duncan228
06-18-2008, 11:26 PM
The Wednesday column he refers to is after this one.
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/670166.html
On second thought, international players are tough enough to win titles
Jason Whitlock
I regret my Wednesday column, the rant after the Boston Celtics whipped the Los Angeles Lakers in the clinching-game of the NBA finals. Bad, flawed column.
Yeah, it was a tough deadline, and the game was a boring rout, but I really blew it.
All series I wanted to examine the international Lakers vs. the homegrown Celtics. It was an Olympic preview and, more interestingly, quite a contrast from the 1980s Lakers-Celtics rivalry when the Celtics were the boys next door and the Lakers were the boyz from the ‘hood.
Well, I spent so much time beating up Kevin Garnett for avoiding the paint at the offensive end and praising Paul Pierce that I never got around to writing about the contrasting rosters. So, Tuesday night, with the Celtics bashing the Lakers, I threw together my thoughts on deadline.
I forgot one thing: The San Antonio Spurs, a franchise I praised, won several championships with Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina) and Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands).
Look, I could defend the column if I wanted to be argumentative. Duncan played college ball in the United States. Those Spurs teams got their defensive toughness from homegrown Bruce Bowen. David Robinson also played on the first championship squad.
Those excuses don’t cover up that I didn’t craft a defensible column. My opinion was wrong. And a couple of smart e-mailers reminded me of how wrong I was bright and early Wednesday morning.
Tony Byergo was the first to throw the Spurs in my face.
“You seem to have quickly forgotten the Spurs, who won three of the last five titles built on Duncan, Parker and Ginobili — and built on defense. And none learned on the American playgrounds,” Byergo wrote.
Busted.
The column should’ve been absolutely flipped. I should’ve written that it’s a good sign that American-born players have responded to the competition from international players by adopting a more selfless style of play.
That’s what happened. Three of the league’s biggest stars — Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — put their egos aside and pursued a championship the San Antonio way. Rather than worrying about putting up numbers, The Big Three allowed Doc Rivers to make defense the signature of the Boston team.
What Boston just accomplished is a positive byproduct of the NBA’s influx of international players. And it’s a sign that USA Basketball has a chance to win the gold medal in the upcoming Olympics. American players now understand what it takes to beat international players.
They have to do the little things well.
When American-born players do the little things — draw charges, get back on defense rather than bicker with the refs, share the basketball — they’re still impossible to beat, as good as the original Dream Team.
The finals were pretty one-sided. The Celtics should’ve swept. They were clearly superior to the Lakers and their international roster of softies.
I just blew it. By my count, this is the second time in 15 years I’ve stated an inaccurate opinion in my column. The only other inaccurate opinion I can remember writing is that the 1998 Chiefs would go 16-0.
I searched The Star library most of Wednesday and discovered I’ve written 3,125 columns for the newspaper. My opinion has been right 3,123 times, and I’ve been wrong twice. That’s a pretty good percentage, a tad higher than George Brett in 1980, and it destroys George’s career average.
I’m still on pace for the Hall of Fame, even if you insist on saying I was wrong about Jeff George. I wasn’t. But I’m in a giving mood and will give you that one just to avoid disagreement.
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/668737.html
Trophy goes to the toughest team
By Jason Whitlock
The Celtics’ Paul Pierce, who scored 17 points in the game, shot the ball over the Lakers’ Ronny Turiaf in the first half of Tuesday’s game six in Boston. The Celtics won the game and their first title since 1986. BOSTON | It’s funny the generalizations we can make without creating a fuss.
Now that the Boston Celtics have exposed the Los Angeles Lakers as frauds, much of the NBA offseason will be spent discussing why it’s nearly impossible to win pro basketball’s most prestigious title with a roster polluted with non-American players.
Oh, of course, this discussion will only transpire after we in the media finish blaming Kobe Bryant for not dragging LA’s collection of soft, spot-up shooters to the championship. The first rule in the NBA is to blame Kobe for whatever goes wrong.
Plenty went wrong for the Lakers on Tuesday night at TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics closed out the NBA finals with a finishing kick below the belt that probably wouldn’t even fly in the UFC, blasting the Lakers 131-92.
Yeah, the Lakers quit. They had no interest in extending this series to seven games. I’m not sure they wanted to leave Los Angeles on Sunday. They did everything they could to lose game five, but the Celtics wouldn’t cooperate.
Anyway, Kobe will get blamed for all of this. He’s an easy target, far more inviting than Phil Jackson, who is 3-8 in his last 11 NBA finals games.
After we’re done trashing Kobe and ranting that a Michael Jordan-led team would never get humiliated in an elimination game, we’ll turn our attention to Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic, Sasha Vujacic and the overall lack of toughness that is a byproduct of a roster that is too international.
