Going Deep
’08 Finals don’t live up to billing
But the new Lakers-Celtics will get better
Feel a little nostalgic this past June?
Feel like you were going back to the days of short-shorts, parquet floors and skyhooks?
Feel a bit disappointed when it was all over?
I don’t blame you.
The 2008 NBA Finals were the billing of the century. Not since Michael Jordan retired in 1998 — I like to pretend his two-year stint with the Washington Wizards did not exist — has the league had something more marketable than what occurred for the final series of the 2007-08 season.
Lakers-Celtics.
Celtics-Lakers.
There probably aren’t any two words in the English language that go better together.
Just think of all the memories that jump out of your mind at the very instance of hearing them — Magic Johnson’s baby hook to win Game 4 of the 1987 Finals; Elgin Baylor exploding for 61 points in Game 5 of the ‘62 series; Gerald Henderson intercepting James Worthy’s pass to tie the game and eventually win Game 2 of the ‘84 Finals; Kevin McHale clotheslining the pesky Kurt Rambis to the floor that same series.
The memories go on and on.
But after watching the Celtics breeze through the Lakers in six games of this era’s pairing — winning the clincher by an astounding 39 points — did you leave with any memories that would stand the test of time?
Probably not.
Kobe Bryant wasn’t the same Kobe who was named the Most Valuable Player for the regular season; Pau Gasol matching up with Kevin Garnett was a joke; Paul Pierce’s “heroic” comeback from an injured leg in Game 1 proved to be nothing more than an overreaction to a hard fall; and the Celtics won by an average margin of more than eight points.
Ho-hum.
But here’s what you can pick up from this year’s series:
More Lakers-Celtics to come
Not only will the Lakers and Celtics meet again in the Finals, but it will most certainly be a lot more competitive.
Although the Western Conference was incredibly tough this season, and likely won’t backpedal in talent any time soon, the Lakers are here to stay. They have a very talented bench, the best player in the NBA, perhaps the best coach of all time (sorry Celtics fans), legitimate sidekicks — although there are times they look more like sideshow clowns — in Gasol and Lamar Odom and, don’t forget, Los Angeles was without one of the best young big men in this league in Andrew Bynum. Bynum was averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds while shooting close to 70 percent this season before an injured kneecap in mid-January eventually forced him to miss the rest of the season.
He’s only 20 years old, and when he gets back, the Lakers won’t get bullied around in the paint like they did in the Finals this year.
The Celtics don’t seem to be going anywhere, either.
Not only are Ray Allen, Pierce and Garnett still in the prime of their careers, but young starters Rajon Rando and Kendrick Perkins are only going to get better. Their bench is very strong, and they play great defense.
Kobe is not MJ
Can we stop with the Jordan comparisons now?
Ever since Bryant came into the league out of high school, everybody has been trying to market him as the next 23. I think it’s time we realize Kobe is never going to live up to that hype.
Who can?
It’s unfair to put that kind of pressure on anybody, and I think we all just need to let Kobe be Kobe. I know it sounds cliché, but can’t we just realize Kobe and Michael are two different players playing in two different eras for two completely different teams?
Yes, Kobe is great, and is most likely the best basketball player in the world right now. But “The Mamba” shot just 40 percent throughout the six-game series, allowed his team to blow a 24-point lead in Game 4, and let his Lakers get embarrassed in the final game.
That doesn’t sound very “Jordanesque” to me.
It was meant to be for Boston
Did you see how good KG felt after the final buzzer sounded in Game 6 and he was finally crowned an NBA Champion?
I wish one day I can have something happen to me that will make me feel that good.
I think the Celtics were supposed to win this championship. Was it their divine right? Maybe. All I know is the Celtics’ Big 3 — Allen, Pierce and Garnett — are some of the most unselfish superstars in the league. In a time of money-hungry, pampered athletes who are constantly in trouble with the law, those three defeat the stereotype of the crooked NBA.
The Celtics deserved it, and I couldn’t be happier to see those guys finally get a chance to taste the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
But I’ll be even happier when next year’s Lakers-Celtics series goes a nail biting seven games. Alden Gonzalez is a freelance writer and associate reporter for MLB.com, living in Miami. He may be contacted at alden@towerpublications.com.
