duncan228
02-04-2009, 12:22 PM
From the OC Register.
NBA: Where irrelevance happens (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nba-lakers-one-2298615-finals-today)
Jeff Miller
The NBA today is Kobe Bryant's 61, Andrew Bynum's knee and now Lamar Odom's response.
The NBA today is Mo Williams' 43, Anderson Varejao's clown hair and LeBron James' serious skills.
The NBA today is what Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are still and what Glen Davis, Leon Powe and Tony Allen will be in four months.
The NBA today is so much and so little, too, a 30-team gathering reduced, at the moment, to a three-team league, correct?
The Lakers, the Cavaliers, the Celtics and then what? The Magic? Not without Jameer Nelson. The Spurs? Pretty creaky. The Hornets, the Nuggets, the Trail Blazers? Not now and, who knows, possibly never.
Today, still nearly two weeks from the All-Star Game, close to 90 percent of the NBA's teams basically have been ruled by the masses as irrelevant.
At the risk of twisting millions of ankles, everyone has jumped to foregone conclusions.
Be careful.
The question isn't if the Lakers will make the Finals but rather what opponent will meet them there.
Easy does it.
It could be Cleveland or it could be Boston, but it couldn't possibly be anyone else.
Slow down.
Can it really be this simple, this predetermined as pro wrestling? Are the Lakers really this much of a certainty, even with one blossoming center now tied behind their backs?
The answer, despite what almost everyone seems to think, is no. Our professional sports follow a schedule, not a script. The Laker Girls, not the Laker boys, are the ones who are choreographed.
This thinking isn't great for the NBA, which loves to celebrate its global appeal but suddenly is being fitted inside Rhode Island.
But it sure is great for us, thanks to the Lakers, and isn't that all that matters? We weren't hired to sell this league in places like Oklahoma City, where even the halftime shows border on disastrous, a magician last month there nearly drowning.
Honestly, though, how much of a foregone conclusion were the Celtics last postseason, when they twice had to survive Game 7s just to reach the Finals? With Bynum now out, aren't the Lakers too soft inside again? And what happens if the Spurs find their springtime stride one last time?
The players are warned never to look past opponents, but the fans joyfully look past regular seasons … and recklessly past playoff rounds one, two and three.
It's easy to understand why so many Lakers followers obsess over every Luke Walton mistake; there's absolutely nothing outside this team to consume their thoughts.
Now, at least, they have Bynum's injury, his knee ligament the only one that ripped but people from San Clemente to San Dimas feeling the pain. And now the Lakers turn back to Odom, whose only consistency here has been his hairstyle.
Remember, it was just 12 months ago that the Western Conference was stacked to historical proportions. Chris Paul was emerging and the Rockets were surging and then Shaq was back in the conference.
We're not saying the Lakers are in any sort of real danger, just that it's up to them to reach the middle of June. The middle of June isn't going to come reaching for them.
Yet, from the opening tip, this hasn't been an NBA season as much as it has been an exercise in identifying who will have home-court advantage in Game 7 of the Finals.
The Pistons, the Heat and the Spurs each have won championships in the past five years. Right now, those teams might as well be the Thunder, the Wizards and — sorry to be so graphic — the Clippers.
Parody rules in professional basketball, the NBA mocked by its own top-heaviness. This quickly has become the bobblehead of sports leagues.
Imagine trying to buy into the NBA in Milwaukee, where no one gave the Bucks a chance before their best player was done for the season.
Or Utah, where the loyal support for the Jazz is more a reflection of the options presented by Salt Lake City than of the potential of cheering on an NBA champion.
Or Sacramento, where the fans famously ring cowbells but might as well now sling cow patties.
If we had to bet, we'd absolutely pick the Lakers — Bynum or not — to reach the Finals again. But we also had the Steelers minus-7 Sunday, and you know how that one turned out.
Keep in mind the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Cardinals recently reached the championship round in their sports.
Then again, we'd go with the Rays or Cardinals reaching the 2008-09 NBA Finals before 24 current NBA teams.
The Lakers are swimming in a kiddy pool of contenders, but even the shallowest puddles are potential hazards. Just ask that magician, the one who recently almost drowned on a basketball court.
