 2
Nater 3 6 0 0 7 0 1 6
McGee 6 15 3 3 4 0 2 15
Kupchak 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0
Spriggs 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 2
Rebounds 14
Totals 53 103 31 44 77 36 27 137
Boston 26.20.33.25--104
Los Angeles 29.28.47.33--137
Three Point goals--Wedman 2. Technicals--Cooper; Ainge; Boston, illegal defense. A--17,505.
1984 NBA Finals: LAKER BREAK LEAVES CELTS IN THE DUST
GAME 3
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- After Sunday's supersonic 137-104 victory over the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers might want to consider a move to Edwards Air Force Base.
Life there among the jet fighters might more befit the fast-breaking Lakers than the Forum, where they soared to victory in Game 3 of the NBA championship series, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 will be played here Wednesday (9 p.m., Chs. 4, 34).
The Lakers' Magic Johnson set a title-series record by dealing 21 assists en route to his first triple-double outing (he also had 11 rebounds and 14 points) of this series.
The Lakers had loads of the right stuff in their championship-series-record 47-point third quarter, which was more points than Boston scored in the entire first half (46).
The Lakers ran the break an astounding 51 times and cashed in with points 37 times (72.5 percent efficiency) and otherwise became a purple-and-gold blur as a sellout crowd of 17,505 watched and cheered.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who limited Boston center Robert Parish to nine points, scored 24 himself. Kurt Rambis, who held Cedric Maxwell to nine, hit a playoff-high 17 points on seven-for-seven shooting. Bob McAdoo added 21 off the bench while seven Lakers scored in double figures.
Meanwhile, the poor-shooting Celtics (they hit only 39.6 percent of their shots), put only four players in double figures, led by Larry Bird's game-high 30. The loss was Boston's worst ever in a title series.
In short, the Lakers were fighting with jets and missiles while the Celtics were burdened with ill-firing popguns.
"It's the greatest feeling when that happens, because you feel like you can't be stopped," said Johnson, reflecting on his team's fast break. "It was just great.
"It's a feeling that you have that makes you feel so good, and it happens so quick. When we're going like this, there's nothing to defense us. If we can make them turn it over or make them take a shot they don't want to take, we're gone."
And that was all the strategy there was to this one.
"They just kept pushing the ball down our throats," moaned Bird.
"They just came back in waves," said Parish.
"It was very humbling," said Maxwell.
Reversing the pattern on the boards set during Games 1 and 2, the Lakers this time buried the Celtics in rebounding, grabbing 63 to Boston's 44.
That, coupled with 13 Boston turnovers that led to 15 Laker points, keyed a fast break that was devastating.
The Lakers ran out to an 18-4 lead in the first quarter and then withstood a 36-17 comeback run by Boston in the second by reeling off 18 straight points en route to a 53-40 lead with just over two minutes to go in the first half.
They entered the third period on top by 57-46.
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media CoverageINGLEWOOD, Calif. -- After Sunday's supersonic 137-104 victory over the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers might want to consider a move to Edwards Air Force Base.
Life there among the jet fighters might more befit the fast-breaking Lakers than the Forum, where they soared to victory in Game 3 of the NBA championship series, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 will be played here Wednesday (9 p.m., Chs. 4, 34).
The Lakers' Magic Johnson set a title-series record by dealing 21 assists en route to his first triple-double outing (he also had 11 rebounds and 14 points) of this series.
The Lakers had loads of the right stuff in their championship-series-record 47-point third quarter, which was more points than Boston scored in the entire first half (46).
The Lakers ran the break an astounding 51 times and cashed in with points 37 times (72.5 percent efficiency) and otherwise became a purple-and-gold blur as a sellout crowd of 17,505 watched and cheered.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who limited Boston center Robert Parish to nine points, scored 24 himself. Kurt Rambis, who held Cedric Maxwell to nine, hit a playoff-high 17 points on seven-for-seven shooting. Bob McAdoo added 21 off the bench while seven Lakers scored in double figures.
Meanwhile, the poor-shooting Celtics (they hit only 39.6 percent of their shots), put only four players in double figures, led by Larry Bird's game-high 30. The loss was Boston's worst ever in a title series.
In short, the Lakers were fighting with jets and missiles while the Celtics were burdened with ill-firing popguns.
"It's the greatest feeling when that happens, because you feel like you can't be stopped," said Johnson, reflecting on his team's fast break. "It was just great.
"It's a feeling that you have that makes you feel so good, and it happens so quick. When we're going like this, there's nothing to defense us. If we can make them turn it over or make them take a shot they don't want to take, we're gone."
And that was all the strategy there was to this one.
"They just kept pushing the ball down our throats," moaned Bird.
"They just came back in waves," said Parish.
"It was very humbling," said Maxwell.
Reversing the pattern on the boards set during Games 1 and 2, the Lakers this time buried the Celtics in rebounding, grabbing 63 to Boston's 44.
That, coupled with 13 Boston turnovers that led to 15 Laker points, keyed a fast break that was devastating.
The Lakers ran out to an 18-4 lead in the first quarter and then withstood a 36-17 comeback run by Boston in the second by reeling off 18 straight points en route to a 53-40 lead with just over two minutes to go in the first half.
They entered the third period on top by 57-46.
1984 NBA Finals: RAMBIS FINDS PERFECT WAY TO GET NOTICED
GAME 3
Kurt Rambis is the classic rags-to-riches story, a raw-boned, bespectacled 6-8 forward who couldn't latch on with the Knicks, went to play in Greece for a year and then resurfaced as a starting power forward with the world champion Los Angeles Lakers in 1982.
But after three years, Rambis still is one of the most anonymous figures on Hollywood's Team.
Rambis looked as if he was about to remain a top secret throughout this Championship Series, too, after going scoreless during the Lakers' overtime loss to Boston in Game 2. But Rambis opened some eyes yesterday when he scored a career playoff high 17 points as the Lakers dominated the Celtics, 137-104, to take a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series.
Rambis shot 7-for-7 and added five rebounds to help the Lakers more than offset the play of Boston's two-headed monster, Cedric Maxwell and Kevin McHale, and give the Lakers a big plus at the power forward position.
''Actually,'' he said, ''it wasn't me. It was Magic. I just kept filling the lanes and he delivered the ball. It's easy when you're playing with a ballplayer like that.''
Johnson has the rare ability to make all his teammates look better, particularly when the Lakers get out and run. But Rambis contributed too, boxing out effectively to help the Lakers overwhelm Boston on the boards, 63-44.
''That's the key to our success,'' Rambis said. ''You know, they've been very good on the offensive boards and that's caused us some problems. But when we had that run in the third quarter, we were limiting their second shots. It was just a commitment on everybody's part to hit the boards.
''When we control the boards, that initiates the fastbreak.''
The Lakers' fastbreak normally is a three-man proposition, with Johnson in the middle and two wings filling the lanes. Rambis is usually the trailer on the play.
''Anytime you get your big men out and running, it definitely helps the break,'' Rambis said.
Rambis is glad to be off and running. He started this season on a bad foot - literally. Rambis spent the first 32 games on the injured list because of a sore left foot and was not activated until Jan. 7.
Rambis joined the starting lineup Feb. 18 and the Lakers were 21-10 after that. Rambis averaged four points and 6.7 rebounds as a starter but his numbers were deceptively low because his production has increased steadily.
Rambis averaged 7.9 rebounds and shot 39-for-60 in the last 20 games of the regular season. He led the team in rebounding in seven of last 12 games.
After Rambis's performance in yesterday's nationally televised rout, he looks as if he is back on track again. And the Lakers look like a powerful freight train.
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media CoverageKurt Rambis is the classic rags-to-riches story, a raw-boned, bespectacled 6-8 forward who couldn't latch on with the Knicks, went to play in Greece for a year and then resurfaced as a starting power forward with the world champion Los Angeles Lakers in 1982.
But after three years, Rambis still is one of the most anonymous figures on Hollywood's Team.
Rambis looked as if he was about to remain a top secret throughout this Championship Series, too, after going scoreless during the Lakers' overtime loss to Boston in Game 2. But Rambis opened some eyes yesterday when he scored a career playoff high 17 points as the Lakers dominated the Celtics, 137-104, to take a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series.
Rambis shot 7-for-7 and added five rebounds to help the Lakers more than offset the play of Boston's two-headed monster, Cedric Maxwell and Kevin McHale, and give the Lakers a big plus at the power forward position.
''Actually,'' he said, ''it wasn't me. It was Magic. I just kept filling the lanes and he delivered the ball. It's easy when you're playing with a ballplayer like that.''
Johnson has the rare ability to make all his teammates look better, particularly when the Lakers get out and run. But Rambis contributed too, boxing out effectively to help the Lakers overwhelm Boston on the boards, 63-44.
''That's the key to our success,'' Rambis said. ''You know, they've been very good on the offensive boards and that's caused us some problems. But when we had that run in the third quarter, we were limiting their second shots. It was just a commitment on everybody's part to hit the boards.
