The dismal performance by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2011 NBA playoffs was a surprise to everyone.
Even when the two-time defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers lost the first two games of their Western Conference playoff series at home to the perennial underachieving Dallas Mavericks, most of the NBA “experts” still expected Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to eventually flip a switch and return to their dominating ways.
That prediction was officially proved wrong on Sunday afternoon as the Mavericks whipped the Lakers 122-86 to complete an improbable four-game sweep of the former champions.
While history and past success are as celebrated in the NBA as in any other major professional sport, there comes a time when banners and history are no longer enough.
Though still a very talented team with a Hall of Fame coach and all-time great superstar, the Lakers are starting to show signs of age and the difficulty of staying motivated at the highest level.
There was a lot of talk this season about how they could just “flip the switch” when it was time to play their best, but the reality is that in a league where the difference in overall team talent is rather minimal, it isn’t all that easy to just suddenly jump from average to awesome.
The question now facing the Lakers is whether they can rebound next year with the same cast of characters or if it will take a significant overhaul for the Lakers to return to prominence.
Of the top 10 players on the roster, only 25-year-old reserve Shannon Brown and 23-year-old starting center Andrew Bynum are under the age of 30. Read the rest of this entry →
In 1981 Julius Erving was at the top of his game and Larry Bird was an emerging superstar in the NBA.
Thirty years ago, the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers faced off in the Eastern Conference Finals, which is quite possibly the greatest NBA playoff series of all time.
The series went seven games, had five games decided by two points or less, and featured the Celtics overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to win the series and advance to the NBA Finals.
1981 was the second year of the Larry Bird era, who had won the rookie of the year in 1980 and had lead the Celtics to the greatest single-season turnaround in NBA history, as Boston finished with a 61-21 record, before falling to the Sixers in five games of the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the offseason, Bird would be joined with center Robert Parish and rookie power forward Kevin McHale, in forming the “Big Three” of the Bird era.
To go along with this legendary frontline, was point guard Nate “Tiny” Archibald and starting forward Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell as Boston went 62-20 in the regular season for the NBA’s best record.
The Sixers also went 62-20 in the regular season as they were led by forward Julius Erving,
who averaged 24.6 points and 8 rebounds per game, to win the MVP award for the regular season.
In addition to “Dr. J”, the Sixers’ lineup featured center Daryl Dawkins, known as “Chocolate Thunder”, defensive specialist Bobby Jones, a pair of point guards in Maurice Cheeks and Lionel Hollins, and a rookie guard off the bench, that would become known as the “Boston Strangler”, Andrew Toney. Read the rest of this entry →
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson combined for many great moments in the NBA Finals.
The NBA Finals begin this week and I have decided to take a look back at the history of the NBA Finals with the 50 greatest moments in NBA Finals history.
In this list, there are multiple moments from one series to make up the top 50.
For example, four of the moments are from the 1984 Finals between the Lakers and the Celtics, while there are three moments from the 1997 Finals between the Bulls and the Jazz.
Here now are moments 50-26 in the countdown of the 50 most memorable moments in NBA Finals history.
50. Game 6 2003 Spurs-Nets
Spurs center Tim Duncan has a near quadruple-double (22 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and eight blocked shots) as San Antonio goes on a 19-0 run in the fourth quarter for a 88-77 victory over the New Jersey Nets to clinch the franchise’s second of four championships and send David Robinson out as a champion in his final game.
49. Game 5 1984 Lakers-Celtics
This was the infamous “Heat Game” as both the Lakers and the Celtics had to play the fifth game of this series in oppressive heat as it was 97-degrees in Boston on this day and the Boston Garden had no air conditioning.
The heat did not seem to effect the Celtics as they defeated the Lakers 121-103 thanks to a 34-point, 17-rebound performance from Larry Bird.
48. Game 5 1999 Spurs-Knicks
Point guard Avery Johnson makes the winning basket as he drills a baseline jumper with 47 seconds left to give the San Antonio Spurs a 78-77 win and clinch the first championship in franchise history. Read the rest of this entry →
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson make the epic 1984 NBA Finals the most watched series in NBA Finals history
Of course when everybody thinks of the great rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, they think of Larry and Magic… But the intense rivalry started even before the epic 1984 Finals series. The Celtics and Lakers met seven times in the NBA Finals before 1984, and the Celtics won all seven championships. The rivalry slightly died down, but was reborn in the epic 1984 finals series.
In 1984 the Celtics and the Lakers met in the NBA Finals once again. This would turn out to be the most watched series in NBA history. Who wouldn’t want to watch it? It is perhaps the most intriguing matchup in NBA Finals history. You have arguably the two best players in the NBA, the two best teams, and to top it all off, the intense rivalry between the two franchises.
Because of their 62-20 record, the Celtics would win home court advantage. The first two games of the series would be held in Boston, but that wouldn’t prove to be any help to the home team. The Lakers went on to win game one 115-109. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 32 points and 8 rebounds. Earvin “Magic” Johnson had 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. Bird had 24 points and 14 rebounds, but it was not enough to propel the Celtics to a victory in game one. Read the rest of this entry →
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t expect their season to end this early, but now that it has, the 2011 season is already beginning for teams in the NBA.
It hasn’t even been a week since the Cavaliers lost to the Celtics, and everyone is already mentioning LeBron heading out of town. Within a week we have heard different rumors about LeBron playing for teams like New York, Chicago, New Jersey, L.A. (Clippers), and Miami.
Now there is a new rumor that LeBron wants a packaged deal with Coach John Calipari in Chicago. Just like all the other assumptions, this is only a rumor. Calipari said on Twitter that the statement was not true, and he has told the media that he will stay at Kentucky.
“I want to address this with the Big Blue Nation one last time, I will be coaching at Kentucky next year. Now let’s finish what we started!” – UK Coach Calipari
Not even a week and there are all these speculations on where LeBron will go. Technically, no teams can reach out to LeBron until July 1st. So the media has until July 1st to think about what is to come of LeBron James and the future of the NBA. Behind LeBron in the free agent market this year are superstars Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Both have been rumored to team up with LeBron for an NBA Championship in 2011. LeBron’s free agency journey has been the big talk for a couple years now, and it is still being analyzed more than the ongoing NBA Playoffs. Read the rest of this entry →
Magic Johnson led the Lakers to the first five titles in the 1980s 30 years ago.
Though he was already known as a glamorous player and NCAA Champion, Magic Johnson’s legacy as an NBA all-time great had its cornerstone in an NBA Finals game played 30 years ago today.
Leading the Philadelphia 76ers three games to two in the NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers were still in a somewhat challenging position as the team headed to Philly without the services of their MVP center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had been injured in game five and stayed home in Los Angeles to nurse his injured ankle.
The 20-year-old Johnson took up the slack scoring 42 points with 15 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Lakers to to a dominating 123-107 victory.
After that victory, Johnson’s reputation as the leader of “Showtime” was secure and he went on to lead the Lakers to four additional titles during the decade.
Enjoy some of the great moments from the sixth game of the 1980 NBA Finals:
The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month is a former major league baseball player who came into the game as a teenager and stayed until he was in his 40s. In between, Rusty Staub put up a solid career that was primarily spent on expansion or rebuilding teams.
Originally signed by the Colt .45s at age 17, he made his major league debut as a 19-year old rookie and became only the second player in the modern era to play in more than 150 games as a teenager.
Though he hit only .224 splitting time between first base and rightfield, Staub did start building a foundation that would turn him into an All-Star by 1967 when he finished fifth in the league with a .333 batting average.
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