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Tag Archive - Phil Jackson

No Championship for Old Men

May 12, 2011 in by with 8 Comments

Power — intoxicating and addictive — is never easily ceded. Not by nations and rarely by champions. It has to be taken. In sports, it’s often taken from the aging or the infirm. In the case of the Boston Celtics, it was both.

If you took one look at the Celtics sideline late on Wednesday night, you would have seen Rajon Rondo and Jermaine O’Neal lying on their aching backs, straining their necks to see the action on the floor. You would have seen Kevin Garnett expending the same amount of energy to do half the things he used to do. Shaquille O’Neal, the future Hall of Famer the Celtics signed to combat the Lakers in The Finals, spent what may be his final NBA game as the largest Big & Tall model in history. And as good as Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are younger and have more talent.

The Celtics wanted to play, but their bodies betrayed them. Their time has ended. The Lakers too. Three days prior to LeBron and the Heat ending the Celtics’ successful four-year run in the East, the “new old” Mavs — an oxymoron — swept Phil Jackson and the two-time defending champion Lakers, playing like schoolyard chumps, into next season.

If the Celtics or Lakers had forced their series to seven games, we may be able to believe Doc Rivers’ claim that his Celtics team “isn’t done” or Kobe Bryant’s claim that the Lakers will be back as a legit championship force in 2011-12.

But the Heat and the Mavs channeled their inner Anton Chigurh and used their captive bolt pistols to blow a big hole through any notion that the Celtics and the Lakers can remain at a championship level beyond this season. It’s not necessarily age itself, but the changes that come with it. They are like Tommy Lee Jones’ sheriff, who chases the light in his dreams but eventually wakes up before he can catch up to it. Those days are history. Things are different now.

If the Lakers couldn’t set aside their trust issues during the postseason, what makes anyone think that they’ll grow fonder of each other over an 82-game regular season? If the Lakers couldn’t get Phil his fourth three-peat, who thinks they’ll be able to band together for a new coach? Do you think the Celtics’ core will somehow grow any younger over the summer? As much as I like to believe Rivers, one of my favorite basketball people of all time, will return to Boston because he’s “a Celtic,” there have been rumblings for some time about him wanting to take a break. Changes should be coming to both teams.

But based on the history of those two franchises, you’d be inclined to believe they will bounce back. Between them they have 33 NBA championships and 52 combined Finals appearances. Based on what we saw of the two teams, it’s hard to believe that they will be able to dominate foes as they have the past four seasons. The NBA has too much talent on too many different teams. Not only that, that talent is in or close to reaching its prime.

For only the fifth time when both teams have made the postseason in the same year, neither the Lakers nor the Celtics made their respective conference finals series. By not having these specific Celtics or Lakers teams to cheer or jeer in a conference finals is slams shut the door on the post-Michael Jordan era of the NBA.

This will be the first Finals without Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan since 1998. It’s as clear a demarcation point in NBA history as the introduction of the shot clock in 1954 or Bill Russell retiring in 1969 or when Jordan and a hungry Bulls team destroyed an aging Lakers team in 1991.

Consider, too, the men who led them. It will be the first time since 1995 Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich and Pat Riley won’t roam the sidelines during The Finals. Though, that stat deserves an asterisk considering Riley is the brains behind this current iteration of the Heat. He has the hardware to prove it.

Riley built the Heat in the Celtics’ image using the lure of a homegrown star to attract other stars. LeBron said as much before and after Game 5. Beating the Celtics was the reason he burned every bridge in Cleveland. For LBJ, getting past the Celtics was like MJ finally getting past the Pistons in ’91.

For LeBron, who at times has a loathsome lack of self-awareness, sounded contrite and humble after the Heat’s win. Whether his overall attitude has changed for the better remains to be seen. But one thing we know: the NBA will never be the same. It’s up to the new power generation to shape it to their liking.

Keeping Up Appearances

April 12, 2011 in by with 4 Comments

Brace yourselves, for the Lakers are engulfed in another slump. On the heels of a wholly impressive stretch coming out of the All-Star break in which the two-time defending champions went 17-1, they have hit a snag, dropping their last five contests — one of the recent blunders was Friday’s loss at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers, who won with unexpected ease, 93-86.

This is, at minimum, the third time the Lakers have found themselves in a losing streak that’s troubling to some, impertinent to others during the season. Invariably, these spates of difficulty spark an unnavigable divide between those who consider any discernible losing streak as the ultimate apocalypse and those who could care less; after all, the playoffs haven’t started yet.