''When we control the boards, that initiates the fastbreak.''
The Lakers' fastbreak normally is a three-man proposition, with Johnson in the middle and two wings filling the lanes. Rambis is usually the trailer on the play.
''Anytime you get your big men out and running, it definitely helps the break,'' Rambis said.
Rambis is glad to be off and running. He started this season on a bad foot - literally. Rambis spent the first 32 games on the injured list because of a sore left foot and was not activated until Jan. 7.
Rambis joined the starting lineup Feb. 18 and the Lakers were 21-10 after that. Rambis averaged four points and 6.7 rebounds as a starter but his numbers were deceptively low because his production has increased steadily.
Rambis averaged 7.9 rebounds and shot 39-for-60 in the last 20 games of the regular season. He led the team in rebounding in seven of last 12 games.
After Rambis's performance in yesterday's nationally televised rout, he looks as if he is back on track again. And the Lakers look like a powerful freight train.
1984 NBA Finals: Bird Calls Teammates a Bunch of Sissies
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media CoverageLarry Bird is tired of getting sand kicked in his face.
Boston's All-Star forward was upset with some of his teammates yesterday after a 137-104 loss to Los Angeles in Game 3 of the NBA Championship Series. He all but called them a group of 98-pound weaklings.
''We played like sissies,'' Bird said. ''I can't believe a team like this would let LA come out and push us around like they did.
''I think everybody knows what we did wrong. It's not like we have to go out and beat them up. But still, you get inside position on a rebound, you just can't let somebody go over your back and take it away. I did it a couple times today and a lot of other guys did it. They got all the rebounds and were off and running.
''We've just got to play more physical. We've just got to move the ball a little better. We've just got to be a little more intense. The first two games were very intense. We played hard. Today, I don't think we played hard.''
The Celtics were listless during the thrashing, letting the Lakers outrebound them for the first time this season, 63-44, and allowing Los Angeles to run its break on a five-lane highway.
The Lakers had 53 fastbreak opportunities, converting 37. LA outscored Boston 18-0 at one point in the second quarter to take a 57-46 halftime lead. Then, the Lakers revved up the jet engines, scoring a record 47 points in the third quarter as the Forum court became the West Coast version of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
''This was a big snowing,'' Celtics coach K.C. Jones said. ''Snow picks up as it goes down the hill.''
The Lakers left the Celtics buried under a giant avalanche. Jones will have to send the St. Bernards out into the drifts to see if there are any survivors.
Boston, which suffered its worst loss in 16 trips to the NBA final, will try to regroup in time for Game 4 Wednesday. Among other things, that means trying to get erratic center Robert Parish on track again, and making sure it gets back to defend against what has become the most terrifying fastbreak in the history of the game.
''You can't just stand around on defense after you take a shot,'' Bird said. ''We were just too passive.''
Bird was active enough to score 30 points and grab seven rebounds. But he had only two assists and looked like a one-man stand during his 38 minutes.
''Can you describe your feelings?'' one writer asked. ''Are you mad, frustrated, embarrassed?''
''A little bit of everything,'' Bird said.
If Bird was exasperated, imagine how Parish might have felt. The 7-foot center scored only nine points and did not have a field goal in the first half. In many ways, he was a prisoner in the Lakers' thinly veiled 2-3 zone.
''They could never get me the ball,'' said Parish, who got off only nine shots.
Boston did not get much relief from its perimeter guard play, either, as starters Gerald Henderson and Dennis Johnson totaled only six field goals.
The Lakers' margin of victory could leave deep psychological scars on the Celtics.
''It's particularly disheartening when a team like the Celtics gets outhustled,'' Boston forward Cedric Maxwell said. ''It's very humbling - we can swallow our pride now and concede that the Lakers played well.''
The Lakers played a near-perfect game, which should dispel a theory that LA, which had only a 28-13 record at the Forum during the regular season, is not that difficult to handle at home. It also should give the Celtics some food for thought as they contemplate the future.
''I don't think anybody's down that much,'' Boston forward Kevin McHale said. ''We know what we have to do. It was just a poor performance by the Boston Celtics. Everybody on the team, to a man, has got to be totally embarrassed. Everybody in the country saw this.
''I don't feel in my heart that the Lakers are that much better a team than we are - certainly not 30 points better. They get 47 points in a quarter. Magic Johnson's throwing the ball all over the gymnasium. He gets 21 assists. He gets almost as many as our entire team (Boston had 23). We can't have that. We've just got to play smarter, better basketball.''
McHale thinks some solutions to Boston's problems are simple. The big question appears to be whether the Celtics can get them off the drawing board in time for Game 4.
''We can match up better. That's the first thing we can do about it,'' McHale said. ''Secondly, we can get some breaks going ourselves. We've got to get Chief (Parish) more than nine shots and Max (Cedric Maxwell) more than six shots. Our inside game is almost null and void because they're just making us shoot from the outside.
''Today, we walked it up, then walked back. We've got to get the ball up and down more. We've got to take it inside. We've got to play a power game. We're not doing what we do best.
''The Lakers just came up great guns, hitting everything from 15 feet, and we had nothing to rally back on. We've got to rally back on them.''
That might not be possible unless Jones can find some way to contain Magic. Jones opened with Henderson on Johnson, then opted for experimentation.
''By the way Magic was running the club, I'm sure he felt he was in complete control,'' Bird said. ''He did a great job, there's no doubt about that. He had it going. It was very difficult for us to contain what they were trying to do, because they were running by us so quick.
''I think we can come back because I know the heart and soul of this club. But today, the heart wasn't there. There's no question about it.''
Is KG Done?
He’s old. He’s tired. He’s hurt. He’s got more miles on him than Al Gore’s Gulfstream. He’s Willis Reed. He’s Willie Mays, circa 1973. He’s David Ortiz [stats], circa six weeks ago. He’s playing in slow motion, with his brilliant NBA career flashing before his eyes and the Eagles’ “Desperado” playing softly in the background.
These days it is nearly as painful to watch Kevin Garnett as it is to be Kevin Garnett. Theories are flying from all directions, none of them good. He appears to have a problem with his right knee and perhaps an issue with his left shoulder, and he’ll probably come away with a mild concussion when he slams his head into the stanchion just before tipoff tonight.
“Time passes and we all suffer it one way or another,” said the Lakers’ Pau Gasol, sounding like a member of the Washington press corps talking about that nasty old hag Helen Thomas.
It is a fact of life in sports that every player loses it sometime, and for Garnett that dreaded moment may have arrived between Game 6 in Orlando and Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. One day he was smothering the life out of poor Rashard Lewis, the next he looked like a slow-footed camper at the Pau Gasol Basketball School.
One day, the mangy Lakers’ big man hated him, the next day it got worse. Old pal Pau felt sorry for him.
So how did it go in Game 2 for Garnett? Worse than Game 1. Because of foul trouble, Garnett played just 24 minutes. He had six points, six boards, no blocks and no answer for Gasol, who had 24 and 8. The Lakers’ starting frontcourt outscored the Celts’, 52-28, leaving C’s fans to wonder: Can their backcourt win the championship without any help from the big guys up front?
LINK
The series is tied 1-1. Garnett has four games to come to the party. It says here he will.
These days it is nearly as painful to watch Kevin Garnett as it is to be Kevin Garnett. Theories are flying from all directions, none of them good. He appears to have a problem with his right knee and perhaps an issue with his left shoulder, and he’ll probably come away with a mild concussion when he slams his head into the stanchion just before tipoff tonight.
“Time passes and we all suffer it one way or another,” said the Lakers’ Pau Gasol, sounding like a member of the Washington press corps talking about that nasty old hag Helen Thomas.
It is a fact of life in sports that every player loses it sometime, and for Garnett that dreaded moment may have arrived between Game 6 in Orlando and Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. One day he was smothering the life out of poor Rashard Lewis, the next he looked like a slow-footed camper at the Pau Gasol Basketball School.
One day, the mangy Lakers’ big man hated him, the next day it got worse. Old pal Pau felt sorry for him.
So how did it go in Game 2 for Garnett? Worse than Game 1. Because of foul trouble, Garnett played just 24 minutes. He had six points, six boards, no blocks and no answer for Gasol, who had 24 and 8. The Lakers’ starting frontcourt outscored the Celts’, 52-28, leaving C’s fans to wonder: Can their backcourt win the championship without any help from the big guys up front?
LINK
The series is tied 1-1. Garnett has four games to come to the party. It says here he will.
Phil Whines, While Kobe's Unfazed
You can't turn the ball over. We'll continue to pound the ball inside but we can't give them easy baskets in transition.
--Kobe
When they take away any bumps, when (Derek Fisher) is trying to make him divert his path and they don't allow him to do that, they call fouls on Fish and that really gives him an opportunity to take whatever route he wants to make off the pickers. That really makes it difficult.
