Fox Sports: Because teams, players, coaches and referees all reveal themselves in various ways, every play of every game is fraught with meaningful revelations. And the pressure inherent in a championship series certainly ups the ante.
So then, here are some nuggets of transcendent meaning that can be gleaned from the latest Lakers-Celtics set-to.
- While Doc Rivers did a superb job, he was way off-base in deriding Phil Jackson for “whining” about the refs after the lopsided 38-10 foul situation in Game 2. Since he’s been there before, Jackson knew that the public airing of his grievance would work to his team’s benefit — and it did. In fact, it always does. In other words, loudly complaining about being short-changed by the refs in a playoff series is as much a part of a coach’s job description as formulating a game plan. Besides which, Jackson’s protestations were entirely justified.
- With all due respect, the only plausible reason for Lamar Odom’s lack of on-court awareness is that he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder.
In any case, Odom is imminently dispensable and must be dealt for someone like Ron Artest, Udonis Haslem or Shane Battier.
- Sometimes how a team plays is more significant than whether they’ve won or lost a specific game. Which was the case with the Lakers’ sloppy, error-filled victory in Game 5 that certainly pointed to the probability of their getting swamped in Game 6.
If you think Perkins doesn’t make a difference for the Celtics, just find out how many combined rebounds Gasol and Odom had… Yeah, 24! Oh, and Odom had only 4 blocks.
Boston Herald: … Perkins faced the real possibility that he had played in his last NBA Finals game.
“I would say that would probably be doubtful,” coach Doc Rivers said before the game of Perkins returning to the floor for Game 6 at the Garden. “But I don’t know.”
“It’s a good question,” Perkins said of whether he could play the rest of the series. “I couldn’t tell you. I can raise my arm, but there’s just a lot of pain right now. I don’t know if I can take a hard hit on it. When we get back to Boston I’m supposed to get an MRI on it, and then we’ll know more about it.”
ESPN: The Los Angeles Lakers should know by now not to expect any pity. The Lakers surely understand that they traded away their rights to sympathy, maybe permanently, when they shipped so little to Memphis and stole Pau Gasol.
The infamous foul that wasn’t called on Derek Fisher in the San Antonio series won’t soon be forgotten, either.
So …
As unfair as a fuming Phil Jackson found the Game 2 free-throw count — and as frustrating as it had to be for L.A. to fall just short after Sunday night’s epic fourth-quarter scramble — this is the Lakers’ reality:
No one with a neutral interest in these NBA Finals is bound to feel sorry for the Zen Men, because the Lakers wouldn’t be here without the midseason gift of Gasol from the Grizzlies. Or because they clinched a series-turning road win over the savvy Spurs on a non-call that the league later publicly acknowledged as erroneous.
Or because the Boston Celtics happen to be outplaying them in so many categories.
O.C. Register: As if there wasn’t enough history in this colonial city and in this classic Lakers-Celtics rivalry, the opportunity to make more has arrived for Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.
Somewhat inaccurately defined by their separate determinations to win championships — Bryant portrayed as borderline maniacal in his single-mindedness, Jackson long criticized for playing only with stacked decks — they are here on the cusp of validation again. Bryant can join a short list of modern NBA stars to have four titles: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan. Jackson can break his tie with Red Auerbach and stand alone with 10 NBA coaching championships.
Then again, they could have done those things in 2004, when the Lakers last reached the NBA Finals. The funny thing is Bryant and Jackson aren’t bitter about that defeat because they don’t think they deserved to win that one.
That’s how it is when you are the truest sort of competitor: one who judges success foremost from within.
Lamar Odom sees that in Bryant and Jackson, no matter that one is fire and one is ice.
“Kobe is the ultimate competitor, because he competes against himself,” Odom said. “If he has got 50 points one game, the next game he wants to get 55 or 60. If his back is hurt, he wants to prove that his back isn’t hurt. That rubs off on us.”
Should have Kobe passed the ball more during OT or instead pass the ball to his teamates? Sound-off in the comments and tell us what you think…
L.A. Times: Kobe Bryant will play Wednesday, I learned Monday.
Actually, I didn’t learn it as much as divine it from years of watching Bryant, who would play if they had to wrap him from head to foot like a mummy.
