AI
Monday, June 10, 2002 4:39:30 PM
Nets don't belong in Finals
The soundtrack for the 2002 NBA Finals should be the Marvin Gaye classic, "Mercy Mercy Me."
Sing it, Marvin. Where's the mercy in a situation that is begging for euthanasia? Will someone please come forward and put the New Jersey Nets out of their misery?
Never has a finalist in any sport been so oppressed, so hopelessly overmatched by the circumstances. All those times the AFC champ went toes up against the NFC in the Super Bowl look like candidates for ESPN Classic compared to Nets-Lakers.
There is much love for ex-Laker Byron Scott and all those Nets with strong West Coast ties. Anyone who cuts down the legs of the Celtics earns my admiration. But let's not dance around the topic.
The Nets don't belong here. They're in the finals because the rules mandate the survivor of the Eastern Conference goes to the finals, and the East currently happens to be the NBA equivalent of a NCAA mid-major conference. If this was international soccer, the Eastern Conference would be dropped down a division.
The Lakers toyed with the Nets on Friday at Staples, the 106-83 win giving them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Shaquille O'Neal went off for 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, and the only one who can stop him is Phil Jackson, by taking him out of the game.
The case can be made that the Nets have the thinnest roster of any finalist since they started counting these things. One has to go back to the 1976 Phoenix team that lost the finals to Boston, a team that featured Paul Westphal and the great duo of Alvan Adams and Curtis Perry. Keith Erickson and Pat Riley were reserves on that team.
Chances are a half-dozen teams in the west would beat the Nets. The Sacramento Kings would sweep the series in four, even if Chris Webber took a night off. The San Antonio Spurs would beat the Nets in five, although it would take two men, Tim Duncan and David Robinson, to do the job of Shaq.
The Dallas Mavericks would beat the Nets in an entertaining six games that would challenge some playoff records and be totally devoid of defense.
I would take Portland and Seattle in seven games, too, on the assumption that Rasheed Wallace doesn't go technical and Gary Payton negates Jason Kidd. And the only thing keeping me from also taking Utah in seven is the thought that Karl Malone can no longer drag his old butt up and down the court for seven games.
Scott knows as well as anyone what his team is up against.
The Nets aren't jammed with talent. It's a young team team pieced together and caught a lot of opponents by surprise after winning just 26 games in 2001. It dedicated itself to solid team basketball and survived the east with only one prominent player in Kidd.
The Nets have more stars in their front office and coaching staff -- ex-Laker Scott, Executive veep Willis Reed and G.M. Rod Thorn -- than they do their roster.
"I don't know what to do against (Shaq) right now," Scott said. "He's a dominant player, a monster. We can't keep playing in spurts, and we weren't very disciplined. "
"The Lakers probably feel they haven't played their best game yet," Kidd said. "That's scary.
Not to rain on the Lakers' upcoming parade, but one could make the case that they have stepped over some pretty puny Eastern Conference opponents enroute to a two-and-a-half-peat.
The Nets are trying to beat the Lakers with a starting center, Todd MacCulloch, who was a reserve on last year's opponent, Philadelphia. The 76ers had a nice twosome in Allen Iverson and Diekembe Mutombo, but role playters thereafter. In 2000, the best Indiana could throw at the Lakers was Reggie Miller, an aging Mark Jackson and resolute Jalen Rose.
At least When the Bulls were three-peating, they were taking the best shots from Utah (1997-1998) in their prime, the Suns ('93) with Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson, Portland ('92) with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, and the last year of the Showtime Lakers ('91).
In the '80s, we had Magic and Bird and Isaiah and Dr. J, and some great teams were (ital) losing (end) the finals, or not even getting there.
The closest thing to today's dried-up east in the NBA's past would be the mid-70s, when the league was scuffling along and trading the title every year with little fuss or attention -- Rick Barry and Golden State ('75), Bill Walton and Portland ('77), Elvin Hayes and Washington ('78) and Seattle and Gus Johnson ('79).
The only suspense left in this series is whether Jackson lets Shaq play 48 minutes so he can challenge a few playoff records. The record for most points in a playoff game is 63, set by Michael Jordan in a double-OT game in 1986. The finals record is 61 by Laker legend Elgin Baylor in 1962.
"We haven't done anything yet," Jackson fibbed afterward. "We won on our home court. We still have to take one win away from them (in New Jersey) before we have anything to talk about."
Actually, there's nothing to talk about. Everything's been said. The Nets will only win a game if the Lakers are benevolent, and all we'll remember is the Sacramento series.
Never thought the day would come when watching World Cup soccer was a viable alternative to the NBA Finals.
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/articles/0602/08/lakers02.asp
Ablazerfan
Go Blazers!!