--The Mistress
There is no denying that the Gasol and Bynum had their way in the paint again. In fact, if this is what Andrew Bynum looks like injured, one wonders why he doesn't average 40 and 20 when healthy. Hence, I have no doubt that the purple will continue to try and pound the ball inside, as #24 said.
My counterpoint is to note that KG has yet to show up due to fouls and poor play. Is he injured? If not, pounding the ball inside will sooner or later have diminishing returns for das Fakers. When it does, Celtics fans can only hope that they continue going inside so that Kobe is passing instead of shooting his fading, turning around, there's-no-way-that's-going-in-0h-but-it-did-go-in shots.
As for my thoughts on the Zen Mistress, anyone else think think that his comments sound vaguely reminiscent of something we have heard in the past?
--Kobe
When they take away any bumps, when (Derek Fisher) is trying to make him divert his path and they don't allow him to do that, they call fouls on Fish and that really gives him an opportunity to take whatever route he wants to make off the pickers. That really makes it difficult.
--The Mistress
There is no denying that the Gasol and Bynum had their way in the paint again. In fact, if this is what Andrew Bynum looks like injured, one wonders why he doesn't average 40 and 20 when healthy. Hence, I have no doubt that the purple will continue to try and pound the ball inside, as #24 said.
My counterpoint is to note that KG has yet to show up due to fouls and poor play. Is he injured? If not, pounding the ball inside will sooner or later have diminishing returns for das Fakers. When it does, Celtics fans can only hope that they continue going inside so that Kobe is passing instead of shooting his fading, turning around, there's-no-way-that's-going-in-0h-but-it-did-go-in shots.
As for my thoughts on the Zen Mistress, anyone else think think that his comments sound vaguely reminiscent of something we have heard in the past?
Doc Rivers: Sixth Man
Booyah, Doc!
No wonder he runs springs with the players!!!
Seriously, though, if you have any doubts that Doc gets this team fired up, look at the reactions of Garnett and Scalabrine after Doc hauls ass to get the time out.
Will Hannah Storm Dress Like this after Every Celtics' Win?
Much hotter than the Go-Go boots outfit that prompted Tony Kornheiser's infamous comments, subsequently landed him in hot water, and finally generated this defense.
1984 NBA Finals: Celtics Run Out of Building in Game 3
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media CoverageThe easiest eway to break bad news is just to say it. So. . .Los Angeles 137, Boston 104.
This was a breakdown in the social fabric. We're talking about bra-burning and draft-card burning and even the burning down of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's uninsured mansion.
LA's playoff record 47 third-quarter points outscored Boston's first half (46). The Lakers outrebounded Boston, 64-44, and scored 58 points (only four on jump shots0 while converting 28 of 32 fast breaks.
"It's a great feeling when you're running like that, because you feel like you can't be stopped," said LA guard Magic Johnson, whose 21 assists tied a championship series record (and, with 14 points and 11 rebounds, had his fourth playoff triple-double). "When we can make 'em turn it over or take a shot they didn't want to take, we're gone."
So, it appeared, were the Celtics. Maybe they belonged in the championship series, but they didn't belong in a series with the Lakers. It was time to look at this team objectively, based upon the three championship series games. Robert Parish (3 of 9 for 9 points) was a star when it came to winning the best regular season record but apparently wasn't the same player when it was time to win a championship. The business with his shoulder therapy before Game 1 was a mystery.
Larry Bird was being outmatched by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy.
The guards couldn't hit. Dennis Johnson was admittedly not a shooting guard, but he was being required to shoot. He drew his pride in his defense. Since coach K.C. Jones still wasn't letting him guard Magic regularly, DJ was a dour man, playing only 14 minutes in Game 3, during which his team was outscored, 48-16. Former Celtic player and coach Tom Heinsohn told a national TV audience he questioned whether DJ was "a Celtic."
"We played like sissies," said Bird (30 points, but only 10 assists in the three games). "I know the heart and soul of this team, and today the heart wasn't there, that's for sure. I can't believe a team like this would let LA come out and push us around like they did. Today I didn't feel we played hard. We got beat bad, and it's very embarrassing."
LA led, 18-4, in the first six minutes, but Bird scored 12 in the first quarter to bring Boston back to 29-26 after one. The backcourt of Scott Wedman and Quinn Buckner actually led the Celtics to a five-point advantage - 40-35 - with 7:20 left in the half.
In the next 5 1/2 minutes, LA scored 18 straight as the Celtics missed 10 shots, committed five turnovers and an offensive foul without scoring in 13 possessions. So it was 57-46 at the half and 104-79 going into the fourth when the 10th through 12th players got their names in the boxscore. LA's 11 straight points at the end assured Boston of its worst championship playoff defeat.
"There is no excuse in the world when you get beat by 33 points," said Cedric Maxwell. "You can always be outrun and outshot and outrebounded, but to basically be outhustled and not have the heart is not a geniune Celtic characteristic."
Two more losses and the series would be over. The only hope was that the Celtics could at least fight courageously to the end.
Mr. Ainge, Mr. Garnett, and my Mom
For starters, what did Danny Ainge think of Game 1?
“I thought we were tentative. But series change all the time, even in regular-season play, let alone the NBA Finals. You have a blowout victory one night and the next night you have a blowout the other way.’’
He said he hadn’t seen Pau Gasol’s mild yet overblown comments about Kevin Garnett.
“He’s just stating his opinion. I don’t have much reaction to it. I hope KG has reaction to it.’’
LINK
I had lunch with my 82-year-old mother yesterday. Normally we talk babies (we just had number 2) and jobs (I need to find a better one) and markets (how much money have we been losing). Yesterday took a different turn.
Mom:
Did you see the guy with the mustache?
Lex:
What guy with a mustache?
Mom:
The guy who looks like a llama on the Lakers?
Lex:
You mean Gasol?
Mom:
I think so. I just think of him as the llama with a mustache.
Lex:
Well, what about him?
Mom:
Did you hear what he said about Garnett?
Lex:
I think so.
Mom:
I hope Garnett shuts him up the next game.
This is groundbreaking. My Mom became a Celtics fan in the 80s, and then tailed off ever since. She was happy with the 2008 championship, but mostly because it made the 1980s Celtics happy. Now here she is back in the fight, telling Garnett to buck up.
You can see where I get my attitude.
“I thought we were tentative. But series change all the time, even in regular-season play, let alone the NBA Finals. You have a blowout victory one night and the next night you have a blowout the other way.’’
He said he hadn’t seen Pau Gasol’s mild yet overblown comments about Kevin Garnett.
“He’s just stating his opinion. I don’t have much reaction to it. I hope KG has reaction to it.’’
LINK
I had lunch with my 82-year-old mother yesterday. Normally we talk babies (we just had number 2) and jobs (I need to find a better one) and markets (how much money have we been losing). Yesterday took a different turn.
Mom:
Did you see the guy with the mustache?
Lex:
What guy with a mustache?
Mom:
The guy who looks like a llama on the Lakers?
Lex:
You mean Gasol?
Mom:
I think so. I just think of him as the llama with a mustache.
Lex:
Well, what about him?
Mom:
Did you hear what he said about Garnett?
Lex:
I think so.
Mom:
I hope Garnett shuts him up the next game.
This is groundbreaking. My Mom became a Celtics fan in the 80s, and then tailed off ever since. She was happy with the 2008 championship, but mostly because it made the 1980s Celtics happy. Now here she is back in the fight, telling Garnett to buck up.
You can see where I get my attitude.
1984 NBA Finals: Celtics are the Walter Mondales of the NBA
GAME 2
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage
When Game 2 of the NBA finals began in Boston last week, pro basketball editor Ted Beitchman was there at court-side. You may not think that bears noting, but the significant fact is that Beitchman made his travel plans well before the championship pairing was set. He knew long ago that Boston or Los Angeles would make the finals. It is a presidential election year, and as Beitchman regularly points out, in every such year since 1960, either the Celtics or the Lakers have won the NBA title.
Beitchman knew this because, aside from his other passions—the music of Frank Sinatra and Cole Porter, H?agen-Dazs rum raisin ice cream and bow ties—he is a devoted student of politics as well as pro basketball.
"I have a theory that there is a cosmic relationship between the NBA and presidential politics," Beitchman says. "In 1960 they started coming together. John F. Kennedy was a Bostonian and was nominated in the L.A. Sports Arena, where the Lakers then played. In 1964 the San Francisco Warriors played in the finals, and Barry Goldwater was nominated in the Cow Palace. In 1972, a month after the NBA finals, there was the break-in at Larry O'Brien's office at Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate. In 1976 O'Brien was NBA commissioner. In 1984 the playoffs expanded from 12 to 16 teams, keeping pace with the plethora of Democratic presidential aspirants. The 76ers are Ted Kennedy—tough fight the last time, didn't have the stomach for another this time. The Lakers are Gary Hart, out of the West with a new idea, a 6'9" lead guard. Boston is Walter Mondale, the Establishment front-runner.