Two things are certain with Bryant: 1) he’s the gamer of gamers and 2) he’ll never take a breath without creating a controversy, as he did once more Sunday.
Only one thing kept Bryant’s performance in Game 4 from rising to the mythic level of Willis Reed limping out for Game 7 in 1970 and the flu-ridden Michael Jordan beating the Jazz in 1997 . . .
The Lakers didn’t win.
Otherwise, it would have been one for the ages: Bryant looking like Charlton Heston in “El Cid” whose body was tied to his horse and sent back into battle, leading them back from a 12-point deficit in the last 3:59 of regulation.
If Lamar Odom had made his three-pointer to put them ahead with :13 left and they’d gone on to win, people would have talked about this game as long as there was an NBA.
HOOPSWORLD: HOOPSWORLD has learned that Trevor Ariza of the Los Angeles Lakers has been cleared by a second independent doctor. Sidelined for months with a broken foot, Ariza has now sought out two additional opinions hoping to get back on the floor to help the team in its ongoing playoff run.
The Lakers’ physician has been conservative as Ariza’s CT Scan still shows a line on the bone which is normally interpreted as an unhealed fracture.
Ariza recently saw a doctor in Utah who postulated that the bone has indeed healed and that the line may never fully disappear.
The recent third opinion concurred which sends the ultimate decision to the Lakers who are inherently conservative when it comes to long term health of their players. To date they haven’t been willing to put Ariza in harm’s way, even for the ongoing playoff push.
At this point it’s not clear what the team will do with the additional medical opinion. From Ariza’s perspective, he’s good to go and feels no discomfort or limitation of any kind.
One thing to note is that opinions from even the most highly respected doctors are subjective. If they prove to be incorrect, Ariza could have some serious long-term implications.
The final decision from Laker management should be made in the coming days.
Kam and I met with Elie Seckbach and conducted an exclusive interview for TLN. Members submitted their questions, and we asked him. It was a very candid interview, and the stories he has for our blog are definitely worth reading.
We spoke about his career, NBA Players, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, the TLN Bumper Stickers, and a whole lot more.
The mere mortals in Los Angeles are used to living alongside some high-powered stars, but the hero worship lavished upon the Lakers star, the newly minted NBA MVP, transcends all.
L.A. Times: It has been two days now since his coronation, and we remain a city in a twitter.
Kobe Bryant is the MVP.
One more time, let’s chant: MVP. MVP. MVP.
Ours is a city that has had Van Brocklin and Koufax, Drysdale and Wilt, Fernando and Shaq. The Great One skated his way into our hearts.
Sampras and Tiger are ours. So are Walton and Wooden.
Gibson tingled our spine and the Golden Boy keeps jabbing on our behalf. West came from the East and let us claim a logo, Elgin head-faked around the entire league and Kareem sky-hooked our hearts.
Hershiser shut ‘em down, Carew lit ‘em up, and Bo Jackson ran all over ‘em for us. Not so long ago, Magic pulled rabbits out of hats for us.
Still, none of them got our wings fluttering in the City of Angels like Kobe.
If we didn’t know better, we’d think he cured cancer.
Kam and I met with Elie Seckbach last week and conducted an exclusive interview for TLN. Members submitted their questions, and we asked him. It was a very candid interview, and the stories he has for our blog are definitely worth reading.
We spoke about his career, NBA Players, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, the TLN Bumper Stickers, and a whole lot more.
We will be posting the interview in 3 parts.
Elie Seckbach, The Embedded NBA Correspondent has been covering the NBA for 11 years. He now reports for the popular www.fanhousetv.com and says he is really excited about it:
“I have always gone to FanHouse to read their NBA blogs, they have some of the greatest NBA minds online, who are original and edgy, it’s a real honor to be on their team. if you guys are not familiar with fanhouse – just go to aol and click FanHouse – I promise you, you’ll get hooked! if you don’t let me know why!”
The entire TLN Staff wants to thank Elie for his time.
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Fox Sports: Because teams, players, coaches and referees all reveal themselves in various ways, every play of every game is fraught with meaningful revelations. And the pressure inherent in a championship series certainly ups the ante.
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