This one was for Kobe, of course, and for Gianna. A season had been dedicated to them, and so too should be a championship.
But the historical import of this, the 17th NBA title in Lakers’ franchise history, demands that it also be for many others who have contributed along the path to 17, those who succeeded and especially those who fell short.
For those who haven’t yet figured out the significance of 17, here’s a hint: They darned sure have noticed in Boston, and wherever else Celtics fans reside. The Lakers have finally caught up with the Celtics at the top of the league’s championship pecking order.
Those of us who were around during the 1960s, when the Lakers perennially got to the Finals and perennially had their noses bloodied by Bill Russell and the Celtics – six times in six tries, to be specific – wondered if they’d ever get one as a Los Angeles franchise, much less catch up to their tormentors.
They’ve got 12, now, to go with the five achieved in Minneapolis. The Lakers have won 17 championships with five different generations of superstars: George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Vern Mikkelsen and Slater Martin in Minneapolis; Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain in ‘72; Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy in the ‘80s; Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal (and later Kobe and Pau Gasol) in the first 11 years of this century, and now LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the NBA’s longest season ever.
This one is for Mikan, Pollard, Mikkelsen, Martin and coach John Kundla, all Hall of Famers who made up the league’s first dynasty, with championships in ’49, ’50, ’52, ’53 and ’54. Mikan was pro basketball’s first dominant big man, Pollard the driver and slasher, Mikkelsen handled the rebounding and the rough stuff, and Martin got the ball where it needed to go.
But this one is also for Frank Selvy, who might have changed history in the final seconds of regulation in Game 7 in 1962 in Boston. Selvy had an 18-footer at the baseline with time running out that would have given the Lakers the championship in their second season in L.A. It bounced out instead and the Celtics won in overtime, their fourth in a string of eight straight championships and their first of six over the Lakers in the ‘60s.
This one is also for backup center Ray Felix, who according to legend told his teammates afterward, “Don’t worry. We’ll get ‘em tomorrow.”
It’s for all the guys who tried to keep Russell off the boards in that era, in fact, with an emphasis on tried: Jim Krebs, Felix, Gene Wiley, LeRoy Ellis, Darrall Imhoff.
It’s for Elgin Baylor, the greatest player you never saw in the years before nightly telecasts and highlight packages. Baylor did things in midair nobody else of that era could, before bad knees robbed him of his hang time. But he was 0 for 7 in Finals against the Celtics (counting his rookie season in Minneapolis in 1959) and 0 for 8 overall. Right after Baylor retired in December of 1971, his effectiveness gone, the Lakers started a 33-game winning streak – still a professional sports record – en route to their first title in L.A. and sixth overall. (By then the Celtics had 13.)
This one is also for Jerry West, even though he now works for the other team in L.A. West suffered through all of those losses in the ‘60s along with Elgin, suffered to the point that for a time he couldn’t stand the sight of the color green. He remains the only player ever to win the Finals MVP award as a member of the losing team, in 1969.
Oh, yes, 1969: Russell was player-coach and the Celtics finished fourth in the Eastern Division – the league wasn’t big enough for conferences then – and by the time they reached the Finals the 55-win Lakers with West, Baylor and Chamberlain were heavy favorites. Before Game 7 Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had balloons put in the rafters of the Forum to be released at game’s end, and had the USC marching band ready to play “Happy Days Are Here Again.” They weren’t.
Bill “Butch” van Breda Kolff coached that team and had differences with Wilt all season long. It came to a head in that Game 7, when Wilt sprained his right knee coming down with a rebound and came out with around five minutes left and the Lakers trailing by seven. Mel Counts replaced Chamberlain and the Lakers came to within one point, and when Wilt let the coach know he was ready to return, van Breda Kolff said: “We’re doing well enough without you.”
So while van Breda Kolff died in 2007, and may he rest in peace, no, this one isn’t for Butch.
But it is for Bill Sharman, a Hall of Fame player as a Celtic and the coach who brought that first title to L.A. in ’72, and remained a Laker coach, executive, consultant and friend of the organization until his death in 2013. In a way it’s also for Pat Riley, who was on the other side in this Finals but had a Laker heritage: A player on the ’72 champs and coach of four champions with the Showtime Lakers in the 1980s, winning two of three head-to-head Finals matchups against Boston.
(Riley was also the one who memorably called the Celtics “the Klingons of the NBA,” comparing their organizational ethos to the ruthless, thuggish antagonists of the original Star Trek. For that alone, no matter what else he does and wherever he does it, in this corner he’s a Laker for life.)And this one is also for Phil Jackson, who coached the last five Lakers’ champions (2000, ’01, ’02, ’09 and ’10, the last head-to-head against Boston) and also surpassed Red Auerbach in Finals won all-time, 11-9 counting his six rings in Chicago.
It’s for all of the stars who won championships in L.A., but it’s also for Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston and Jim McMillian, among others, from ’72. And Michael Cooper, Norm Nixon, Jamaal Wilkes, Bob McAdoo, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott, A.C. Green and Mychal Thompson from the ‘80s, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Robert Horry and Brian Shaw from the 2000-01-02 three-peat teams, and Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton (plus Fisher) from the ’09 and ’10 champs.
Most of all? This is for any Laker fan that has had to hear it from a Celtic fan over the years. Feel free to note that since Russell retired, the tally is L.A. 11, Boston 6. (And yes, Rajon Rondo now has one of each.)
jalexander@scng.com
@Jim_Alexander on Twitter
https://goo.gl/hYDEHJ
No comments:
Post a Comment