No matter one’s bent on the gravity of the Lakers’ regular-season losses, a trend has emerged this season through which one explanation is sufficient to pinpoint why they were defeated in any instance: they didn’t try hard enough.

No game demonstrated this trend better than Friday’s drubbing by the Blazers. As Phil Jackson said after the game, “These guys just don’t want to play hard right now.”

(And comments like those are not a one-time thing, for those who view this as an aberration. Looking back to the Lakers’ loss to the Miami Heat on Christmas Day, here’s what Kobe Bryant notoriously had to say postgame: “It’s like these games mean more to our opponents than they do to us,” Bryant said. “I think we need to get that straight — play with more focus, put more [emphasis] on these games. I don’t like it. … We know what we’re capable of doing, and that’s part of the problem.”)

In this Blazers game, how much did lack of effort really play in to the defeat? The knee-jerk response is obvious: the Lakers are agreeably better than the Trail Blazers, so they had to have phoned in the game to have lost. Yes, the Lakers shot a despicable 39.5 percent, but couldn’t that just have been the result of great Blazers defense?

Bryant shot just 10-of-25 from the field, due in large part to lockdown D from Wesley Matthews, who has emerged as one of the top Kobe stoppers this season. Factor in LaMarcus Aldridge’s containment of Pau Gasol, and it doesn’t seem all that ridiculous that the Lakers could have scored only 86 points.

Meanwhile, the Lakers won the battle of rebounding, a stat that many classify as an effort number, 52-41.

On Wednesday, the Lakers lost to the Golden State Warriors, 95-87, for the first time in 14 matchups. It was largely a poor showing for L.A., but Pau Gasol (18 points on 7-of-11 shooting) and Andrew Bynum (13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, 17 rebounds) were a pair of bright spots. If the problem was effort, care to explain why Pau Gasol only played 27 minutes throughout the game and not at all down the stretch? Presumably Jackson would want the guy in who was actually playing well. Furthermore, Bynum probably would have taken more than five shots if he were playing so effectively and no one else gave a hoot.

It appears, then, that the “effort” argument doesn’t really have much practical traction. More simply, the explanation is probably just that the Lakers get outplayed on occasion. It’s not a huge surprise that the Lakers and their fans would want to remain blind to that argument, though. Considering they have won the last two NBA titles, maybe that’s their prerogative.

Still, there is a disconcerting problem with the duality that the NBA community at large perceives of Lakers’ losses as lack of effort and losses of every other team as nonperformance — more simply, other teams “suck” when they lose. Such was the case Thursday when the Celtics fell to the Bulls in a fairly embarrassing manner. But it wouldn’t be right to say that the Celtics were disinterested in playing hard against the Bulls (after all, they soiled the proverbial bed and were undoubtedly outplayed). So why is it permissible to excuse the Lakers’ poor play that way?

Well, frankly, the Lakers have won a lot over the years. A lot. They have won so much that there’s a culture of win-or-die subordinate only to the delusion that the Yankees and their fans share. With that culture as a basis, the Lakers have done a masterful job of crafting a narrative in which their team bows down to no mortal — in the eyes of the Lakers, they are never underdogs and should never lose.

Consequently, accentuating the accomplishments of another team has a stigma of inner weakness attached to it. Acknowledging that the Blazers’ defense might have shut them down would have been tantamount to saying that the O’Brien Trophy was open for the taking, at least from their perspective. This is why you’ll never, ever see a Lakers player help up an opponent during the game or cry in the locker room after the final buzzer. They vigorously defend their image of toughness.

Phil Jackson didn’t win 11 titles by being an idiot, and it’s evident from his aforementioned comment that he’s aware perception is reality. He’s basically the only coach that will say anything legitimate to the media, and he uses that candidness to, well, construct an effective facade: the Lakers do try, and the appearance of apathy is just a cover for ineluctable vulnerability.

It might sound bunk, but there’s a psychological hurdle to beating the Lakers that is absent for other teams, most notably the Heat. And so long as the Lakers keep winning when it counts, it will remain impenetrable. That might not be right for the game, but it is most definitely right for the Purple and Gold.

NBA Finals Lakers Celtics Game 7: A Legacy Equinox

June 17, 2010 in by with 3 Comments

There’s no more basketball after tonight. Not for five months, anyway. So you’d better enjoy this.

