duncan228
05-13-2009, 01:12 PM
Maddeningly inconsistent Lakers show they're Big Fish (http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11740794)
By Ramona Shelburne
Special to CBSSports.com
I suppose we were easy targets. Within earshot, right in front of him and clearly clicking through some e-mails on our computer screens instead of paying exceptionally close attention to D.J. Mbenga's post moves as the final minutes of the Lakers whopping 118-78 thrashing of the Rockets ticked off the clock.
But dang, taunting a sportswriter? That's a new one.
Of course, so was doing the wave with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. And not merely one time around the Staples Center crowd. The rippling, roaring wave went around at least five or six times.
Normally at the end of big victories, the fans at Staples Center at least have the drama of whether the Lakers will earn them free tacos from Jack in the Box by holding their opponent under 100 points.
But on this night, with the Lakers out in front by as many as 42 points and the Rockets just trying to crack 70, there wasn't really any suspense in that either.
Hence the bored frat boy in a Cleveland jersey sitting in Section 108 starting in on the sportswriters on press row in front of him.
The only thing more bizarre was the overwhelming feeling that if the Lakers had been even remotely this energized before their embarrassing Game 4 loss in Houston on Sunday, the only ones climbing back on a plane to Houston Wednesday would be the Rockets, with their playbooks in hand.
"I don't know why we can't do this every game," Lakers forward Trevor Ariza admitted after the game. "That's a good question. But it's a good thing we got it done tonight."
A couple lockers down, Derek Fisher, who plays the role of veteran sage for this youthful group, did his best instant psychoanalysis of the Lakers' maddening inconsistency.
From Game 4 to Game 5, in the span of two days, the teams combined for a 71-point swing.
"From Day 1 to Day 201, however many days it takes from training camp all the way to win a championship, it is totally impossible to stay at that level, that championship level," Fisher said.
"But what you have to be capable of and willing to do, is accept that when you have a game like tonight, or you have a game like Sunday, each game requires a completely new set of energy and skills and attitude and focus, it's just not easy to bottle that up and carry it with you, every time out there.
"There's just too many variables in team sports to say that you're going to see the same thing you saw two nights ago, the next time out.
"To say we recaptured the magic [Tuesday] is to say that Thursday we're going to play the same way. It's just not how this works. We could shoot 39 percent and have to play defense and rebound and hustle and take charges and figure out a way to win the game."
Ah, but in Lakerland it seems to happen quite a bit, even if it doesn't always result in an embarrassing loss.
Most of the time they just blow a 22-point lead, have to take the ice packs off their knees and send their starters back into the game to close it out.
Which means that it was a minor accomplishment none of the Lakers players stood up and joined the wave as it was circling Staples Center.
"I haven't seen that in a long time," forward Luke Walton said. "That's more of a baseball thing. It was cool, but I think we did a good job of keeping our focus through that. A lot of times we get out to big leads and the other team gets back into it. But we were on each other to make sure that we got a lead and kept trying to push it higher.
"So no, we weren't doing the wave, we were focused out there."
In the two-day period between the Mother's Day massacre and the mercy-rule victory Tuesday, the Lakers put on a calm face in front of the cameras and tried to portray a confident front.
Which they had, of course, still knowing full well they were the more talented team in the series. But behind closed doors, coach Phil Jackson made them watch, in agonizing detail, every last brilliant Rockets play from Game 4.
"We've watched a lot of film the past two days and we saw how gross that was," Walton said. "How easy they were penetrating our defense and getting kick-out shots and layups. Like I said, as competitors, you take that personal."
As is his habit during the postseason, Jackson spliced in clips from a movie to underscore his points.
Walton said the team has been watching the Tim Burton classic, Big Fish, this week, though it's not immediately clear if the theme relates to the surreal stories the narrator in the film likes to tell about his life -- like would you believe the Rockets, without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, blew out the Lakers in Game 4? -- or the incredible, sometimes fantastical journey a team must make through the postseason if it wants to win a title.
Fisher, who won three titles in Los Angeles earlier this decade, thinks it's the latter. Patience, he said, is just as important this time of year as perseverance.
"I don't think it was until we won that first championship in 2000. I don't think it's until you do it, that you understand what you did, to do it," Fisher said, of the point in his career he understood how much patience it took to win an NBA title.
"Until you do it, you just don't understand. In 2000, we went five games against Sacramento in the first round after going up 2-0. The second round was a little easier because Tim Duncan was hurt.
"Then we go up three games to one on Portland after winning on their court, come back to L.A. and lose, go up to Portland and lose, then we're down 15 in Game 7 and have a miraculous comeback. We win that game, go on to the Finals and have a tough six-game series against the Pacers.
"How quickly we forget, though? That's what it took just to win the first championship."
Like the movie, it sounds a bit far-fetched in the retelling, even though it was all true.
So, too, could be the night Houston suffered its worst-ever postseason loss only two days after one of its greatest playoff victories.
The night sportswriters got heckled from the stands, the wave went around Staples Center and an appearance by D.J. Mbenga nearly brought the house down.