NBA: Where irrelevance happens (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nba-lakers-one-2298615-finals-today)
Jeff Miller
The NBA today is Kobe Bryant's 61, Andrew Bynum's knee and now Lamar Odom's response.
The NBA today is Mo Williams' 43, Anderson Varejao's clown hair and LeBron James' serious skills.
The NBA today is what Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are still and what Glen Davis, Leon Powe and Tony Allen will be in four months.
The NBA today is so much and so little, too, a 30-team gathering reduced, at the moment, to a three-team league, correct?
The Lakers, the Cavaliers, the Celtics and then what? The Magic? Not without Jameer Nelson. The Spurs? Pretty creaky. The Hornets, the Nuggets, the Trail Blazers? Not now and, who knows, possibly never.
Today, still nearly two weeks from the All-Star Game, close to 90 percent of the NBA's teams basically have been ruled by the masses as irrelevant.
At the risk of twisting millions of ankles, everyone has jumped to foregone conclusions.
Be careful.
The question isn't if the Lakers will make the Finals but rather what opponent will meet them there.
Easy does it.
It could be Cleveland or it could be Boston, but it couldn't possibly be anyone else.
Slow down.
Can it really be this simple, this predetermined as pro wrestling? Are the Lakers really this much of a certainty, even with one blossoming center now tied behind their backs?
The answer, despite what almost everyone seems to think, is no. Our professional sports follow a schedule, not a script. The Laker Girls, not the Laker boys, are the ones who are choreographed.
This thinking isn't great for the NBA, which loves to celebrate its global appeal but suddenly is being fitted inside Rhode Island.
But it sure is great for us, thanks to the Lakers, and isn't that all that matters? We weren't hired to sell this league in places like Oklahoma City, where even the halftime shows border on disastrous, a magician last month there nearly drowning.
Honestly, though, how much of a foregone conclusion were the Celtics last postseason, when they twice had to survive Game 7s just to reach the Finals? With Bynum now out, aren't the Lakers too soft inside again? And what happens if the Spurs find their springtime stride one last time?
The players are warned never to look past opponents, but the fans joyfully look past regular seasons … and recklessly past playoff rounds one, two and three.
It's easy to understand why so many Lakers followers obsess over every Luke Walton mistake; there's absolutely nothing outside this team to consume their thoughts.
Now, at least, they have Bynum's injury, his knee ligament the only one that ripped but people from San Clemente to San Dimas feeling the pain. And now the Lakers turn back to Odom, whose only consistency here has been his hairstyle.
Remember, it was just 12 months ago that the Western Conference was stacked to historical proportions. Chris Paul was emerging and the Rockets were surging and then Shaq was back in the conference.
We're not saying the Lakers are in any sort of real danger, just that it's up to them to reach the middle of June. The middle of June isn't going to come reaching for them.
Yet, from the opening tip, this hasn't been an NBA season as much as it has been an exercise in identifying who will have home-court advantage in Game 7 of the Finals.
The Pistons, the Heat and the Spurs each have won championships in the past five years. Right now, those teams might as well be the Thunder, the Wizards and — sorry to be so graphic — the Clippers.
Parody rules in professional basketball, the NBA mocked by its own top-heaviness. This quickly has become the bobblehead of sports leagues.
Imagine trying to buy into the NBA in Milwaukee, where no one gave the Bucks a chance before their best player was done for the season.
Or Utah, where the loyal support for the Jazz is more a reflection of the options presented by Salt Lake City than of the potential of cheering on an NBA champion.
Or Sacramento, where the fans famously ring cowbells but might as well now sling cow patties.
If we had to bet, we'd absolutely pick the Lakers — Bynum or not — to reach the Finals again. But we also had the Steelers minus-7 Sunday, and you know how that one turned out.
Keep in mind the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Cardinals recently reached the championship round in their sports.
Then again, we'd go with the Rays or Cardinals reaching the 2008-09 NBA Finals before 24 current NBA teams.
The Lakers are swimming in a kiddy pool of contenders, but even the shallowest puddles are potential hazards. Just ask that magician, the one who recently almost drowned on a basketball court.