• dEDGE Post Scriptum •

Perhaps more surprising than the 13-point deficit that the Los Angeles Lakers faced in the final quarter of play, was the relative ease in which the Portland Trailblazers had managed to manhandle them. Brian Shaw’s otherwise meaningless, desperation 3-pointer at the end the third period would eventually loom very large in a deciding 4th quarter. But just prior to that shot, it was a relapse into another, all-too-familiar, post-Showtime disappointment. Plant yourself in my shoes, I grew up during

Kobe drives on Jermaine O'Neal and Detlef Schrempf during the 1999-2000 Western Conference Finals. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

Jerry and Wilt, fell in love with Magic and Showtime, and had just endured the longest dry spell of my adult Lakers life. Magic Johnson’s abrupt retirement; years of rumored comebacks only to be disappointed again, tearing it all down and rebuilding on the run while trying to maintain my faith in Jerry West; getting another HOF center in Shaquille O’Neal only to fall short year after year; finally assembling a worthy supporting cast and coaching staff that ultimately led to this – on the verge of a trip to the NBA Finals after over a decade had passed since the last championship banner was raised, only to be faltering in a Game 7 when it mattered most.

Scottie Pippen was unable to slow down the younger, more talented Kobe Bryant. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

Not again. This can’t be happening. Why did we let Anthony Peeler go? Steve Smith, yes, that Steve Smith, had just powered the Blazers to a scorching 21-4 run that propelled them to a seemingly insurmountable 71-55 lead at the end of three quarters of play. Even more impressive was that the Blazers had come back from a 3-1 series hole to even up the 2000 Western Conference Finals at 3-3. Shaw’s lucky 3-pointer provided little solace to Laker fans as Portland increased their lead as play resumed in the 4th quarter. Portland was retooled precisely for this type of battle, full of savvy and playoff tested veterans. Scottie Pippen, fresh off his run of championships with the Chicago Bulls was the centerpiece of a team that also featured Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Arvidis Sabonis, Damon Stoudamire, Smith, Detlef Schrempf, Bonzi Wells, Greg Anthony and Jermaine O’Neal. The Lakers had just completed a 67-15 record capped by O’Neal’s MVP regular season, had marched through the playoffs with a tough 3-2 win over the Sacramento Kings and a 4-1 dismantling of the Phoenix Suns. Portland needed just 12-minutes of average basketball to complete their miraculous journey back from the dead, but instead hit the proverbial wall and have never recovered since.

Although he struggled offensively, Rick Fox provided a huge defensive lift in the 4th quarter. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

Bonzi Wells’ pair of free throws would push the Portland lead to 75-60 as nervous Laker fans looked ashen in disbelief. A red-hot Rasheed Wallace had torched the Lakers for 30-points, while Steve Smith added 18-points with ten of those coming in the lopsided 3rd quarter. But a funny thing happened just as things looked dire for the Lakers. The Blazers stopped playing and started celebrating. Oh, it wasn’t Lebron-like with dance moves and poses, but you could see the sly smiles and the confident grins growing on our Northwestern foes. And just as the Blazers started to ease up, the Lakers started to make a couple of shots. Then a couple more. Next thing you knew, it was a game again and the momentum had swung full circle in favor of the home team. Now Portland was panicking. Instead of the slashing, attacking offense that had given them the lead, they resorted to ill-advised, contested outside shots. Even the calls started to go in favor of the surging Lakers when Smith drove for a layup only to be denied into the ground. An irate Mike Dunleavy had just seen his veteran team blow up right before his very eyes. Critics had said that they weren’t enough basketballs to go around for this much talent on one team. And in the equivalent of a lucky, off balance, banked-in 3-pointer, it was all gone.

Robert Horry contributed 12-points to go along with 7 rebounds. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

This dramatic, come from behind victory had finally pushed the Lakers over the top. Brushing aside Indiana in the Finals was a cakewalk as the Lakers would subsequently hone their killer instincts in the Conference Finals each year. Portland was built for a title run, but those would never transpire. In fact, some would claim that the Blazers have yet to recover from that loss ten seasons ago. The signature play from that Game 7 remains the elusive Kobe Bryant sidestepping away from Scottie Pippen and lofting up a teardrop shot, which in turn becomes a pinpoint lob pass to a cutting Shaquille O’Neal, who slams the ball into the basket with such ferocity that the basket stanchions continue to shudder to this day. Portland would call time-out but they could have called the game right there, because it was over. We knew it, Chick knew it, and the Portland Blazers surely knew it as well. “Put away the champagne and break out the bottled water Portland, cuz that’s all you’ll be drinking on your way home.”

