duncan228
04-18-2009, 01:52 PM
I used the headline from my newspaper rather than the online one.
Lakers' status as favorites enhanced by Garnett's injury (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-team-garnett-2366835-last-season)
With Kevin Garnett projected out for the postseason, the Celtics-mad Lakers are torn between disappointment and practicality as it pertains to them.
Kevin Ding
The Orange County Register
EL SEGUNDO – They say that the defending champions are always the team to beat.
So ladies and gentlemen, as we enter the 2009 NBA playoffs, please welcome your defending champions … the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Boston Celtics? Sure, they beat the Lakers for that 2008 title, but those Celts are long gone without Kevin Garnett. Boston did it with defense last season, and Garnett was the fire-starter for that defense both on court and in spirit. Leon Powe and Glen Davis can score, but Powe will just foul you hard and Davis will just stand there soft.
On some level, no Garnett is a disappointment to the Lakers, no matter that Cleveland emerged as the more relevant team in the East to discuss this regular season.
Both Jerry Buss and Kobe Bryant have said in firm, plain words that they want this championship parade to run all the way from Boston Harbor to Figueroa Street. Phil Jackson remains so mind-boggled by last June’s Beantown beating that he referred the other day to Celtics coach Doc Rivers being the “runaway” winner of the last Coach of the Year award (um, New Orleans’ Byron Scott actually got nearly twice as many votes as runner-up Rivers).
The Lakers have unclenched their fists maybe a few millimeters in the pinky fingers regarding their obsession with Boston over the course of this long season, but they remain green with envy. So it’s big news for them that Rivers does not expect Garnett’s knee to let him play this postseason.
Although Garnett’s absence diminishes the challenge of winning this title, Lamar Odom pointed out Thursday how it diminishes the threat of losing it, too.
Odom made clear his respect for Garnett and never wishing ill on anyone, but said: “Well, we want to win. So, no disrespect to their team, but I can’t count how many players they have.”
But let’s just count how many players the 2008 NBA final four teams have: Boston doesn’t have the injured Garnett. Detroit is the East’s No. 8 seed and doesn’t have traded Chauncey Billups (or the traded-for Allen Iverson). San Antonio doesn’t have the injured Manu Ginobili.
The Lakers have everybody and more.
The Lakers have upgraded since last June from Ronny Turiaf, Vladimir Radmanovic and Chris Mihm to Andrew Bynum, Shannon Brown and Josh Powell. And that’s not even putting in perspective how much more relevant Trevor Ariza is this year compared to last year, when he was just coming back from a four-month injury layoff.
I wrote months ago that it was a toss-up but I was going with Cleveland as my predicted East champ over Boston just because I liked the Cavaliers’ chemistry … and I thought something – an injury to an aging star being the foremost threat – would go wrong for the Celtics.
That’s the risk the Celtics ran in going for the quick fix. Bear in mind that they were the first team in NBA history to win a title with all three top scorers age 30-something.
Meanwhile, the Lakers only have two players on their whole team in that range: Kobe Bryant, 30, and Derek Fisher, 34. That’s how much youth the Lakers have to go with the invaluable experience gained from that maximum postseason run last spring. Even before Garnett was wiped off the playoff map, no team could compare with the Lakers’ degree of enthusiasm and experience in hunting this title.
Cleveland did make it to the NBA Finals two years ago but was nowhere close to the second-best team in the league at the time – as seen by the way the Cavs scurried into San Antonio’s dustpan in just four games. These Cavaliers would still be more like last season’s Lakers in being more thrilled to reach the final round than intent on winning the final round.
The Lakers do not have nearly as many fancy handshakes or choreographed celebrations as this team led solely by the 24-year-old LeBron James. Much of the Lakers’ youthful exuberance comes in the form of Bynum, who missed that whole playoff run last season.
Bynum, 21, referred to himself as “a little bit excited and a little bit anxious” about these playoffs to come and was certain he would be fueled by extra adrenaline. He gave thanks that he plays a position well suited to that fuel, saying: “The harder I play, the closer to the rim I’ll get.”
Yet Bynum is more than balanced by teammates entering this postseason with the kind of uncomplicated mindsets that would make KG proud.
“Championship,” Luke Walton said Thursday, “or it’s a failure as a season.”
That’s the kind of bottom-line thinking that over-the-top teams carry to the end. The Lakers didn’t maintain it last June, whereas the Celtics did.
Odom is quite right about the Lakers’ bottom line with Garnett: If he’s gone, so is the only other team out there that truly understands how precious these championship opportunities are.