These are the two best teams, according to the metric we use to determine that value (most wins from mid-April through June). So you’d better enjoy this.

This is a Game 7, so you’d better enjoy it.

I’m not simply being a promoter for my favorite sport when I say that NBA Game 7′s are entirely different from the other sports that entertain series. In baseball, there are specific moments that live forever, and certainly memorable pitching performances. A key hit. Things of that nature. And in hockey, there’s certainly the propensity given the scoring nature of the game for moments of unequaled tension and intensity. But basketball more than any other sport holds the potential for individual players to exert their will on a game. It’s where greatness often meets greatness, especially for these two franchises. It’s everything we love about sports. That’s cliche, but then again, so is this series.

Take a look at the list of best Finals performances in a loss from Basketball Reference.  That list is crushing to me, because of so many players that never won a ring, and to have those performances on the biggest stage. One really stuck out to me. Stockton with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting, 12 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. In a loss. That set the tone for the rest of the series. I just can’t imagine having gotten to the top, put in that kind of performance, and coming up short. Anyway, take that list and sort it. 5 of the top 25 point totals in a loss in the Finals on that list are from LA-Boston ’08 and LA-Boston ’10.  20% of the top 25 Finals performances that ended up not mattering came between these two teams. Individual greatness isn’t good enough. The whole damn roster has to chip in, AND you have to have quality star performances.

Wishing for a truly great game seems like a risk to me. These playoffs have been dreadful, outside of a handful of moments, and in general have been leading us down a path of fulfillment wrapped in bitterness. We got Lakers Celtics, at the price of a full blown LeBron meltdown and the Suns’ effort and heart being for naught. But there’s always that hope. That last, fleeting hope that this will be one of those games. The kind you remember for the rest of your life. It has to be to make a mark. You see, either way, this championship doesn’t mean much independently. I’m not trying to be a buzzkill, but if you were ask Bill Simmons of his most memorable Celtics championship games, would this one crack the top five? Even more modern-focused Celtic fans would probably list that Game 6 in 2008 as the defining one for them. It’s a product of what happens when you have 32 championships between you. But a special game could overcome all that. If it features both of these teams, at their best, which we really haven’t seen yet, it could become one of those things that’s talked about for years. Where you remember where you were, who you were with, how it felt.

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This isn’t to say that the game has no meaning to its players. Instead, it’s crucial. While #5 for Bryant isn’t as important as #6, #4, or #1 (or really #3), he obviously can’t get to six without it. It’s a separation from Shaq, and stabbing Boston in the throat hold special value as well. The second one puts Gasol in rarefied air, and if he’s going to wind up in the Hall, he’ll need this one and one more. For Odom, it’s going to cement his place in the Laker’s sub-pantheon. One contributing headcase is a footnote, but doing it on multiple championship teams gives him a place in the team’s history. He’ll never be top billing, but he’ll have a place. Phil Jackson blah, blah, blah. Derek Fisher’s an especially relevant component. Five championships, and he may not return next season, depending on how much Phil buys into his ability to stave off the ghosts of time for another year. He’s going to have a very rough next year and a half of his life, with the CBA deal approaching, and this is a moment he should take to cherish, when basketball was all that mattered and he was the starting point guard for a championship team. Crazy Pills? Gets to flip his detractors a middle finger with a ring on it, and redeems himself of all the strikes against him, in his mind. Adam Morrison gets something else he can sell when he’s destitute and living in a refrigerator box in ten years.

For Pierce? He’ll never be in with the 80′s crew. But this puts him in his own level below it. The favorite son, and past the concerns of just being a flash in the pan. Garnett and Allen join the ranks of the multiple winners. A single title gets you in the door and gets you a place among your own time’s peers. A second win puts you into a tier with the all-time great champions. I’m not sure why, I’m just told it does. If the first one is for you, to validate your career to yourself, the second is to validate it to all the greats who flash multiple rings. For Glen Davis? The opportunity of a lifetime. To cement a legacy within the first few years of your career, collect rings, and then ride off into money-soaked sunset, always able to say “I know what it takes to win a championship.” Rondo puts himself on pace for a more-talented Sam Cassell trajectory, with two championships early in his career and nothing but upside. A chance to give back to the guys that helped mentor him into a position to be elite at this level.