The 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

Brian Shaw would contribute two additional 3-pointers in the 4th quarter for a total of 11-points on 4-6 shooting. Robert Horry would provide 12-points, 7 rebounds, and one important blocked shot. Rick Fox could not find the range that night, but he provided stellar defense down the stretch and added 3 assists in 12-minutes of action. Ron Harper added 9-points, Glen Rice provided 11-points, and Shaq amassed 18-points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. But it was the play of Kobe Bryant (25 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocked shots) who buoyed the Lakers until help arrived late in the game. Kobe owned Pippen and there was nothing the acerbic 6-time champion could do to slow down the fleet-footed, afro bearing phenom. The Blazers would mount another challenge the following season, but by that time, the Lakers were in complete control of the league en route to their first 3Peat. Whereas most of the players from that game have slipped away into the annuls of the game, only Kobe remains as active and effective today as he was then.

Think about it, that was ten years ago. Jack Nicholson was dating Lara Flynn Boyle. Kobe wasn’t married to Miss Vanessa Laine just yet. Pamela Anderson was still hot and Chris Rock was still funny. But the Lakers were just learning to cope with the difficulties associated with fame and stardom that often accompanied champions where ever they dared to venture. These difficulties would eventually destroy and tear the team apart, even though on the court these differences were discretely put aside and appeared to be nonexistent to the casual observer. With two alpha dogs, the Lakers were one team short of these two giants coinciding peacefully together. But that would be years down the line and an unprecedented amount of drama that would have to build up before the demise of this team. But for one season, and one pivotal Game 7 in particular, it was the greatest game I ever witnessed with the best 1-2 punch the NBA had ever seen.

dEDGE Post Scriptum

Isiah Thomas of the 1989 Champion Detroit Pistons. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

If memory serves me right, Los Angeles Lakers fans had endured close to a decade of unusually quiet June’s prior to the 1999-2000 NBA season. In fact, it dated all the way back to 1988 when the Lakers captured their last championship flag after shooting down the Detroit Pistons in a dramatic 7-game series to conclude their bid as repeat champions in the NBA for the first time in twenty years. But those same Pistons would unceremoniously unseat the 3Peat-minded Lakers the following season, the 20th and last for center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. That Finals would forever be remembered as the one that got away as first Byron Scott, then Magic Johnson went down with series-ending hamstring injuries, right along with all of LA’s hopes of sending Abdul-Jabbar out as a winner. The 1990s dawned a new era that brought about tremendous change for the Lakers and for the rest of the NBA.

Pat Riley reluctantly stepped down in 1990, as he was escorted out the front door by a team that had grown weary of his tyrants. Riley hooked up with NBC Sports and instantly became one of their expert studio analysts on their NBA telecasts. For the 1991 season, mild-mannered Mike Dunleavy, a Jerry West favorite, took over the helm. That year, the Lakers started wobbly but quickly grew accustomed to Dunleavy’s coaching style, or lack of one. Magic had run the show for some time now, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let a new coach impede on his style. With the addition of versatile big man Sam Perkins to shore up the post and provide another offensive weapon, the Lakers found themselves back in the NBA Finals against a young Chicago Bulls team powered by Michael Jordan and coached by Phil Jackson.

Michael Jordan leads the Chicago Bulls over the Lakers in the 1991 NBA Finals. Copyrights may apply. All rights reserved.

After stunning the Bulls in Game 1 on the road in Chicago Stadium on a Perkins 3-pointer, the Bulls quickly flexed their muscles and took out the aging Lakers 4-1 to claim the first of their six titles. The Lakers were surely competitive in the series, but Chicago had exposed some major kinks in their armor. They could no longer run-and-gun as they once did in their Showtime glory days. The Lakers had become a post team dominated by Magic and Worthy, utilizing their superior veteran savvy over their opponents. But the backcourt was getting up there in age as the middle became softer with the absence of Kareem and the addition of Yugoslavian rookie Vlade Divac. Perhaps that season was an anomaly and the Lakers had simply overachieved their way into the Finals. Regardless, it would be the lone bright spot for many seasons to follow.

1992 saw the abrupt retirement of Magic Johnson and the subsequent death of the entire Lakers season. The Lakers had finally gotten hold of a premiere back-up guard in Sedale Threatt, only to never see this rotation actually take the floor. Threatt was instead inserted into the starting line-up to replace Johnson, while the devastation of Magic’s absence loomed largely over the organization like a black cloud. Magic played brilliantly in the 1992 NBA All-Star game and later in the Barcelona Olympics and vowed to come back the following season. But that was quickly derailed in a preseason game as a small cut on Johnson’s arm sent shivers up-and-down the entire league. Johnson pulled the plug on his comeback attempt before the regular season even got underway. The Lakers were left with a watered down line-up and quickly began dumping salaries as attendance waned.

