I regularly read, enjoy and appreciate Charley Rosen's articles on this website, but it is fairly obvious in this instance that he was trying to jump to the defense of Phil Jackson, his former colleague. When else have you know Rosen to dedicate an entire article to a postmortem of the Finals, and in such great detail?
Actually though, there are two major misconceptions about the Lakers and Celtics Finals that I have seen recurring amongst media types and fans, which I would like to address here.
Misconception 1 (Amongst Celtics Fans) - That Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant let the Lakers down.
I am by no means a Laker fan, and have absolutely no love for Kobe but give me a break. Phil and Kobe were both working with what they had - which, in this case, was some noticeably limited resources. Sure Kobe was never able to turn it on to the tune of 62 or 81 points as he has in the past, but do not underestimate the job that the Celtics defense did on him. Consider too that, had his teammates been able to step up when called upon, it would have opened up the game considerably for No. 24 as it would have forced the defense to be more honest.
And sure Phil seemed to be outcoached at times but this mostly because he lost. Had Kobe's teammates been able to keep the defense honest and the Lakers won, Phil would look like a genius right now. But let's not forget that, save Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher, this is essentially the same Lakers team that was eliminated by Phoenix 2 years straight in the first round of the playoffs. So all along I could never figure out - why are people expecting miracles from this team?
Misconception 2 (Amongst Laker Fans) - That Danny Ainge and the Celtics bought themselves a championship.
This particular misconception couldn't possibly be larger load of ####. PLEASE!
Danny Ainge simply did what any other GM in the league (except maybe the Spurs') would have done if given the chance - he saw an opportunity and went for the gusto. Here's an example - take Pau Gasol. Wasn't the Laker front office credited with having pulled off a major steal when they landed him from Memphis for next to nothing? If the Lakers had won the championship, would we be saying now that the Lakers bought themselves a championship?
And think back a little further...wasn't there a time when LA was reportedly one of KG's possible destinations when it became clear he wouldn't be staying in Minny? If Laker fans could go back to last summer, and there were rumours that they could land Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen for, say, Lamar Odom, would they not have wanted Kupchak to snap up that opportunity? Of course they would have.
Besides, even with 3 All-Stars, the 2007-2008 Celtics were not knowing for coming into arenas and blowing their opponents off the floor with superior scoring, flash and flair a la Phoenix. If you think about it Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and the rest of the Boston team are not particularly flashy at all.
No, they did it this year with defense. All season long they got low and dirty and beat other teams by grinding out victories (with some especially impressive ones on the road). So, even with their, um, imported talent, they went out and worked hard for their championship day in day out like any other team. There simply is no easy way to win a championship. What's that you say? 82 regular season games, plus 26 more games in the playoffs? Doesn't sound that easy to me.
So forget it, naysayers. It is no mere irony that the Lakers mostly looked like a threat in this series when Boston took its foot off of the defensive gas, most notably in the 4th quarter of game 2 & quarters 1 & 2 game 4, and oops none of game 6 because that was the game Boston contested keenly from tip to buzzer. They may have the firepower, but the truth is that Boston's defense is what drives its offense, and what won them a championship.
