Smokin' Joe Carnahan: BEANTOWN MELTDOWN

BEANTOWN MELTDOWN

06/18/2008 at 07:18 AM

Guys:

Watching a thoroughly outclassed Laker team last night, get beheaded by
nearly forty points was bittersweet: I'm a big Kings fan, so seeing their
longtime nemesis getting humiliated by a Celtics team that upon final
reflection, might be one of the greatest teams in NBA history was deeply gratifying.
On the other hand, I was pulling for them because they're were such an
underdog going in and I wanted to see a game seven just for the sake
of a game seven.

Wow. If Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic and most of Lakers bench aren't crated
up and shipped out before next season, forget ever making a return trip to the
finals. I don't think I've ever seen a worse defensive breakdown than Vujacic
against Ray Allen. Jesus Shuttlesworth was making my man from Slovenia look
like he'd never set foot on a basketball court. I'm pretty sure at my age, even with my
sh*tty knee, I could have gotten around some of those screens and at least been
within ten feet of Allen as he was raining wide open threes from beyond the arc.

And Lamar? No heart. The guy just doesn't have any heart or at least wasn't in any
hurry to show it. He just didn't look like he gave a sh*t. All of this, in tandem with
Gasol's relatively soft showing, undermined the one man that could make all their
dreams come true: Kobe Bryant...The only guy that seemed willing to trade bump for bruise
with a tough, physical Celtics team. He did everything he could and it wasn't enough
in the end. They locked him up brilliantly.

LA radio this morning will be filled with Kobe apologists, bitching about this and
that but in truth, Kobe, as great a player as he is, and for the modern era, he's arguably
the greatest. He just ain't MJ. Nobody is. Not Kobe, not Lebron, no one. Jordan made
you kill him. You had to kill him to beat the Bulls of old. You had to bleed him out,
beat him to death, burn him alive, then bury the remains.

He never looked on for an entire fourth quarter while the other team continued to run
up the score and openly celebrate with over eight minutes left in the game. It just wouldn't
have happened. Kobe is a miraculously skilled player but still utterly mortal when compared
to Jordan. Nobody did it like him and if he's in his prime last night, playing the two spot
just like Kobe...then we ARE going to that game seven. He takes a middling Lakers team on
his back and gets it done. No doubt about it.

Comments

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Posted by: Rachelle 06/18/2008 at 09:49 AM

I was just thrilled that kevin Garnett will finally get a ring...I've been a fan of his since he was with the T-Wolves. :)

I think I held my breath til the last 5 minutes in the 4th quarter...cuz I didn't know if Kobe would pull a Michael Jordan and stage a comeback the world had never seen before. LOL! I was never happier to see a team win that wasn't the Bulls (still love zen master Phil Jackson too). :)

Posted by: DanV 06/18/2008 at 11:51 AM

Joe,

Now that the 2008 NBA season is over it’s time for the Lakers and Kings to replay game six of the NBA 2002 Western Conference Finals. Perhaps Scot Pollard would have two championship rings by now if the WWF….. ahhhhhh I mean NBA wasn’t fixin’ games. If you run across Vlade Divac down there in LA LA land tell him to start smoking six packs a day to get back into game shape. Oh how I yearn for the days of Webber, Stojakovic, Jackson, Bibby, Divac, Christie and Pollard.

Here’s to Livin’ in the Past,
DanV

Posted by: nutstick 06/18/2008 at 12:49 PM

Well, I don't know if it was that the Lakers simply didn't give two shits about playing defense or if the Celtics just clamped 'em down tight. And it sure seemed that even if Kobe was on, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Listen, Jordan couldn't do it alone either. There's 5 guys on the floor. You can get away with it for awhile but eventually you're gonna get your ass handed to you. Finally some fuckin' NBA team figured out that the title comes from defense, not offense. Fuckin' right Celtics!

	Posted by: Mila 06/18/2008 at 01:52 PM
It's amazing how little I know about sports.

Posted by: Wendy 06/18/2008 at 03:13 PM

I was hoping the Celtics would win, though I've never really followed them. Being an Indiana girl, I was just a big fan of Larry Bird back in the day. And of course, they had many epic battles with the Lakers. But it goes deeper than that. I was a Pacers fan for the three years that Larry Bird was their coach. The first year, we almost made it to the finals. We took Michael Jordan's Bulls to 7 games in the EC, and if the refs weren't so biased towards superstars, we might have won. To this day, I hate Phil Jackson. He puts winning ahead of all the things that really matter, like holding your players to certain standards, etc. In Larry Bird's third year as coach, the Pacers did make it to the finals, where they lost to... that's right... the Lakers. So that was that. I haven't followed pro basketball since. But you can probably understand why it pleases me to hear that Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, and the Lakers in general were beaten.

	Posted by: Anonymous 06/18/2008 at 03:49 PM
wendy, id like to coach you into some maneuvers. see how you do with a rim rattling.

	Posted by: Bob 06/18/2008 at 04:37 PM
Well, not to put words in Joe's mouth, but, despite being the favorite before the series started, clearly the Lakers were the underdog going into Game 6 on the Celtics home court. And, whether a Laker or Kings fan, as a resident in L.A. it would have been exciting to see them win game 6 to set up a climactic Game 7 in Boston. Instead, not too many Lakers fans smiling around here in L.A. today.

Posted by: mike hasbro 06/18/2008 at 05:50 PM

no, the lakers were huge faves and blew it. i couldnt be happier that they got wiped. kobe will forever be just kobe now, never the ridiculous "next" jordan. both kobe and lebron have lost in the finals now, and looked horrible in the process. jordan never laced up in a finals he didnt win. 6-0. like joe montana in superbowls 4-0 , with ZERO interceptions. tom brady will never do that now either.
i agree joe, it sure seems strange that you would root for a dreaded rival just for some entertainment. what if lakers won in seven? then are they your team over the kings?
fans bleed their teams colors.

Posted by: Jeffrey Wright 06/18/2008 at 07:20 PM

Joe - you know where I stand on this one, brother! I can't tell you how many times I laughed during that game (not too loud though, as my zip code has changed!)!

F.ckin' WORD! It was great!

	Posted by: Anonymous 06/18/2008 at 11:57 PM
hey jw, watch your language "brother" there are kids on this forum believing fairy tales about pablo movies and imaginary prequels.