The soundtrack for the 2002 NBA Finals should be the Marvin Gaye classic, "Mercy Mercy Me."
Sing it, Marvin. Where's the mercy in a situation that is begging for euthanasia? Will someone please come forward and put the New Jersey Nets out of their misery?
Never has a finalist in any sport been so oppressed, so hopelessly overmatched by the circumstances. All those times the AFC champ went toes up against the NFC in the Super Bowl look like candidates for ESPN Classic compared to Nets-Lakers.
There is much love for ex-Laker Byron Scott and all those Nets with strong West Coast ties. Anyone who cuts down the legs of the Celtics earns my admiration. But let's not dance around the topic.
The Nets don't belong here. They're in the finals because the rules mandate the survivor of the Eastern Conference goes to the finals, and the East currently happens to be the NBA equivalent of a NCAA mid-major conference. If this was international soccer, the Eastern Conference would be dropped down a division.
The Lakers toyed with the Nets on Friday at Staples, the 106-83 win giving them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Shaquille O'Neal went off for 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, and the only one who can stop him is Phil Jackson, by taking him out of the game.
The case can be made that the Nets have the thinnest roster of any finalist since they started counting these things. One has to go back to the 1976 Phoenix team that lost the finals to Boston, a team that featured Paul Westphal and the great duo of Alvan Adams and Curtis Perry. Keith Erickson and Pat Riley were reserves on that team.
Chances are a half-dozen teams in the west would beat the Nets. The Sacramento Kings would sweep the series in four, even if Chris Webber took a night off. The San Antonio Spurs would beat the Nets in five, although it would take two men, Tim Duncan and David Robinson, to do the job of Shaq.
The Dallas Mavericks would beat the Nets in an entertaining six games that would challenge some playoff records and be totally devoid of defense.
I would take Portland and Seattle in seven games, too, on the assumption that Rasheed Wallace doesn't go technical and Gary Payton negates Jason Kidd. And the only thing keeping me from also taking Utah in seven is the thought that Karl Malone can no longer drag his old butt up and down the court for seven games.
Scott knows as well as anyone what his team is up against.
The Nets aren't jammed with talent. It's a young team team pieced together and caught a lot of opponents by surprise after winning just 26 games in 2001. It dedicated itself to solid team basketball and survived the east with only one prominent player in Kidd.
The Nets have more stars in their front office and coaching staff -- ex-Laker Scott, Executive veep Willis Reed and G.M. Rod Thorn -- than they do their roster.
"I don't know what to do against (Shaq) right now," Scott said. "He's a dominant player, a monster. We can't keep playing in spurts, and we weren't very disciplined. "
"The Lakers probably feel they haven't played their best game yet," Kidd said. "That's scary.
Not to rain on the Lakers' upcoming parade, but one could make the case that they have stepped over some pretty puny Eastern Conference opponents enroute to a two-and-a-half-peat.
The Nets are trying to beat the Lakers with a starting center, Todd MacCulloch, who was a reserve on last year's opponent, Philadelphia. The 76ers had a nice twosome in Allen Iverson and Diekembe Mutombo, but role playters thereafter. In 2000, the best Indiana could throw at the Lakers was Reggie Miller, an aging Mark Jackson and resolute Jalen Rose.
At least When the Bulls were three-peating, they were taking the best shots from Utah (1997-1998) in their prime, the Suns ('93) with Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson, Portland ('92) with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, and the last year of the Showtime Lakers ('91).
In the '80s, we had Magic and Bird and Isaiah and Dr. J, and some great teams were (ital) losing (end) the finals, or not even getting there.
The closest thing to today's dried-up east in the NBA's past would be the mid-70s, when the league was scuffling along and trading the title every year with little fuss or attention -- Rick Barry and Golden State ('75), Bill Walton and Portland ('77), Elvin Hayes and Washington ('78) and Seattle and Gus Johnson ('79).
The only suspense left in this series is whether Jackson lets Shaq play 48 minutes so he can challenge a few playoff records. The record for most points in a playoff game is 63, set by Michael Jordan in a double-OT game in 1986. The finals record is 61 by Laker legend Elgin Baylor in 1962.
"We haven't done anything yet," Jackson fibbed afterward. "We won on our home court. We still have to take one win away from them (in New Jersey) before we have anything to talk about."
Actually, there's nothing to talk about. Everything's been said. The Nets will only win a game if the Lakers are benevolent, and all we'll remember is the Sacramento series.
Never thought the day would come when watching World Cup soccer was a viable alternative to the NBA Finals.
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/articles/0602/08/lakers02.asp
Ablazerfan
Go Blazers!!
... Ablazerfan
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