There are a lot of reasons why Kevin Garnett should be recognized as the league’s best defensive player this season. Maybe he’ll get the nod and maybe he won’t. The case on why he should isn’t difficult to make, though, as we trace the history of the award and other possible candidates. History tends to dictate the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year is a shot-blocker first and foremost. Since the award — voted on by the media — began in 1983 with Milwaukee Bucks uber-defender Sidney Moncrief winning the first two years, 16 of the next 23 winners were shot-blockers — including Marcus Camby last year.
That’s not to say the shot-blocker, who's virtually always an exceptional rebounder as well, doesn’t deserve the award. It’s just easier to distinguish the cause and effect, recognizing that it isn’t just that particular stat that makes the difference, but the intimidation factor as well. When you have guys like Camby, four-time winner Dikembe Mutombo and multiple winners such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Alonzo Mourning patrolling the paint, it does allow the rest of the team to play tougher on the ball because he’s back there as a fierce last line of defense.
The same can be said for on-the-ball pressure, with Hornets point guard Chris Paul leading the league in steals, although that rarely predicates the award-winner.
It would make it easy to tab Camby again considering he’s leading the league blocks again and is right up there in rebounds. Young Magic center Dwight Howard will garner a lot of votes, too, since he’s leading everyone in rebounding and is near the top of the league in blocks.
The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, a fierce one-on-one defender will get his share of votes because he’s so talented and popular overall. Generally speaking, it’s difficult to single out individual defenders. Over the years, other than Moncrief, the awards have gone to great one-on-one defenders such as Michael Jordan, Gary Payton, Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest. There are those who believe the Spurs’ Bruce Bowen has deserved it for years but can’t get the necessary votes because there is a perceived notion of dirty play on his part.
This year, we’re going a different direction, giving the nod to a team-defense guy who is making everyone around him better: the Celtics’ Garnett. That’s not to say Garnett hasn’t been acknowledged as a great defender before. He was voted first-team All-Defense six years in a row by the coaches until slipping to second team the past two seasons. KG has never been voted the top defender by the media and this time around he should.
Ironically, his overall individual defensive statistics — 1.3 blocks, 1.4 steals and 9.4 rebounds — are below average over the breadth of his career. But the spidery arms, great hands, superior defensive knowledge and instincts of the 6-11, 240-pound Garnett have made the Celtics the best defensive team in the league this season. His help defense has given everybody else on the team more confidence and enhanced the team’s overall defensive IQ.
Heck, Celtics center Kendrick Perkins has more blocks than Garnett. But KG’s presence has given the young starter the freedom and confidence to come from the weak side and becoming an increasingly effective shot-blocker.
It’s hard to say how the rest of the voters will go in this instance. Camby will get a lot of votes again, so will Howard considering how much he and the Magic have risen in the NBA consciousness this season. And certainly neither would be the wrong choice.
Nonetheless, the reason Garnett deserves this is the same reason he will attract a lot of votes for Most Valuable Player too – he does so much to make the other players better with his consistent presence – his overall impact is incalculable.
To be sure, coach Doc Rivers and his staff deserve a lot of credit for transforming this team on the defensive end into a powerhouse that is leading the league in field-goal defense and defensive scoring average But none of it would have been possible without the towering president of “The Big Ticket,” in the middle of the fray to control things.
That’s why in my book, Garnett stands alone as the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year.
Voting on the top-five for the most valuable player in the NBA this season will be easy compared to figuring out how to pare down to the top three coaches.
In the Western Conference alone there are at least eight great candidates, and three more in the East. Trying to squeeze 11 guys into three spots isn't going to be easy.
But we will go about this unenviable task over the next month and start thinking about it seriously right now. Since the East has only a few contenders, let’s start there with the best one -- Doc Rivers of the Celtics. Rivers is proof positive how much better a coach can be the second time around, and with this team he has been magnificent. Sure, he was handed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen on a silver platter by general manager Danny Ainge, who is a lock to be executive of the year. Ainge even did a brilliant job of filling in the blanks with veterans to augment what Garnett, Allen and incumbent All-Star Paul Pierce do. Let’s not forget the development of youngsters Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe and Glen Davis by the coaching staff either.
