Chris Mihm was the difference maker for the Lakers in game 5
of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. I realize this flies in the face of
conventional wisdom, but think about it.
In game 4, the Lakers had a 21 point 1st quarter lead, but ended up losing the game.
In game 5, the Lakers had just a 17 point 1st quarter lead, (so the Celtics had them just where they wanted them), until Phil Jackson pulled out his secret weapon: Chris Mihm.
Mihm had 0 minutes in game 4 and the Lakers lost. Mihm had 2:46 in game 5, and the Lakers won.
Obviously, Chris Mihm was the difference! (Yes, I'm kidding.)
But seriously folks, I actually do think Chris Mihm was the difference maker -- well, not Chris Mihm per se, but the
fact that Phil Jackson had the courage to play Mihm, particularly after
the squall of criticism Jackson weathered for his game 4 player
substitutions.
To me, this proves that Phil Jackson still has the courage, creativity and brilliance it takes to win. I am honestly impressed, and you should be too.
The Mihm experiment obviously failed; he had 0 points, 0 rebounds, 2 fouls and 1 turnover in 2:46.
But then again, Ronny Turiaf actually has more fouls than points so far in the NBA Finals, thus putting a very good free throw shooting team on the line. And in 50+ minutes over 5 games, Turiaf has grabbed whopping total of 3 measly rebounds.
He's not exactly earning his minutes, is he? For comparison's sake,
backup point guard Jordan Farmar has 10 rebounds so far this series, more than three times the total of the Lakers backup center.
Seriously, with production like that from Turiaf, and with DJ Mbenga in street clothes, Phil Jackson would have been an imbecile not to give Chris Mihm a try.
Chris Mihm was once one of the better centers in the league, but
thanks to injuries Mihm has basically not played basketball in 2 years.
It wasn't like Phil put Mihm in during a critical point of the game. Jackson experimented with Mihm early in the game and when the Lakers had a 17 point lead.
So, given Turiaf has been MIA, and Mbenga was unavailable, that it
was early in the game and the Lakers had a 17 point lead, didn't it
make sense to give Mihm a try? And the fact that playing Mihm surprised
everyone, that Phil Jackson was the only person to see that this
substitution made sense, doesn't that make Jackson brilliant?
Had Mihm played well, Phil might have even been able to play
him again in the second half and move Pau Gasol to power forward, Lamar
Odom to small forward, and play Kobe Bryant with whichever other guard
is playing well. Alas, Mihm looked terrified out there and played
terribly.
The same courage and creativity it takes to give Mihm a try, is the courage and creativity it took for Jackson to bench Michael Jordan in game 6 of the 1992 NBA Finals, with the Bulls down big against the Trailblazers, and play long forgotten reserve, Bobby Hansen.
And this is the same courage and creativity it took to play Jordan Farmar
(with Fisher, Bryant, Odom and Gasol) at crunch time of an elimination
game. Farmar hadn't been playing well in the playoffs, but in game 5,
Farmar was effective at blowing by Sam Cassell and Eddie House to get to the rim and finish with a layup, or by assisting a teammate to easily score.
Without that courage and creativity, and with Vujacic having a bad game, Phil would have had to go with Radmanovic at crunch time. Who feels good about THAT decision?
Oh wait, I hear you: what about Trevor Ariza?
After game 4, I was one of the many clamoring for Ariza to get more minutes
in game 5, but when I saw Ariza on the floor in game 5, I got worried.
Ariza passed on totally open shots, literally. Trevor Ariza earned a
seat on the bench by failing to shoot when open. The Celtics defense is bad enough 5 on 5, but if the Celtics are able to guard the remaining Lakers 5 on 4, the Lakers are dead.
Lest I give Phil Jackson too much credit for Farmar's success, I have to mention Kobe Bryant as well.
Remember when Farmar launched an airball 3 pointer? The very next play,
Kobe Bryant passed the ball to Farmar at the arc, and Farmar knocked
down the 3-pointer. Kobe Bryant unimpeachably manifested confidence in
Farmar, even when he had a good reason not to. I'm sure that built
Jordan Farmar's confidence, and helped him to play better the rest of
the game.
Kobe Bryant, for those too jaded to see it, really does make his teammates better.
Of course, Chris Mihm wasn't really the difference in game 5, Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant were.
I just thought I'd use Chris Mihm to point out to those whose
faith in Phil Jackson might be wavering how brilliant Phil Jackson
really is, so fear not, and be believing.
no baby T it's not sarcasm!!! BAD BABY!!! BAD BABY!!!... but it's ok... in life there are always a group that just don't get it. Phil calls them space cadets. Logic is not your strong suit i take it?
Yes, I agree it was a stroke of genius to put in Chris Mihm to lull Boston into a false sense of security. I take back everything I've ever written about Phil being a fraud. After witnessing that master stroke,I had an epiphany. I now understand the true genius that is the "Zen Master"
As Bill Walton would say "He's a special,special man" and so are you.
