Mark Sigal's Blog - The Network Garden

Sweet and Sour Endings: Boston Crushes the Lakers

131 to 92.  Boston took the Lakers out to the proverbial wood shed for a good old-fashioned 39-point whipping.  In the finals, no less!  And you know what, it wasn’t even that close.

As a lifelong Laker fan dating back to the days of Kareem and Magic, this crash and burn ending is on one level a total bummer.

On another level, however, it’s a somewhat poetic, KOAN-like expression of essential truth.

Let me explain. The Lakers, and the Zen of Phil Jackson (PJ), are about an offensive scheme known as The Triangle, which is mostly about passing, cutting and spacing to create opportunistic, high percentage scoring situations.

Unfortunately, so much of the defensive edge in the triangle is predicated upon the offense clicking.

Thus, kill the triangle and you kill the Lakers.

Boston figured this out and plays true team D in terms of closeouts, spacing management and isolation avoidance so it was a bloody mess, and despite the Lakers winning two games in this series, there was never a full game where the Lakers were "The Lakers" in terms of flow, poise and execution.

The riddle for PJ and the Lakers in the off-season is with the Western Conference getting so much better, and Boston and Detroit being strong D types of teams, you need to have a DIFFERENT LOOK for when the opponent is crushing the triangle.

For all of the talk that PJ made after the Pau Gasol deal about all of the different styles the team could play depending on the opponent, there really was only one look that the Lakers threw out there.

It’s like the fastball pitcher who needs a second or third killer pitch to be lethal and invincible.

All of that said, I was actually pretty serene as the Lakers were getting killed. Why? They go into the off-season with no illusions that another year of the same pitch will be good enough to win the championship.

This is the KOAN, the paradox and the riddle that will stick in the guts of the (once) mighty Lakers in the coming months, like a fine meal turned rotten having been exposed too long to the elements.

And you know what, as hard as that truth is, they are pretty darn close to phenomenal if they can figure out the above riddle, and pick up an off-the-bench gamer or two (ala James Posey) during the off-season.

Honestly, I never understood why the Lakers were so heavily favored, as much as I love them and as proud as I am of their accomplishments.

It is generally a truism that the best D beats the best offense.

Nothing should take away from a great year, though -- one of the sweetest and most magical I have experienced as a Laker fan -- albeit one with a very sour ending.

A final note. I would be remiss if I did not give props to Kurt and the gang at Forum Blue & Gold, a site full of true, knowledgeable gamers.  This site really made the playoffs extra special. Here is their post on the finals blowout, ‘There’s Got to Be a Morning After.’

Related Links:

1. Lakers-Celts and the Sporting Metaphor: on sporting metaphors and rivalries.
   

NBA Draft Diary by Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons of ESPN is the best after capturing the off-beat, ridiculous spectacle that is professional sports.  In his diary of the 2006 NBA draft, he snapshots the event in all of its glory.  For those who have followed the Titanic that is Isiah Thomas' captain-ing of the Knicks into an iceberg of epic proportions, the excerpt that folllows is worth a chuckle.

9:36 -- There are those moments in sports when you expect something great, and then it actually happens. And then there are those rare moments in sports when you expect something great, and something even greater happens. This was one of those moments: The Knicks on the clock, the crowd pushing for Marcus Williams, and then ...

--Stern: "With the 20th pick, the New York Knicks select ... Renaldo Balkman."

(Crowd explodes in horror.)

--Stern (over the boos): "Renaldo is not here."

--Patrick (without missing a beat): "And it's probably a good thing."

(Shot of a beaten-down Spike Lee laughing hysterically.)

Kathy Willens/AP Photo

The rioting will not stop here.

