Halftime Hype

I think it's safe to say that the Lakers are officially the franchise of the decade. In the immediate years following the Shaq trade, the Lakers were victims of their own despair. They have now exemplified different variations of glory at its highest honor. At the beginning of the decade, the Lake Show was a numerous-headed monster that couldn't be stopped. The Lakers of today, however, are a combination of several styles that find creative ways to attack. Back in the early 2000's, the supporting cast was a bunch of veterans who had enjoyed playoff prosperity. Nine years later, the bench of the purple and gold consist of determined youth motivated to win under the leadership of a single soul: Kobe Bryant. The championship night riots might have been more lively in the early part of this decade, but there are plenty more jerseys to be found on the streets today. If you haven't already caught on, this is an entirely new team with a memorable road to the title.

You might be wondering how a bunch of young boys beat older men in Hedo Turkoglu (a.k.a. The Turkish Michael Jordan) and Rashard Lewis. In that case, just think about their shortcoming last year. After "cake walking" to the NBA Finals, the Lakers were utterly embarrassed and disgraced the city of Los Angeles with their poor performance. The first round was a complete joke, with not even a touch of brutality as we saw in this year's match-up with Utah. There were no technical fouls and they didn't show a bit of the intensity they dominated with this postseason. Defense? It wasn't in their vocabulary. As many already know, while playing at Staples during a critical Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Lakers gave up a 24-point lead. They didn't have the will to close out games. They couldn't find the energy to drive to the rim and stop the NBA's biggest madman in Kevin Garnett. The boys didn't have the intangibles in the arsenal of every championship team, either. Key word here: EXPERIENCE.



The opposite of cake walking, though, is effort - something the Lakers didn't have in their postseason campaign last year. Did we see Kobe Bryant scowl and model his teeth angrily last year? Did we see Lamar Odom scream en route to three points plays like he did this year? Did Derek Fisher outperform his younger counterpart on the opposing team as well as he did this year? They didn't even have a Shannon Brown to come off the bench and score within the first few seconds he was inserted into the ball game. Was the media making such a big deal about winning without Shaq? Was Trevor Ariza making game-changing steals in the last minute of ball games? Was the post-game parade on anybody's mind at all (I don't think I even saw the word "parade" anywhere until the Rose Parade this January)? Was there a Josh Powell to praise Kobe every timeout? Was there a retired player (cough, cough, Alonzo Mourning) around to criticize the game's greatest coach of all-time? The answer to all of these questions, without a doubt, is "no."

A big part of this postseason has been the people who haven't been involved on the court. Even though Kobe will continue to say that winning without Shaq means nothing, we all know what he's really thinking - "Shaq, tell me how my ass tastes." The criticism from the Big Aristotle last year may have, indeed, spurred these amazing games from Kobe. Kobe knows that the future generation of sportswriters (that probably includes me) would always hold that potential accolade against him: oh, you didn't win without Shaq; you only won as the obedient sidekick. And even though that doesn't mean anything to real fans of the game, it's nice that Kobe got that accusation out of the way. Plus, former center Alonzo Mourning has began many debates with his controversial comments accusing Phil Jackson of "just showing up" and Kobe doin' work as the primary coach. Well, what did you think of the Zen Master's hat last night?



Congratulations, Lakers. Phil Jackson can smoke his victory cigar in honor of the late Red Auerobach (sorry if I mispelled his name). Kobe can smile. Lamar can eat his candy. Adam Morrison can go shopping for suits. And DJ Mbenga can do what he does. Enjoy the parade and thank you for restoring pride to Angelenos and energizing Lakers fans all over the world. I leave you all with this last tweet by THE_REAL_SHAQ:



Btw, an explanation of my culture recommendations in the "Culture" box which appears under my tweets on the right column of this blog: The Rhumb Line, the debut album by Ra Ra Riot, is a blend of semi-fast rock that isn't too sleepy but has chill tracks, The Soloist by Steve Lopez is on there not because it became a movie (which I haven't seen yet) but because it brought light to a part of Los Angeles I don't (like to) read much about, Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox is an inspiring story by another embattled warrior in this world, Freedarko Present the Macrophenomenal Basketball Almanac is the best modern analysis of any sport I've seen so far, and I've already wrote a review about J.A. Adande's book and it's on the box 'cause it's a relatively recent read which I enjoyed. I'll try to update once or twice a month, but until then take my word for the current picks.