We Are The World works in the music industry and bombs in the NBA, or at least that’s what we’re going to hear until the Olympics tip off.
The Celtics just won their 17th title with an all-homegrown playoff roster of brothas. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, James Posey, P.J. Brown, Eddie House, Leon Powe, Glen Davis, Tony Allen and Sam Cassell developed the toughness and tenacity that lifted the Celtics on American playgrounds.
We may no longer make the best cars, but we still produce the toughest and most reliable NBA players. No one is going to question that after this series, no matter what happens in the Olympics.
A team of Americans defend, take charges and refuse to surrender the lane to high-scoring shooting guards.
When Kobe tried to get to the rim, he found Allen, Posey, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins and head coach Doc Rivers all standing in his path. When Pierce played pick-and-roll, slashed to the bucket, Vujacic, Radmanovic and Luke Walton grabbed Pierce’s free hand and escorted him to the basket.
That was the difference in this series. Pierce and the Celtics went anywhere they wanted on the court. International players are more fundamentally sound than our players at the offensive end, but they can’t match American players’ mental and physical versatility on the defensive end.
Tuesday night in the clincher, when the Celtics built a 23-point halftime lead, Garnett finally took full advantage of his freedom to roam the low post, scoring 17 first-half points on eight-of-12 shooting.
Gasol was overwhelmed. Phil Jackson tossed little-used reserve Ronny Turiaf on the court, trying to give the Lakers some in-the-paint toughness and energy. It was too Turiaf, too late. Boston was off and not to be denied.
I changed my return flight from Friday to this morning at halftime. Boston’s commitment to defense made a Lakers rally an impossibility. You don’t cough up 20-point leads when the identity of your team is defense.
Nope, offensive teams blow 24-point leads, because offensive teams have shooting slumps. Defense is pretty slump-proof. It’s dependent on effort.
Boston’s effort was superior in this series from the opening tip. Boston’s best player (Pierce) asked to guard Kobe Bryant in the second half of game four. Pierce didn’t shut down Kobe. The significance was that Pierce wanted the challenge of defending Kobe. Pierce bought into the message Doc Rivers preached all season.
“We play defense, we’re going to win a world championship,” Rivers said he told his team during their first meeting. “And that’s exactly what they did. They were phenomenal all year. They played like a team all year.”
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/670166.html
On second thought, international players are tough enough to win titles
Jason Whitlock
I regret my Wednesday column, the rant after the Boston Celtics whipped the Los Angeles Lakers in the clinching-game of the NBA finals. Bad, flawed column.
Yeah, it was a tough deadline, and the game was a boring rout, but I really blew it.
All series I wanted to examine the international Lakers vs. the homegrown Celtics. It was an Olympic preview and, more interestingly, quite a contrast from the 1980s Lakers-Celtics rivalry when the Celtics were the boys next door and the Lakers were the boyz from the ‘hood.
Well, I spent so much time beating up Kevin Garnett for avoiding the paint at the offensive end and praising Paul Pierce that I never got around to writing about the contrasting rosters. So, Tuesday night, with the Celtics bashing the Lakers, I threw together my thoughts on deadline.
I forgot one thing: The San Antonio Spurs, a franchise I praised, won several championships with Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina) and Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands).
Look, I could defend the column if I wanted to be argumentative. Duncan played college ball in the United States. Those Spurs teams got their defensive toughness from homegrown Bruce Bowen. David Robinson also played on the first championship squad.
Those excuses don’t cover up that I didn’t craft a defensible column. My opinion was wrong. And a couple of smart e-mailers reminded me of how wrong I was bright and early Wednesday morning.
Tony Byergo was the first to throw the Spurs in my face.
“You seem to have quickly forgotten the Spurs, who won three of the last five titles built on Duncan, Parker and Ginobili — and built on defense. And none learned on the American playgrounds,” Byergo wrote.
Busted.
The column should’ve been absolutely flipped. I should’ve written that it’s a good sign that American-born players have responded to the competition from international players by adopting a more selfless style of play.
That’s what happened. Three of the league’s biggest stars — Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — put their egos aside and pursued a championship the San Antonio way. Rather than worrying about putting up numbers, The Big Three allowed Doc Rivers to make defense the signature of the Boston team.
What Boston just accomplished is a positive byproduct of the NBA’s influx of international players. And it’s a sign that USA Basketball has a chance to win the gold medal in the upcoming Olympics. American players now understand what it takes to beat international players.
They have to do the little things well.
When American-born players do the little things — draw charges, get back on defense rather than bicker with the refs, share the basketball — they’re still impossible to beat, as good as the original Dream Team.