9:36 -- That was fantastic. Everyone kept e-mailing me to write about Isiah and the Knicks last week ... what else was there to say? OF COURSE Isiah was meant to coach this team as his final job in the NBA before retiring to a life of greeting people at casinos and doing informercials. If somebody clogs your toilet, you ask him to clean up the mess. That's just the way life works. I'm telling you, we're going to remember the Isiah/Knicks Era the same way we remember things like Enron, the Hindenberg and the Bay of Pigs. It's reached that level. I don't know what else to say. Honestly. I have Knicks fans e-mailing me every day asking me if it's OK to root against their own team. What else can you say at this point?

(Wait, I know ... Renaldo Balkman!)

9:37 -- A stammering Bilas sets off three minutes of Isiah-bashing by saying, "This to me is a stunner, I'm stunned. This is a second-round player. Nobody else would have taken him in the first round," followed by Greg Anthony using the word "befuddling" and Stephen A. (maybe for the first time ever) admitting, "I'm almost speechless."

I mean, when Stephen A. is almost speechless ...

9:39 -- Who's going to be the first one to make the obligatory "Is it possible that Isiah thought he was taking Rolando Blackman?" joke. Screw it, I'll do it.

The definition of a great man

Chuck Klosterman, writing in the Page 2 section of ESPN.com, has written a really interesting read analyzing why Phil Jackson, he of the many basketball championships, took on the mess that is the Los Angeles Lakers these days. 

Fundamentally, Klosterman argues that in order to become a great man, Phil Jackson must finally taste failure.

As a student of both sports metaphors and the pattern recognition of history, I found this a compelling read.

Here is an excerpt:

• As such, historical figures are remembered for the things they accomplish and the victories they win -- if life were a movie, the collection of those achievements would comprise the plot. But people are always defined by their greatest failure. You learn very little about a man's character from his success; truth exists only within adversity. And adversity is what Jackson needs to define himself as A Great Man; without it, he's just a tall dude from Williston High School who won a lot of games with a lot of talent.

Check out the full article HERE.

Who's the Manny: ESPN Page 2

Bill Simmon's has a pretty funny analysis of the trade that never was of Manny Ramirez last week.  I scratched my head when the rumors popped up for the reasons touched in the article but also remember the other times the "Manny to..." rumors have popped up so nothing would have surprised.  Here's the excerpt:

Which raises the second point …

2. Manny is completely nuts
Completely. Totally. After his agent agreed to contract terms with Boston five years ago, Manny threw out one final condition -- the Sox also needed to hire the guy who set up the pitching machine for him in Cleveland (trivia answer: Frankie Mancini). So his agent had to go back to Boston GM Dan Duquette, who said, "Yes, we'll hire the pitching machine guy if that makes him happy." Only the pitching machine guy didn't want to leave Cleveland. Manny decided to come, anyway.

Here's the point: He's a lunatic, but in a functional way. Two or three times a year, something sets him off, and it could be anything -- someone borrowed his Aqua Velva without asking, Louisville Slugger forgot to send him a new box of bats, his wife accidentally erased a movie from their TiVo, and so on. And that's it. He's a mess for two weeks. Unlike someone like Bonzi Wells or Terrell Owens, he doesn't antagonize reporters, blast other teammates or swear at his coach. He's not a negative presence.

NBA's rank and file: ESPN's Page 2

Bill Simmon’s often hilarious rankings of the top 40 players in the NBA.  If you are halfway knowledgeable on the players and the personalities, a must read.  Here is an excerpt on Shaquille O’Neal:

6. Shaquille O'Neal – If only because of the way he hooked the Heat franchise up to the Juvenation Machine last season. With that said, I think the days of "Shaq: Unstoppable Force" are winding down to a close. Just seems like his body is slowly breaking down. I'm looking forward to his retirement – it's just going to be a series of stories along the lines of:

"Shaq quits job as sheriff in small Louisiana town, decides to become a professional alligator wrestler."

"Shaq accepts job as host of "Fear Factor;" Joe Rogan reportedly furious."

"Shaq hired as America West pilot, resigns from NASA's astronaut program."

"Notorious serial killer brought down by FBI and Shaq."