Maybe beating Orlando was the easy part. The hard part might be bringing the band back together next year.
Because the Lakers are young, people talk as if all they have to do is find a way to keep Ariza and Lamar Odom around, and they’ve got a shot at more titles in the coming 3 or 4 years.
If only it were that easy.
On July 1, 2009, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Luke Walton, etc., and a good number of Laker fans will be at the edge of their seats waiting for news on the return of key players.
Lamar Odom ($14.1 million), Trevor Ariza ($3.1 million) and Shannon Brown ($1 million) are free agents, and Kobe Bryant can terminate the last 2 years of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. Likewise, the Lakers have options to keep Josh Powell ($959,000), DJ Mbenga ($959,000) and Sun Yue ($736,000).
And coming up soon are 3 more expiring contracts at the end of this coming season: Adam Morrison ($5.2 million), Derek Fisher ($5 million) and Jordan Farmar ($1.9 million).
A year after that, contracts expire for Pau Gasol ($34.2 million) and Sasha Vujacic ($10.5).
But wait, there’s more! Phil Jackson can likewise opt out of his contract this summer, or return for a cool $12 million.
Being a student of basketball history, Kobe knows full well that Michael Jordan said he would not be back in Chicago unless Phil was back. Then when the Lakers and Phil parted ways in 2004, another dominate superstar followed suit: Shaquille O’Neal demanded a trade.
Will Kobe’s return likewise be contingent on Phil’s?
Has Phil had his fill of coaching now that he has a championship ring for each finger? Was passing Red to be the undisputed champion of champions enough for Phil? Does he have anything else to prove? Does he still have the hunger (and health) to endure another long season and post season?
Remember, at a crucial time in the race with Cleveland for home court advantage, Phil Jackson didn’t make the trip from Los Angeles to Portland on the Lakers private team jet due to health difficulties. Phil is great, but like the rest of us, he isn’t getting any younger either.
June 25, 2009 will be an interesting day as we all watch what the Lakers do with their 3 picks in the draft (29th, 42nd and 59th picks). Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio couldn’t fall that far, could he? Probably not. But how the Lakers use those draft picks may signal where they feel they could need help in the near future.
It is interesting to me that Mitch Kupcheck had his eyes on Trevor Ariza since college. As Mitch watched Ariza bounce around, he thought he saw a bargain to be acquired and was right. It makes you wonder who else he has his eyes on.
“I think we could be in position to advance to the Finals for the next three, four years,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said as the Lakers celebrated Phil Jackson’s 10th championship
Can the Lakers afford to do it though?
Last season the Lakers had the 2nd highest payroll in the NBA, and that doesn’t even count the mad money they are playing their coach.
The Lakers forfeit about $3 million profit sharing due to being over the salary cap, and paid about $12 million in luxury tax this year… and now key players will need more money to stay around?
It’s worse than this though. There’s a recession and revenues are down around the League.
Television ratings for the 2009 NBA Finals were down 10 percent from the previous year.
The NBA is considering lowering the threshold for salary caps, which will sharply increase the Lakers’ luxury tax as well.
These pay increases won’t be easy for Dr. Buss to afford.
It doesn’t help that recent contracts to Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and Andrew Bynum are tying up critical dollars and not getting much bang for the buck.
Take Andrew Bynum for example. Here is a partial list of NBA Players making LESS than Andrew Bynum next season:
*Tony Parker
Tyson Chaldler
*Chauncy Billups
Greg Oden
Kevin Durant
Derrick Rose
*Brandon Roy
*Tayshaun Prince
*David West
Shane Battier
*Jameer Nelson
*Baron Davis
*Antwan Jamison
*Josh Howard
Andre Iguodala
Leandro Barbosa
*Caron Butler
The * signifies a player who has been an all-star.
And even if the group stays together, it is no given that the Lakers will continue to bring home trophies. Let’s not lose sight of the up and coming teams, particularly the Portland Trail Blazers, with whom the Lakers struggle mightily, and the Houston Rockets who gave the Lakers fits even without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Likewise, there are many Eastern Conference teams who are up and coming.
The good news is that the economic factors which affect the Lakers also affect the other teams in the NBA. In fact, being a huge market, the Lakers are perhaps best positioned for attracting and retaining talent.
Also, the Lakers aren’t the only team who has overpaid for their players. As unproductive as Bynum was for the money though, Rashard Lewis (2 of 10 for 6 points in game 3) was the 9th highest paid player in the NBA last season, and he stunk much worse.
Here is a partial list of NBA players making LESS than Rashard Lewis this season:
LeBron James
Yao Ming
Dwight Howard
Kevin Garnett
Carmelo Anthony
Dwayne Wade
Pau Gasol
Vince Carter
Chris Paul
Derron Williams
Steve Nash
And of course no * are necessary as most of these players are perennial all stars.
The Lakers may be able to retain and attract players simply because they are the Lakers, and winning is attractive to a lot of players, especially to the kinds of players the Lakers want.
Just today Trevor Ariza said, “I’d love to come back. Money is important, this is our job here, but I built a bond with my coaches and my teammates. We have a really good team and I think we’ll be good for a long time.”
One final note.
People keep talking about how many minutes Kobe Bryant has logged, inferring that he may not have several more grueling seasons left in him.
They could be right, however, Kobe Bryant has missed less games these last 4 years than has youngster LeBron James. In fact, LeBron has yet to go a season without missing games.
The basketball world watched in disbelief when the Chicago Bulls refused to keep Phil Jackson, and Michael Jordan retired as a result and the Bulls imploded.
We were even more stunned as the Los Angeles Lakers unraveled an even younger dynasty and went into rebuilding mode.
It just feels like if there is a way to prevent repeating these mistakes, the Lakers are all over that way and come October Lakers fans will be singing the Thin Lizzy song: The Boys Are Back In Town.
QUESTION: what does the McDonald’s fast food chain and NBA Officiating having in common?
ANSWER: They are both run by a clown named Ronald.
Retiring U.S. Army General, Ronald L. Johnson, was hired to be the NBA’s “senior vice president of referee operations,” a newly created position, In the aftermath of the Tim Donaghy scandal.
Four things about this raised my eyebrows.
(1) During tough economic times, when the NBA has just laid off 9 percent of its workforce (80 jobs), it created a new position.
(2) The move totally ignored the kinds of remedies the fans and media have been clamoring for, including NBA heavyweights such as Phil Jackson and Mark Cuban: an organization for officiating separate from the NBA, and transparency in the process.
(3) Whatever the good general’s virtues might be, basketball was not one of them.
Upon being hired, General Johnson made the following statement, “As I leave the military and return to civilian life, I can’t imagine a more interesting and challenging position. Although I don’t have a basketball background, other than as a lifelong fan, I am confident that my experience as an Army commander and engineer has equipped me to bring leadership and innovation to the NBA’s exceptional officiating program.”
The new position was to take the responsibility of officiating oversight away from Stu Jackson in order to “formalize the separation of the NBA’s officiating and basketball activities.”
(4) Ronald Johnson actually referred to NBA refereeing as an “exceptional officiating program.”
General Johnson, it has now been a year since you’ve been on the job. Specifically what evidence is there of “leadership” or “innovation?”
In fact, does anyone even know if Johnson is on the job still? I’ve looked for news articles stating that he has resigned, because the only two people you ever hear from with respect to officiating are Stu Jackson and David Stern.