The finals were pretty one-sided. The Celtics should’ve swept. They were clearly superior to the Lakers and their international roster of softies.
I just blew it. By my count, this is the second time in 15 years I’ve stated an inaccurate opinion in my column. The only other inaccurate opinion I can remember writing is that the 1998 Chiefs would go 16-0.
I searched The Star library most of Wednesday and discovered I’ve written 3,125 columns for the newspaper. My opinion has been right 3,123 times, and I’ve been wrong twice. That’s a pretty good percentage, a tad higher than George Brett in 1980, and it destroys George’s career average.
I’m still on pace for the Hall of Fame, even if you insist on saying I was wrong about Jeff George. I wasn’t. But I’m in a giving mood and will give you that one just to avoid disagreement.
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/668737.html
Trophy goes to the toughest team
By Jason Whitlock
The Celtics’ Paul Pierce, who scored 17 points in the game, shot the ball over the Lakers’ Ronny Turiaf in the first half of Tuesday’s game six in Boston. The Celtics won the game and their first title since 1986. BOSTON | It’s funny the generalizations we can make without creating a fuss.
Now that the Boston Celtics have exposed the Los Angeles Lakers as frauds, much of the NBA offseason will be spent discussing why it’s nearly impossible to win pro basketball’s most prestigious title with a roster polluted with non-American players.
Oh, of course, this discussion will only transpire after we in the media finish blaming Kobe Bryant for not dragging LA’s collection of soft, spot-up shooters to the championship. The first rule in the NBA is to blame Kobe for whatever goes wrong.
Plenty went wrong for the Lakers on Tuesday night at TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics closed out the NBA finals with a finishing kick below the belt that probably wouldn’t even fly in the UFC, blasting the Lakers 131-92.
Yeah, the Lakers quit. They had no interest in extending this series to seven games. I’m not sure they wanted to leave Los Angeles on Sunday. They did everything they could to lose game five, but the Celtics wouldn’t cooperate.
Anyway, Kobe will get blamed for all of this. He’s an easy target, far more inviting than Phil Jackson, who is 3-8 in his last 11 NBA finals games.
After we’re done trashing Kobe and ranting that a Michael Jordan-led team would never get humiliated in an elimination game, we’ll turn our attention to Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic, Sasha Vujacic and the overall lack of toughness that is a byproduct of a roster that is too international.
We Are The World works in the music industry and bombs in the NBA, or at least that’s what we’re going to hear until the Olympics tip off.
The Celtics just won their 17th title with an all-homegrown playoff roster of brothas. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, James Posey, P.J. Brown, Eddie House, Leon Powe, Glen Davis, Tony Allen and Sam Cassell developed the toughness and tenacity that lifted the Celtics on American playgrounds.
We may no longer make the best cars, but we still produce the toughest and most reliable NBA players. No one is going to question that after this series, no matter what happens in the Olympics.
A team of Americans defend, take charges and refuse to surrender the lane to high-scoring shooting guards.
When Kobe tried to get to the rim, he found Allen, Posey, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins and head coach Doc Rivers all standing in his path. When Pierce played pick-and-roll, slashed to the bucket, Vujacic, Radmanovic and Luke Walton grabbed Pierce’s free hand and escorted him to the basket.
That was the difference in this series. Pierce and the Celtics went anywhere they wanted on the court. International players are more fundamentally sound than our players at the offensive end, but they can’t match American players’ mental and physical versatility on the defensive end.
Tuesday night in the clincher, when the Celtics built a 23-point halftime lead, Garnett finally took full advantage of his freedom to roam the low post, scoring 17 first-half points on eight-of-12 shooting.
Gasol was overwhelmed. Phil Jackson tossed little-used reserve Ronny Turiaf on the court, trying to give the Lakers some in-the-paint toughness and energy. It was too Turiaf, too late. Boston was off and not to be denied.
I changed my return flight from Friday to this morning at halftime. Boston’s commitment to defense made a Lakers rally an impossibility. You don’t cough up 20-point leads when the identity of your team is defense.
Nope, offensive teams blow 24-point leads, because offensive teams have shooting slumps. Defense is pretty slump-proof. It’s dependent on effort.
Boston’s effort was superior in this series from the opening tip. Boston’s best player (Pierce) asked to guard Kobe Bryant in the second half of game four. Pierce didn’t shut down Kobe. The significance was that Pierce wanted the challenge of defending Kobe. Pierce bought into the message Doc Rivers preached all season.
“We play defense, we’re going to win a world championship,” Rivers said he told his team during their first meeting. “And that’s exactly what they did. They were phenomenal all year. They played like a team all year.”