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Old-school Finals Look for the Celtics and Lakers to renew their classic rivalryPosted: Friday May 17, 2002 11:53 AMUpdated: Friday May 17, 2002 11:53 AM
There is one thing you can say about the Bataan Death March that is the NBA postseason: No lucky champions emerge at the end of the road. In the two decades I've been observing or covering the league, I've always believed that the team that wins the title is the best team. Simply put, one best-of-five series and three best-of-sevens is too difficult a test for any club but the best to pass. That's why picking the NBA champion at the beginning of the year is, in my opinion, easier than in any other sport. As for this season, though, it's not quite as simple. To those experts who automatically penciled in the Lakers without even thinking about it and won't even consider any other scenario, I'm glad you have the courage of your absolute conviction. I think L.A. is the best team and the one most likely to win it all, I just don't see the purple and gold as a sure thing, particularly since they don't have homecourt advantage. As for the Eastern Conference, I couldn't have told you which team was going to emerge at the beginning of the playoffs (I kind of liked Charlotte, but went back and forth on that) and I'm still not sure. At any rate, here's a capsule look at how I see the NBA's version of the Final Four: NEW JERSEY vs. BOSTONOVERVIEW: In olden times, which is to say the 1980s, the Nets would have had a major psychological advantage. They could have played the nobody-gives-us-respect, only-we-believed-we-could-make-it-this-far card. Teams love that. But nobody expected the Celtics to be here, either, and they have the added advantage of trying to reclaim past glory. The Nets have no past glory to reclaim, unless they want to reach back to Julius Erving's 1974 and '76 ABA championship days. THE NO-BRAINER SYNOPSIS: The Nets want to run behind Jason Kidd. The Celtics will run, too, but would rather set up halfcourt and three-point shooting opportunities for Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. LOOKING DEEPER: The Nets have a fine defense, but the underrated aspect of this series is the Celtics' D. On Boston's bench is one of the great defensive minds of all time -- assistant coach Dick Harter -- and the Celts change looks and keep teams off-balance. As for the Nets, they have become a better-than-expected rebounding team in the postseason, especially small forward Keith Van Horn, who is not known as a power player. AND THE WINNER IS ... Kidd is almost good enough to neutralize the scoring power of Pierce and Walker. But the three-point shooting of Boston's Rodney Rogers and the underrated play of center Tony Battie could be deciding factors. CELTICS IN 6. SACRAMENTO vs. LOS ANGELESOVERVIEW: Remember how hard it used to be to repeat as NBA champion? Perhaps you don't because it has become so common. But the Lakers' back-to-backs in '87 and '88 were considered something special. Michael Jordan changed that, making a three-peat the gold standard for an extraordinary team. That's what Los Angeles is aiming for. THE NO-BRAINER SYNOPSIS: Sacramento wants to run. The Lakers, like Jordan's Bulls, can run but have a much more balanced attack, with an excellent halfcourt offense that comes from their disciplined awareness of spacing. The Finals, typically, are dominated by superstar players. The Lakers have that advantage, 2-0, and, no, I don't consider Chris Webber a superstar. LOOKING DEEPER: The Kings really matured with their second-round win against Dallas. Sacramento believes it can beat the Lakers, which is significant. Peja Stojakovic will miss at least the first two games with a sprained right ankle, but I don't think the Kings lose much because of it. Hedo Turkoglu is a better defender than Stojakovic and, since he knows he has to, Turkoglu will definitely score more. The most underrated Laker is Robert Horry, who will be asked to guard, at times, Vlade Divac and Webber, and will also be called upon to knock down three-pointers. Do you know many players in the league who can do that? AND THE WINNER IS ... This will be a great, great series. The Kings will not back down. But Lakers point guard Derek Fisher will (almost) neutralize the emerging Mike Bibby. Horry will curtail Webber, Rick Fox will handle Turkoglu and/or Stojakovic, and two guys named Shaq and Kobe will once again be too much to handle. LAKERS IN 6. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. |