Doc Rivers may have the most to gain from this game. If he decides to walk away for his family, this game puts him as the only multiple ring Boston championship coach from outside of Red’s tree. He can walk away as one of the few coaches with multiple rings, having gone from one of the worst-regarded coaches in the league (2007) to one of the best.

Legacies have a steeper climb since the 80′s. That’s the mark you’re set at. Kobe’s got it worse, having to climb not only the 80′s Showtime crew, but Mount Jordan as well. It’s started to strike me as absurd, how often we use “He’s no Jordan!” as some kind of detractor. The man’s on the verge of winning his fifth championship ring within a decade, with Ron Artest and Derek Fisher as two of his starters.

If legacies have become liquid, never cementing until they reach their hottest temperature, then nothing solidifies tonight. But it’s a vital part of the story for all careers involved, and with no tomorrow, literally, in the 2009-2010 NBA Season, you have to believe anything can happen.
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LA is winning this game. I got out of my car this morning and realized it. I tend to have either no sense whatsoever about an important game, or a very strong one. Which isn’t to say these feelings are at all accurate. I’m usually more accurate when I have a strong emotional reaction to the game. I woke up in January of 2004 and knew, absolutely, in my heart of hearts, that the Chiefs, despite their best season in over a decade, were going to lose to the Colts. It was arguably the most important game of my life after the age of 12 and I knew, 100%, we would lose. It wasn’t brought on by masochism or negativity, I was just sure of it. I knew the Suns were going to lose Game 6 versus San Antonio in 2007. That said, I don’t really care about this game. A self-aggrandizing, self-entitled, pampered franchise will win tonight, and a self-aggrandizing, self-entitled, pampered franchise will lose tonight. As I said, it’s another in a long line of titles. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great theater, and I’ve really enjoyed these Finals. While we haven’t seen both teams at their best in a game so far, we have seen some entertaining basketball.  It’s best for the sport, best for the league, best for the fans when these two franchises meet and it goes seven. I’m merely saying that while I feel very strongly LA will win, I don’t have any emotional attachment to that prediction.

But LA is winning. Perkins’ injury is one of those things that pierces the chest plate and gets to the ventricles. Davis is a terrific bench player but probably not adept at stopping the starting line. Pierce has been terrific, but if the Lakers’ help defense has its head out of its ass, you can cut off the places Pierce wants to go and he’ll force it. Ron Artest will probably hit a few big shots and disappoint in terms of being the wacky true self he’s been for three games in this series.

I told a colleague the other day that basketball, for all its complexity and motion, all its strategy and reactions, is still largely vulnerable to the simple physical attributes of its players. The Lakers are tall. And that’s why they’ll win. I can give you talk about their transition defense, or their inside-out work, about how the overload defense won’t allow for cross-court passes to Allen or Sheed, about Kobe’s drive-and-post work, or Odom’s righty move against Davis forcing him left. But at the end of it? The Lakers are tall. And tall guys win at basketball.

Analysis.

Enjoy Game 7, everyone.

The Los Angeles Lakers Are A Great Team

June 3, 2010 in by with 10 Comments

No, I did not lose a bet.

Yes, this is like root canal.

No, this is not a backhanded compliment (well, it probably will turn into that, but I’m going to do my best).

After careful review this morning, I’ve come to the conclusion that this Los Angeles Lakers team is, in fact, great. Not very good. Not very talented. Great.

Ugh. Let’s get this over with.
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I have maintained since 2008 that this was not a great team. That they were a very good team, the most talented team, a load of other superlatives, but never great. Because they never managed to really show any heart. Their version of “dealing with adversity” was when the Rockets without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady and Dikembe Mutumbo outworked them in a seven game series (they had Ming for three games). They always seemed to coast, and then do just enough to get by. They did not execute at an elite level. Their victory over the Magic last year was primed off of a weak playoff schedule (neither Utah nor Denver look very convincing as challengers at this point, do they?), and then a superior talent base with some karma from the Gods (read:Fisher) thrown in.

And when the Lakers cruised down the stretch, routinely getting offed by inferior teams, it was easy to bring that label back. I knew they’d make the Finals, because, again, the talent thing. And they struggled in OKC and it was easy to throw out the same labels at them about not being great and not responding to adversity.

Thing is, they have.

