Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (24) and Pau Gasol (16), of Spain, celebrate the Lakers’ 99-86 win over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals Sunday, June 14, 2009, in Orlando, Fla. AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green
Let’s make something clear, I don’t like the LA Lakers. I hate them with a passion. They are a bunch of show ponies, led by the most pretentious one of them all. What makes it so much worse is that they keep winning.
For the last two years, everything has fallen into their lap and a path to the Finals has been paved.
Last year, when I was at least hoping they would beat the Celtics, they couldn’t manage that.
Now they are benefiting from an Orlando side who knocked out Cleveland for them and is now playing without a coach. The Magic basically gifted Game 4 to the Lakers, due to a number of coaching stuff-ups.
Go back a little bit and a horrible Portland collapse in 2000 in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals helped them on their way to their first NBA title in twelve years.
In 2000-01 they were the best team, and as much as I’d like, I can’t whinge about that title.
But this leads us to 2002, where the Sacramento Kings were dudded in one of the biggest sporting scandals of all time. You probably don’t know that much about it due to the efforts of the NBA to cover it up. But go look it up.
All the glory and glitz of the Lakers should only belong to the Showtime Lakers. No other Lakers side should be the beneficiary of it, because they don’t deserve it.
The team consisting of Kareem, Magic, Worthy, AC Green, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, the one and only Kurt Rambis, and led by Pit Riley, was special. It made the Forum the place to be and the celebrities were the cherry on the cake.
This current Lakers side has none of the personality or soul of its predecessor. It isn’t a team but a number of mercenaries all wearing the same uniform.
There are 30 teams in the league. Why couldn’t it be anyone but them?
Or the Celtics. Or the Spurs. Or the Pacers.
J the Drafter
Guest
Hey now, if we're counting all the breaks the Lakers' got, what about Jameer going down mid-season? The Magic beat the Lakers twice in close games during the regular season.
katzilla
Roar Guru
If you own a John Starks Jersey I will hunt you down!
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
Mushi, You can if you want, but the next time you criticise Kobe Bryant spare a thought for Mike.
fox
Guest
What the...? How could you not like Reggie?
David Wiseman
Roar Guru
Katzilla - yes it was Reggie. I was going through a New York Knicks phase and didn't like him or Austin Croshere.
Mushi
Guest
And every time you see someone with irrational hatred do we call that an "ohanti's jacket".
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
The Jordan Rules predated the era where Jordan got all the calls. Every time you see a player drive towards the basket and try to get contact -- and whinge if there's no call -- that's Michael Jordan.
Mushi
Guest
Ohnati so the Bad Boys simply "breathed" on jordan . great analysis.
katzilla
Roar Guru
David, I can understand not liking Spurs, Celtics and LA. Three teams I don't like too much either, but why the Pacers? Was it Reggie? Boring finals series, The Magic clearly punched above their weight to even make it. Should have been Cavs and after sweeping the early rounds everyone thought so. But alas as it was with Kobe last year, LeBrons teamates went on holiday early.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
If only Kevin Garnett hadn't been injured...The Lakers had all their key players. Gasol made a great difference this year. I always tnought he played half-heartedly with Memphis. But the Lakers' scouts may have noticed how fired up he was in the Olympic Games finals, with his brother Mark.
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
I was never a Jordan or Bulls fan, though I thought the '91-93 team was more fun than the '96-98 team. The late 90s were an awful era in NBA basketball. The game was a hell of a lot better in the 80s. The Lakers would've beaten the Cavs in the Finals. It was Phil and Kobe's year. If you compare them to the Jazz, Rockets, Nuggets and Magic, then they were a good team. It was a pretty crappy post-season once the Celtics/Bulls series ended.
David Wiseman
Roar Guru
Ohtani's jacket - Im guessing you don't like MJ. How do you think it would have worked out if Cleveland had played LA in the Finals?
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
Jordan was the first guy they ran iso plays for, where they'd clear out and have him drive to the basket for a foul or a three point play. It's one of the worst aspects of Jordan's legacy.
Jerry
Guest
That's hardly unique to Jordan, all star players in the NBA get preferential reffing calls.
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
C'mon, people only had to breath on Jordan to get a whistle.
Mushi
Guest
All the calls? He had the dubious calls count at 4 to 2 and didn’t count the first three quarters.
Thorny
Guest
While I rate Kobe as the best guard in the NBA at the moment and one of the greatest of all time, I still don't rate him above Jordan. Jordan's superior championsips, stats and his 6 finals MVPs point to the greatest of all time. If you read the Bill Simmons running diary of Game 4 you will see how the Magic got all the calls in that game, with one half seeing the Magic take 15 free throws to the Lakers 0. Speaking of Bill Simmons, he has a really entertaining NBA podcast that I highly recommend. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index
David Wiseman
Roar Guru
Kobe is a good player, I'm not going to refute that. I don't think he is better than MJ. None of you have really touched on the Lakers' ability to get all of the calls which is something that particularly irks me about them. In Game 2, they received some serious assistance from the referees and if you don't believe me, consult Bill Simmons' running diary of the game. Did MJ and the Bulls receive the same get out of jail cards as the Lakers have over the years? I guess, you could cite the shove on Byron Russell but who would have called that? And this doesn't appear to be in the same league as the phantom calls the Lakers seem to get (and which the Miami Heat received in 2006)
Mushi
Guest
Sorry the "arguably better than jordan" was sarcasm. Just spent a week in LA and if CA could actaully bottle and sell the baseless hype of the mamba to anyone but themselves then they wouldn't have a debt problem.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
As a Celtics fan this was hard to cop, I hate the Lakers with a passion and was cheering for the Rockets and Nuggets in the Western Conference playoffs. I admit Kobe is an absolute freak of a player and Phil Jackson is legendary. Like any champion the Lakers had some luck along the way, getting Gasol last year was big, getting back Derek Fisher was big, Yao MIng going down injured, Nuggets went missing, Garnett & Leon Powe went down injured and Lebron losing his supporting cast when it really mattered. The Magic played there Finals against the Cavs. All the planets aligned for the Lakers.