There are three kinds of bad officiating in basketball: incompetent, belligerent and corrupt.
Likewise then, there are at least three different remedies, but David Stern acts like sending Donaghy to jail cures all three.
Now more than ever coaches, players, press and fans are all wondering: what IS a flagrant foul?
What is more, former NBA officials are publicly critical of General Johnson’s troops as well.
In a New York Post article, former head of NBA Officiating, Mike Mathis, made some startlingly frank comments. So startling, they make you wonder what other officials would say if their jobs or FINES weren’t on the line.
“Refereeing has gone downhill,” said Mathis. “(We) accept unbelievable, mediocre and bad officiating, The commentator says, ‘He must have seen something we didn’t.’ No, he didn’t. It’s either he’s guessing, he’s incompetent or there’s some funny stuff going on.”
There is definitely some funny stuff going on in the 2009 NBA Finals.
Could there be a more jump shooting team than the Orlando Magic?
For example, in game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, 71% of the Magic’s shots were jump shots while 58% of the Lakers’ shot attempts were jumpers.
Why do I bring that up?
Because in game 1, the jump shooting Orlando Magic had a 29 to 18 free throw advantage over the home team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
And that isn’t a fluke.
Over the course of the 2009 NBA Finals, the Magic have benefited from a free throw advantage EVERY GAME, and over the course of the first 4 games of the Finals have a 133 to 84 advantage in free throw attempts.
It would be one thing if the Magic was an inside force, but they are a jump shooting team. It would be another thing if the Lakers were thugs and hackers, but they are a finesse basketball team that has often been criticized for being too soft.
This disparity is even more curious when you look at it in context. During the course of the long regular season (2008-2009), over 82 games the Magic shot a total of 1,611 free throws. The Lakers shot a total of 1,607 free throws!
Digest that!
Over 82 games, there was only a 4 free throw difference between the two teams, yet over the 4 games (so far) of the NBA Finals, there is already a 49 free throw disparity!
And you don’t have to go to the statistical records to see this; ALL GAME LONG the most objective of fans witness jersey and shorts pulling, holding, arm pinning, hand checking, arm barring beyond the free throw line, shoving on rebounds, hacking on shots, etc. Both teams do this to a degree, for the most part, only one team is being called for it.
For the most part the NBA announcers try to stay out of the refereeing controversy, in part because both Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy would like to be head coaches in the NBA, but when a slow motion replay shows how blatant the infractions are, they are kind of forced into making comments about what all the world is witnessing: the refs suck.
The worst thing about how NBA Officiating is run, though, is how they are NOT innovating.
The only two things the NBA has done over this last year about officiating is expand the use of video replay, and fine people.
Why?
The NBA should WANT people leaving games and turning off their televisions at the end of games talking about the performance of the PLAYERS, not the officials.
The NBA should NOT want the spotlight refocused on officiating again and again as players and coaches criticize it, then the media covers it again when the fine comes.
On September 5, 2008 I posted 20 suggestions for improving the NBA that were very well received. Some of these ideas included:
o Having corner line judges (like soccer, tennis and volleyball have) to watch out of bounds and defensive and offensive 3 in the key, and players feet on the no charge circle under the basket so that the referees can focus on contact.
o Allowing coaches 2 plays a game where they can challenge a call on the floor and have it resolved with video replay.
o Adding a “video replay” ref who compiles clips of botched calls and no-calls and reviews them with the floor officials at half time so they can make adjustments.
I can easily add to that list as well with ideas such as:
o Use the SAME reffing crew an entire series so that calls can be more consistant and players can adjust instantly to how things are going to be called each series.
o Stop already with fining coaches and players for TACTFULLY discussing officiating publicly. All that does is put the story in front of us again when the fines come down. Besides, this draconian practice seems very out of place in a land where free speech is a constitutionally guaranteed right.
o Get consistent. If it is a foul or a travel in the first 10 seconds of the game, it is still a foul or a travel in the last 10 seconds of the game, even if some highly partisan fans don’t want that called in the critical closing seconds. If LeBron can crab dribble, then everyone else should. If Turkoglu and Ginobli are allowed to take 4 steps after the dribble almost every time they drive in traffic, then let the non foreign players do it too.
Suggestions made by others that are VERY good include:
o Phil Jackson wants NBA officiating taken over by an organization other than the NBA. What a great idea. Let a 3rd party competitively BID to provide officiating services each year, and if they don’t meet a standard, fire them and let another contractor try.
o Phil and others such as Mark Cuban have asked for more transparency in decisions. This alone would mop up much of the mess, and all but crush conspiracy theories that the league is rigged, or at least tilted towards the likes of LeBron James.
Consider the most recent officiating controversy. In game 4 of the NBA Finals, Orlando’s Mickael Pietrus gave the Lakers’ Pau Gasol a dirty, cheap shot in the closing seconds of overtime. It is hard to conceive of a worse flagrant foul…
o Gasol was not expecting it
o Gasol was in the air
o Gasol was struck from behind
o The contact was very hard
o The contact was clearly deliberate
o There was no chance a play was being made on the ball
o The play was over, the ball was in the hoop, Peitrus wasn’t going to stop a basket from being made
o The game was pretty much over (7 point lead with 3.2 seconds remaining)
o Instead of apologizing and seeing if Gasol was okay, Peitrus trash talked Gasol (imagine trash talk in English with French and Spanish accents)
o What is the call when a player hits another player with a FIST? Gasol was hit with TWO!
In EVERYONE’S book, that is a flagrant two, but the officials on the floor, and Stu Jackson in the head office didn’t want the Orlando Magic to play an elimination game without their hired thug, so Stu Jackson made up a bunch of laughable excuses and let it stand as a flagrant 1.
With apologies to Pau Gasol and the Lakers, I am glad the NBA did not call it a flagrant two, because you could not ask for a more cut and dry, unimpeachable “Exhibit A” as evidence that the NBA has an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond calling whatever happens on the floor.
Clearly, the NBA has no interest in reforming its officiating, because doing so would lose them the opportunity to control circumstances, whether they be making a superstar more marketable, or extending a playoff series. Do you have any idea how much money is involved in extending a playoff series even by one game?
Follow the money.
One final and VERY IMPORTANT note: all over the world there are GOOD PEOPLE caught in BAD SYSTEMS.
I TOTALLY believe, and believe you should believe it too, that there are a good number of NBA officials who honestly want to do a great job.
Hopefully someday fan uproar, joined by the NBA franchise owners and the NBA Players’ association, will force changes to NBA officiating that will allow these good people to do their job for a better system.
Until then, none of us should be pretending that General Johnson’s organization, which appears to be in reality David Stern and Stu Jackson’s organization with a figurehead propped up at the front of it, is doing a good job.
The more we allow this kind of officiating to occur without calling it out, the longer we enable it to go on.
If I were General Ronald Johnson, I wouldn’t just live with this kind of world wide embarrassment. I would either aggressively and transparently enact reforms, or if I couldn’t because of the resistance of my bosses, I would resign and tell the world WHY.
Why wouldn’t the NBA be more aggressive about improving its officiating?
The only answer that makes any sense is that NBA must have an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond the objective calling of whatever happens on the floor.
The blogging world once had a “Kobe Bryant Day” where everyone blogged on Kobe Bryant. The last day of June, the month the NBA Finals happens each year, is ‘BLOG ABOUT NBA OFFICIATING DAY.”