If the Lakers end up fulfilling their manifest destiny in June, it'll make for some kind of fish story.
By Ramona Shelburne
Special to CBSSports.com
I suppose we were easy targets. Within earshot, right in front of him and clearly clicking through some e-mails on our computer screens instead of paying exceptionally close attention to D.J. Mbenga's post moves as the final minutes of the Lakers whopping 118-78 thrashing of the Rockets ticked off the clock.
But dang, taunting a sportswriter? That's a new one.
Of course, so was doing the wave with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. And not merely one time around the Staples Center crowd. The rippling, roaring wave went around at least five or six times.
Normally at the end of big victories, the fans at Staples Center at least have the drama of whether the Lakers will earn them free tacos from Jack in the Box by holding their opponent under 100 points.
But on this night, with the Lakers out in front by as many as 42 points and the Rockets just trying to crack 70, there wasn't really any suspense in that either.
Hence the bored frat boy in a Cleveland jersey sitting in Section 108 starting in on the sportswriters on press row in front of him.
The only thing more bizarre was the overwhelming feeling that if the Lakers had been even remotely this energized before their embarrassing Game 4 loss in Houston on Sunday, the only ones climbing back on a plane to Houston Wednesday would be the Rockets, with their playbooks in hand.
"I don't know why we can't do this every game," Lakers forward Trevor Ariza admitted after the game. "That's a good question. But it's a good thing we got it done tonight."
A couple lockers down, Derek Fisher, who plays the role of veteran sage for this youthful group, did his best instant psychoanalysis of the Lakers' maddening inconsistency.
From Game 4 to Game 5, in the span of two days, the teams combined for a 71-point swing.
"From Day 1 to Day 201, however many days it takes from training camp all the way to win a championship, it is totally impossible to stay at that level, that championship level," Fisher said.
"But what you have to be capable of and willing to do, is accept that when you have a game like tonight, or you have a game like Sunday, each game requires a completely new set of energy and skills and attitude and focus, it's just not easy to bottle that up and carry it with you, every time out there.
"There's just too many variables in team sports to say that you're going to see the same thing you saw two nights ago, the next time out.
"To say we recaptured the magic [Tuesday] is to say that Thursday we're going to play the same way. It's just not how this works. We could shoot 39 percent and have to play defense and rebound and hustle and take charges and figure out a way to win the game."
Ah, but in Lakerland it seems to happen quite a bit, even if it doesn't always result in an embarrassing loss.
Most of the time they just blow a 22-point lead, have to take the ice packs off their knees and send their starters back into the game to close it out.
Which means that it was a minor accomplishment none of the Lakers players stood up and joined the wave as it was circling Staples Center.
"I haven't seen that in a long time," forward Luke Walton said. "That's more of a baseball thing. It was cool, but I think we did a good job of keeping our focus through that. A lot of times we get out to big leads and the other team gets back into it. But we were on each other to make sure that we got a lead and kept trying to push it higher.
"So no, we weren't doing the wave, we were focused out there."
In the two-day period between the Mother's Day massacre and the mercy-rule victory Tuesday, the Lakers put on a calm face in front of the cameras and tried to portray a confident front.
Which they had, of course, still knowing full well they were the more talented team in the series. But behind closed doors, coach Phil Jackson made them watch, in agonizing detail, every last brilliant Rockets play from Game 4.
"We've watched a lot of film the past two days and we saw how gross that was," Walton said. "How easy they were penetrating our defense and getting kick-out shots and layups. Like I said, as competitors, you take that personal."
As is his habit during the postseason, Jackson spliced in clips from a movie to underscore his points.
Walton said the team has been watching the Tim Burton classic, Big Fish, this week, though it's not immediately clear if the theme relates to the surreal stories the narrator in the film likes to tell about his life -- like would you believe the Rockets, without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, blew out the Lakers in Game 4? -- or the incredible, sometimes fantastical journey a team must make through the postseason if it wants to win a title.
Fisher, who won three titles in Los Angeles earlier this decade, thinks it's the latter. Patience, he said, is just as important this time of year as perseverance.
"I don't think it was until we won that first championship in 2000. I don't think it's until you do it, that you understand what you did, to do it," Fisher said, of the point in his career he understood how much patience it took to win an NBA title.
"Until you do it, you just don't understand. In 2000, we went five games against Sacramento in the first round after going up 2-0. The second round was a little easier because Tim Duncan was hurt.
"Then we go up three games to one on Portland after winning on their court, come back to L.A. and lose, go up to Portland and lose, then we're down 15 in Game 7 and have a miraculous comeback. We win that game, go on to the Finals and have a tough six-game series against the Pacers.
"How quickly we forget, though? That's what it took just to win the first championship."
Like the movie, it sounds a bit far-fetched in the retelling, even though it was all true.
So, too, could be the night Houston suffered its worst-ever postseason loss only two days after one of its greatest playoff victories.
The night sportswriters got heckled from the stands, the wave went around Staples Center and an appearance by D.J. Mbenga nearly brought the house down.
If the Lakers end up fulfilling their manifest destiny in June, it'll make for some kind of fish story.