LOS ANGELES - So after a hellacious day of travel/traffic/rental car woes in L.A. - the angst minimized by a surprisingly candid interview session with Ron Artest at the Staples Center in the early afternoon - I perused the media guides to confirm my suspicions: Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher are the only current Lakers who were on that 2001-2002 team that tortured the Kings in the Western Conference finals. Of course, Phil Jackson was head coach, and Jim Cleamons and Frank Hamblen were two of his assistants. And Brian Shaw was a reserve point guard on that '02 squad.
Still. Just wondering. Just thinking. Anyone in Sac pulling for Artest to win a championship? His effort during the second half of 2005-06, after he was acquired for Peja Stojakovic and his passion, peristence and dominating individual defense virtually pushed the Kings into the postseason, should earn him some love from Kings fans, right? I mean, the guy was truly incredible.
One thing that struck me during Wednesday's media bash: Ron Ron's winning putback against the Phoenix Suns in Game 5 of the conference semis was at the same end of the court as Robert Horry's killer three in the '02 conference finals. Horry's incredibly timely jumper off Vlade Divac's tapback seems like yesterday. And among all the NBA playoffs I've covered, it ranks up there with Julius Erving's baseline scoop shot, Bird's theft of Isiah Thomas' inbound pass, Magic's sweeping hook, Dennis Johnson's 19-footer at the Forum, Jordan's straight-on jumpers against Craig Ehlo and Bryon Russell ...
The numbers are intimidating
One of the reasons I continue to applaud the Maloofs for their aggressive pursuit of Jackson after he had been fired by owner Jerry Buss in 2005: Jackson's Bulls and Lakers teams are 47-0 when winning the first game of a playoff series. The Lakers themselves have won 23 consecutive playoffs after prevailing in the opener. You know? If you have elite talent and you are serious aobut winning? You hire elite coaches. Sometimes, it is that simple.
A tough series to call
Given the injuries to the Lakers (Kobe's finger, Andrew Bynum's right knee) and the advanced age of the Celtics' Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, this is a tough series to predict. Therefore, hours before Game 1 tipoff, I will defer to my esteemed colleague Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe - the encyclopedia on all things Celtics. He was a Celtics beat writer in the late 1970s and early 1980s, chronicled their championship runs through 1986 and again in 2008, hung with Havlicek and Cowens and Silas, and wrote books with Bird. His memory for game detail is unparalled. And, about this series, he has no clue. So I'll go with the theory that the team with the best player wins. Guess everyone knows who that is.
About the refs
There is no chance the NBA refs have a worse two weeks than Major League Baseball's umpires have experienced of late. Given ump Jim Joyce's botched call in what should have been Armando Galarraga's perfect game Wednesday, hopefully MLB is motivated to adopt an instant replay system something similar to that in the NBA. Nothing worse than blowing the call. Somewhere out there, Bob Delaney, Ted Bernhardt and Dick Bavetta - those 2002 Game Six Guys - are empathizing.
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