On June 30 the blogging world should buzz about how they feel about NBA officiating, good or bad, and perhaps the mainstream press will cover it and get the NBA’s attention.
Maybe nothing will happen, but if we all continue to do nothing, you can guarantee nothing will happen.
People are being too hard on Stan Van Gundy and the Magic for the loss.
With 20 / 20 hindsight, it’s easy to criticize the Magic, but EVERYONE knows Dwight Howard is a poor free throw shooter. In the Olympics, he was out and out embarrassing, so why are we harping on him for missing free throws at crunch time? Shouldn’t we be talking about the smart risks the Lakers took putting him in that position?
And as for Jameer Nelson not closing out more aggressively on Derek Fisher, the WORST thing Nelson could have done in THAT situation is foul Fisher at the 3 point line and give an 85% free throw shooter a free trip to the charity stripe.
In the bigger picture though,
(1) The Magic defense did keep Kobe Bryant from being the one to take that last shot,
(2) and forced Derek Fisher, who until that shot was 0 of 5 from beyond the arc, and has shot just 27% in the playoffs from downtown to save the Lakers.
All things considered, that was a fairly reasonable defense by Nelson, it’s just too bad he isn’t 6′5″ (like Courtney Lee is) so that he could bother Fisher more on the close out.
Which brings me to the other criticism leveled at Van Gundy: why was Nelson playing those minutes at this time?
Who knows, but Nelson is an all star who Van Gundy has seen do the job much more than us, and Alston has a HUGE chip on his shoulder at that point and was much more inclined to shoot and make a point, than to pass like you want your point to do, especially since Rashard Lewis needed to get going.
Nelson could have worked out very well for the Magic at that time, he just didn’t. It’s easy to criticize Van Gundy after the fact, but Alston has stunk in this series too…
There are no guarantees that the very good Laker defense wouldn’t have bothered Alston as well — or any other point guard Van Gundy may have used.
It wasn’t a bad decision to play Nelson, it was just a decision that didn’t work out.
There is a difference.
With the Lakers up 3-1 in the 2009 NBA Finals, and 1 win away from history, it feels as if the Los Angeles Lakers have dominated the Orlando Magic and that a championship is inevitable, so let’s pause for a moment to notice just how close success and failure can be to each other, and what makes a champion.
And while it would be cool if someone else read and enjoyed this, frankly I’m writing this mostly to remind myself how I need to approach the goals I have set for myself in life, and how important it is that I not fool myself into disregarding “little things” I do each day. After all, it could be that there is really no such thing as a “little thing.”
During (and after) game 1, a collage of slow motion replays was assembled to the television audience how Kobe Bryant was barely getting his shots off over the Orlando defense, avoiding blocks by fractions of an inch.
A fraction of an inch seems like such a little thing in a game where the court is 94 feet long and their goal 10 feet high, but it is surprising how often success and failure are so close.
Think about it.
(1) Had Courtney Lee made just 1 of 2 layup attempts in the final 12 seconds of regulation in game 2, and…
(2) Had Dwight Howard made just 1 of 2 free throw attempts in the final seconds of regulation in game 4…
The Lakers would be down 1-3 in the NBA Finals.
And instead of talking about Derek Fisher’s heroics, Pau Gasol’s underrated play, Trevor Ariza burning his former team, Stan Van Gundy’s rotation decisions, and Dwight Howard’s turnovers and free throws …
We would be talking about how brilliant Stan Van Gundy is as a coach, how Phil Jackson may have lost it, how Kobe Bryant’s legacy will be a sad one, and where Dwight Howard may end up historically speaking in the pecking order of the NBA’s greatest big men.
Every stat would basically be the same, ever performance unchanged, but everything would be different had 2 high-percentage shots fallen… such little things, such huge consequences!
There are other “little” things we could discuss as well, calls, no-calls, substitutions, defensive efforts… small acts and decisions that ultimately ended up mattering so much.
For instance, at the end of regulation in game 2, what if when Courtney Lee was freed of his defender, Kobe Bryant, by a screen at the foul line Pau Gasol hadn’t rotated so hard to challenge Lee’s ally oop layin? And what if, at the end of regulation in game 4, when the best 3 point shooter in the NBA this year, Rashard Lewis, was freed of his defender by 2 screens and broke to the corner for an inbounds pass and a (short) corner 3, Pau Gasol didn’t leave his man to close out to deny Lewis the inbounds pass, forcing Petrius to put up that awkward miss at the buzzer?
Such little things, such huge consequences!
Of course now would not be the time for the Lakers to forget these lessons and relax, seeing how readily Orlando can challenge the Lakers.
The great philosopher, Anonymous, once said, “If you take care of the little things, the big things pretty much take care of themselves.”
You can see his point.
He also said, “The longer I live the more convinced I become that there is no such thing as a ‘little thing.’”
This has me thinking about things much more important than basketball… like my own goals… and how talk to my wife and children… and how I use my time.
— THE GOOD NEWS FOR ORLANDO —
The good news for the Orlando Magic is they can play like that again. Perhaps they won’t break a Finals record for shooting percentage (62.5%) again, but they can definitely replicate the play that won them game 3.
More good news? Their confidence should be higher having done it already.
Even more good news? The Magic now has more than just theories on how to beat Los Angeles, they have game film they can study, learn from, and improve upon.
— THE BAD NEWS FOR ORLANDO —
The bad news for the Orlando Magic is that, even with record-setting shooting, they were only up by 2 points with 0.5 seconds left to go in the game.
More bad news? Kobe Bryant is not likely to choke like that again. It would be presumptuous to credit the Magic’s defense for Kobe’s poor performance. Kobe has been shooting 90% from the free throw line in the playoffs, and shot just 50% in game 3… it’s not like the Magic were defending Bryant as he shot free throws, the guy was off.
Even more bad news? Lamar Odom isn’t likely to play that poorly again in game 4 either. As Odom’s back injury has gotten better, so has Lamar. Lamar Odom averaged 19.5 points and 11 rebounds in the last two games of the Western Conference finals against Denver, and averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds in the first two games of the Finals.
— LOOKING TO GAME 4 —
Even if the Magic are able to play another game like their record setting game 3, and even if the Lakers make no adjustments to their game plan, the Lakers are likely to win just by having Kobe and Lamar playing up to par, but it would also be nice if:
(1) The Lakers did a better job rebounding the ball. It’s one thing for a team to shoot 62.5 percent, it’s another thing to give them additional shots at that high percentage by failing to grab rebounds.
(2) Get the ball to Gasol. Yes, the Magic shot a record breaking 62.5 percent in game 3, but that also happens to be Gasol’s shooting percentage for the entire series. Well, okay, Pau is just shooting 62.1 percent, but Gasol is the ultimate team player: if he doesn’t have a shot he’ll pass it back out, but at least give him touches.
(3) Quit making such a deal about Kobe coming down with a temporary case of mortality; Jordan didn’t always come through for the Bulls either. The other Lakers need to step their games up — or at least play all the minutes they are on the floor.
For some perspective, Andrew Bynum is in the first year of a $58 million contract. Magic Johnson made $46 million over the course of his entire career.
It’s high time these guys stopped making excuses and started making plays — on both ends of the court. No one feels sorry for you, so stop your whining and get to work.
You think it’s bad how much business executives are getting paid for their substandard performance… either these NBA role players better start earning their money, or start cutting us fans some rebate checks… cause there is no way their pay reflects their value when compared to the likes of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Just because they are in a different era doesn’t mean they are ENTITLED, it means they have an added obligation to bring value, and bring it on both ends of the court and frankly on the bench by keeping your head and heart in the game.