But what we couldn’t know is that they would become the best defensive team in the league. Not only do they have the best scoring differential, but they are leading the league in fewest points allowed, lowest field goal percentage and lowest 3-point percentage, while ranking third in offensive field goal percentage and ninth in scoring. That translates into the team sticking to the game plan, rotating and closing out, and most importantly, really playing hard. Some of that comes from the great leadership of Garnett, et al, but Rivers has put it all together. With already 30 more wins than last season, they will shatter the all-time turnaround record.
Stan Van Gundy has coaxed the Orlando Magic to an entirely different level, too. He’s got evolving Superman Dwight Howard to dominate, but he has also pushed Hedo Turkoglu to playing at All-Star status, even if he didn’t get picked, and integrated Rashard Lewis to create the best frontcourt in either conference. They don’t have the goods to go anywhere in the playoffs, but he has managed to have the second best road record in the league and at least stay in shouting distance of the Pistons for the second best record in the conference despite very pedestrian point guard play.
Speaking of the Pistons, we have to mention Flip Saunders attempting to get the Pistons to a record sixth consecutive Eastern Conference final, as he and management have figured out how to develop a bench this season. Too bad they haven’t figured out how not to be so dependent on mercurial Rasheed Wallace to win a playoff series.
Let’s throw kudos to Eddie Jordan for preventing the thin Wizards from falling apart despite not having Gilbert Arenas for virtually the entire season and losing Caron Butler for the bulk of the second half as well. And only a pure cynic would overlook the job Mo Cheeks has done prodding the young Sixers back to not only respectability but into the seventh seed in the East and on their way up.
Cross the Rockies and this coach of the year stuff is much more complicated, with 2.5 games separating the top seven teams, 4.5 the top eight and 6.0 the top nine.
Consequently, we’re start from the top, with the Rockets and Lakers tied. It’s impossible not to be overwhelmed by the job Rick Adelman has done in Houston, coaching the Rockets to an amazing 22-game winning streak in his first season -- reeling off the last 10 without All-Star center Yao Ming. They’ve done it with a great synergy on defense and on the offensive end. It’s hard to know how they’ll respond from Tuesday’s loss to the Celtics and finishing the season with 10 of 15 on the road could cause them to drop like a rock in this tight race. But that doesn’t minimize the second longest streak in the history of the league.
Hanging at or near the top all season have been the Lakers, and the way coach Phil Jackson has kept them together may ultimately make this the best coaching job of his career. He had to compartmentalize the Kobe Bryant trade demand and sit him out of training camp for a while, develop youngsters Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar, re-integrate Derek Fisher into the starting lineup and then take it to another level with the theft of Pau Gasol from Memphis. As if that wasn’t enough, Bynum has been out for months with a knee injury and won’t play until the playoffs and Gasol may not either with a high ankle sprain. Of course, Bryant makes all of this easier … but Jackson makes it all hum.
On the other hand, nobody has done a better job than Byron Scott has with the Hornets, which oddly enough seems almost like a secret. They’ve been hanging out near or at the top of the conference and the rugged Southwest Division all season. Budding superstar point guard Chris Paul has had plenty to do with it, as has young All-Star forward David West and rapidly developing center Tyson Chandler. But Scott, like Rivers, is proving that a lot of the criticism from his first job has paid off in the second one, and the Hornets – despite a lack of depth – are legit challengers in the West. Having won two conference titles in the East as coach of the Nets plus his three championship rings playing for Pat Riley on the Lakers make him eminently qualified to compete with anybody.
Always overlooked in the balloting, but constantly in the discussion is Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who now has coached the Jazz 20 seasons, the longest tenure in league history. Their 29-3 home record is the best in the NBA and will be the best in franchise history, built around Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, a second generation Stockton and Malone.
