A funny thing happened on L.A.’s way to oblivion…. Actually, the L.A. teams didn’t go anywhere, even if they wrote them off as the new backwater of the West and whatever other insults and Skid Row photos they threw into their dumb stories. OK, I was the one who did the backwater story a while back. OK, it was just two days back—or put another way, just before the Lakers got Steve Nash–becoming even older and slower (their starters will be 38-34-32-32-25) but
Skid Row, downtown Los Angeles Meanwhile, along the old, deserted, weed-infested, beer bottle-strewn route into the setting sun…. Welcome to L.A., backwater of the West, with the road to the Finals now running through towns in Oklahoma and Texas, far from the glitter of Staples Center. Wait, you’re not talking about the Lakers and Clippers, home of four starting West All-Stars, are you? OK, backwater might be a bit much, but stay tuned. Whatever it is, it bears less and less
The year the NBA got over the hump, even if it didn’t initially look like it was possible … Let’s just say it was a good time for a memorable postseason, with the improbable rise of the precocious Thunder, until going up 1-0 over the Heat, which didn’t turn out to be comprised of choking, mercenary divas, after all. Otherwise, the 2011-12 season would have gone down as the one when the NBA locked the players out until Christmas, then jammed 66
LeBron, the re-canonization…. I know, they never used to do such a thing as re-canonizations. But then, they didn’t used to do un-canonizations, either. These days, you don’t have to perform miracles to be put on a pedestal, the world’s second-favorite trick, even if it just hauled you off your pedestal, which is, of course, the world’s favorite trick. If one crummy NBA title was all LeBron James needed, what was the big deal? He figured to bag one soon enough, as runaway choice
csprtContainer(); The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the youngest teams in history to reach the NBA Finals, where historically young teams do not do very well. Hall of Fame NBA writer Mark Heisler references the 1995 Orlando Magic, who knocked off Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to reach the NBA Finals, only to be swept by the older Houston Rockets – who just happened to have the experience of being defending champions. Does Heisler believe the Thunder will crash and burn
Now to let the Young Guns shoot it out. … If you’re going to hear that a lot the next week or two, some of these guns are a lot younger than others. By 2007, when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had both been in NBA Finals, Kevin Durant had yet to be drafted; Russell Westbrook was an unheralded UCLA freshman who had played nine minutes a game; and James Harden was even less heralded as a high school sophomore. Durant, Westbrook and
Donald T. Sterling Sterling World Plaza Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210 Dear Donald, Welcome back! I know, you didn’t really go anywhere, even if your Clippers stopped being the Clippers we’ve known for all these years. I mean, welcome back as the Clipper owner that those of us who write NBA columns or lines for Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien knew and loved. Wasn’t this season fun, while it lasted? As hyped as your guys were after getting Chris Paul, and as forgotten as they were when the Lakers
csprtContainer(); Question: What’s the difference between the NBA and the outfit formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation? Answer: Beats me. Actually, there’s a huge difference between a game highlighting athletic grace and hand-to-hand combat between players assuming heroic or villainous personas: The WWF doesn’t have a ball. Otherwise, it’s getting too close for comfort for the NBA, even if league officials prefer to pull the strings from New York rather than issuing proclamations in the ring like Vince McMahon. These playoffs look less like a