Good to see you back bro. You back in Cali ?
[h1]Lakers don't need video evidence from 2008[/h1]If the Lakers' video staff needs any inspiration for the NBA Finals, it won't be difficult.
The guys who put together game video for team meetings this week can insert a wide array of images between clips of the Boston Celtics' physical defensive front and Rajon Rondo picking apart any number of teams.
In no particular order, they could use: Paul Pierce dancing on the Celtics' bench during a timeout in the final minutes of the 2008 NBA Finals; the Garden crowd derisively chanting "Where is Kobe?" while the Celtics hovered near a 30-point fourth-quarter lead and Kobe Bryant sat on the bench in the decisive Game 6; the Celtics returning to Los Angeles later in the summer of '08 for a sports awards show and bragging onstage of "another win in L.A." after taking the category for top pro team of the year.
It's up to the Lakers whether they want to revisit what happened two years ago, including the 131-92 loss they sustained in the clinching game, the second-largest margin of defeat ever in an NBA Finals game.
So far, they seem fine with going there.
"I think everybody on our team remembers what happened," Andrew Bynum said.
Their setback two years ago took place without Bynum (dislocated kneecap) and with Trevor Ariza at the end of the bench, unable to gain any traction in the rotation after missing more than four months because of a broken foot.
Bynum's status might be only slightly better than in 2008 — he continues to hobble through games with torn cartilage and might have his right knee drained before Game 1 Thursday at Staples Center — but the Lakers hope they have an answer to Pierce, who blistered them on numerous fronts two years ago (points, assists, continual trips to the free-throw line) while being selected Finals most valuable player.
The Lakers signed Ron Artest to a five-year, $33-million contract last July with a challenge like this in mind.
"Pierce is a very tough matchup," Bryant said. "He's one of the few players that has a long ball, that has mid-range game, can get to the basket. I think that makes him tough to cover, but Ron is up to the challenge."
Artest and Pierce even have a built-in history.
A few years ago, Artest pulled down Piece's shorts while trying to guard him in an Indiana Pacers-Celtics game. He offered up a singing apology a couple of days later, crooning off-key, "Paul, I'm sorry to humiliate you on TV by pulling your shorts down."
More recently, Artest and Pierce were admonished by a referee for picking at each other before the teams played Jan. 31 in Boston.
They jostled one another with their elbows as players lined up around the midcourt circle for the opening tip and were warned to cut it out by referee Marc Davis.
Artest still seemed irritated afterward.
"I was in my position and he tried to put his leg over my position. But if you're not strong enough, you shouldn't be fighting with me," he said. "If you really can't match my strength, then why even try to pick a fight? Why even try to tussle? I was on the white line and you cannot cross my line."
Artest got the final laugh that night, holding Pierce to 15 points on four-for-11 shooting and drawing a late charge on him in the Lakers' 90-89 victory.
Pierce wasn't any better almost three weeks later, scoring 11 points on four-for-nine shooting, but the Celtics beat the Lakers without Bryant, 87-86, at Staples Center.
Now they'll face each other when it really means something. So will their teammates.
"It's something that has been anticipated now for the last couple weeks," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "So here it is."
No discipline
Sasha Vujacic will not be further disciplined by the NBA beyond the flagrant foul he received Saturday against Phoenix, according to a league spokesman.
He got plenty of negative feedback from teammates, for sure, including Bryant, who half-jokingly said, "He's still breathing," when asked if he wanted to kill Vujacic.
Vujacic sparked a Suns rally by striking reserve guard Goran Dragic in the face with his elbow after a play.
Link:
http://www.latimes.com/sp...20100531,0,4725441.story
Reseller and ticket scalper prices are going to be INSANEOriginally Posted by HybridSoldier23
STAPLES Center: Arena Map & Pricing
May 30, 2010
(Click on a section to see a photo of the view from that section)
[table][tr][td]2009-10 Ticket Prices [/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]2009 NBA Finals
Series D
Games 1 & 2 only[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$75[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$165[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$210[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$275[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$340[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$390[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$490[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$550[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]$390[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Suites
[/td][/tr][/table]
[h1]Kobe Bryant vs. Michael Jordan argument is no longer heresy[/h1]
If we're going to have the conversation, we might as well go to one of the primary sources, no?
Greatest of all time, you or Michael?
"That's hard for me," Kobe Bryant said, walking to another team bus after another virtuoso performance in late May. "I'm still young. Our careers are so different."
But what if you win a championship this season and one or two more rings before you retire? That would equal or surpass Michael Jordan's haul of titles. Don't we have to start talking about it?
"You can, but I don't know if it's fair to anyone," Kobe said. "I mean, I came off the bench early in my career. We had such different beginnings, you know? And then I played with a much different team about halfway through my career. You almost have to judge my career in two phases."
He's right.
There was Kobe With Shaq and Kobe Without Shaq; Michael always had Scottie Pippen.
Kobe came straight from high school; Michael stayed three years at North Carolina. Kobe is working on his fifth title at 31 years old; Michael didn't win his fifth until he was 34 years old.