Kobe is beat. He went from carrying a team into the 2008 playoffs, to playing deep into the Finals, to going to TeamUSA and shocking the world’s best with his work ethic, to carrying the Lakers through a 65 win season, and has endured an especially physical playoff run to the 2009 NBA Finals. He is going to be injured if the Lakers aren’t careful. It’s time to talk to those role players and get them to magnify their roles, particularly in the first half.
— STILL SIGNS OF LAKERS A.D.D. —
By the way, for the 2nd game in a row, the Lakers gave up over 30 points for just 1 quarter. They really need to play all 48 minutes and quit taking spells off.
— SPEAKING OF STEALING PAYCHECKS… —
There is NO WAY the refs would let Kobe Bryant defend Courtney Lee as physically as they are letting Lee defend Kobe. I’m tired of the pathetic officiating in the NBA; they are an embarrassment to all professional sports.
Yes, this is a hard game to officiate, but as long as David Stern’s goons insist on FINING those who discuss officiating, rather than FINDING ways to improve it, all they’ll do is draw increased headlines to the problem.
There are real things that can be done that aren’t even being tried, which begs the question: why doesn’t the NBA want to improve it? Would it make officiating harder for them to tilt?
— THE BOTTOM LINE —
The Lakers have taken the best the Magic had to give, and measured up so closely that it seems likely that the parade will be in Disneyland this year, not Disney World.
— NBA FINALS WORST TO NBA FINALS BEST?! —
The Magic went from shooting 29.9% in game 1, to setting an NBA Finals record for shooting percentage in a half (75%), and an NBA Finals record for best shooting percentage for a game (62.5%).
Normally, when a team shoots THIS well, it is because they got a lot of inside shots and transition points, but not so this game with the Orlando Magic.
— LAKERS WIN POINTS IN THE PAINT AGAIN —
The Lakers actually had more points in the paint than the Magic (40 to 36), and both teams had 10 fast break points.
So how did the Magic shoot so well?
The Magic were just SO ACTIVE physically, while mentally they PATIENTLY created scoring opportunities for themselves as a team.
Nothing was rushed, but everything was quick and aggressive.
— MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PACE —
Contrary to what some are writing, the Orlando Magic did NOT speed up the pace of game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals. In fact, statistically it can be proven that Game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals had the slowest pace of all three Finals games so far for the Orlando Magic (1.33 shots per minute).
The game SEEMED faster because the Magic, energized by their home crowd, played with far greater energy and activity than they did in previous games against the Lakers, moving both the ball and their feet better than ever, but this was not D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns in their prime — the pace of this game was not faster than the previous two Finals games.
Game 1:
Magic = 77 shots (1.6 shots per minute)
Lakers = 89 shots (1.85 shots per minute)
Game Pace = 3.46 shots per minute
Game 2: (overtime)
Magic = 79 (1.52 shots per minute)
Lakers = 78 (1.63 shots per minute)
Game Pace = 2.96 shots per minute
Game 3:
Magic = 64 (1.33 shots per minute)
Lakers = 78 (1.63 shots per minute)
Game Pace = 2.96 shots per minute
So, how did the Orlando Magic do it?
— ORLANDO’S TEAM WORK FACTOR —
Look at ball movement. The Magic had more assists in game 3 than the other games, but more telling is their assists to shot attempts ratio:
Orlando Magic’s Assists to Shot Attempts ratio:
Game 1 = .13
Game 2 = .28
Game 3 = .36
Admittedly, this is a squirrely indicator of ball movement, but short of rewatching all 3 games and counting the passes and calculating the passes per minute (and perhaps per possession), it’s the best we’ve got readily available.
— PROACTIVE VS. REACTIVE —
The Magic got the ball down court quickly, even after made baskets, forcing the Lakers’ defense to react (and in many cases over react). As Orlando countered the Lakers reactions, the Magic found themselves playing most of the game in proactive mode and Lakers in reactive mode. The Lakers played back on their heels, scrambling from one person and one spot to another, sometimes successfully getting a stop, not usually.
The Magic’s shooting percentage was the fruit of aggressive ball and people movement which fed Orlando’s confidence and put the Lakers back on their heels, then Orlando got into a groove and did not let up on doing what was working.
That doesn’t explain ALL of that success though. Post game, Stan Van Gundy said, “Our ball movement was good, but I don’t care how good your ball movement is and the quality of shot you get, uou’re not going to put the ball in the basket at that rate very often. But it’s one of those nights, thankfully, that a lot of shots went down.”
— ORLANDO GIVES UP ITS INFATUATION WITH THE 3 BALL —
Also, look at the following statistics carefully:
o 71% of the Magic’s shots were jump shots in game 1.
o 70% of the Magic’s shots were jump shots in game 2.
o 77% of the Magic’s shots were jump shots in game 3.
o The Magic shot 23 3-pointers in game 1.
o The Magic shot 30 3-pointers in game 2.
o The Magic shot 14 3-pointers in game 3.
That’s another reason Orlando’s shooting percentage was better: they shot more midrange jumpers and less 3-pointers.
That happens to be what Larry Brown’s Detroit Pistons did when they won the NBA Finals.
Ten Observations about game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals:
(1) The Orlando Magic blew TWO layups / opportunities to win in the last 12 seconds of regulation
While everyone is talking about Courtney Lee missing the layup with 0.6 left in regulation, we ought to be talking about the fact that Courtney Lee missed a lay up just 12 seconds earlier as well. Had Lee made the 1st layup, with Kobe’s subsequent shot getting blocked, the Magic would not have even needed that last play; they would have won in regulation.
(2) The Lakers’ defensive impact this game is underrated
The Magic averaged 107.5 points per game against the Lakers in the regular season, and were held to 75 points in game 1, and 88 points at the end of regulation in game 2. This is NOT due to jitters or off shooting nights; Stan Van Gundy has now TWICE credited the Lakers defense.
The main problem, defensively speaking, for the Lakers was the 3rd quarter where they gave up 30 of the Magic’s 88 points in regulation. Judging by the points scored in the other quarters, had the Lakers not let up their defensive intensity in the 3rd quarter, they would have won in regulation by 7 to 12 points.
There are hundreds of examples that bear up this point, including the 20 turnovers the Magic had, and the fact that Pau Gasol’s hustle over to alter Courney Lee’s shot with 0.6 remaining in regulation was the play of the game.
After game 2, Dwight Howard said this of the Lakers’ defense, “They are mixing it up and changing things and it is frustrating me a little bit.”
(3) Derek Fisher’s contribution this game is likewise underrated
Fisher had been averaging about 27 minutes per game in the 2009 playoffs, but played 41 minutes against Orlando in game 2. Subtract 5 minutes to account for overtime, which isn’t fair because Phil Jackson chose Fisher to be on the floor for crunch time, and Fisher still logged 36 minutes. Fisher was on the floor because he was solid offensively (12 points, 2 of 3 from the arc), but his real contribution was defense.
Rafer Alston was 1 of 8, Jameer Nelson was 1 of 3, JJ Redic was 2 of 9, and Courtney Lee was 1 of 3.
(4) Turnovers washed out the Magic’s Rebound advantage
Prior to game 1, Derek Fisher said, “Our ability to rebound the basketball could really be the difference in this series.” He is right; in this series the rebounding factor is huge.