"And every year Boston won, the Democrats took the White House."
Oops—in '68 Republican Richard Nixon won, and Boston beat L.A.
"Well, it's just a theory," Beitchman says. "I'm still working on it."
Pat Riley: The Key to Winning the NBA Finals is Game 2
"The key to winning the NBA Finals is winning game 2. If the road team wins, it not only reverses the home court advantage, but it also gives the game 2 winner momentum heading into game three at home."
--Pat Riley, June 1985
Interesting, since everyone else says game 5. Of course, when you think about it, the series might be over by game 5. Not this series. Just any given Finals.
--Pat Riley, June 1985
Interesting, since everyone else says game 5. Of course, when you think about it, the series might be over by game 5. Not this series. Just any given Finals.
1984 NBA Finals: Grand Theft Motto
GAME 2The time is 12:04 in the morning. Cedric Maxwell has taken the final inbounds pass from Larry Bird, and there isn't a Los Angeles Laker in sight.
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage
The time has gone down to zero seconds on the big cube in the middle of the Boston Garden. The noise is everywhere. Maxwell has thrown the ball backward over his left shoulder.
Take this one home, darling. Take it home and save it in a special place.
The Celtics are alive somehow, anyhow, tell me how. They have defeated the Lakers in a 124-121 overtime grinder last night that they lost a half-dozen times and won a half-dozen more.
No, make that seven more. They won it the final time, too, didn't they?
The play to remember was Gerald Henderson's steal and layup with 13 seconds left in regulation time. Play to remember? Tell me what Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most was saying. Was he still on his feet at the end of his description? Tell me now. Save me the money when the record is pressed - Henderson Stole The Ball!
"Somebody has to do a story on James Worthy," my sports editor was saying in my ear at the moment that play was made. "Somebody else has to do a story on the fact the Celtics are out of it now, overpowered by the Lakers. Somebody else . . .
"What?"
This was a play to tack onto the wall with all the other storied plays in Celtics history. Havlicek stealing the ball. Sam Jones pounding home that strange shot. Don Nelson, the other strange shot in LA. Frank Selvy missing the layup that could have won the game.
The situation was as dire as could be for the Celtics. Dire? They were gone, dead, finito.
The Lakers had a 113-111 lead that looked as big as a 14-0 pounding at Fenway Park going into the ninth. Kevin McHale had missed two straight foul shots - both back-rim jobs - and Worthy had grabbed the rebound. The Lakers had the lead and the ball with 20 seconds left when they called the timeout.
What did they have to do? Prance a little? Dance a little? They didn't even have to shoot. They could wait for the inevitable foul shots and go home with the victory. People were leaving the Garden and a certain Academy Award winner in a black shirt and sunglasses was screaming terms of endearment from the loge seats at his favorite team from Los Angeles.
What kind of chance did the Celtics have? None, until . . .
The Lakers' Magic Johnson passed inbounds to James Worthy and James Worthy passed to . . . oops. Gerald Henderson.
There he was, a water sprite on the move, anticipating the pass as if it were ticked out in advance in Morse code. Here he came on the fly.
"A big part of the play was Cedric Maxwell," Henderson said. "He put good pressure on the inbounds pass, forcing Magic to throw it to Worthy. You always want to put the ball in the hands of the big guy in that situation.
"He threw the ball high. It was hung out there for me."
The pass was as good as any fast-break pass the Celtics had thrown all night. The little guard zipped to the basket and dropped in the layup with 13 seconds left. The spectators who were on their way out suddenly had to turn around and find a seat somewhere in the middle of bedlam.
The Lakers, of course, had a chance to win the game now. They had a timeout, a tie score and the ball. And 13 seconds of time to operate.
They never took a shot. They weren't able to throw the ball into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the leading scorer of all time and all of that. They weren't able to shake anyone free as the Celtics pressed everywhere. Magic Johnson only had stopped his dribble as the horn sounded. His pass and Bob McAdoo's attempted shot were late.
"Change the story," I heard in my ear from the sports editor. "Scratch Worthy. Scratch the Celtics in trouble. Scratch the new Lakers' dynasty story."
The overtime? How many times can the Celtics climb out of the grave? Dead again, trailing by three points - 118-115 - with Kareem churning into his big hook shot. Down by five? Nope, Kareem misses, Larry Bird grabs the rebound and there is Henderson again, flying away.
He scores the basket, is fouled on the play, makes the shot. Tie game. The Celts are alive again.
Go from there to the finish. The finish! The Celtics are dead again. They are trailing, 121-120. There are 14 seconds left. Scott Wedman has the ball in the corner, 13 feet from the basket. Scott Wedman? He hits the jumper.
Tell me this. What did Johnny say about that shot? Was he still standing? How about Robert Parish's steal at the other end as Bob McAdoo tried to drive with eight seconds? Tell me about that, Johnny. Say the words. Robert Parish, bending down, a 7-foot man knocking away a dribble. Robert Parish Stole The Ball! Tell me again, so I don't have to buy the record.
There are finishes . . . and there are finishes. This was one to fold between the covers of the old Celtics annual. This was one to hang on the wall.
This was one to put on the ark when the nearby river comes by the house at any moment. This was a saver.
God's Speed, Coach Wooden
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Former UCLA basketball coach and Hall of Famer John Wooden has been hospitalized in Los Angeles, according to Bill Walton.
The former UCLA star said Thursday night that the 99-year-old Wooden was at UCLA Medical Center, where Walton last visited with him two days ago.
Walton spoke at the NBA finals, where he declined to comment on Wooden’s condition.
“He’s the greatest,” Walton said, his voice catching. “We love him.”
Los Angeles television station KCAL and the Los Angeles Times first reported that Wooden was in “grave” condition.
I love "coach" as if he were part of the Celtic family.
The former UCLA star said Thursday night that the 99-year-old Wooden was at UCLA Medical Center, where Walton last visited with him two days ago.
Walton spoke at the NBA finals, where he declined to comment on Wooden’s condition.
“He’s the greatest,” Walton said, his voice catching. “We love him.”
Los Angeles television station KCAL and the Los Angeles Times first reported that Wooden was in “grave” condition.
I love "coach" as if he were part of the Celtic family.
1984 NBA Finals: MAGIC TRICK AS LAKERS WATCH TIME DISAPPEAR
GAME 2
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary
Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage
Near the end of the Celtics-Lakers game Thursday night, actor Jack Nicholson, a rabid Laker fan seated courtside, incited the already frenzied Boston Garden crowd by making a choking gesture at the Celtic bench. And when Celtic forward Kevin McHale blew two free throws with 20 seconds left and Boston trailing, 113-111, Nicholson got up and left, sure of victory and, as customary with Californians, eager to beat the traffic.
Lucky for Nicholson his gestures and timing on the screen are far sharper. Those last 20 seconds resembled his great playground basketball scene with the inmates in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would accurately observe later, "We snatched defeat from victory," and if either team suffered lumpitis in the throat, it wasn't the guys with the shamrocks on their undies.
The Celtics' 124-121 overtime victory, which tied the NBA championship series at 1-1 going into Sunday's game at the Forum, will linger long in Lakerland -- forever if, as it well could, it proves decisive. Two egregious mistakes from two unlikely sources in the last 20 seconds of regulation time allowed the Celtics to escape their second straight home loss, a hole no team has ever dug its way out of in championship series history.
"We let them out of the grave twice," moaned Laker coach Pat Riley, whose hair probably would have stood on end if it weren't held down by a barrel of Saudi crude. "This has never happened to us, as far as I can remember, in the five years I've been here. We just didn't handle the last 20 seconds at all. I never remember our not being able to get a shot off."
"We didn't do the right thing at the right time, and we let it get away from us," said Abdul-Jabbar, whose hair probably would have stood on end if he had any. "We usually don't make fundamental mistakes like that."
And consider the two guys who made them -- Magic Johnson and James Worthy, wmes Worthy, who, except for the boo-boos, were magnificent Thursday night. Together, they played 89 furious minutes, made 21 of 26 shots from the floor and 14 of 16 from the line for 56 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out 13 assists.
And wound up wearing horns.
In case you couldn't stay up for the end of a two-hour basketball game CBS managed to stretch to 3 1/2, here's a look at those fateful, frantic, funny (to the Celtics), fiendish (to the Lakers) final seconds.
McHale misses the two free throws and Celtic Coach K.C. Jones considers joining Nicholson. "I was about to go home, but then I found out I was sitting on the bench as the coach, so I decided to stay," chuckled K.C.
Celtic forward Cedric Maxwell wouldn't dream of making a choking gesture at McHale. Telling him he choked is a different matter.