Yet for the bulk of their careers, they both also had Phil Jackson, the greatest coach in the game.
"He's comparable [to Jordan]," Jackson said of Bryant on Saturday night in the desert outside the coach's room at U.S. Airways Arena. "He's got the same drive and determination."
Jackson had just watched the game's most accomplished player pour in 37 points and two of the most jaw-dropping shots in the final two minutes of a close-out victory over the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference finals, shots that pushed the Lakers into their third straight NBA Finals and seventh in the last 11 seasons.
So, he was essentially asked, what if Michael's surreal highlights start to be referred to as "Kobe-esque?" Or is that just heresy? Should we play the "Greatest of All Time" game?
"People are going to do it," Jackson replied.
What about you?
"I will hold back observation until that time."
Okay, that's a maybe. And raise your hand right now if you thought Phil would ever go there on any level?
We can play "Who Had More 40- and 50-point games?" and "Who Holds More NBA records?" and break down raw numbers forever. And it won't do anything but satisfy the people who calibrate the game instead of celebrate it.
But the entire debate is really immaterial in some ways, isn't it? Because in the G.O.A.T. argument, the problem for Bryant isn't about production -- it's about perception.
The unfortunate truth for Kobe is he can never be Michael because he isn't thought of as likable as Jordan, also the greatest commercial pitchman ever for an athlete. Even if he tied or surpassed Jordan in championships and postseason magical moments, Bryant's public missteps -- the prideful ego war with Shaquille O'Neal early in his career, the sexual assault charge eventually dropped in Colorado and his desire to leave the Lakers only a few years ago -- will always be held against him.
"Let's say he does get two more rings," Tim Legler, the former player and now an ESPN analyst, said recently in a telephone interview. "Even if he doesn't win any more MVP awards, he will probably approach Kareem Abdul-
Jabbar's all-time scoring record. You absolutely can make a valid argument for Kobe being the greatest ever when that happens.
"But he will never be revered like Michael Jordan will be revered," Legler added. "He's never been beloved like Michael has been beloved. Very little of that has to do with what happened in Vail [Colo.] or anything with Shaq.
"There's still something about him. So many people question how genuine Kobe is. He's chosen to not let people really get to know him."
Because we sadly convince ourselves that what we see on television equals who someone is, Kobe won't even go down as the greatest Laker in history. Magic Johnson wrapped that up for eternity a long time ago.
Purely based on his professional persona, I think Kobe gets shortchanged on the image issue. See, Michael was as cutthroat and undiplomatic and nasty as a champion ever was. By the time he put on the suit and tie, though, he was a much better actor. With his megawatt smile and disarming wink, he could conceal the shadow side of him in ways Kobe never really cared if he concealed.
When I ran that thought by Kobe late Saturday night in Phoenix, he didn't completely agree. "He wasn't better at hiding it," Kobe said of Michael. "I think there was just less media coverage."
Either way, it's time to stop ignoring the possibility there will ever be a player of Jordan's ilk -- and maybe better.
"Yeah, you can compare them," said Brian Shaw, the Lakers assistant coach who played with Kobe and against both players. "They're made of the same stuff. The difference: I think Michael had just bigger hands. He could palm the ball off the dribble. I don't think Kobe can do that."
I sought out Steve Kerr for the final say. He played with Michael and against Kobe. Kerr intimately felt the moments when Michael siphoned the soul from a team's season, no more than the night he shot down Utah on the road in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals.
Flash forward to another Game 6, Western Conference finals, 12 years later. Thirty-five seconds left, game in the balance. The best player on the court squares and fires off-balance from the right wing with hands in his face. Good. Another visiting arena is crestfallen, its team's season over. Kerr, now the Phoenix Suns general manager, intimately felt that shot puncture more than a great year.
"He's the only guy you can legitimately say is right there with Michael," Kerr said. "Kobe actually has better shooting range than Michael. Now, Michael was more physical. The rules when he played allowed the Knicks to maul him. But in the end, they're both killers and the most incredible players of their eras."
It's easy to appreciate both for their talents and their triumphs this time of year.
It's harder to acknowledge the truth and just say it: If Kobe Bryant wins his fifth title in the next two weeks and wins two more championships before he retires to give him seven rings, he has to be given the nod as the greatest individual talent ever to play in the NBA.
As hard as that might be to hear for Michael and his legions, that's not heresy anymore.
Link:
http://www.washingtonpost...0053003391_3.html?sub=AR
Very interesting article.
I agree with Tim Legler's comments though about the whole perception thing about Kobe and why he will NEVER be revered or loved like Jordan.
Steve Kerr's comments about how Game 6 last night felt to him like Game 6 1998 Finals @ Utah the Jordan shot over Russell game isThat's some mad RESPECT for Kobe right there coming from a guy who played with Jordan and against Kobe.
co-sign... well except bruins. i don't know hockey
good lookin out
how ironic coming from a guy who stands around and camps in the paint then gets a 3 second violation
True, but all we need Bynum for is Defense. We can't have Rondo going in and out the paint as he pleases like he did against the the Cavs, and Magic. And sadly, Rondo will be running circles around Fisher.
good lookin out