In game 1, the Lakers were +15 in rebounds, and won by 25 points.
In game 2, the Lakers were -11 in rebounds and needed an overtime (not to mention luck) to squeak by in overtime.
What kept the Lakers alive was their defense. In game 1, the Magic had 8 turnovers. In game 2, the Magic had 9 turnovers by the end of the first quarter and 20 by the end of the game.
In a nutshell, while the Lakers were -11 in rebounds in game 2, the Magic turned it over 12 more times than they did in game 1, which pretty much negated the Magic’s rebound advantage.
(5) Stan Van Gundy had his moments, both great and questionable
At the end of game 1, Stan Van Gundy said, “I think that we’ve got to look at playing a little bit bigger.”
During the 1st quarter, Van Gundy played J.J. Redick at the point, and played his 2 centers at the same time: Marcin Gortat and Dwight Howard.
When Doris Burke asked Van Gundy about the double center lineup in his interview between the 1st and 2nd quarters, Van Gundy confessed that they had planned to do that, but were forced into it earlier than they wanted to due to foul trouble.
With the Magic’s point guards playing so poorly, every Lakers’ fan should be glad Van Gundy forgot to use this combination again, particularly during the overtime. This double center combination, with Hedo Turkoglu handling the ball on offense and guarding Kobe on defense, could really mess with the Lakers, particularly if the Magic uses it when Bynum is on the bench.
Gortat is a capable enough center to start on most NBA teams (in fact, the Lakers should trade Bynum and pick up Gortat as a free agent next year), and with Dwight Howard at power forward the Magic could establish a power game inside for spurts that the Lakers couldn’t do much about.
(6) The Lakers still need to learn to play right for all 48 minutes
The Lakers opened up the game with 2 bad (and long) jump shots. The Magic opened with layups.
Then, to start the 3rd quarter, the Magic took it inside to erase the Laker lead with layups and free throws, while the Lakers began the 3rd quarter with long jumpers again.
And defensively, the Lakers were lax in the 3rd quarter as well, giving up 30 points that quarter after holding the Magic to 35 points total for the 2 previous quarters.
The Lakers keep backsliding into thinking they are good enough to beat teams despite their bad habits, rather than ridding themselves of the bad habits.
The Lakers repented though, and held the Magic to 23 points in the 4th quarter, forcing an overtime.
(7) Hedo Turkoglu defended Kobe Bryant well.
Unlike Shane Battier’s face guarding, and Carmelo Anthony’s physical wearing down of Kobe, Turkoglu likes to bump Kobe as he gathers for his shot then Hedo backs off hard and uses his length to challenge Kobe’s off-balance shot. The refs were letting Hedo bump Bryant, and it was working as well as anything else has to slow down Bryant.
(8) In overtime, both the Lakers and the Magic played as they did in game 1
In overtime, the Lakers took their game inside: 9 of the Lakers 13 points in overtime were free throws. Of the remaining 4 points, 2 were by a layup, and 2 were from a Kobe Bryant jumper.
By contrast, the Orlando Magic only attempted 1 shot in the paint, and missed 4 of their 5 outside shots.
As Rashard Lewis said at the end of game 1, you can’t win that way.
(9) The Lakers quit trying to score inside
In game 1, 39% of all the Lakers shots were layups.
In game 2, 19% of all the Lakers shots were layups.
(10) Orlando’s offense didn’t adjust as much as you’d think
In game 1, 26% of all Orlando’s shots were layups.
In game 2, 29% of all Orlando’s shots were layups.
EDIT:
(11) The Lakers struggle to score when they don’t move the ball, and when they don’t rebound.
The Magic have already shown what they can do to a team that gets most of its points from just 1 person. The Orlando Magic have the best defense in basketball right now, so the Lakers need to move thedefense by moving the ball. And as for rebounds…
The Lakers were +15 in rebounds in game 1, and -11 in rebounds in game 2. That is a 26 rebound swing!
The Lakers need rebounds to help them score.
On the offensive glass, rebounds allow them to get the ball into an inside scoring position without having to run an offense to get the ball there. This allows the Lakers easier, high percentage baskets, and often sends them to the free throw line for additoinal free points.
On the defensive glass, rebounds allow the Lakers to run out for easier, high percentage, early offense baskets. After a score, the Magic run down and get their defense set before the Lakers can bring the ball down, but after a missed basket, the Lakers can get the ball down more quickly and attack whatever partially set defense awaits them.
Also, rebounds (both offenive and defensive) limits the Magic’s shot attempts, and increases the Lakers’ shot attempts. I’m glad the Lakers are playing more consistent defense now, but the Lakers still need to really make rebounding a priority again.
panacea [pan-a-see-a]
Noun a remedy for all diseases or problems [Greek pan- all + akes remedy]
There is a lot of talk about Courtney Lee missing that final shot in regulation of game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals, but look at that shot in context:
(1) Courtney Lee had just missed a wide open layup less than 12 seconds earlier, which is how the Lakers ended up with the ball and 9.1 seconds left in regulation to begin with. Courtney Lee took advantage of a screen by Rashard Lewis to shed off Kobe Bryant and Lee drove right to rim. Pau Gasol rotated hard to stop Lee, but lost his balance and fell to the floor, giving Lee an open layup which he shot too hard and it bounced off the back of the rim.
Had Courtney Lee made that first layup, the Magic would likely have won.
(2) Upon rebounding Lee’s miss, the Lakers called time out and opted to bring the ball up the length of the court to assure they could get the ball in without burning another time out. Lamar Odom got the in bounds pass to Pau Gasol, then cut hard to Pau and took the pass back, crossed the time line and passed off to Kobe Bryant.
(3) You can talk about Hedo Turkoglu’s great defense if you want when he blocked Kobe’s shot attempt, but it is awfully easy to come up with a defensive play when you surround the ball handler 4 on 1. And looking at the slow motion replays, it is obvious that had Turkoglu not blocked Kobe’s shot, Dwight Howard would have.
It was just a dumb decision by Kobe.
Kobe literally attempted that shot against 4 Magic defenders, including the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year, and did not even look to any of his 3 totally wide open teammates to make that last shot. Literally, the ONLY Orlando Magic player to not swarm Bryant was Courtney Lee, who fronted Gasol right at the rim.
I’m hoping that this boneheaded decision is why Kobe was so mad when he went to the bench at the end of regulation, but I have my doubts.
What happened next is a credit to both Hedo Turkoglu and Stan Van Gundy, especially Van Gundy, who showed NO signs of panic this game.
Orlando had the ball, 0.6 seconds to do something with it, and a ton of time outs left.
Watch Turkoglu carefully, he took the ball from the ref, pinned it between his ARM and his left side, and just watched his teammates run and the defense react, then called for another time out.
Clearly Turkoglu NEVER intended to inbounds the ball on that first attempt; if he did, he must have thought his left butt cheek was going to make the pass for him because, unlike Turkoglu’s next inbounds attempt where he held the ball with both hands above his head, Turkoglu never even tried to take the ball from his hip.
That first “inbounds play” was all about watching how the Laker defense would play the Orlando Magic from that position on the court.
When that final play in regulation unfolded, I was so amazed that I paused it and yelled for the wife and kids to come check it out. I played it again and again pointing out how brilliant it was.
Van Gundy ran the play for a rookie, and not just any rookie, but a rookie who had only attempted 3 shots all game, who had only made one shot all game… and was being guarded by perennial first team all defense member Kobe Bryant!