Despite winning just 32 games last season and losing top overall pick Greg Oden for the season to knee surgery before training camp even began, Nate McMillan has develop the Trail Blazers into a legit team above .500 in the West. They won’t make the playoffs, but that’s not the point. After a 5-12 start, they won 18 of 20, including 13 in a row and he has developed youngsters Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw into explosive young players. They all defend every night and they’ll be scary next year with Oden in the middle of that lineup.
Of course, Gregg Popovich has once again done a stellar job keeping the defending champion Spurs in contention and the same goes for Avery Johnson, despite the exaggerated criticism he gets even with the Mavericks always in the mix. And it’s great to know the howling has stopped around Suns coach Mike D’Antoni now that they’ve won five in a row while assimilating the huge round peg – Shaquille O’Neal – into a quite small square hole in their lineup.
It also would be wrong not to mention how well last season’s darling Warriors have hung on for Don Nelson and the bizarre possibility the Nuggets could win 50 games for George Karl and still not make the playoffs – but the latter two carry asterisks because both teams have the fatal flaw of not playing a lick of defense.
Now that we’ve gone through the exercise, it’s time for the top three, with the caveat that I still have a month to change my mind on the second two – particularly if the Rockets and/or Hornets crash:
With less than a quarter of the NBA season left, it’s time to get serious about the awards voting. Some are easier than others.
We won’t get into those yet because, well, they won’t require the hemming and hawing that voting for the Most Valuable Player Award generally does. Sometimes, it’s obvious, most of the time, it’s not — and that comes from more than 20 years of experience.
This year is no different. Voting for five is no problem because there are five great candidates. Moving from East to West, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come up with Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant. Some people can even make a case for others. Manu Ginobili comes to mind as a sleeper for the top five, and the same may go for Tracy McGrady if the Rockets continue on their amazing pace … but don’t count on either one to jump into the fray.
Now that we’ve settled on a quintet, let’s break them down.
Garnett has already won the award (2003) in the middle of a historic run of six consecutive seasons of at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. This is different, because this is about leadership and presence that has changed the persona of the Celtics. However, they did very well when he was injured before the All-Star break. His stats — 18.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists — are modest by his standards, and more reflective of involving his teammates while doing what it takes to have the best record in the league.
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The Magic would be nowhere without Howard, who leads the team in scoring, rebounding and blocks — all career-highs — and tops the league in rebounding. He has become the most dominant center in the game, averaging 21.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. The frightening thing is he just turned 23 and is getting bigger and better.
That takes us to James, whose is leading the NBA in scoring at 30.8 points to go with 8.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists — the latter two career-highs. The combination of stats makes him worthy of comparison to the greatest player in history, also at the ripe age of 23. Remember, too, he has missed six games plus was injured early and did not return in a blowout loss to Detroit; the Cavs were 0-7 in those games. He also leads the league in fourth-quarter scoring and the Cavs lead the league with 15 wins when trailing going into the fourth quarter.
Paul has exploded this season with career-bests in all the vital categories (including shooting percentages) with 21.3 points, 11.0 assists and 2.7 steals. He leads the league in steals and is second in assists, and has controlled the tempo in virtually every game they’ve played. Conversely, when he suffered through ankle problems last season, the Hornets did not make the playoffs. They’ve been near the top of the West since November.
And that brings us to Bryant, who has led the Lakers to the No. 1 seed in the West, which is rather stunning when you consider he wanted out of the organization almost up until opening night. But he stayed focused, the team started well and then the Lakers stole Pau Gasol in February to start a 15-3 run. In fact, it’s even tempting to make Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and general manager Chris Wallace the co-MVPs for handing the Lakers a potential title on a silver platter.
Nonetheless, the story is Bryant, who despite a torn ligament in his right pinky that will require surgery is averaging 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.0 steals — right on his career marks.
With about 20 games left, things won’t change much for the leading candidates, short of injury. And upon further review, the Celtics’ 7-2 mark without Garnett hurts him more than the others. As for Howard, the fact that the Magic probably can’t be serious contenders in the East may take him out of the MVP picture, too.
