Experience can sometimes be the most overrated factor in picking
a winner.
Unless, that is, the experience factor is counted in some
respects and overlooked in others.
Experience can sometimes be the most overrated factor in picking a winner.
Unless, that is, the experience factor is counted in some respects and overlooked in others.
Going into the NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers were the heavy favorites in a best-of-seven series against the Boston Celtics. According to “the experts” – you may know these people as the talking heads on television (see Stephen A. Smith amongst others) or lowly sports writers that foolishly challenge a group of ladies to an NCAA office pool and lose (see column mug) – the Celtics didn’t have a chance.
These people looked to the matchups and made some obvious but incorrect conclusions: Phil Jackson is a much better coach than Doc Rivers (see nine championship rings to the worst record in the league last season) – advantage Lakers. Kobe Bryant is the best player when picking apart both rosters – advantage Lakers. The Lakers’ bench has more firepower than the Celtics, who rely mainly on veterans like P.J. Brown and Sam Cassell – a combined 78 years of life experience – advantage Lakers.
But as it turns out, “the experts” were too selective in deciding what would play a role and what would be inconsequential.
The Lakers barely won Game 5 Sunday night, 103-98, sending the series back to Boston, which leads three games to two. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, the ones who will still be Lakers fans when the series is over, win or lose, their team couldn’t have looked less interested. It was almost as if the Lakers were prolonging the series out of duty rather than desire.
Boston has simply wanted it more from the opening tip of Game 1.
While it was easy to dismiss fossils such as Cassell and Brown as too old to contribute, or James Posey and Leon Powe as solid but limited in skill, there isn’t a player on the Lakers’ team aside from Kobe and Derek Fisher that is willing to go that extra mile for victory. Youngsters such as Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton hustle, but they don’t use their heads and heart at the same time. Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol have excellent talent but a stethoscope to the chest wouldn’t register a peep in the playoffs.
When Walton was trying to guard Paul Pierce on a pick-and-roll late in Sunday’s game, a play Walton and his teammates had seen for the better part of five games to that point, commentator and former coach Jeff Van Gundy was appalled at the lack of thought being shown on the Lakers’ part.
“It just makes me wonder if they’re studying who they’re guarding,” Van Gundy said. “Because they’re continually making the same mistakes.”
While that would sound like criticism of a mental mistake, it also hints at a lack of effort being shown off the court in preparation.
Meanwhile, players like Cassell, Brown and especially Posey – who has been everything you would want in a role player – battled with aggression and alertness. Their experience has made them understand when to push and when to pull back, and to never forget that titles don’t roll around too often.
In the final minutes of Game 5, Farmar had a chance to take a charge on Pierce, but instead chose to reach, putting what has been hands-down the best player in the series on the line for two crucial free throws. It was a lazy play, and sums up the Lakers in a nutshell. If Kevin Garnett hadn’t choked on every touch he had late in the game – which illustrates his crunch-time ability now and in the past – Beantown would already be flooded with ticker tape.
The play that won the game for LA was a defensive effort that would make any coach worth his salt sick to his stomach. Kobe gambled on a Pierce drive by reaching around to poke the ball away, which fortunately for the Lakers went directly to Odom. The forward quickly passed ahead to Bryant for a breakaway dunk that sealed the win. Had Kobe missed the poke, Pierce has a direct path to the bucket. Had it been a foul, Pierce likely would have tied the game at the line.
It was a desperate move by the best player in the game, when his team was up two no less. And it’s exactly the reason the Lakers can’t and won’t win this series. The Lakers wanted no part of overtime because they were being outplayed and wanted the game to end. It was an uninspired win to say the least.
Boston has had it too good in recent years with the Red Sox and Patriots, and it will only get worse when the Celtics close it out tonight. But you can’t really get mad when a team wants it so much more.