That is the LAST thing I thought the Magic would do, and clearly it was the last thing the Lakers thought they would do either, because it worked to near perfection.
I perfect pick shed Kobe from Lee 16 feet away from the basket. Pau Gasol made a correct read and rotated hard to pick up Lee, and that defensive effort is probably what saved the game for the Lakers… it forced Lee to shoot the lay up high enough to clear Gasol, making it too high to go in.
Had Pau Gasol not made that effort and rotated to Courney Lee as the ball was still in the air, the layup simply would have been too simple to miss.
If you are tempted to whine that Gasol’s contact with the rim on the shot was goal tending, it wasn’t and here is a link to the NBA rule book so you can check for yourself. Now Dwight Howard coming up through the hoop to block Gasol’s dunk in the second quarter… THAT was goal tending! It is ASTONISHING the refs didn’t make that call, but that’s a tangent.
After the game, Courtney Lee confirmed that the play was drawn up for him all along.
“Honestly, it was just a brilliant play,” said Kobe Bryant after the game with genuine admiration in his voice. “It was just a very, very smart play that he drew up. He knew my eye was more on the shooters coming up, and it was just a hell of a play by a hell of a coach.”
I couldn’t agree more, and it is high time we came up with a better nick name for Stan Van Gundy. Suggetions?
It’s Disney World verses Disney Land…
— MONSTERS, INC. —
Orlando is 35-7 when they lead their opponents in rebounding.
Orlando is 42-4 when they score more than 100 points.
What is more, during their regular season match ups the Magic averaged 107.5 points per game and shot 46.5 percent against the Lakers.
Clearly, this isn’t the regular season.
— RETURN TO NEVERLAND —
Phil Jackson had his Lakers far more prepared for the Orlando Magic than Stan Van Gundy had his Magic prepared for the Lakers.
The Lakers out rebounded the Magic 64 to 49.
And astonishingly, the Lakers held Orlando to exactly 75 points in game one. From 107.5 points per game, to 75?! That’s a 32.5 point difference!
— FANTASIA —
Orlando’s all star center, Dwight Howard had this explanation, “We’ve never had a shooting night this bad. We’ve just got to come out and play a lot harder than we did tonight.”
Uh, okay.
If one person shot poorly, he could have bad night. However, if an entire team shoots poorly, the odds are against the possibility that 8 to 14 different professional basketball players all had a random off night shooting on precisely the same night… there is a REASON why 8 guys from the same team shoot poorly, and usually that reason is the defense of the opposing team.
— AN EXTREMELY GOOFY MOVIE —
Also, people have WRONGLY attributed the Magic’s poor showing to jitters. That makes no sense. The Magic started off very strong and led after the first quarter 24 to 22. In fact, the Magic played as if they truly believed they could come steal game 1 the way they did at Cleveland in their previous series. It was the play of the Lakers as they began to assert their will that undid the Magic.
Jitters had nothing to do with Orlando’s poor performance and Rashard Lewis said so after the game, “There was no stage fright at all. Look, they scored 56 points in the paint, that’s more than half. You can’t win ballgames like that.”
Exactly.
— NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS —
The Magic had 22 points in the paint, but only 4 of those points came in the second half. Another 4 points in the paint came in the second quarter, leaving 16 of the points in the paint coming in the 1st quarter. The Magic were forced (or should I say “lured”) into shooting outside by the Lakers’ defense. Want more proof? In the first quarter, the Magic had attempted only 2 three-pointers, then went the rest of the game averaging 7 three-pointers per quarter.
The Lakers baited the Magic into the 3-ball, then contested it to make it a low percentage shot. Nevertheless, while everyone is talking about how poorly the Magic shot from the arc (35%), still the Magic actually shot the 3-ball better than the Lakers (33%).
— THE FOX AND THE HOUND —
The difference is Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, seemed to know while the game was in progress what was working and what wasn’t, and directed his team toward its strengths. The Lakers only attempted 9 three pointers, while scoring 56 points in the paint.
Phil Jackson’s game plan was excellent, and excellently executed.
— OLD YELLER —
Jeff Van Gundy, by contrast, seem to have no idea why his Magic were being beaten so badly. His sound bites contained no counsel about shot selection, scoring in the paint, etc. Instead, he kept exhorting his team to keep trying and not give up. Sorry, Van Gundy, but motivational guru Tony Robbins could have told them that, and told them much better than you did. They needed a coach, but Van Gundy was just as shell shocked as his players and had nothing.
— REMEMBER THE TITANS —
Defensive player of the year, Dwight Howard, is supposed to be a deterrent for players who want to score inside, but the Lakers clearly made their living, and frankly a mockery of Dwight Howard and what was the highest rated defense during the regular season.
And offensively, the Magic shot 5 of 19 on layups, 16 of 54 on jumpers, and were 2 of 3 on dunks.
— THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG —
Rashard Lewis was 2 of 4 from the arc, however he was 0 of 2 on layups, 2 of 8 on jump shots, and 2 of 10 overall.
Hedo Turkoglu shot 3 of 11 and 1 of 3 from the arc (and had 4 of the Magic’s 8 turnovers).
Rafer Alston shot 1 of 7 on jumpers (including 0 of 4 from the arc) and was 1 of 2 on layups.
Jameer Nelson was 3 of 9 on jumpers and attempted 0 layups.
— DOUBLE TEAMED —
But very telling are the stats for Dwight Howard’s shooting: he had 12 points and 10 of them were from the free throw line! Howard was 0 of 4 inside and 1 of 2 shooting jumpers.
— THE CHEETAH GIRLS —
A quick word about the three NBA officials in game 1. Here we have the Magic trying to win by hucking up 3s under pressure, and yet for all their outside shots the Magic enjoyed a whopping 18 to 29 free throw advantage. With a disparity like that favoring a jump shooting team, you would have thought the Magic was the home team. Kobe Bryant in particular, but Gasol as well, were being hacked like a victim in a cheesy horror movie and the refs would flat not give him the calls. They appeared to be reacting to the backlash of favorable treatment LeBron seemed to get against the Magic last series.
— HOLES —
So far in the playoffs, when the Magic have been on the road they have averaged 46% shooting on the opposition’s home floor, and 39.1% from the arc. And in the playoffs, the Magic average 47.5% shooting when they win, 43% when they lose.
Against the Lakers in game 1 of the NBA Finals though, the Magic shot 29.9%.
The Magic shot poorly because their shot selection was poor, and their shot selection was poor because the Lakers defense encouraged it, and the Magic coaching staff were oblivious.
— GET A CLUE —
For game 2, the Orlando Magic may well be considering the following adjustments.
o Courtney Lee may be replaced in the starting line up. Why not? He didn’t really contribute much offensively (3 of 10 for 7 points), and Kobe used him like a rental car, particularly in the paint.
o Probe the Lakers’ interior defense with more dribble penetration. The Lakers have demonstrated difficulty stopping quick guards in the recent past, and if Alston and Nelson can drive, they will either get inside shot attempts, draw fouls on Lakers defenders, or bring help defenders freeing up Dwight Howard (or a cutting Turkoglu or Lewis) to score on lobs and shuffle passes.
o Tweak their pick and role to free up (or set up mismatches) for perimeter shots. This will spread the floor, stretch the Lakers defense and send Orlando into their game.
o Get more physical with their defense as the Denver Thuggets did.
o The Magic had only 3 shots in the paint in the defining 3rd quarter. What is more, Stan Van Gundy clearly did not know how his team was being beat, consequently he made no in-game adjustments. Next game, they may well have an assistant coach hotly monitoring the shot chart.
o And perhaps Pietrus ought to go back to wearing Kobe’s shoes. It couldn’t hurt.