Lakers' status as favorites enhanced by Garnett's injury (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-team-garnett-2366835-last-season)
With Kevin Garnett projected out for the postseason, the Celtics-mad Lakers are torn between disappointment and practicality as it pertains to them.
Kevin Ding
The Orange County Register
EL SEGUNDO – They say that the defending champions are always the team to beat.
So ladies and gentlemen, as we enter the 2009 NBA playoffs, please welcome your defending champions … the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Boston Celtics? Sure, they beat the Lakers for that 2008 title, but those Celts are long gone without Kevin Garnett. Boston did it with defense last season, and Garnett was the fire-starter for that defense both on court and in spirit. Leon Powe and Glen Davis can score, but Powe will just foul you hard and Davis will just stand there soft.
On some level, no Garnett is a disappointment to the Lakers, no matter that Cleveland emerged as the more relevant team in the East to discuss this regular season.
Both Jerry Buss and Kobe Bryant have said in firm, plain words that they want this championship parade to run all the way from Boston Harbor to Figueroa Street. Phil Jackson remains so mind-boggled by last June’s Beantown beating that he referred the other day to Celtics coach Doc Rivers being the “runaway” winner of the last Coach of the Year award (um, New Orleans’ Byron Scott actually got nearly twice as many votes as runner-up Rivers).
The Lakers have unclenched their fists maybe a few millimeters in the pinky fingers regarding their obsession with Boston over the course of this long season, but they remain green with envy. So it’s big news for them that Rivers does not expect Garnett’s knee to let him play this postseason.
Although Garnett’s absence diminishes the challenge of winning this title, Lamar Odom pointed out Thursday how it diminishes the threat of losing it, too.
Odom made clear his respect for Garnett and never wishing ill on anyone, but said: “Well, we want to win. So, no disrespect to their team, but I can’t count how many players they have.”
But let’s just count how many players the 2008 NBA final four teams have: Boston doesn’t have the injured Garnett. Detroit is the East’s No. 8 seed and doesn’t have traded Chauncey Billups (or the traded-for Allen Iverson). San Antonio doesn’t have the injured Manu Ginobili.
The Lakers have everybody and more.
The Lakers have upgraded since last June from Ronny Turiaf, Vladimir Radmanovic and Chris Mihm to Andrew Bynum, Shannon Brown and Josh Powell. And that’s not even putting in perspective how much more relevant Trevor Ariza is this year compared to last year, when he was just coming back from a four-month injury layoff.
I wrote months ago that it was a toss-up but I was going with Cleveland as my predicted East champ over Boston just because I liked the Cavaliers’ chemistry … and I thought something – an injury to an aging star being the foremost threat – would go wrong for the Celtics.
That’s the risk the Celtics ran in going for the quick fix. Bear in mind that they were the first team in NBA history to win a title with all three top scorers age 30-something.
Meanwhile, the Lakers only have two players on their whole team in that range: Kobe Bryant, 30, and Derek Fisher, 34. That’s how much youth the Lakers have to go with the invaluable experience gained from that maximum postseason run last spring. Even before Garnett was wiped off the playoff map, no team could compare with the Lakers’ degree of enthusiasm and experience in hunting this title.
Cleveland did make it to the NBA Finals two years ago but was nowhere close to the second-best team in the league at the time – as seen by the way the Cavs scurried into San Antonio’s dustpan in just four games. These Cavaliers would still be more like last season’s Lakers in being more thrilled to reach the final round than intent on winning the final round.
The Lakers do not have nearly as many fancy handshakes or choreographed celebrations as this team led solely by the 24-year-old LeBron James. Much of the Lakers’ youthful exuberance comes in the form of Bynum, who missed that whole playoff run last season.
Bynum, 21, referred to himself as “a little bit excited and a little bit anxious” about these playoffs to come and was certain he would be fueled by extra adrenaline. He gave thanks that he plays a position well suited to that fuel, saying: “The harder I play, the closer to the rim I’ll get.”
Yet Bynum is more than balanced by teammates entering this postseason with the kind of uncomplicated mindsets that would make KG proud.
“Championship,” Luke Walton said Thursday, “or it’s a failure as a season.”
That’s the kind of bottom-line thinking that over-the-top teams carry to the end. The Lakers didn’t maintain it last June, whereas the Celtics did.
Odom is quite right about the Lakers’ bottom line with Garnett: If he’s gone, so is the only other team out there that truly understands how precious these championship opportunities are.