Lakers can't compete with Celtics' strength
by Mike Kahn, FOXSports.com
Updated: June 6, 2008, 4:44 PM EST
The Los Angeles Lakers showed how easy it is to go from Sharman to Charmin in one fell swoop Thursday night.
The Sharman Era brings to mind the first championship for the franchise on the West Coast in 1972, a time when the Lakers won 69 games and Wilt Chamberlain joined Jerry West with, heaven forbid, former Boston Celtics guard Bill Sharman as their coach. Moving to general manager, Sharman capped it off with the additions of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson to ignite more championships in the 1980s.
Thursday night in the renaissance of their great rivalry with the Celtics to begin the 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers transformed into the Charmin Era, looking cottony soft as the Celtics hammered them inside and out in a 98-88 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
This was the game that reminded everybody that the Lakers aren't the great team the Hollywood hopefuls profess them to be without 20-year-old center Andrew Bynum, out since January with a knee injury.
Their potent interior duo of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom looked like ghosts wandering aimlessly in the shadow of Celtics superstar Kevin Garnett, whose 13 rebounds only told part of his dominance inside as Gasol and Odom combined for 14 boards. Even with their own young starting center, Kendrick Perkins, knocked out of the game midway through the third quarter with a sprained ankle, the Celtics still outrebounded the Lakers 46-33 and seemingly frightened them away from the glass.
Heck, P.J. Brown, coaxed out of retirement as he approaches his 39th birthday, was an intimidating force with six rebounds and a block to offset the loss of Perkins in the second half. And broken-down point guard Sam Cassell, also staring 39 in the face, came off the bench for an offensive infusion in the first half that gave the Celtics confidence when they sagged.
Even more vital in this beatdown was 22-year-old point guard Rajon Rondo with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds, getting the edge on every loose ball, getting into the lane to create open looks for teammates and just creating general havoc with his aggressiveness.
This was a classic example of the physical game of the Eastern Conference overwhelming the fast-breaking, please-don't-touch-me style of the West. The physical nature of the Celtics defense made Paul Pierce and Ray Allen even look significantly tougher, and Pierce was hobbled with a knee sprain of uncertain degree just before Perkins went out in the third quarter. Still not quite right with his gorgeous jumper, Allen battled through it with eight rebounds and five assists to go with his 19 points, clicking along with the mantra from coach Doc Rivers of just doing whatever it takes to win.
Most of all, it was approach.
While so many people are staring at the 9-of-26 shooting from Kobe Bryant as gunning, the fact of the matter is he couldn't get open looks while others just looked plain scared to shoot. Yes, it was about great defense from the Celtics. The other reason was if somebody, anybody, on the Lakers would have set a solid screen instead of rolling before the defender got there, Bryant might have had a chance to get into a shooting rhythm at some point.
Gasol didn't even have a rebound in the first half, and Odom — when on those rare occasions he did go to the rim — went gently into the night. On one second-half drive when he got fouled, he seemed so badly shaken after the hit that neither free throw came close to going in. Instead of going to the rim hard, he would defer to a soft reverse layup.
And about that great Lakers bench ... that youthful exuberance the Lakers faithful has been crowing about en route to a 12-3 record in the postseason until Thursday? Those guys evaporated in the wake of stage fright in this generation's Boston Garden, now sponsored by a bank. Sasha Vujacic made a positive impact and played hard, but Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf and Jordan Farmar looked as if they accidentally showed up from the local "Y" and were shocked to see NBA players in Celtics green.
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Even as a youngster of 20, who probably would have been a bit overwhelmed in his first Finals game as well, Bynum's 7-foot, 285-pound presence would have altered the course, and proved the Lakers may just be a year away from being of championship fiber. As they breezed through the Western Conference with just three losses and Bryant brilliantly controlling the tempo of every game, they never trailed in a series.
It's logical to assume a lot of the problem was just the young players getting their feet wet — only Bryant, Walton and Derek Fisher have played in the Finals before. Then again, Cassell and James Posey are the only Finals survivors on the Celtics.
So that takes us to Game 2 Sunday, wondering about Pierce's knee, Perkins' ankle and the absence of Bynum. Gasol and Odom, whose intensity has the regularity of the weather, can not allow themselves to be terrorized inside by Garnett. Fisher, the oldest starter in the series, has to match the force of Rondo, the youngest starter.
Traditionally, the perception and momentum of both teams swings wildly from game-to-game in the Finals. And Lakers coach Phil Jackson, in his 11th Finals with a record-tying nine rings in his top drawer, isn't about to panic. But now we'll see if this crew can raise its level of play to help Bryant, the MVP, or he'll be going it alone.
All we know is it's a short trip down the pike from Sharman to Charmin — Thursday night was evidence of that. It could be a long series — or a very short one indeed.
...just let it go my friend...let...it...go.