What started me down this path was thinking about how utterly sick I am of them in the Finals. And I am. Let’s not get confused. I would kill for literally any other team to be in the Finals, just to have something unfamiliar at this point. But then I realized “Holy hell, this team has been to the Finals three straight years.” That’s a remarkable feat in and of itself, particularly in a loaded Western Conference (well, besides Utah). They’ve been one of the final two teams for three straight seasons. And they’ve done it with Kobe as their best player, Lamar Odom as their third best, and Squeaky Wheel down there at center. That was the first piece.

Then I started to rationalize it. “Well, yeah, but they’re not a great team, still. I mean, look at the teams they struggled with!” And then I really started to think about it. Didn’t Oklahoma City actually play the best basketball in a losing series effort this year? Weren’t they the one team to really take it to LA, consistently? And for all their inexperience, that was a ridiculously good team. So them pushing LA shouldn’t be surprising. And losing by a gajillion in Game 4 would have sunk most teams. But LA not only battled back, but, and this is the important part, finished them in six games. They went into OKC and took down the Thunder because they’re better and the defending champs. They didn’t slack off and let it go seven. They didn’t mail it in and wait to go back to the comfy confines of Staples. They kicked in the door in OKC and took what was theirs, a series in six.

Utah I’m not giving them any credit for. That team might as well just be playoff cardboard cutouts. They should change their names to the Playoff Speed Bumps.

But Phoenix? That Phoenix team wasn’t just blessed with more talent than we gave them credit for all the way up until the second round. They were riding a streak of confidence. That team believed in itself. If ever there was a team primed to be a great story of a champion, it was the Suns, with Nash and that bench and Grant Hill all refusing to go down, battling their way back from an 0-2 series deficit and tying things up. They guaranteed a win in Game 6 and… LA smoked ‘em. They went into Phoenix, and crushed their hopes and dreams, took care of business. And that’s what great teams do. They don’t shrink from the moment, they steal the other team’s and then shove them down the stairs.  And that’s what they did.

So now they’re back in the Finals. And I think they’ll win. I really do. I’ve doubted Boston in three straight consecutive series, what’s one more, really? I think Boston is an incredible team. I just think this Lakers team is better. Lamar Odom has become a great player… for the Lakers. Ron Artest has become a great complimentary player… for the Lakers. Pau Gasol has become a great player… for the Lakers. All of these players early in their careers represented the salvation of small market teams for me and I’ve watched them become death rays on the Death Star. But that’s the reality of the NBA and I’m doing a disservice to this blog and you who’s reading if I deny it.

The Lakers are a great team. They run a spectacular offense with options at every turn, are led by one of the top five players of all time, are coached by a man who may have 11 rings in two weeks, and are arguably the most recognizable basketball franchise on the planet (and they’re playing the only team you can argue about it with). They have battled back from adversity and closed out series like champions. They are, quite simply, a great team, and I expect them to win their 16th NBA championship, cementing this crew as having passed the very lowest threshold of being considered a dynasty.

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Go Celtics.

Wait, Glen Davis.

Go Lakers!

Wait, Phil Jackson!

Go Celtics!

Wait…

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Behold, the face of greatness:

Via Reds Army (I saw this guy behind the announcers a month ago and commented on it on Twitter. Now, he haunts my dreams. And probably smells like a BP vacation.)

NBA Playoffs Preview: 8) Oklahoma City Thunder Vs. 1) Los Angeles Lakers (Think David Vs. Goliath Only They Both Have Slingshots)

April 15, 2010 in by with 6 Comments

A little over a week ago, the Thunder and their fans were up in arms over poor officiating in their overtime loss to the Utah Jazz. There was good reason for the uproar. CJ Miles got away with slapping ten with Kevin Durant when the league’s leading scorer put up a game-winning attempt. The attempt fell short, the whistle of referee Tony Brothers remained silent and state of Oklahoma went nuts.

I warned that if they thought the officiating here was bad and a disaster, they should wait until they’re forced to deal with the officiating in a playoff series against the Lakers. At the time, the Thunder looked to be no worse than the sixth seed in the West. As fate would have it, they dropped to the eighth seed, setting up a showdown with the Lakers in the first round. And it certainly will be a showdown.

The war of the words has already started too. Phil Jackson came out and said that he thinks Kevin Durant is getting preferential treatment from the refs. This caused Kevin Durant to say Phil was being disrespectful. The dance begins!