Last edited by 54fulltiltfulltime on June 16th at 10:26 PM.
Because there are so many people here who don't even read the articles, and instead just skim them, assume they've got it, and then attack and mock them as if they were doing some kind of brilliant intellectual service by sparing mankind of an opinion they were prejudiced against from the outset... I put the words, "The Mihm experiment obviously failed" in bold and italics font. But obviously, people are still missing the point.
So here's the cliff's notes version:
Pau needed a rest. Turiaf had more fouls than points and just 3 rebounds in the Finals so far.
MBenga was in street clothes.
Since it was early in the game and the Lakers had a 17 point lead, PJ tried Mihm, which surprised everyone.
Mihm's frightful performance meant Phil Jackson's experiment failed, but contrary to the knee-jerk criticisms of PJ over it, it made sense to at least try and see what they might get from Mihm.
Likewise, Ariza's aversion to shooting allowed the Celtics to guard the remaining Lakers 5 on 4, so it made sense to pull Ariza.
Consequently, Phil Jackson isn't quite the loser some people are making him out to be, not that any critics have a resume in the same league anyway. :-)
I'm sorry Tom, but I'll never agree that giving Mihm an opportunity was the right thing to do.
Yes, Turiaf has struggled but he played very well through the first 3 rounds and during the regular season.
Ariza passed on a few shots but I'd like to see Phil stay with him for an extended stretch. Give Trevor an opportunity to assert himself defensively against Allen or Pierce.
Turiaf has gotten progressively worse and he looks like a guy panicing out there. he runs from person to person with no idea of who has the ball or where the ball is going, he doesn't block out, he shoots with a bigger guy on his face, then on offense he stands around. STANDS AROUND SPECTATING.
Your point is that Phil was trying to do SOMETHING, anything to keep Gasol from being totally exhausted and worthless himself in the 4th quarter as had happened in game 4.
Your blog is well written, easy to comprehend and correct. You just have to remember that the mentality of most you are dealing with are stay at home do nothing ignorants who think they are accomplishing something by tearing down the select few that are not part of their posse.
Hoff -- When I was 8 years old, I took a week long trip to a very remote part of Alaska with some family friends. They bought land because they found gold on it. It was all very exciting for an 8 year old, helping them mine samples of their gold. Unfortunately, when they brought it to Juneau, it was "fool's gold." They put all that investment and effort into something that literally did not pan out.
I love Turiaf. In fact, he is my wife's favorite player, but despite how he looked in the regular season and in earlier rounds, he has not panned out in the Finals, against these match ups.
I remember being in a batting slump as a kid. It was made worse by the fact that I was the lead off hitter, so we basically started every game with an out. Every time I struck out, I had that pressure of having let my team down added to my own doubts. Finally, I was moved back in the rotation. That took off some pressure and helped me get out of the slump. I was then moved back to lead off hitter, but I don't know how long it would have taken me if I wasn't put back in the batting order.
Playing Mihn might have also served to give Turiaf a break to get his head together.
Watch Ronny, the only thing he does is foul and block shots. I think he is so zealous about blocking shots, because at least that is a success he is having.
Ronny's past successes are fool's gold in this series ... at least until Ronny overcomes himself.
Again, I like the guy. I'm screaming at the TV to put him in. I'm making comments on people's blogs that Phil needs to play him more...
But seriously, if the Lakers were playing the Nuggets, then by all means, play Ariza bigger minutes.
But if Ariza is going to play so passively that he can be left unguarded, then you basically shut down Pau Gasol or Kobe Bryant, because the Celtics can double team them without repercussions.
Jackson knows this. He had Rodman for how many years.
Rodman had to be told again and again to shoot, otherwise the game got harder for Jordan and Pippen.
Kobe doesn't have a Pippen. Not yet anyway.
Ariza will shoot on broken plays, slashing to the basket and in the open court, but when he refused to shoot with his defender 10 feet off of him, the Lakers had to yank him.
So far in this series, Sasha Vujacic has had his day in the sun, and now Jordan Farmar had his day, but the Lakers bench has yet to show up as a group.
The Celtics have mitigated their personnel deficiencies by playing their stars absurd minutes. In game 5, Pierce played all but 2 seconds of the game, and in game 4 Ray Allen played the whole game.
So far this series, Phil Jackson has shown he would rather lose games than lose a star player to injury. Gasol has averaged right at 40 minutes per game, and Bryant is averaging 43 minutes per game, but Phil is sitting them.
Anything Phil can DO to get something from his bench isn't gravy, it's meat and potatoes.
I like pretty much all sports, but to make time for the more important things in life, I have chosen to follow just one: basketball.
I have more blog posts at Basketballog y.com.
