A dream win for a Celtics fan
Late Tuesday night, after the Boston Celtics rather easily
dismantled the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, I
couldn’t help but travel to the enemy’s online territory to see
what venom they were spouting.
I went to a Lakers blog on the Los Angeles Times Web site, and
enjoyed a rather heavy case of schadenfreude.
A dream win for a Celtics fan
Late Tuesday night, after the Boston Celtics rather easily dismantled the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, I couldn’t help but travel to the enemy’s online territory to see what venom they were spouting.
I went to a Lakers blog on the Los Angeles Times Web site, and enjoyed a rather heavy case of schadenfreude.
Being a Celtics fan, I’ll admit I certainly enjoyed Tuesday’s 131-92 shellacking of the Lakers at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.
But I didn’t post anything, mind you. I wasn’t one of those people. Quite frankly, I didn’t need to.
Fire Phil Jackson.
What’s with Kobe?
Pau is soft!
Trade Vlad Rad!
How are we losing to these guys?
Now, I’ve been to blogs before, believe it or not. And I understand the voice they offer, especially in terms of sports, isn’t necessarily that of the fan or a true representation of the team’s fan, at the very least.
Granted, there are certainly fans on these blogs, but in terms of the fantasy-team dreamers who start rifling off trade proposals to make the Lakers better next year, after having been to the NBA Finals this year, well, those people are only slightly absurd.
But after watching Tuesday’s game – and this is the objective reporter in me talking – how can you blame some of the crazy demands Lakers fans were making?
Phil Jackson, the Zen Master, was out-coached by Doc Rivers. Kobe Bryant, the league’s MVP, was 7 of 22 from the field with one assist, three rebounds and four turnovers. And the Lakers, rather collectively, gave up.
I’m sorry, but they gave up.
At one point late in the game, the Lakers trailed by 42 points. Yes, they gave up!
Lacking defensive toughness, any sort of rebounding, any sort of aggressiveness, a second scoring option after Kobe, and an across-the-board desire, the Lakers had two rather unfortunate records added to their storied history, not to mention a Finals defeat: they lost Game 4 in what was the greatest playoff comeback by an opposing team, and they lost Game 6 in what was the greatest playoff defeat in a title-clinching game.
Surprisingly, it seems to all be about the future – both with the team and on the blogs. But the Lakers were favored in the series. Remember, they had the better coach, they had the best player in the league – and the most valuable! – and they had the better bench, supposedly.
Still, not enough.
“We have to get some players if we’re going to come back and repeat, to have that kind of aggressiveness that we need,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson told the Associated Press.
Playing the role of savior is Andrew Bynum, the 7-foot 20-year-old who’s coming off knee surgery. He’ll be entering his third season next year. The blogs told me so.
While he would definitely team up with Pau Gasol nicely, and allow Gasol to return to the 4-spot – a fact that seems to get swept under the carpet constantly – he is young and he is recovering from knee surgery.
He should not be considered the savior, by any means.
What shocked me out of all of this, however, was the complete satisfaction with next year. It seemed to ease the pain of the loss – both, once again, with the team and on the blogs.
But the Lakers should have realized that just because the media picks you to win doesn’t make it so, and just because the media says you’re set up for the next 4 to 5 years doesn’t mean it will happen. We’re actually wrong quite often.
The Lakers had their chance this year. There’s no guarantee they’ll be back.
The Lakers next year still need to come out of the Western Conference (never easy), and, if they do make it back to the NBA Finals, they’ll need to match the defensive toughness, match the rebounding, match the aggressiveness and match the across-the-board desire of their opponent, which will most likely be the Boston Celtics.