As for the Lakers…
— WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK —
o Playing basketball is a lot like shaving: no matter how good of a job you did today, you’ve got to go out and do it all again tomorrow. The Lakers first and foremost cannot allow themselves to relax or be complacent; the Magic isn’t just going to roll over and play dead for the Lakers, all 12 Lakers, and their coaching staff, needs to bring that effort all over again in game 2.
o Kobe had LeBron-like numbers: 40 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, however the Lakers succeeded where LeBron couldn’t because the Lakers as a team held the Magic to just 75 points, something the Cavs, or anyone else for that matter, couldn’t ever do. If the Lakers expect to hold home court Sunday, they will need to repeat their defensive effort, tweaking the game plan to counter Orlando’s adjustments.
— HERBY FULLY LOADED —
o As goes Lamar Odom, so go the Los Angeles Lakers. Odom’s size, speed and agility make him a formidible perimeter defender against 6′10″ Turkoglu and 6′10″ Lewis, yet Odom’s size and strength make him a great post defender when Bynum is out, particular when Odom is working on fronting Howard to deny the entry pass. What is more, Odom is a hungry and skilled rebounder. The Lakers have no other player who can do what Lamar Odom does as well as Lamar can do it. Odom has to show up big for every game.
— IRON WILL —
o The Lakers were +15 in rebounds in game 1. That means the Lakers had roughly 15 more shot attempts than they otherwise would have, and denied the Magic roughly 15 attempts to score. Also, the Magic have a system which scores on the “early offense” before the Lakers can fully set up its defense of long players to bother the Magic. Controlling the boards prevents the Magic from taking advantage of that early offense.
— HOUNDED —
o During the playoffs, the Orlando Magic averages 100.5 points per game when it wins, and 92.5 points per game when it loses. The Lakers need to know then, that they can only give up about 23 points per quarter to be reasonably sure they’ll win, and knowing that, play consistent defense all game long.
— THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION —
o For once officiating was not an issue, other than the no calls on Kobe and Pau, but you wouldn’t know it watching Andrew Bynum. He lifts his hands in protest every time he makes a mistake, regardless whether officiating played a role. It was GREAT to see Andrew Bynum play hard, and I’m sure the Lakers were glad Bynum gave a good effort from the get go, but in addition to the effort, Bynum needs to toughen up mentally as well.
— RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN —
o The 4th quarter was the Lakers’ worst quarter offensively speaking, which isn’t good news, and which explains why the Lakers had 4 starters on the floor during “garbage time” in the 4th quarter (Bryant, Gasol, Bynum, Fisher and then Luke Walton from the bench). It appears Phil didn’t want to give the Magic confidence for future games by letting them think the Lakers would give up big leads and let them back in games. Good move.
— THE THREE CABALLEROS —
o It would be nice to see Shannon Brown, Trevor Ariza and to a lesser degree Jordan Farmar expand their roles as spot up shooters and use their speed and athleticism to drive deep into the paint when they are run off the arc to see if they can draw fouls on Dwight Howard as he steps in to help. They could also drive and dish to another player and create problems. However, that may mess up something else Jackson has going, I don’t know.
At any rate, by dominating the Magic as they did in game 1, the Lakers are in the driver’s seat for 3 reasons.
— INVINCIBLE —
(1) The Lakers have taken pressure off of themselves and put it on the Orlando Magic to prove they even belong in this series.
— BEDTIME STORIES —
(2) The Lakers have forced the Magic to adjust their game plan, adjustments which the Lakers can anticipate and counter.
— CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN —
(3) The Lakers have proved to THEMSELVES that they have the coaching staff and personnel to take care of business, provided both groups give their full effort.
— FLUBBER —
Yes, the Orlando Magic are a resilient team and have bounced back before in the playoffs, but teams, like basketballs, have a hard time bouncing when they are flat. The Lakers defense, rebounding, and offensive agressiveness might just flatten the Magic again.
“I am saying it today and today only,” reads the tweet from Shaquille O’Neal. “I want kobe bryant to get number four, spread da word.”
Sorry this is late; I unexpectedly fell very ill and am only now sitting up again. However, it’s not like there has been a severe shortage of things to read on the 2009 NBA Finals, is there?
One of the best articles I’ve read is this piece on RealGM.com. Among other things, Hoffman details how the Lakers should be able to defend Dwight Howard with single coverage, defend the Magic’s screen and rolls with just two players, and keep the Magic honest on offense. I like that he dedicated that kind of time to defensive analysis, because I feel like this series will go to the team that is the most successful at stopping the other from doing what it wants to do.
Probably the worst article so far about the 2009 NBA Finals is Jason Whitlock ’s article laughingly called “NBA Truths” claiming that if Rashard Lewis drives the lane, the Magic will sweep the Lakers. Whitelock also wrote that Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are better commentators than Doug Collins because Collins won’t whine about officiating, that Phil Jackson wins just because he has had Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant (really? people are still beating that old drum?), and that America won’t watch teams with tatoos in the Finals.
As you all know, I don’t like to make predictions, but I will predict that Jason Whitlock’s “edgy and thought provoking style” will either cause a lot of Foxsports readers to go elsewhere for actual NBA truths, or else Whitlock will. May I recommend Brandon Hoffman?
— A QUICK PERSPECTIVE —
June 18, 2004 - In an afternoon meeting, Jerry Buss informed Phil Jackson that he would not be returning as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Calling Jackson “the greatest coach ever” Shaquille O’Neal demanded a trade, and 27 days later was in Miami, playing for then Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, a coach O’Neal would go on to call, “the Master of Panic.” What could have been a dynasty in L.A. soon became a disaster. Without Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe’s team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1994.
Interestingly, just 4 days prior to Jackson’s return to Hollywood, the Washington Post reported that the Cleveland Caveliers were trying to get Phil as well. I imagine LeBron James and Phil would have been successful at enticing young Carlos Boozer to hang around as well, but who knows what basketball history would have looked like had Jackson chosen differently.
What was Kobe’s reaction to Phil’s return? “When the Lakers began the search for a new head coach, I put my complete trust in Dr. Buss and (general manager) Mitch Kupchak to select the person they thought was best for the Lakers’ organization,” Bryant said. “In Phil Jackson, they chose a proven winner. That is something I support.”
And another endorsement for Phil Jackson came as well, and from an unlikely source. “I want to congratulate Phil on returning to coach the Lakers,” Shaquille O’Neal said in a statement released through the Heat. “He is one of the premier coaches. I wish him the very best.”
Outside of Shaq and Kobe’s comments though, it was hard to find anyone else who thought this was a good idea. Isn’t Phil Jackson supposed to the be coach that steps into ready-made championship teams and puts them over the edge?
The late Red Aurbach once said of Phil Jackson, “He’s never tried building a team and teaching the fundamentals. When he’s gone in there, they’ve been ready-made for him. It’s just a matter of putting his system in there.”
Here was Phil’s chance to prove the crotchety old Aurbach wrong, but Phil sure didn’t give himself much of a chance to do it.