Magic Johnson went 5-11 in his brief stint as Lakers head coach. All rights reserved. Copyrights may apply.

The early-90s saw the dismantling of the team as Sam Perkins was traded, Byron Scott left for Indiana, AC Green headed to Phoenix and James Worthy retired. Dunleavy was let off the hook early after Magic had retired and was replaced by Randy Pfund. Pfund lasted a season and a half before giving way to Bill Berka for a pair of contests, only to have Magic return, this time prowling the sidelines. Magic’s uninspiring 5-11 record left him disappointed and vowing never to coach again. It was a new age, one he was unaccustomed to, and unable to cope. The “me” generation had arrived and squarely left its imprint on Johnson’s ego and tarnished aura.

1994-95 saw the Lakers go old-school, with the organization bringing in Del Harris in an attempt to teach the young team a thing or two about the NBA. Harris inherited a talented and cocky group that often played with considerable emotion when things were going right, but displayed little fire or heart when brought to task. It was Harris’ responsibility to mold this team into something that Los Angeles could be proud to call its own. Thus, the Lake Show was born.

dEDGE Post Scriptum

That sound you heard rumbling through Los Angeles on Wednesday wasn’t an earthquake. It was the Cleveland Cavalier fans storming the Quicken Loans Arena for a refund on their 2010-11 season tickets. News broke earlier that Lebron James was heading to the Miami Heat and that was verified Thursday evening as James publicly announced his decision to jump ship on a prime time telecast on

ESPN. Moments later, Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert fired off his own salvo, calling James’ decision a “cowardly betrayal.” Gilbert’s bitterness continued on, guaranteeing “that the Cleveland Cavaliers will win an NBA championship before the self-titled former ‘King’ wins one.” OK, stop your laughing… Once the dust settles, or accumulates depending on your perspective, the Cavs will be hard pressed to even field a competitive team. Byron Scott has a way of working miracles out of limited talent, but he’s always had at least some sort of talent to work from. Who do the Cavs have, or more importantly, who can they get?

I like this scenario with James hooking up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Pat Riley did a masterful job of up-selling the South Beach tax-free lifestyle thus allowing the Heat to jump to the top of the list as Eastern Conference favorites. The Celtics recently resigned Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, solidifying their trio of All-Stars for another title push behind Doc Rivers. But they now appear to be a distant second to the younger, more heavily talented triumvirate located just due South. Lebron’s decision to join forces with his fellow Team USA buddies sent shock waves throughout the league that will continue to reverberate for the next few months heading into training camp. Teams that were perhaps one or two free agent signings away now appear to be severely lacking in firepower. Orlando and Chicago must look elsewhere but not much is left in the cookie jar to choose from. But what does this all mean to the Los Angeles Lakers and its fans? Not much.

Artest on King James. Kobe on D-Wade. Pau matched up against Bosh. Looks like 1-1 in head-to-head match-ups with a possible draw between Kobe and Wade. But that leaves Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom far ahead of anything Miami has to offer. Who guards Steve Blake or the (hopefully) soon to be signed Derek Fisher? With the Heat tossing out players to free up money and cap space to sign the three coveted free agents, there’s not much left in the cupboards to battle the beasts of the East, let alone the reigning two-time World Champions. Jermaine O’Neal just agreed to sign with the Celtics. The #2 overall draft pick from 2008, Michael Beasley, was jettisoned moments after Lebron made his announcement to Minnesota for future draft picks to free up additional funds. The Heat had seven free agents heading into this off season with only Wade coming back. That leaves a large void for Riley and Miami to fill in order to have any championship aspirations. Several mid-level guys are sure to take a pay-cut to team up with the newly formed nucleus, but at some point, Miami will have to rely on minimum wage players to help carry the load. Don’t get me wrong, the Heat just took a major step forward in solidifying their future. But will it be enough to combat Phil Jackson as he looks to garner his fourth 3Peat before hanging them up for good? I think not.

Should the Lakers look for additional help? It couldn’t hurt, but we look awfully strong already. Including Fisher in the equation, we’re a rock solid seven deep. Depending on how the rooks perform in Summer League will go a long way in determining what our other role players look like. The addition of someone such as Raja Bell could only reinforce our suddenly depleted bench, but with the inconsistent contributions we got this past season, things don’t look all that dim. A healthy Luke Walton and an on-track Sasha Vujacic can regain pre-contract signing form again, or could be used in possible trade scenarios prior to the February deadline. Three guys don’t beat a conglomerate. But it does make for some interesting conversation…