Paul and the Hornets are in a very similar situation, although New Orleans is a better team overall. That pushes Paul to third.
And that leaves us where we figured to be anyway — the impossible decision between Bryant and James. Bryant is a newer, bigger model of Michael Jordan, and James is a newer, bigger version of Bryant. Bryant is a better pure shooter and defender, but James is a more natural passer, much stronger and a better rebounder. James taking the Cavs to the Finals last year doesn’t factor into this season, though that 0-7 mark when he’s out is like a neon light.
But the Lakers are nowhere without Bryant either. It’s almost as if his conniption fit over the summer slapped sense into him, and he’s showing leadership like never before. He’s not only playing through the hand injury, but playing so well that the injury is scarcely remembered anymore.
Because of the transition he’s made and where the Lakers are today, he’s earned his first MVP. James will have his day soon enough; and he might win the award anyway.
But from our vantage point, that leaves us with this:
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been caught up in all the plaudits and hand-wringing for the 2008 version of the NBA All-Star team. Virtually everyone who makes the team is worthy of selection and plenty more are snubbed in the annual politicking and numbers game.
There is one area of representation for the Eastern Conference and Western All-Star teams that can never be questioned, though, and that’s the coaches. Head coach come from the teams with the best winning percentage in each conference though Feb. 3, and the previous season’s coaches are not eligible. And in the event of a tie, the first tiebreaker goes to the coach who has not coached in the game most recently.
And this year’s duo for the Feb. 17 game in New Orleans is no different with the inclusion of Doc Rivers from the East and Bryon Scott from the West – only the second time in NBA history that two African-American coaches have faced each other in the game and the first time since K.C. Jones and Al Attles did it in 1975.
It is too bad that we’ve reached the 21st century and race still becomes a story in a league that is about 80 percent black. Consequently, it’s impossible to ignore what the respective coaches have accomplished with their teams this season.
As the Boston Celtics exploded out of the gate with the best record in the NBA – and they retain that high-brow mark of 36-8 even today – there was never any doubt that Rivers would gain his first trip to the All-Star game as a coach. It’s his fourth season in Boston after five average, if unspectacular, seasons coaching the Magic, and he did make it once when he was the point guard for the Hawks in 1988.
Rivers has done a superb job this season. Not only did the C’s earn it with performance, but he couldn’t have been more deserving with the way he meshed a complete turnover by general manager Danny Ainge – albeit with a core of three superstars – Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joining incumbent Paul Pierce. He has developed young point guard Rajon Rando and improved the team’s defense dramatically. Unless something dire happens due to injuries, they will stay that top seed in the Eastern Conference and most likely the league overall.
This is the second All-Star coaching appearance for Scott, who represented the East in 2002 when he coached the New Jersey Nets to the first of two consecutive Eastern Conference titles. He never did make the All-Star game as a player, but he did earn three championship rings as the starting shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. So he knows more than a thing or two about winning. He becomes the sixth coach in NBA history to coach both conferences in the All-Star game, joining Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Flip Saunders and Lenny Wilkens.
It merely reflects what he has accomplished this season with the Hornets. It has been a beleaguered franchise that has struggled since its hasty move from Charlotte in 2002, and then shuttled to and from Oklahoma City as the Big Easy struggled to begin rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. Without a strong home fan base, Scott has led his team to a Western Conference-best 16-6 record on the road to overcome the lack of homecourt advantage with young stars Chris Paul, David West and Tyson Chandler. He becomes the 10th coach to be on his home court in the All-Star game and this is the first time since 1995 when Paul Westphal represented the Suns in Phoenix.
And yet, it remains impossible to ignore how infrequent it has been that two African-American coaches have faced each other in the All-Star game. It resonates because we will always talk about ground-breaking circumstances, just as it was Sunday with Mike Carey becoming the first black referee in the Super Bowl after 18 seasons as an NFL official. It comes a year after Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith became the first black coaches to match up in the Super Bowl.