This is actually perfect for Thunder fans to go through. It’s not that I want them to suffer in any way. But drawing the Lakers in the first round of their first playoff series as a new franchise (they’re basically brand new) is the equivalent of new fan base hazing. There is a certain naivety with the Thunder fan because they’ve been fortunate enough to see almost immediate success. Look at the Bobcats or the Grizzlies or the T’Wolves. Those teams didn’t get their stuff together in three years. Sure the Thunder had a head start with the remnants of the Sonics but to be a 50-win team so early is pretty damn incredible. And now they’re truly being thrown into Playoff Basketball 101.

This is what Phil Jackson does and essentially, this is what the playoffs are all about. It becomes a minefield of mind games. You have to watch your step. You’re strolling along and then all of a sudden… BOOM! Phil Jackson is working the refs through the media. You put yourself back together again, take another step and then… BOOM! Kobe Bryant is insulted at the idea of Thabo Sefolosha guarding him one-on-one.

The Kobe thing was made up but trust me, it will happen. And when it does, it’s going to piss you off. This is how the playoffs will go too. This is what happens.

BOOM! Serge Ibaka can’t seem to stay out of foul trouble.

BOOM! Jeff Green is getting push under the boards and not getting the call.

BOOM! Ron Artest just dyed Kevin Durant’s hair blonde mid-game.

BOOM! A Kardashian is stalking Eric Maynor.

These kinds of things happen when you’re facing the Lakers. This is the kind of thing that will toughen up a young, burgeoning franchise like the Thunder. It’s a good thing that they’re facing the Lakers in their first playoff series since moving to the middle of the country and it’s good that the fans will get a taste of just how frustrating the playoffs can be. Because when the Thunder eventually do win the whole damn thing and take each next step in order to do so, it’s going to feel 100 times more rewarding for the Thunder fans.

Like the title of this post says, we’re getting a showdown between David and Goliath only it looks like they both have a slingshot. David’s slingshot is accurate and deadly. He knows that someday his slingshot will take down every enemy in the land. However, Goliath isn’t alone with his slingshot.

Goliath is flanked by a slew of Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men. And they can flat-out hit the boards.

Unfortunately for Kevin Durant, he’s the only Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man on his squad. Jeff Green is fantastic at what he does when he does it. Nenad Krstic, Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka are all nice role-playing big men to have. Etan Thomas has funny hair, long arms that can challenge shots and a slew of poems to make Pau Gasol look deep inside his heart and figure out if the man in the mirror is truly happy with his beard or in need of a shave.

But they don’t have the length, size and skill of the Lakers frontcourt. If Andrew Bynum is healthy enough to play, the Lakers are going to own the boards. I mean OWN them. With the Lakers controlling every defensive rebound and getting the ball into the hands of Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant or whatever Shannon Brown/Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar hybrid is fronting as the point man. When that happens, the Lakers will get out and run. As good as the Thunder have been defensively this season, they are not that good with transition defense. It makes no sense to me but that’s the truth. The Lakers will know this and the Lakers will exploit this.

So What’s Something The Thunder Can Count On?
A weakness of the Lakers is a strength for the Thunder – the bench. The Lakers don’t have much to offer other than Lamar Odom off the bench. And when Andrew Bynum isn’t in uniform that means they have nothing to offer off the bench. Shannon Brown isn’t a very good NBA player. He’s a defensive athlete that isn’t that good at defense most of the time. Nobody quite knows what Jordan Farmar does out on the court. Sasha Vujacic has been in need of some maintenance for years now. Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga can be serviceable big men but at the same time they’re still Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga. Luke Walton used to play basketball but now he just draws pictures on a notepad.

This is where the Thunder can take advantage. Their best lineup this season in terms of +/- was Eric Maynor at point, James Harden at the two, Kevin Durant at the three and Serge Ibaka manning the paint with Nick Collison. When the Lakers go to their bench, the Thunder can counter with this lineup and wreak some havoc in the backcourt. Ibaka and Collison will be good enough defensively to handle the Lakers big men off the bench and possibly control the boards. They’ll also still have Durant doing Kevin Durant things on the wing.

This is how the Thunder can keep games close. When Kobe and/or Pau are out of the game, they have to either close the gap or extend the lead based on what the score is. If the bench can’t take advantage of their prowess over the Lakers bench then they are going to be struggling throughout this series.