"I told Kevin he choked," Maxwell said. "But Gerald (Henderson) pulled him off the hook. Those kinds of things never happen to me. If I'd have missed those free throws, we never would have scored a basket. You try to pick a guy up after something like that, but all I could think of was, 'Charlie Brown, you blockhead!' "
On to the heroics of "Hondo" Henderson, now so named because he made the most famous steal since John Havlicek intercepted a pass at the end of a furious playoff against the 76ers in 1965 that led to an equally improbable victory. The radio call of that play by Johnny Most, who has been doing Celtic games since they shot at peach baskets, has been made into a record that can still be purchased in Boston. It's called, logically enough, "Havlicek Stole The Ball!"
With 13 seconds left, Henderson becomes part of Celtic lore, thanks to Worthy.
Taking a pass from Magic in the backcourt, Worthy attempted to lob a high pass cross-court to Byron Scott. But Henderson streaks back, cuts in front of Scott, intercepts and drives for the tying basket.
"He (Worthy) just did a no-no," said Magic, seconds away from one of his own. "You can't do that in that situation."
Worthy was well aware he had blown it about one second after he let the ball go. He spoke of his feelings in sentences and fragments of sentences.
"My vision was not in order."
"My throat went right to my toes."
"I saw Byron wide open. I sort of floated it and Byron was going away from the ball."
"I should have forced the ball into the frontcourt."
"It was strictly a mental lapse."
"I won't be able to sleep well tonight."
Henderson?
"I could hear Johnny Most screaming, 'Henderson stole the ball!' "
Still, it's Laker ball with 13 seconds left and the score tied at 113. Who better to have control of the ball at what he calls "winnin' time" than the Magic Man himself, the game's finest playmaker and a heck of a scorer when he has to be?
The Lakers have two options: First go inside to Abdul-Jabbar, and second, go to Bob McAdoo, designated gun off the bench, for a drive or a jumper.
With Maxwell on him, Magic dribbles and looks. Robert Parish has good defensive position on Abdul-Jabbar, so scratch option one. Magic dribbles and looks some more. The 24-second clock above the basket is turned off as it always is when less than 24 remain in the period. Magic has to look at a clock at the side. While considering option two, he loses track of about four seconds, so when he finally gets it to McAdoo, his shot fails to beat the buzzer.
Magic has dribbled away his team's chance for victory. Maxwell can't believe it.
"I thought it was execution time," Cornbread said. "I was just waiting for a call from the governor, hoping for a reprieve."
What was strange was Magic's rationalization of what was clearly an epic rock. When Dallas rookie Derek Harper dribbled away the final seconds of a playoff game he thought the Mavericks led but actually was tied, guess who was guarding him?
Magic. Did Magic therefore feel like Derek II?
He did not. "I didn't make a mistake. I would rather hold the ball and go into overtime than lose in regulation. You cannot let a man steal the ball and let them have a chance to win."
Letting the last 13 seconds tick off without getting a shot isn't a mistake? Magic, baby, I love ya but give me a break.
The Lakers had two more chances to win in the closing seconds of overtime and failed to get a shot off again, but enough already. "God was on their side and Mother Nature was on their side," Worthy said.
The last delicious words belong to Celtic reserve M.L. Carr.
"I saw Jack Nicholson walk out. You tell him next time I go to one of his movies, I'm going to walk out right before the big ending, just lke he did."
Did Magic Johnson Tip His Hand?
In what now easily constitutes my all-time favorite sports tease, Magic Johnson previewed the 2010 NBA Finals thusly: The Boston Celtics, with their Big Four, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, square off against the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.
Hmm.
That doesn't sound very fair.
Four stars against two.
And what about Pau?
Well, last time we checked in, he was busy being a "non-factor" in game 6 of the Western Conference Championship. At least that's what the LA Times called Gasoft. Who am I to disagree?
So there you have it.
One of my favorite NBA Analysts, who just happens to have won five rings with the dreaded purple and still remains on their payroll to this very day, reducing the NBA Finals to a case of four against one and, well, shall we say three-quarters? Magic Johnson knows one thing, as we all do: championships are won by stars, and, best I can tell, the Lakers really don't have many, according to Earvin.
Sounds to me like Magic placed his bet already.
Hmm.
That doesn't sound very fair.
Four stars against two.
And what about Pau?
Well, last time we checked in, he was busy being a "non-factor" in game 6 of the Western Conference Championship. At least that's what the LA Times called Gasoft. Who am I to disagree?
So there you have it.
One of my favorite NBA Analysts, who just happens to have won five rings with the dreaded purple and still remains on their payroll to this very day, reducing the NBA Finals to a case of four against one and, well, shall we say three-quarters? Magic Johnson knows one thing, as we all do: championships are won by stars, and, best I can tell, the Lakers really don't have many, according to Earvin.
Sounds to me like Magic placed his bet already.
Is KG Bill Russell?
| 2009-10 Playoffs | FG | 3PT | FT | Rebounds | Misc | ||||||||||||
| G | MIN | FGM-A | FG% | 3PM-A | 3P% | FTM-A | FT% | OFF | DEF | TOT | STL | BLK | TO | PF | AST | PTS | |
| Totals | 16 | 34.0 | 104-213 | .488 | 0-1 | .000 | 30-37 | .811 | 1.5 | 6.7 | 8.2 | 1.00 | .69 | 1.25 | 2.88 | 2.3 | 14.9 |
| vs. ORL | 6 | 32.7 | 28-72 | .389 | 0-0 | .000 | 6-9 | .667 | 1.7 | 6.3 | 8.0 | 1.00 | .67 | .67 | 2.67 | 2.3 | 10.3 |
| vs. CLE | 6 | 34.3 | 50-96 | .521 | 0-1 | .000 | 13-13 | 1.000 | 1.3 | 6.7 | 8.0 | .50 | .83 | 1.33 | 3.33 | 2.2 | 18.8 |
| vs. MIA | 4 | 35.3 | 26-45 | .578 | 0-0 | .000 | 11-15 | .733 | 1.5 | 7.3 | 8.8 | 1.75 | .50 | 2.00 | 2.50 | 2.5 | 15.8 |
Remember when the Kevin Garnett rumors first began to swirl around the Hub? A sizable and vocal contingent of fans vehemently opposed acquiring Garnett if acquiring him meant losing Al Jefferson. Garnett's career was in its twilight, and, anyway, he couldn't win and never seemed to produce in the clutch. A smaller, less vocal contingent of fans compared Garnett to Bill Russell, and thus favored the deal. The former contingent howled with laughter upon hearing the Garnett-Russell comparison.
Both contingent's were right. Garnett had clocked a lot-0-minutes on those legs, but, in his one healthy season with the Celtics, KG reminded just about everyone who saw Russell play that he was indeed a throwback to the days of #6. There were some (announcers even) who swore Kevin Garnett was Bill Russell, at least during the 2007-08 NBA season.
Fast forward two years, and the same fans who compared KG to Russ are now just happy KG isn't the second coming of Bill Walton, which is to say a "one-and-doner." That's how I had KG pegged. I mean, didn't he choose to wear that darned number? That god forsaken #5? And with it came the curse, the Walton curse. But now, all of a sudden, KG seems to be back. He seems to have risen from the ashes. And let's be frank here, the timing is good. If KG plays 85% of what he did during the 2008 NBA Finals, the Celtics win in 6.
But The Ticket is not all the way back, not yet.
There's still plenty of room for him to improve.
Does he have it in him?
Can he elevate his game a la Kareem Abdul Jabbar during the 1985 and 1987 Finals?
That's what I want, and that's Celticdom is hoping for. And if the Bill Russell comparisons are fair, KG needs more than one ring to justify the comparisons. He needs to remind Kobe that there's more than one superstar in the 2010 NBA Finals.
Time Passes, But Not Really
These Celtics are most reminiscent of the 1969 Last Legs model that beat the Lakers in seven games with guile rather than strength. The '69 Celtics had more players over 30 than below it, lost Bill Russell and Sam Jones to retirement immediately after the series, and Bailey Howell, Larry Siegfried and Emmette Bryant within two years.
Plus, the '69 team is the only Celtic finalist with a worse regular season record (48-34 to this season's 50-32), which means that they do not come to this series as titans so much as memories of titans. The '69 Celtics finished fourth in the East, and so did these, and it's hard to claim the crown as a four-seed until you've actually won it.
As for the Lakers, this may be the first Finals team they have assembled with only one Hall of Famer - Kobe Bryant. Sure, maybe Pau Gasol can be one in time, and his function in the Laker engine has always been underestimated, but the Lakers have always been about two great players in search of a third, or so many brilliant support players to make the third unnecessary.
Jerry West and Elgin Baylor didn't win until Wilt Chamberlain finished the group. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had Norm Nixon and Jamaal Wilkes and the emergent Michael Cooper, but Magic Johnson changed them into the dominant team of the '80s. Bryant won with Shaquille O'Neal, and didn't win again until Gasol became his subtle but effective counterpoint.
Even the coaches, Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson, have taken on their preordained roles, as befits men who have been at the same job for a long time. Jackson has been in L.A. for 10 of the last 11 years, long enough for owner Jerry Buss to get pretty well sick of him, and long enough for his preseries referee-baiting to have even worn out David Stern.