Such a title matchup has happened only once in the NBA, that same 1975, with Attles’ Golden State Warriors defeating Jones’ Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals. But it was far less likely then than it is now, particularly when you consider the numbers.
There are 12 African-American coaches in the NBA this season, with eight in the Eastern Conference – Rivers, Sam Mitchell (Toronto), Maurice Cheeks (Philadelphia), Isiah Thomas (New York), Mike Brown (Cleveland), Eddie Jordan (Washington), Mike Woodson (Atlanta) and Sam Vincent (Charlotte). In the Western Conference, Scott is joined by Dallas' Avery Johnson, Nate McMillan in Portland and Sacramento’s first-year coach Reggie Theus. That’s the same number as the start of the 2006-07 season, and still a far better percentage than what we’ve seen in the pro football or baseball.
It is also significant if you look at the big cities in the East that there is far less fanfare with a black coach. Scott had already established himself as a player and a name coach in New Jersey and as a player before going to New Orleans. Johnson was hand-picked by Don Nelson and Mark Cuban while he was an assistant. And it was no big deal in Portland with McMillan having established himself as an icon first a player, then as a coach in the Pacific Northwest for 20 years just up the road in Seattle. And Theus was a very popular player on the Kings team that moved to Sacramento from Kansas City in 1985, so it wasn’t a shocking move there either.
Essentially, the point is we can run circles around the circumstances and the numbers as we look at the very real possibility of Barack Obama becoming president of the United States in November. And the hope is that in the very near future we won’t be looking at the numbers and the history. But until we get there, it is still important to recognize ground-breaking accomplishments because it has been so difficult for the African-American coaches to keep getting the second opportunities that Rivers (Orlando before Boston) and Scott did.
For too long the only opportunities were with expansion teams or plain bad franchise with few, if any, second opportunities. Slowly but surely, we are growing past that and the success of Rivers and Scott helps pave the way.
The inclination has always been that the NBA regular season doesn’t mean much to the top teams. It’s nothing more than a warmup for what can be more than a 25-game second season through the Finals.
But however much or little you want to make of regular-season games, they are barometers that physically and psychologically have an impact on the rest of the season.
Take the past week for the Detroit Pistons. They won their 11th game in a row last Friday at Toronto before coming home for a second showdown with the Boston Celtics, whom the Pistons had defeated at Boston last month. The Celtics handled them, much to the dismay of the Palace fans. It was a bigger game for the Celtics than the Pistons, who were headed out on a tough Texas trip anyway. Realistically, these are by far the two best teams in the East; short of some serious injuries, it’s just a prelude for the postseason.
So the Celtics went home happy just long enough to lose at home to the struggling Charlotte Bobcats. It was one of those setup games that come along after a big win and a team gets a little fat and happy at home. Realistically, it meant nothing to the Celtics other than a reminder to Kevin Garnett and Co. that any NBA team is capable of an unlikely performance on a given night. And it gave Bobcats coach Sam Vincent something to hang his hat on as his young team moves forward.
Meanwhile, the Pistons left home after the loss to the Celtics and showed up in Dallas just in time to get smacked by the Mavericks, 102-86, for Detroit’s worst loss of the season.
In this case, it was a big game for both clubs, probably bigger for the Mavs. Not only was it their league-high fifth win in a row, but it moved them to within a half-game of the Suns for the best record in the West and left them alone atop the tough Southwest Division.
That doesn’t minimize what it meant to the Pistons either. It’s one thing to lose at home to the Celtics, somewhat of a must-win for the Celtics. But to get manhandled in the first game of a road trip like that shook them up, with the possibility of their first three-game losing streak of the season a real possibility as they swung over to San Antonio on Thursday night.
Instead, the Pistons jumped the Spurs in the first quarter and never trailed after that on the way to a 10-point win, allowing the Mavericks to pull ahead of the Spurs. This one was a great gut-check for the Pistons, but perhaps even more a concern for the Spurs. After a great start in which it looked like they were going to dominate the West while defending their third NBA title in five years, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili suffered minor injuries that essentially threw the team out of whack. Now they’ve lost four of seven.