What Will The Lakers Use To Tip The Scales?
Sometimes it’s as simple as experience when it comes to these kinds of series. A lot of people like to say that experience is overrated but it SO isn’t. The Lakers are already exemplifying how experience works by Phil Jackson setting a trap that Kevin Durant walked right into. But the biggest way the Lakers will flex their massive experience muscles will be at the end of games.

These games should be pretty close. The Lakers are 9-1 in their last 10 matchups against the Thunder and four of those games ended up being really close. The Lakers won all of them. The only game the Thunder won was a blowout late in the year on a night in which everything went right for the Thunder and everything went so very opposite for the Lakers. But when these games are close, you’re going to have to look at who has the better end of game option.

I don’t necessarily buy into the criticism that Kevin Durant isn’t clutch. Just because you miss the occasional jumper at the end of a game doesn’t mean you’re not clutch. Let’s say he never gets fouled on that play in Utah and he just flat out misses the shot. Does that lack of “clutchness” overshadow the fact that he went straight Iron Man on the Jazz when OKC was down 11 with three minutes to go? Not at all.

But look at the clutch stats according to 82games.com from this season. Kevin Durant shoots 39% from the field in the fourth quarter or overtime with less than five minutes left and neither team leading by more than five points. Kobe Bryant shoots 43.2% during these situations. Is that a huge differential? Not really. But the more telling stat to me is the way both players take care of the ball. Kobe averages 3.9 assists and 3.1 turnovers per 48 clutch minutes. He also gets assisted on just 19% of his made field goals during this time. Compare that to Durant’s 1.7 assists and 5.4 turnovers per 48 clutch minutes and the fact that Durant is assisted on more than half of his made field goals during clutch moments and that’s where I have to side with the Lakers experience, especially in crunch time over the Thunder.

Granted, I understand that the way the Lakers handle crunch time and the way the Thunder handle crunch time are completely different. But the Lakers still have a more full-proof plan at the end of games. They get the ball to Kobe and get the hell out of the way. The Thunder end up having Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant involved in a lot of plays in trying to find those clutch shots. Those are two guys that are prone to turnovers. So not only are you getting a lower percentage of shots falling with the Thunder’s best option but you also have a much lower chance of them getting the shot off due to being sloppy with the ball.

Kevin Durant is going to be a cold-blooded hitman at the end of games some day. He’s already molding his way into one. But it’s not there yet and it’s certainly not enough to beat Kobe Bryant with the refs and aura of experience emanating from him, his teammates and his head coach.

Series Prediction
Overall, I think it will be a highly competitive series. The Thunder are good defensively and they have the best scorer in all of basketball this season. They have a point guard that will feast on the inadequacy of the Lakers point guards. Russell Westbrook should be imitating what we saw from Rajon Rondo in the series against the Bulls last April. He’ll rack up triple-doubles in nearly every game. The Thunder should be able to put themselves on the map with the national audience and do so in a very positive way.

However, the Lakers will be smart about the way they approach this series. They’ll have Ron Artest hounding Kevin Durant, making life difficult in every movement on the court. Do I think Ron Artest can shut down Durant? Not at all. But he’ll make him work for everything he gets. He’ll have Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom showing hard on every screen-and-roll involving Durant. He’ll have defensive length covering nearly every inch of the halfcourt and making Durant second guess each decision. Eventually, Durant will calm down and put on an offensive display of fantastic proportions. I just don’t think it will be enough to take down the force of the Lakers in the playoffs.

I begrudgingly welcome the Thunder fans to life in the playoffs. You’re going to hate going against the Lakers. You’ll learn what many of us have experienced over a decade of dominance and calls going against your team without rhyme or reason. But you’ll be better off for it in the long run… especially with this team of yours.

Lakers Win in Six

It’s Really Simple To Run, As Long As You Have Incredibly Smart Role Players And The Best Player In Basketball

December 15, 2009 in by with 2 Comments

The triangle, created by the post, wing and corner players, revolves around seven guiding principles: the ball handler reading the defense; correct decisions based on the defense; penetration through a pass into the post; separation of 15 to 20 feet for all the offensive players; movement through sharp cuts; interchangeability in positions; and balance for defensive transition.

The triangle differs from more traditional N.B.A. offenses because it presents more options for the five players on the court. There are no set plays, just many possibilities. And when all else fails, the triangle summons a player like Bryant or Jordan to create his own scoring opportunity. Jackson installed the offense in Chicago with Winter as an assistant to neutralize the Detroit Pistons’ defensive strategy of isolating and physically challenging Jordan. Rambis served as an assistant under Jackson and alongside Winter in Los Angeles.

via In Triangle Offense, Cuts Are Sharp and So Is Learning Curve – NYTimes.com.