And Rivers, the second longest-serving Celtics coach since Red Auerbach (Tom Heinsohn being the first) is starting to look the part, with an edge to his voice and demeanor that indicates he is eager for this series to play as the '69 series did, with the Lakers assuming the mantle of lofty superiors and the Celtics as grizzled old counterpunchers.
Oh, there are intriguing new faces that could take this series in unexpected places - Glen Davis and Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom as sixth man and Kendrick Perkins and, of course, Rondo. There is, in short, new to be found among the old, the Paul Pierces and Rasheed Wallaces and Derek Fishers and Ron Artests. And yes, Kobe Bryants.
But for the most part, this series begins as prisoner to the past, and it may well end there as well. One can hope for different, but that's not the way to bet - not when so many forces are aligned against it.
LINK
Plus, the '69 team is the only Celtic finalist with a worse regular season record (48-34 to this season's 50-32), which means that they do not come to this series as titans so much as memories of titans. The '69 Celtics finished fourth in the East, and so did these, and it's hard to claim the crown as a four-seed until you've actually won it.
As for the Lakers, this may be the first Finals team they have assembled with only one Hall of Famer - Kobe Bryant. Sure, maybe Pau Gasol can be one in time, and his function in the Laker engine has always been underestimated, but the Lakers have always been about two great players in search of a third, or so many brilliant support players to make the third unnecessary.
Jerry West and Elgin Baylor didn't win until Wilt Chamberlain finished the group. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had Norm Nixon and Jamaal Wilkes and the emergent Michael Cooper, but Magic Johnson changed them into the dominant team of the '80s. Bryant won with Shaquille O'Neal, and didn't win again until Gasol became his subtle but effective counterpoint.
Even the coaches, Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson, have taken on their preordained roles, as befits men who have been at the same job for a long time. Jackson has been in L.A. for 10 of the last 11 years, long enough for owner Jerry Buss to get pretty well sick of him, and long enough for his preseries referee-baiting to have even worn out David Stern.
And Rivers, the second longest-serving Celtics coach since Red Auerbach (Tom Heinsohn being the first) is starting to look the part, with an edge to his voice and demeanor that indicates he is eager for this series to play as the '69 series did, with the Lakers assuming the mantle of lofty superiors and the Celtics as grizzled old counterpunchers.
Oh, there are intriguing new faces that could take this series in unexpected places - Glen Davis and Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom as sixth man and Kendrick Perkins and, of course, Rondo. There is, in short, new to be found among the old, the Paul Pierces and Rasheed Wallaces and Derek Fishers and Ron Artests. And yes, Kobe Bryants.
But for the most part, this series begins as prisoner to the past, and it may well end there as well. One can hope for different, but that's not the way to bet - not when so many forces are aligned against it.
LINK
Don't Expect Pierce to Kiss Kobe before Game 1
"I really don't have no friends on the Lakers," Pierce said. "I don't know if anybody on this team does. It'll be interesting. I ain't going to say it's two teams that's going to go to blows [in this series], but it's definitely going to get fiery and it's going to be competitive."
LINK
LINK
Michelle, You Look Good Tonight
During just about every interview conducted by Tafoya in '08, one Celtic or another, including Doc Rivers, told her that she looked good. I missed KG's comment until last night.
Funny.
KG & Doc Respond to the Mistress
Jackson defined his team’s toughness by comparing it to the Celtics', the team that essentially bullied the Lakers during the Finals in 2008. But Jackson used the Celtics-Magic matchup – particularly Garnett’s encounters with Dwight Howard – to form his argument.
"We don't have a smackdown mentality,” Jackson said. “He was smacking Howard's arm and finally he was called for an offensive foul. That's not our team. We don't go out there and smack people around.”
Word got to Garnett this afternoon before practice, and he offered a “no comment.” When pressed about it, Garnett laughed it off, and said, “I think nothing of it. It’s just Phil playing mind games. It’s all good.”
LINK
Celtics coach Doc Rivers, however, was flattered.
“We just thank Phil for the compliment,” Rivers said. “That’s very nice of him to say.”
In fact, considering Jackson’s track record for playing mid tricks with marquee players, Rivers said Garnett should be flattered, too. Former Globie Baxter Holmes wrote about the digs Jackson took at Steve Nash before the Western Conference Finals. Then, there was that time before the first round series against Oklahoma City when he pretty much reiterated what Garnett said about Kevin Durant. There was also that time in 2006 when he said Dwyane Wade travels like a mad man.
“I think he picks the best player on the other team or who he thinks is key so Kevin should put that right up there with his MVP trophy,” Rivers said. “I think Kevin should be excited about that.”
As far as how he characterizes the Celtics’ defense, which has been practically impenetrable in the postseason, Garnett said, “I think part of defense is being physical. Definitely being firm. You’re playing physical guys like Shaq and Dwight Howard, [Andrew] Bynum, you’ve got to hold your ground. You’ve got to find some way to absorb it the best way you see fit. Our style is just firm, consistent and there’s a lot of communication.”
If that means they’re a smackdown team, Rivers said, so be it.
“Whatever got us here,” Rivers said. “We’re not hiding from who we are, and we’re going to be that. So that’s never going to change. We said it from Day 1. We are who we are. If you like us, cheer for us. If you don’t, complain. But we’re not going to change.”
"We don't have a smackdown mentality,” Jackson said. “He was smacking Howard's arm and finally he was called for an offensive foul. That's not our team. We don't go out there and smack people around.”
Word got to Garnett this afternoon before practice, and he offered a “no comment.” When pressed about it, Garnett laughed it off, and said, “I think nothing of it. It’s just Phil playing mind games. It’s all good.”
LINK
Celtics coach Doc Rivers, however, was flattered.
“We just thank Phil for the compliment,” Rivers said. “That’s very nice of him to say.”
In fact, considering Jackson’s track record for playing mid tricks with marquee players, Rivers said Garnett should be flattered, too. Former Globie Baxter Holmes wrote about the digs Jackson took at Steve Nash before the Western Conference Finals. Then, there was that time before the first round series against Oklahoma City when he pretty much reiterated what Garnett said about Kevin Durant. There was also that time in 2006 when he said Dwyane Wade travels like a mad man.
“I think he picks the best player on the other team or who he thinks is key so Kevin should put that right up there with his MVP trophy,” Rivers said. “I think Kevin should be excited about that.”
As far as how he characterizes the Celtics’ defense, which has been practically impenetrable in the postseason, Garnett said, “I think part of defense is being physical. Definitely being firm. You’re playing physical guys like Shaq and Dwight Howard, [Andrew] Bynum, you’ve got to hold your ground. You’ve got to find some way to absorb it the best way you see fit. Our style is just firm, consistent and there’s a lot of communication.”
If that means they’re a smackdown team, Rivers said, so be it.
“Whatever got us here,” Rivers said. “We’re not hiding from who we are, and we’re going to be that. So that’s never going to change. We said it from Day 1. We are who we are. If you like us, cheer for us. If you don’t, complain. But we’re not going to change.”
Will the Anguish Return for Jerry West?
PART 2
Who wouldn't want to be Jerry West , to achieve all that he has? Who would dare dream the life Jerry West has led? Not even Jerry West -- Zeke from Cabin Creek, dribbling a ball on the West Virginia dirt on winter nights 40 years ago, a country boy's solitaire -- could have created this life from his imagination. ''I was my own best friend,'' he says of those days. ''I was everything, actually. Player, coach, announcer, even the timekeeper. It was amazing to me how many times in those imaginary games there'd be one second left, my team one point down and me with the ball, and I'd miss and -- the really amazing part -- there would still be time for another shot, or 10.''
Not that many years later, the timekeeper no longer his best friend, he would make a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to send a 1970 NBA championship game into overtime. Not even his dreams, as fevered as they may have been in the Appalachian twilight, anticipated the glory of real life. Real life: West became one of the greatest guards to play the game, a perennial All-Star, a rich man, later a winning coach and, after a brief retirement to country-club life and a one handicap, the architect and curator of the 1980s' dominant professional sports franchise. Life's lottery winner.
But Jerry West is naturally distrustful of success, and he is always surprised, but never pleased enough, when it comes his way. He was a two-time All-America at West Virginia, the only college player you could mention in the same breath with Oscar Robertson, but he was astonished when the Lakers, just then picking up to move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, drafted him in the first round in 1960. ''I didn't think I was good enough to play in the NBA,'' he says. ''No, really.'' Then, after a bad game during the Olympic trials that year, he almost gave up on the Olympics, too. Pete Newell, the U.S. coach, had to explain to him that if West wasn't on the team, neither was he. ''But that was Jerry,'' says Newell. "Even the tiniest setback can be seen as catastrophic to Jerry."
It's unclear when this started, but clearly much of his angst can be traced to failure at the Finals in the 1960s.