But the way the West looks, it’s going to be a long season anyway. The Suns have had a chance to put some air between themselves and the rest of the West, but they’ve just been too erratic. In fact, they continued their struggles by getting crushed at Utah by 22 Thursday night. To say that isn’t significant is just a state of denial. The win gave the Jazz a little bit of hope after they had virtually fallen off the map for the past month. Meanwhile, the Suns fell to 12-9 in the Western Conference (compared to 13-2 against the East.).
To emphasize how close the West has become, the Suns, Mavs, Spurs and Lakers have 11 losses, the Hornets have 12, with the Blazers and Nuggets at 13. Indeed, just 1.5 games separate the top six teams, and the Nuggets are 3.0 back of the Suns.
One look at the weekend schedule doesn’t cause the blood pressure to rise under any particular circumstances, but that’s only because the upset hasn’t happened yet. And it will. The favorites just don’t dominate for an entire weekend. But look a little closer and you’ll something of interest.
It’s that third team in the East, the Orlando Magic. The started 14-3 and have been 9-11 since. The Magic plays at Denver on Friday and at Utah on Saturday, which under normal circumstances would probably mean a split. But the Magic is no normal team. They are 16-6 on the road and an inexplicable 7-8 at home, so they could realistically cause damage to the causes of both the Jazz and the Nuggets.
And that’s just the point we’ve been trying to make all along. On the surface, these games may not seem to mean much to teams destined for the playoffs anyway. But they do. They produce matchup situations that carry over to the playoffs as we saw in the dramatic Golden State upset of Dallas. They create enough confidence that maybe an upstart team like Portland knows it can accomplish certain things against a playoff team every time they play.
It’s about knowledge, momentum and consistency. All of that is created or lost during the regular season – and that’s assuming a team makes it to the postseason at all.
Somewhere the spirit of the late Red Auerbach was smiling behind a fat stogie that was burning brightly.
In one of those odd quirks of fate, when his Celtics whipped up on the Lakers 110-91 Sunday, it not only raised the record of the runaway Celtics to 26-3, but prevented Lakers coach Phil Jackson from passing Auerbach’s 938 career wins – seventh all-time on the coaching list – while the two are tied with nine NBA championships apiece.
The irony couldn’t possibly have been lost considering this had the vibe of the first meaningful game between these two franchises since the Lakers won the 1987 Finals over the Celtics.
Unfortunately, this game was never close, similar to the way the Celtics won by 13 in Boston in November. It was the sixth consecutive win for the Celtics, making them 4-0 on their first Western Conference swing of the season, and the outcome spelled the end of the Lakers' four-game winning streak. The Celtics are leading second-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division by 11.5 games and Detroit by 2.5 games in the race for top seed in the East. Meanwhile, the Lakers slipped to 2.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns in the Pacific Division and the fifth-best record in the West.
Nonetheless, the Lakers marketed the game as if it were something extraordinary. Lakers legend Jerry West was introduced before the game as the team’s honorary captain, the Lakers wore throwback short shorts in the first half, and all that was missing was Bill Russell showing up as the Celtics’ counter to West in the Hall of Fame captain department.
No doubt the NBA has to be thrilled that the game had any significance at all, with the history of this rivalry. From the Finals memories that included the “Memorial Day Massacre” and the Bird-Magic sagas, no other matchup has compared to these two franchises – even though the Celtics won the first eight meetings in the Finals before the Lakers got the last two.
It was tradition and that’s what the NBA lost in the overt marketing schemes that have featured players instead of the teams. Although the Lakers have gotten off to a good start this season and have a bright future, they clearly don’t have the aura of now that the Celtics bring to the table.
And it’s only fitting that one of “Red’s Boys” from the 1980s genre, Danny Ainge, reconstructed this team into a powerhouse that looks eminently capable of winning it all. Led by superstar Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, who grew up in the shadow of the Lakers’ old “Fabulous Forum” in Inglewood, the Celtics took control of this game early and never relented. Coach Doc Rivers, who has pushed this team defensively, bottled up Lakers star Kobe Bryant with pressure defense, holding him to 6-of-25 shooting and 22 points.