The real crux of this article for me, though, is this section:

The offense can seem to be mystical and mythical. To some, it is easily digestible. Others claim it is too lethargic for the fast and frenetic N.B.A. Despite the triangle’s success — 10 of the last 19 N.B.A. champions showcased the offense — few possess the time, trust or diligence to install it.

Their reasons are plentiful, and skeptics are quick to point out that Coach Phil Jackson captured all 10 of those titles with Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant at his disposal. (For three of them, he had Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.)

This has to be weird for Lakers and Bulls fans. You can say the player was transcendent, but then the system isn’t as incredible. Y0u can say the system is so ingenious, but then the player’s greatness is marginalized. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle, but…

NO.

I’m sorry, but you have a system that allows for the best player on the floor to make decisions that lead to him using the fact that he’s the best player to be the best player. And this is rocket science?

So when a coach running the triangle HAS the best player in basketball, he wins a championship, and when he doesn’t have the best player in basketball, he doesn’t win the championship, yet there’s no correlation between winning a championship and having the best player?

But then, Kevin Garnett was the best player for years and didn’t win one. History’s rife with those situations. Maybe that’s what Jackson does best, via the triangle. He doesn’t prevent greatness from happening. And in the meantime, he uses greatness to make players that are average to below-average seem like great players.

Maybe Rambis will be the first one to make it work without elite talent. Maybe he’s just getting his legs under him. After all, they beat the Jazz last night. But they beat them with Flynn, when the point guard isn’t a central component. We’ll have to see if his devotion to the paradigm is stronger than the pull of desperation.

The Evidence Suggests That Ron’s Only Really Trying Now

December 7, 2009 in by with 1 Comment

Evidently, Artest has evolved into an inside-outside threat for the Lakers as nearly 81 percent of his shots come from behind the arc or around the hoop. Just two years ago in Sacramento, Artest’s mid-range game took up nearly half of his shot selection. This adjustment should serve him well since he’s a horrid shooter from these areas. Ultimately, the cut in long-range jumpers represents the most dramatic shift in Artest’s game. He has actually shot a tick above the league average from 16-23 feet the last few years but he’ll be better off getting higher percentage shots around the basket. Looking at last year’s shot distribution, Yao Ming could have had a negative effect on Artest’s ability to get to the rim.

Keep in mind where Artest gets his shots this year as we look into Trevor Ariza’s shot distribution. You’ll notice the two are strikingly similar.

via Hoopdata – Revisiting the Artest-Ariza ‘Trade’.

What, Phil just finally got through to him, magically after all these years? It’s insane, what guys are willing to do when they go to that team. I will say that no one handles egos better than Jackson.

It’s shocking to see Trevor Ariza convincing himself that he’s a sharpshooter over the past three years, and Jackson has a lot to do with it. If you’re not elite, Jackson is going to make you into a drive and kick shooter. So Ariza had to learn that. Unfortunately he’s convinced himself that he’s Jason Kapono, apparently. It’s stunning to see Ariza’s spike in this article.

And for all the talk about Artest shooting LA out of it, he’s only taking shots he could and hardly any others. Fact is, the Artest deal has worked out brilliantly for the Lakers so far, again.

You Imagine He Always Demanded To Be On The Big Guy’s Team In Pick-Up

November 30, 2009 in by with 2 Comments

“I liked the personnel that they had. They had some young personnel, interesting personnel. The offer was probably the best offer that I’ve ever seen as a coach. It certainly wasn’t enough. I just didn’t think it has what a team has to have, a heartland, a fan base, an energy source.”

via Phil Jackson: Meadowlands Big Negative | The Lakers Nation.

That’s Phil talking about the offer from the Nets to coach back in ’99. We’ll look at this two ways.

1. It’s pretty awesome that Phil thinks that the fan base and energy source is so important. It would be really easy for a guy in his position to just take the payday. The fact that he actually considered the situation in terms of animus is really fascinating.

2. Of course, you know, it could have been the fact that New Jersey didn’t have the absolute best player in the game and God forbid he has to coach a team without the best player in the league alongside arguably the 2nd best player in the league. That would be far too much of a challenge.