Yesterday marked two important milestones in the NBA season; the return of marquee Sunday afternoon matchups, and the first rematch of last June's Finals between the league's most storied franchises. To celebrate the occasion, I'd planned on tossing up some Game Notes: a roundtable of various observations (related to both basketball, and other stuff, like Brooklyn Decker) throughout the game from myself and the other hoops heads that frequent my living room; a fresh take on one of the regular season's most important games.
Instead, thanks to dubious decision to abuse my body for a good time's sake at the onset of a nasty flu-like illness, I spent the entire weekend buried in a cocoon of blankets, writhing in a cold sweat and sounding like a living, (hardly) breathing Mucinex ad. It was tough enough to keep my eyes open and enjoy the game; so I can only imagine how unbelievably shitty the Notes would've been.
The silver lining to my misery is that it's saved you from reading a column that would inevitably lead to the same conclusions that have been flooding the internet since the the buzzer sounded. LA's fourth-quarter meltdown can be blamed on (among many other things: a) the lack of fortitude from the Lakers' supporting cast and b) Kobe Bryant's consequent decision to force every shot down the stretch, regardless of how many defenders swarmed him, or teammates stood open in awe of his horrible shot selection. But rather than point out the obvious, I'm going to draw on a little help from Bill Simmons and Isiah Thomas to illustrate a deeper point (the parts in italics that follow are from Simmons' The Book of Basketball, which should be mandatory reading for any NBA fan. In fact, if you don't already own it, stop reading this right now and go buy it, you won't regret the time or $40 invested)
As the story goes, Simmons was down in Vegas; a carefully choreographed "business trip" that (somehow) found him several drinks deep at the Wynn's aquatic blackjack tables. A chance encounter with Knicks announcer Gus Johnson led to an invitation to join his table - along with Thomas. This was slightly problematic for Simmons, who had recently been far from tactful in a series of columns that openly bashed Thomas' job performance, culminating in an fictional piece entitled "The Atrocious GM Summit", at which Isiah was the headline speaker. This had unnerved the Knicks' embattled front office leader to the point of publicly threatening physical violence against Simmons, so he politely shunned the invitation in an attempt to avoid the Itchy and Scratchy-esque visions in his head.
Johnson insisted on trying to smooth the situation over, and to make a long story short (and for the sake of not ruining all the hilarious details for when you all inevitably read the book) Simmons wound up being invited over and settling his differences with Zeke; Thomas appreciated his apology, respected his candor and knowledge, and soon, bitter enemies were becoming best buds, soaking in the aura of expensive booze and one of Vegas' most scenic topless pools (ah, the wonders a little social lubrication can do).
As the conversation gradually shifted from Isiah trying to rationalize how he was running the Knicks into the ground, Simmons built up the courage to ask about "The Secret", something Isiah had hinted at way back in '89 when he was on the cusp of his first title:
"It's not about physical skills. Goes far beyond that...the only way our team would rise to the top would be by mental skills, not size or talent...by watching the Celtics and Lakers, because those were the teams winning year in and year out. I also looked at Seattle, who won one year, and Houston, who got to the Finals one year. They both self-destructed the next year. Some how come? I read Pat Riley's book Show Time and he talks about "the disease of more". A team wins it one year and the next year every player wants more minutes, more money, more shots. And it kills them...but it's hard not to be selfish. The art of winning is complicated by statistics, which for us becomes money."
"Look at our team statistically. We're one of the worst teams in the league...But I kept looking at the won-loss record and how we kept improving and I kept saying to myself, Isiah, you're doing the right thing, so be stubborn and one day people will find a different way to judge a player. They won't just pick up the newspaper and say, oh, this guy was 9 for 12 with 8 rebounds so he was the best player in the game. Lots of times, on our team, you can't tell who the best player in the game was. 'Cause everybody did something good. That's what makes us so good. The other team has to worry about stopping eight or nine people instead of two or three. It's the ony way to win."
Although Isiah alluded to it, he never outright told anyone what the secret was (at least not publicly) until Simmons put him on the spot and found out the truth: "It's not about basketball". What the fuck?
Thomas went on to tell Simmons about the truth behind the '89 trade that shipped former All-Star Adrian Dantley for Mark Agguire; who meshed better with his teammates and allowed for defensive demon Dennis Rodman to see more unprotested court time, which added to Detroit's versatility. Dantley's presence was detracting from the team when he'd complain about Rodman eating his minutes and carry a shady disposition that ruined morale. The Pistons got rid of him (almost) entirely to preserve their chemistry, and they won the first of back-to-back titles four months later.
They key point was that Detroit was not only a deep, versatile roster that beat on opponents with tough defense and relentless synergy, but that what really made those Pistons teams special was their focused and cohesive mentality; as Simmons puts it: (the championship team) prevailed because it got along and everyone committed themselves to their roles. That's what Detroit needed to do, and that's why Dantley had to go".
Fast-forward a couple decades, and we're left with yesterday's losers; the Champs who appear to be on the verge of that self-destruction Thomas spotted in Seattle and Houston. Their issues have been many; present all year, yet this is a team who's been to the Finals three straight years; these aren't necessarily basketball issues. But then, remember, it's not about basketball.
It's about Pau's incessant bitching. It's about Ron Artest having the most ineffective season of his career, confounding his teammates. It's about Kobe's completely unmatched work ethic and respect for the game; the exalted attributes that cause him to look down on his inferior surroundings and try to take over, which with rare exception, makes them a worse team. It's about Andrew Bynum being so perpetually injured that he can't be counted on consistently, while other bodies log extra mileage in his absence. It's these things and more that clearly indicate nobody's filled the Lakers in on "The Secret".
Meanwhile, it's obvious that several years ago, KG broke into Isiah's place, tied him up, and beat The Secret out of him with a lead pipe. Boston's (relatively) healthy and firing on all cylinders, playing the kind of focused, team-attack basketball that wins titles. And they're doing it on a team with tons of star power, with virtually everybody playing an undersized role, and still nobody complains; everybody shows up. Hell, they made a solid bench contributor out of Nate Robinson. They're sacrificing for the sake of the team; something LA was miles away from yesterday, befelled by poor basketball that was deeply rooted - not in a lack of ability - but in their flawed concepts of championship mentality.
As talented as they are, and as brilliant a coach as Phil Jackson is, yesterday (hell, for most of the season) the Lakers were been playing far below their ability as a basketball team. Hopefully they can clue in that's not really about basketball after all.
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