Phil Jackson signed a 3 year contract. Did Jackson really think he could, in just 3 years, take the 2005 - 2006 Lakers and build a championship team out of the likes of: Smush Parker, Kobe Bryant, Deavon George, Brian Cook and Kwame Brown?! I figured either Jackson really had it bad for Jeanie Buss, or he was a lot more confident of his abilities that I was.
If Phil Jackson thought he could get back to the NBA Finals in 3 years though, he was awfully coy about it. “I would be most amazed if at the end of the third year we had an opportunity to do that,” he said.
The much maligned (in those days) Mitch Kupchak responded with, “He said the same thing the first time we hired him. I hope the same thing unfolds.”
Major props to Mitch: at the end of that 3 year contract, the Lakers were once again playing in the NBA Finals.
The only thing more unlikely than that was the fact that they were playing none other than the Boston Celtics, whose ascendancy from 33 wins and 49 losses in 2005 could not have been predicted either. The difference though, ironically, was Red Aurbach’s old team was ready-made with sure-fire future hall of famers, and Phil Jackson’s team was grown through teaching young (and often flaky) players the fundamentals. In fact I recently read somewhere that last year’s Lakers and this years Lakers both are the two teams with the most amount of players under 23 years old to ever make the Finals.
Before Phil Jackson, Pau Gasol had 4 years of playoff experience, and was swept out of the playoffs all 4 years. Trevor Ariza had traded locker rooms 7 times in 4 years before Phil Jackson. Shannon Brown is playing for his SEVENTH professional team since he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2006, including 3 different D-League teams. Not even the Denver Nuggets gave Coby Karl a chance to make it in the NBA, but Phil made a go at developing coach Karl’s son. Other players blossomed only under Jackson, such as Roni Turiaff, and what has Smush Parker done since leaving Jackson’s Lakers?
Yes, Red, Phil Jackson CAN build a team teaching them fundamentals along the way.
And as for the knot headed columnists like Whitlock who claim Jackson only won because he’s had Jordan and Bryant, coaches Doug Collins and Del Harris seemed to find plenty of ways to lose with essentially the same rosters Jackson inherited… how ’bout swallowing some humble pie and giving the guy his due.
Criticize Jackson if you want for not calling enough time outs, but the evidence is this guy can STILL flat out coach.
And this year, while people are making a deal about Kobe getting a ring without Shaq, it may be more significant if Phil gets one without Tex Winter, his mentor and architect of the triangle offense.
— THE 2009 NBA FINALS —
Kobe Bryant is playing for his second “Redeem Team” in a row, and isn’t about to allow himself to be known as the best player with a championship ring to never win an NBA Finals MVP award if there is anything he can do about it.
But what about his team?
“We’re upset about losing in the finals,” said Pau Gasol. “We should have given it a better shot than we did. It didn’t happen, and now we’re here again and we can give it a much better shot and really get it done.”
How does the old saying go? “Actions speak louder than words.”
Portland isn’t the only team with the Lakers number. The Orlando Magic swept the Lakers in the regular season, 2 games to none, and have defeated the Lakers 3 out of their last 4 matchups.
Defense wins championships and Orlando has the best defensive rating in the NBA for the regular season (101.9).
Orlando is 35-7 when they lead their opponents in rebounding.
Orlando is 42-4 when they score more than 100 points, and the Lakers are getting plenty of criticism for their lack of consistency on defense.
And while the Lakers may have home court, Orlando is a good road team. In fact, only the Lakers have a better road record this year than the Orlando Magic, so both teams are able to win on the other’s home floor.
But in the playoffs, coaching has a much greater role in a team’s failure or success than the regular season. The analysis and adjustments from game to game are far more intense in a 7 game series than on a road trip in the regular season.
We were all Witnesses to how the Orlando Magic dispatched the Cav’s one man show. That is probably the first place Jackson will tweak his Lakers. In their regular season matchups, Gasol got 11 shots per game against the Magic. Kobe got 28.5.
The next thing Phil will prepare his Lakers for is to be serious about rebounding. Not only was that a major factor in their defeat last Finals to the Celtics, but, as Lakers guard, Derek Fisher has said, “Our ability to rebound the basketball could really be the difference in this series.”
In the regular season the Lakers outrebounded their opponents by +2.47 rebounds per game, the Magic outrebounded their opponents by +1.12 rebounds per game. And inthe playoffs, the Lakers lead the Magic in rebounds per game: 42.44 to 38.42.
A lot gets said about the number of fouls the Lakers have to expend on Dwight Howard, but more importantly, the Lakers have a lot of bigs to rebound the ball and led the NBA in rebounding during the regular season — much of it without Andrew Bynum. The Lakers can be very capable on the boards and I suspect that the team with the most rebounds per game will also be the winner of each game.
Orlando likes to shoot 3s, and that means long rebounds to initiate the Lakers’ fast break… leading to easy points for the Lakers and foul trouble for the Magic.
The team that controls the boards will likely control the series, and the Lakers have an edge when it comes to rebounding.
And although the Lakers defense is often suspect, they did just hold the highest scoring offense in the playoffs, the Denver Nuggets, under 100 points for 3 of the last 4 games. The deeper the Lakers go into the playoffs, the less defensive ADD they seem to have.
If the Lakers control the boards, then they are likely hustling on defense as well, and I can’t see the Lakers losing a game where they hold the potent Orlando office under 92 points.
Although Pau plays a lot of time at center, he is extremely mobile and usually beats opposing centers with his foot speed and foot work. And thanks to all that pick and roll defense in Spain and now in the playoffs, I’ve observed that Pau is a capable perimeter defender as well, and I don’t think he’ll mind chasing Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkaglu to the arc to prevent open 3s.
Orlando is best 3 point shooting team in the playoffs, but how successful will they be if the Lakers are effective at taking that from them?
Hedo can’t out quick Ariza.
And I’m not sure I get all the praise lavished on Mickael Pietrus. He may be overrated. I don’t think he affected LeBron James at all, and it’s one thing to knock down wide open corner 3s, and another thing all together to get that same shot off quickly enough before Ariza or Shannon Brown flashes out there.
If the Lakers lose again in the Finals, it will simply be because of their inconsistent effort rebounding and defending.
As for the Lakers offense, the Lakers win when they move the ball, and were 2nd in the NBA in assists during the regular season. The Magic was 2nd to last in the NBA in assists. Moreover, the Magic had a much harder time with the Celtics’ triple threats than with the Cavaliers single dominating player. If the Lakers struggle to score, keep an eye on their ball movement: it will likely be the culprit. Without it, shots get harder for the Lakers.
The Orlando Magic is built to challenge the Lakers where they are at their weakest, but the Lakers have significant advantages over the Magic if they play smart and hard and up to their potential.
Interestingly, both teams have a tendency to give up leads, so don’t leave the game early.
And for those of us watching by television, I really am NOT looking forward to seeing Jeff Van Gundy call the game for his brother. That really should not have happened. — Edit: After game 1, I take this back. Jeff Van Gundy was hilarious and offered insights about Stan that others could not have.
In conclusion (because I have to go to dinner, not because I don’t have more to write), Derek Fisher recent said about coach Phil Jackson, “I definitely think he’s as excited and as enthusiastic about a Finals as I’ve seen in a long time. It was old hat for him when he showed up and we won three.”
Phil Jackson… excited? Enthusiastic? Than Fish has seen in a long time?! Anyone want to bet against THAT Phil Jackson?