THANK YOU, LAKERS, THINGS BACK TO NORMAL.Byline: STEVE DILBECK There, that's better. That's the way it should be. What L.A.'s been needing. No more grand teases from the Dodgers. No more almosts from the Kings. No USC football USC football refers to either of two NCAA Division I-A college football programs:
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX football breaking hearts. The Lakers went back to work Tuesday night and all was right again in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. sports universe. The only major area team to win a world championship in the past 13 years, back looking much the way we remember it. Just to remind us of where they left off, theLakers handed out championship rings before their first game of the season got underway. Back-to-back champions, a promise delivered. Not something talked about, something botched botch tr.v. botched, botch·ing, botch·es 1. To ruin through clumsiness. 2. To make or perform clumsily; bungle. 3. To repair or mend clumsily. n. 1. with bizarre front-office dealings, something slipping away in Stanford. The Lakers are the best basketball team in the world, L.A.'s one mighty champion. And Tuesday they wasted no time looking the part. Last year after their ring ceremony, they came out flat and ended up with an embarrassing loss to the Jazz. This team, just as Lakers 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. had predicted, came out ready to play, ready to offically start talk of that ``Triple Crown.'' There was no ring-ceremony letdown. ``We're a little bit used to it, not that we're old hat at it, but it's not something that's going to ambush us,'' Jackson said. Not just a returning two-time champion but a seemingly wiser one. They started the game against 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. , looking like they were ready to pick up where they left off in last year's 15-1 playoff run. Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). , the most powerful player in the game, got the game's first rebound, first basket and first shot intimidation. ``I'm just anxious to get on with it,'' O'Neal said. ``It's going to be a long season.'' It'll probably feel a little longer to the opposition. Unlike last year, the Lakers return this season as heavy favorites. There are the Lakers and all the pretenders. The surprise now would be if they didn't three-peat. ``It's very hard to play in the front,'' Jackson said. ``It's very hard to maintain that edge you have to maintain for seven months, whatever it is, to complete the season and then go into the playoffs. ``It's a challenge. We think that's the way it should be. As a coach, it's scary. There's no place to go but down.'' No, they could go up, could rise to greater heights, could be even better than last season. Most of the best parts from last season returned in a hurry against the Blazers. 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. , still with that multigear drive, with his seeming ability to hang in midair around the basket while mortals fall to Earth. These Lakers looked composed, confident, and with an unusual first-game polish. The Blazers looked familiar, too. Talent that struggled to mesh. Rasheed Wallace getting tagged with a technical. Scottie Pippen disappearing. Meanwhile, Rick Fox and his electric hair were hitting from outside. Scoring came in lighting streaks. The new guys blended in. The Laker Girls had the crowd gawking. L.A. needs these things. Needs a sporting accomplishment to hang onto. Needs something dependable. That's what the Lakers offer, a source of sporting civic pride. Not an NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga that ignores us. Not a baseball team wasting millions. The Lakers have two of the best players in the game, have the ability to win every night, maybe even to challenge the Bulls' regular-season record of 72-10. ``I don't want to put that much pressure on the guys yet,'' O'Neal said. Yet everybody seems to agree this should be the best of Jackson's three Lakers teams. ``I think it is the best team I've played with, on paper,'' O'Neal said. This team lost Horace Grant and added Mitch Richmond, Lindsey Hunter and Samaki Walker. ``I think it's the most talented team,'' Jackson said. ``We had experience last year with Horace, a great defensive player we could throw out there. We had a variety of offense but nothing like this team has, with experience to go with it.'' Maybe they won't win it again. Maybe they'll be devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. by injury, get overconfident o·ver·con·fi·dent adj. Excessively confident; presumptuous. o  ver·con , regress REGRESS. Returning; going back opposed to ingress. (q.v.) to petty jealousy, not
take others seriously.
Only right now, the Lakers have their season underway. Right now, the L.A. sports world is back in balance. |
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