1962
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
With the series tied 2-2, Baylor scored 61 points -- then a playoff record -- as the Lakers won in Boston and moved within one victory of slaying the Celtics. ``We'll win it now,'' Lakers coach Fred Schaus said. Sorry, Fred. In Game 6, the Celtics' Sam Jones scored 35 points as Boston won by 14 in Los Angeles. For Game 7, PFC Elgin Baylor, an Army reservist, was granted a second special pass from Seattle's Fort Lewis to play. He scored 41 points, Jerry West added 35 and the Celtics had big foul trouble. The Lakers' Frank Selvy took a jumper at the end of regulation that would have won it. The ball rimmed out. The Celtics prevailed by three points in overtime. Bill Russell had 40 rebounds and 30 points.
1963
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 2
The Lakers lost Game 4 in Los Angeles to trail the series 3-1, and the focus afterward was on one play. With 51/2minutes left and the Lakers down by five, Baylor collided inside with Russell. He hit a short hook shot on the play, but referee Richie Powers called Baylor for an offensive foul.It sapped the steam from the Lakers. Baylor finished with 31 points and 19rebounds. Heinsohn countered with 35 points. The Lakers fought off elimination in Game 5, with Baylor's 43 points, but Boston won Game 6 on the road. ``Los Angeles isn't the basketball capital of the world yet,'' Auerbach gloated afterward.
1965
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 1
With Baylor out for the series with a broken kneecap, Boston won the opener at home by 32 points -- scoring 142points, topping their own record by two. The Lakers won the third game but in Game 4, Sam Jones had 37points for the Celtics, who took a 13-point win and a 3-1 series lead. Back in the Garden for Game 5, West had 33points. But Boston opened the fourth quarter with 10 straight field goals and held L.A. scoreless for five minutes. The Celtics won the game by 33 points. Russell had 30 rebounds and 22 points.
1966
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
West had 41 points and Baylor had 36in the Lakers' Game 1 victory, but the Celtics won the next three games. The Lakers rebounded and won Game 5 when West broke a 115-all tie on a jumper with 35 seconds left. The Lakers then forced a seventh game with an eight-point victory at home, but in the decisive game in Boston, the Celtics won their eighth consecutive title. Down by 16 points entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers outscored Boston 33-19 in the final 12 minutes but it wasn't enough. West had 36points, but Russell created his usual havoc with 25 points and 32 rebounds.
1968
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 2
The Lakers evened the series with a Game 4 victory in Los Angeles. West scored 38 points, but he left with 44seconds to go after spraining his ankle in a collision with John Havlicek. Don Nelson, who had been waived by the Lakers in 1965, scored 26 points to help Boston to a 120-117 OT win in Game 5. Boston won Game 6 in L.A., and thus the series, in a rout. West, limping up and down court, scored 22 points. Havlicek had 40 points for the Celtics, who led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter before settling for a 15-point victory.
1969
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
The Lakers acquired Wilt Chamberlain before the season started, and were hailed all season long as basketball's next dynasty. The Lakers took a 2-0 lead in the series, and put themselves on the verge of a championship with a Game 5 victory in Los Angeles. They took advantage of Russell (seven points, 13 boards) being in foul trouble in the second half. West had 28 of his 39 points in the second half, but he pulled a hamstring muscle late in the game, which would hurt the Lakers later on. Wilt Chamberlain had 31 rebounds. The Lakers lost Game 6 by nine points but, anticipating the end of the Celtics' hex in Game 7, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had balloons tied to the Forum's rafters and arranged for the USC marching band to play ``Happy Days Are Here Again.'' The band was never needed. In the third quarter, the Lakers missed 15 straight field goals and Boston led, 91-76, and cruised to victory. ``What are they going to do with all those ... balloons now?'' Auerbach said. ``And all that champagne?'' ``I still have nightmares about that game,'' West in 2006. ``We should have beaten the Celtics. But we didn't. That one hurt the most because it was the final time we had a chance to beat Bill Russell.''
1984
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
From the Lakers' perspective, no loss to the Celtics has been more crushing. The Lakers lead in the final minute of games 1-4, and come away with only two wins. A Gerald Henderson steal and a Kevin McHale clothesline still replay themselves in the minds of both West, and his Captain Ahab, Jerry West. The Lakers go on to lose the series in seven games, with West and Riley blaming defeat on hotel pranks, lack of air conditioning, and suspicious bus drivers. Riley is so paranoid that before game 7 he orders all of the team's water coolers emptied and inspected. Nothing suspicous was found.
"Those seven losses in the Finals haunted Jerry," said West's backcourt mate, Gail Goodrich. Even after the Lakers won two championships by defeating the Celtics in 1985 and 1987, West was still was not happy.
"I saw West being interviewed during the summer of 1987," John Havlicek once told Sports Illustrated, "and he was still saying how much he disliked the Celtics. We had the utmost respect for them, as players. I was surprised the enmity they still held for us. For the longest time, Jerry wouldn't go into the Boston Garden, even when he was a chief executive of the Lakers. He wouldn't even attend game 6 of the 1985 NBA Finals--which the Lakers won--because he was so spooked by the building."
When asked about the team's success in the 1980s, all West could say was "I was so used to being on the other side, I didn't know what to think or how to feel. It never seemed to matter how well we played, they always won. It was almost like fate wasn't going to let you win."
Before the 2008 Finals began, West was still expressing angst.
"You may not want to think about it, but it's impossible for me not to think about it," West said in early June. "When you've competed at a high level, and had a great measure of success like we did, you feel the hurt of losing even more."
"The pain of knowing we should have won at least a couple of those series (in the 1960s) against the Celtics still hurts," West said. "When it's happened again and again, it's not real fun to relive it. I know we always felt scarred by that. I know I did."
Who wouldn't want to be Jerry West , to achieve all that he has? Who would dare dream the life Jerry West has led? Not even Jerry West -- Zeke from Cabin Creek, dribbling a ball on the West Virginia dirt on winter nights 40 years ago, a country boy's solitaire -- could have created this life from his imagination. ''I was my own best friend,'' he says of those days. ''I was everything, actually. Player, coach, announcer, even the timekeeper. It was amazing to me how many times in those imaginary games there'd be one second left, my team one point down and me with the ball, and I'd miss and -- the really amazing part -- there would still be time for another shot, or 10.''
Not that many years later, the timekeeper no longer his best friend, he would make a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to send a 1970 NBA championship game into overtime. Not even his dreams, as fevered as they may have been in the Appalachian twilight, anticipated the glory of real life. Real life: West became one of the greatest guards to play the game, a perennial All-Star, a rich man, later a winning coach and, after a brief retirement to country-club life and a one handicap, the architect and curator of the 1980s' dominant professional sports franchise. Life's lottery winner.
But Jerry West is naturally distrustful of success, and he is always surprised, but never pleased enough, when it comes his way. He was a two-time All-America at West Virginia, the only college player you could mention in the same breath with Oscar Robertson, but he was astonished when the Lakers, just then picking up to move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, drafted him in the first round in 1960. ''I didn't think I was good enough to play in the NBA,'' he says. ''No, really.'' Then, after a bad game during the Olympic trials that year, he almost gave up on the Olympics, too. Pete Newell, the U.S. coach, had to explain to him that if West wasn't on the team, neither was he. ''But that was Jerry,'' says Newell. "Even the tiniest setback can be seen as catastrophic to Jerry."
It's unclear when this started, but clearly much of his angst can be traced to failure at the Finals in the 1960s.
1962
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
With the series tied 2-2, Baylor scored 61 points -- then a playoff record -- as the Lakers won in Boston and moved within one victory of slaying the Celtics. ``We'll win it now,'' Lakers coach Fred Schaus said. Sorry, Fred. In Game 6, the Celtics' Sam Jones scored 35 points as Boston won by 14 in Los Angeles. For Game 7, PFC Elgin Baylor, an Army reservist, was granted a second special pass from Seattle's Fort Lewis to play. He scored 41 points, Jerry West added 35 and the Celtics had big foul trouble. The Lakers' Frank Selvy took a jumper at the end of regulation that would have won it. The ball rimmed out. The Celtics prevailed by three points in overtime. Bill Russell had 40 rebounds and 30 points.
1963
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 2
The Lakers lost Game 4 in Los Angeles to trail the series 3-1, and the focus afterward was on one play. With 51/2minutes left and the Lakers down by five, Baylor collided inside with Russell. He hit a short hook shot on the play, but referee Richie Powers called Baylor for an offensive foul.It sapped the steam from the Lakers. Baylor finished with 31 points and 19rebounds. Heinsohn countered with 35 points. The Lakers fought off elimination in Game 5, with Baylor's 43 points, but Boston won Game 6 on the road. ``Los Angeles isn't the basketball capital of the world yet,'' Auerbach gloated afterward.
1965
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 1
With Baylor out for the series with a broken kneecap, Boston won the opener at home by 32 points -- scoring 142points, topping their own record by two. The Lakers won the third game but in Game 4, Sam Jones had 37points for the Celtics, who took a 13-point win and a 3-1 series lead. Back in the Garden for Game 5, West had 33points. But Boston opened the fourth quarter with 10 straight field goals and held L.A. scoreless for five minutes. The Celtics won the game by 33 points. Russell had 30 rebounds and 22 points.
1966
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
West had 41 points and Baylor had 36in the Lakers' Game 1 victory, but the Celtics won the next three games. The Lakers rebounded and won Game 5 when West broke a 115-all tie on a jumper with 35 seconds left. The Lakers then forced a seventh game with an eight-point victory at home, but in the decisive game in Boston, the Celtics won their eighth consecutive title. Down by 16 points entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers outscored Boston 33-19 in the final 12 minutes but it wasn't enough. West had 36points, but Russell created his usual havoc with 25 points and 32 rebounds.
1968
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 2
The Lakers evened the series with a Game 4 victory in Los Angeles. West scored 38 points, but he left with 44seconds to go after spraining his ankle in a collision with John Havlicek. Don Nelson, who had been waived by the Lakers in 1965, scored 26 points to help Boston to a 120-117 OT win in Game 5. Boston won Game 6 in L.A., and thus the series, in a rout. West, limping up and down court, scored 22 points. Havlicek had 40 points for the Celtics, who led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter before settling for a 15-point victory.
1969
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
The Lakers acquired Wilt Chamberlain before the season started, and were hailed all season long as basketball's next dynasty. The Lakers took a 2-0 lead in the series, and put themselves on the verge of a championship with a Game 5 victory in Los Angeles. They took advantage of Russell (seven points, 13 boards) being in foul trouble in the second half. West had 28 of his 39 points in the second half, but he pulled a hamstring muscle late in the game, which would hurt the Lakers later on. Wilt Chamberlain had 31 rebounds. The Lakers lost Game 6 by nine points but, anticipating the end of the Celtics' hex in Game 7, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had balloons tied to the Forum's rafters and arranged for the USC marching band to play ``Happy Days Are Here Again.'' The band was never needed. In the third quarter, the Lakers missed 15 straight field goals and Boston led, 91-76, and cruised to victory. ``What are they going to do with all those ... balloons now?'' Auerbach said. ``And all that champagne?'' ``I still have nightmares about that game,'' West in 2006. ``We should have beaten the Celtics. But we didn't. That one hurt the most because it was the final time we had a chance to beat Bill Russell.''
1984
CELTICS 4 LAKERS 3
From the Lakers' perspective, no loss to the Celtics has been more crushing. The Lakers lead in the final minute of games 1-4, and come away with only two wins. A Gerald Henderson steal and a Kevin McHale clothesline still replay themselves in the minds of both West, and his Captain Ahab, Jerry West. The Lakers go on to lose the series in seven games, with West and Riley blaming defeat on hotel pranks, lack of air conditioning, and suspicious bus drivers. Riley is so paranoid that before game 7 he orders all of the team's water coolers emptied and inspected. Nothing suspicous was found.
"Those seven losses in the Finals haunted Jerry," said West's backcourt mate, Gail Goodrich. Even after the Lakers won two championships by defeating the Celtics in 1985 and 1987, West was still was not happy.
"I saw West being interviewed during the summer of 1987," John Havlicek once told Sports Illustrated, "and he was still saying how much he disliked the Celtics. We had the utmost respect for them, as players. I was surprised the enmity they still held for us. For the longest time, Jerry wouldn't go into the Boston Garden, even when he was a chief executive of the Lakers. He wouldn't even attend game 6 of the 1985 NBA Finals--which the Lakers won--because he was so spooked by the building."
When asked about the team's success in the 1980s, all West could say was "I was so used to being on the other side, I didn't know what to think or how to feel. It never seemed to matter how well we played, they always won. It was almost like fate wasn't going to let you win."
Before the 2008 Finals began, West was still expressing angst.
"You may not want to think about it, but it's impossible for me not to think about it," West said in early June. "When you've competed at a high level, and had a great measure of success like we did, you feel the hurt of losing even more."
"The pain of knowing we should have won at least a couple of those series (in the 1960s) against the Celtics still hurts," West said. "When it's happened again and again, it's not real fun to relive it. I know we always felt scarred by that. I know I did."
Good Analysis Coming Out of Long Beach
How effectively can Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and (if healthy) Tony Allen keep Kobe Bryant from scoring as readily as he did against Utah and Phoenix?
Can the Lakers consistently stay in front of Rondo, especially in transition?
Will the much more physical nature of the Celtics' post players, and the team's vast defensive superiority over the first three teams the Lakers faced, hamper the effectiveness that Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum have displayed this spring?
If the answers prove: "Very," "No" and "Yes," to those questions, the Celtics will win the series in six games.
If two of those answers favor the Lakers, though, the Lakers could wrap it up as quickly as five games.
--Press-Telegram
I might add, as I will suggest later, one more question:
Does KG elevate his game close to 100%?
Can the Lakers consistently stay in front of Rondo, especially in transition?
Will the much more physical nature of the Celtics' post players, and the team's vast defensive superiority over the first three teams the Lakers faced, hamper the effectiveness that Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum have displayed this spring?
If the answers prove: "Very," "No" and "Yes," to those questions, the Celtics will win the series in six games.
If two of those answers favor the Lakers, though, the Lakers could wrap it up as quickly as five games.
--Press-Telegram
I might add, as I will suggest later, one more question:
Does KG elevate his game close to 100%?
Jerry West: Kobe is the Best Laker Ever
"Kobe's the best player in Laker history," says Jerry West, casting aside such other worthies to such an exalted throne as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, George Mikan and even himself. "He does things on the court that are simply amazing. And he's gotten better every year. He's improved every facet of his game, which is what great players do throughout their careers. He just keeps adding to it.
LINK
Gag
LINK
Gag
Doc Rivers: Coach of the Year
There were practically tremors in the basketball world (location, Boston) when the notion surfaced before the playoffs about the possibility of Rivers' stepping aside next season.
Paul Pierce was asked about just that Monday.
"I hadn't really thought about that. Are you concerned I'm going to leave?" Pierce responded.
Now that would be quite a headline to kick off the Finals.
One of the lines of questioning with Pierce had to do with Rivers' stabilizing force as coach, the ability to stay unruffled when things were at their darkest for the Celtics in an injury-riddled second half of the season.
"You can see, at times, you play for coaches when things aren't going right," Pierce said. "Practices get harder and yelling becomes louder.
"Doc is a cool customer. He didn't panic. He didn't get louder. He just stuck with the game plan. A lot of times when you go through a stretch we went through -- we lost five games out of six, seven out of 10, you kind of tell through a coach's body language that things are going [poorly] ... you never really saw that with Doc."
--LA TIMES
He won't win it. But, all things considered, most of those things of recent vintage, he deserves to win it.
Paul Pierce was asked about just that Monday.
"I hadn't really thought about that. Are you concerned I'm going to leave?" Pierce responded.
Now that would be quite a headline to kick off the Finals.
One of the lines of questioning with Pierce had to do with Rivers' stabilizing force as coach, the ability to stay unruffled when things were at their darkest for the Celtics in an injury-riddled second half of the season.
"You can see, at times, you play for coaches when things aren't going right," Pierce said. "Practices get harder and yelling becomes louder.
"Doc is a cool customer. He didn't panic. He didn't get louder. He just stuck with the game plan. A lot of times when you go through a stretch we went through -- we lost five games out of six, seven out of 10, you kind of tell through a coach's body language that things are going [poorly] ... you never really saw that with Doc."
--LA TIMES
He won't win it. But, all things considered, most of those things of recent vintage, he deserves to win it.
Doc Blows Sunshine at the Mistress
Doc Rivers was asked about coaching against the Lakers' Phil Jackson in the NBA Finals, as the Celtics fielded questions Monday afternoon at their training facility in woody, suburban Waltham, Mass.
Rivers chuckled.
"Oh, like I've always said, I don't even look at that matchup," Rivers said, a few hours before the team departed for Los Angeles.
"You're comparing me to Phil . . . we're in trouble. He's got 10 rings. I've got one. Obviously, you go by his record, he's the best coach to ever coach the game."
--LA TIMES
Somehow, given Doc's past criticism of the Mistress for blaming losses on the zebras, I don't think that Rivers really believes that the Jackzen's championship numbers makes him a better coach.
Rivers chuckled.
"Oh, like I've always said, I don't even look at that matchup," Rivers said, a few hours before the team departed for Los Angeles.
"You're comparing me to Phil . . . we're in trouble. He's got 10 rings. I've got one. Obviously, you go by his record, he's the best coach to ever coach the game."
--LA TIMES
Somehow, given Doc's past criticism of the Mistress for blaming losses on the zebras, I don't think that Rivers really believes that the Jackzen's championship numbers makes him a better coach.
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