The intensity was obvious from the outset, with Garnett sent to the locker room for stitches above the right eye in the second quarter, and that was reflective of the emotion considering seven technical fouls were called. Garnett continues his crusade toward a second MVP award with his versatile brilliance – 22 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals – and Pierce lit up the Staples Center with 33 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Considering the difficult times the Celtics have struggled through since their last title in 1986, it is something the NBA can build on and perhaps change this player-driven league into more of a team orientation. It always comes down to the players, but fans are more apt to rally around teams and their arch-enemies, as we see in baseball and football. It works in college basketball too.
Somehow the NBA has let that get away in the face of Michael Jordan and his Dream Team brethren. Sunday set up the first opportunity to rekindle some of that. The odds are enormous against the Celtics and Lakers meeting in the 2008 Finals, and who knows if and when it will ever happen again. But this was just a reminder of what it used to be.
The Eastern Conference has been so weak in recent years, it’s been tough to find. The Heat and Knicks had it going on for a brief period. And the one great rivalry at the start of the century fell apart three years ago in a brawl when the Pacers and Pistons ignited an entire crowd in the Palace of Auburn Hills – and set back the Pacers franchise to this day. The Lakers and Kings had a good one going early in the decade, and the Spurs and Lakers danced around it, too. Now the Mavericks and Spurs have something going on.
But not like the history of the Celtics and Lakers.
For one brief evening the feeling was back. All the memories were there – Russell was blocking shots, Havlicek filled the lane, and Sam was banking them in from everywhere. Elgin’s head was twitching on reverse layups and West was draining line-drive jumpers. And in the second half, Bird matched Magic’s passes and drives, Chief ran the lane for dunks and Kareem swished skyhook after skyhook.
The names, the faces and the numbers have changed, but the history of the Lakers and Celtics runs much deeper than the individuals, even though Jackson and Auerbach fostered their own rivalry with sniping in the later years.
It was still there Sunday, even if that puff of smoke wafted through the rafters posthumously.
We’re about a third through the NBA regular season, and the perspective of most valuable player continues to waffle in unison with the irregularity of the officiating we watch nearly every night.
When the season began, it just seemed to be logical that LeBron James would my first pick for the season to build a team around. Now we’re not talking about fantasy basketball, or the future, or even attendance. I’m just talking about the one player to start with that would give you the best shot at winning the title this season. It was logical considering he had taken a very mediocre Cavaliers team to the Finals in 2007, and his Eastern Conference sidekick Dwyane Wade in superstardom was battling his way back from shoulder and knee surgery.
But once everything got going, it was hard not to notice what the presence of Kevin Garnett had done handling a coupled of gunners in Boston. Without him, it would likely be a shooting contest every night between Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. With KG, they’ve got the best record in the league and have blossomed defensively.
Of course, you could say the same thing every game and every year about what Tim Duncan does for Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili with the Spurs.
But two weeks into the season, the monster growing outside of Disneyworld in his own kingdom of Magic was Dwight Howard and their intense 14-3 start. At that point, he appeared to be the guy. Then the Magic lost eight of 12 and the allure of the kid lost its luster.
These days, the Los Angeles Lakers have become the vogue again knocking on the door in the Pacific Division, and raising his level of play – along with everybody else – has been the NBA king of notoriety, Kobe Bryant.
And then there are the playmakers – led by Steve Nash, Baron Davis, Chauncey Billups youngsters Chris Paul and Deron Williams, and very quietly establishing himself in the Pacific Northwest Brandon Roy. But would you even consider starting your team with any of them for one shot at a title when Billups is the only one to win a title … or actually even play in the Finals?
Consequently, I’m right back to where I started. I’m thoroughly confused at this point because it’s such a tough call. So I repeat, if you have the first pick of any active player to win the 2008 NBA title, where do you start?
