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| Thursday, April 3 Updated: April 5, 9:24 PM ET Writing the final chapter to this L.A. story By Sam Smith Special to ESPN.com |
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The best player for the Los Angeles Lakers this season has been Kobe Bryant. But if the Lakers need to win one game, you want the ball going to Shaquille O'Neal. And therein lies just one of the many reasons the big talk about the three-time defending champions this season has not been whether they'll win a fourth title but whether they'd make the playoffs. Never has a champion with its top stars returning had so much difficulty the following season.
Let us count them.
It's easy to forget, but that 1993 title was a desperate struggle, a misery-filled regular season in which the players sniped at one another, barely made it through a classic conference final with the Knicks and were saved a seventh game on the road by John Paxson's unlikely game-winning 3-pointer. The Bulls failed to gain homecourt advantage in the conference finals or league finals, but they endured. Jordan knew they couldn't again. The same thing happened in 1998 after a seven-game conference finals with the Indiana Pacers and Jordan's jumper to save a seventh game on the road in Utah. Pros tell you there's no better basketball than NBA playoff basketball. It's the world's best players playing as hard as they can on every possession. It has a cumulative effect. The Lakers have played almost a full extra season in playoff games the last three years, a total of 58 games with several memorable seven-game series, including last year's conference finals against the Kings. So it's no surprise their brilliance comes and goes. They go from big win to being blown out. It's too hard to maintain the mental edge necessary to be dominant when you're exhausted.
The Lakers went on the cheap to retain Brian Shaw, and being shortsighted by not extending Devean George cost them the chance to use their mid-level exception for some reserve help when they had to use it to re-sign George after he had a good playoffs last year. Phil Jackson always had a third elite player in Chicago, like Horace Grant and later Dennis Rodman to support Jordan and Scottie Pippen. He had a fourth with Toni Kukoc in the second three-peat. The Bulls, often regarded as fiscally careful because of their dealings with players, always gave Jackson veteran bench help from season to season with additions like the late Brian Williams, Rodney McCray, Steve Kerr, Bill Wennington and Randy Brown. Jackson continues to try to get something out of Slava Medvedenko and Mark Madsen. It's sad for a championship-caliber team. It's amazing how much the Lakers have done with how little Buss has given them to work with. It's easy to blame the so called supporting cast, but few would be starters anywhere else. They're the ones who've needed support, and Lakers management has failed them. So it comes down to Shaq and Kobe. But it's no longer like it was. There never truly has been a championship team on which it wasn't clear who was Batman and who was Robin. Perhaps other than the great Celtics dynasty of the 60s, which featured a half dozen or more Hall of Famers. Bill Russell was the star but as a defensive player.
All the great teams since have had the star and then the next star in line. Everyone knew it was Larry Bird in Boston in the 1980s, and Magic Johnson deferred to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar until it was time to reverse roles. Julius Erving was second to Moses Malone when it counted. Isiah Thomas was the guy in Detroit, Hakeem Olajuwon was the man in Houston and, of course, it was Jordan and then Pippen in Chicago. It's always been Shaq and then Kobe for the Lakers. Now, it's no longer clear. And if it isn't clear to us, it cannot be clear to them. O'Neal has been bothered by physical and conditioning problems, so Bryant has stepped in. He's the leading scorer, averaging more than 30 points per game and has had big games this season including the historic run of 40-point efforts. He's had to take on the responsibility with O'Neal missing 15 games. O'Neal is back and better, but he's not quite what he was. So it's Kobe's team. Right? Not while Shaq still can get it going. Bryant has talked about this some in recent days, and as talented as he is, you know he'll find a way. This isn't the Shaq-Kobe fight of a few years back for leadership, control, identity and a lollipop. For the next 10 years, there's no doubt if you had a choice, you'd take Kobe. He's going to be the star of the Lakers for years to come. But O'Neal remains the dominant figure in the NBA, even if he apparently has no chance to be named MVP this season. He's never even considered among the expected finalists, but everyone agrees he's the one player in the league you'd still want for a game or a series. Curious, indeed. Bryant no longer is concerned about stepping back, as he once was. He just cannot afford to anymore because O'Neal cannot be counted upon like he once was. It wasn't until midway through the conference finals last season that O'Neal truly began to exert himself and then the Lakers almost won out. He'll have to start a lot sooner this season. Even though Bryant or the Lakers aren't about to say so, they're not sure what O'Neal will bring them once the playoffs begin. Everyone knows what Bryant will provide. There's no better big-game player in the NBA today. So Bryant has to be ready to be No. 1. While O'Neal should be No. 1. But might not be. It's further placed the Lakers in their precarious position. It's like any great team that falls behind and fights its way back. Rarely does it have enough to finish. You always hear the coach saying they dug too deep a hole. You sense that's the way it will be for the Lakers this season, that it's time to throw dirt on the dynasty. Sam Smith, who covers the NBA for the Chicago Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. |
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