LAKERS' PAST LAPSES AT WITS' END.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Given the fact the Lakers won the championship last year, it might be a stretch to say they have a better chance to do it this year. So let's strike a blow for sobriety and put it this way: Watching and listening to the Lakers lately, you get the idea they're better equipped to avoid the lapses that nearly killed them 12 months ago. Remember? On their way to the title, the Lakers lost six games when they had chances to finish off playoff opponents, prolonging the series against Sacramento twice, Phoenix once, Portland twice and Indiana once. Along the way they suffered blowout losses by 19, 29 and 33 points. No NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= champion had taken a path quite like it. ``For a 67-win (regular-season) team, I don't think we were ever accused of having a killer instinct killer instinct n to have the killer instinct → ir a por todas killer instinct n → combativité f; to have the killer instinct → ,'' Rick Fox said the other day. The result was that the Lakers twice faced elimination themselves and needed Portland's vintage collapse in the fourth quarter of Game 7 to get to the Finals. If they find themselves in the same position this year, they won't get as lucky again. But to hear them tell it, the elimination-game flops and the one-sided losses aren't going to happen. They speak of the advantages of experience, of improved focus and the confidence that comes from entering the playoffs with eight victories in a row. ``It's a different mind set we have with this team, a more serious approach,'' Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. said Friday, the afternoon after the Lakers hung another double-digit defeat on the Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise, based in Portland throughout its existence, entered the league in 1970 and has won the NBA Championship once, in 1977. at Staples Center This article has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. * It does not cite any references or sources. . ``It's just experience - knowing what type of intensity you need to bring. ``Last year, we thought we were serious. Then we got blown out by 30.'' Coach Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. is too cautious to proclaim this year's Lakers flop- proof, but he did say: ``I feel better about them. I feel better about their preparation work and their mind set.'' If it were only talk, there'd be little cause for confidence that this 56-win team has its wits about it any more than that 67-win team. And, admittedly, the theory could explode as early as Sunday, when the Blazers get the Lakers in the Rose Garden. Thursday night's performance, though, said a lot. Remembering Portland's 106-77 victory in Game 2 of their Western Conference final series in 2000, the Lakers were ready for a high-energy opening quarter. They weathered it, survived Bryant's absence for nearly half the period with foul trouble, then took control and kept it. The 106-88 final score represented a 47-point turnaround from last year's Portland-L.A. Game 2. As the Blazers blew up as the game slipped away, the Lakers resisted the temptation to return the elbows and jabs. ``If it was a playground, it would be a little bit different,'' said Bryant, who was clearly miffed miff n. 1. A petulant, bad-tempered mood; a huff. 2. A petty quarrel or argument; a tiff. tr.v. miffed, miff·ing, miffs To cause to become offended or annoyed. when Scottie Pippen Scottie Maurice Pippen (born September 25, 1965 in Hamburg, Arkansas) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). grabbed his sore ribs late in the game but was smart enough not to say anything inflammatory about it. Now the Blazers are one loss from elimination. Last year's Lakers would have found that a dangerous set-up. This year's Lakers have the advantage of knowing how dangerous it is. ``If we assume an attitude like that, we're in trouble,'' Jackson said, referring to the notion that one feathery feath·er·y adj. 1. Covered with or consisting of feathers. 2. Resembling or suggestive of a feather, as in form or lightness. feath poke will send the Blazers down for the count. ``We're going to Portland assuming we'll be there for three days. We will not check out of our hotel (and) pack our bags on Sunday afternoon.'' The one-game suspensions announced Friday for Blazers Dale Davis Dale Davis may refer to:
Whether these Lakers are a better team than last year's is open to debate. All season their chances for playoff success were rated right there with the Kings'. Well, well. The acquisition of Horace Grant Horace Junior Grant (born July 4 1965 in Augusta, Georgia) is a retired American basketball player. He attended and played college basketball at Clemson University, before playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he became a 4-time NBA champion. might be paying off as intended. The loss of Glen Rice isn't being felt as much. Grant and Derek Fisher have proved harder for defenders to ignore than A.C. Green and Ron Harper were, and Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal are profiting from the freedom from double-teaming defenders. But the more important improvement would take place between their ears. If they've got it, they can prove it Sunday. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers have a chance to put away the Trail Blazers on Sunday. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion