I remember the feeling I had when the Lakers held a 24 point lead over the Boston Celtics after the first half of game 4 in the 2008 NBA Finals. The Lakers, with a win, would have tied the series up at 2-2 with game 5 next at home again. I remember being so confident that the Lakers have stolen all the momentum and that they now seized control of this series and would win another title. Then, the collapse happened. The Lakers would relinquish all of that 24 point lead in the second half and the Celtics would make history completing the largest come-from-behind win since 1971. Mathematically, the Lakers could still win that series, but everyone knew that it was over. The Lakers would go on to lose the series in 6 on a 39 point rout - the biggest post-season loss by the Lakers - to their hated rivals. I didn't think I could sit through a more devastating collapse and embarrassment to the end of a season than that - that is, until yesterday.
The Lakers didn't collapse just once, late, to the Mavericks, but twice. In games 1 and 3, the Lakers controlled both game for 3 and a half quarters, and inexplicably choke and get outplayed by the Mavericks in the last few minutes of the game. It was something that was so uncharacteristic of the two-time champions, and in fact something some have come to expect of the Mavericks. The way the seeds lined-up were supposed to be in favor of the Lakers. We wanted Dallas right? Wrong. Every time the Lakers needed to win a "must win" game, they didn't showed no urgency or will to win. And every time the Lakers seemed to make a run at the Mavs, Dallas would respond with a run of its own to kill any momentum the Lakers were gaining. After the stunners in games 1 and 3, the Lakers followed up with lackluster performances. But even after the two losses at home, I believed that the Lakers could comeback and win the series. They were on their way in game 3 until they folded in the final minutes. Much like game 4 against the Celtics, I felt like if they won this game that it would turn the tide and that the Lakers would win. Instead, it was a heart breaker, that took the life out of the Lakers. And to make it worse, like game 6 in the 2008 finals, the Lakers got their blown out the doors by 36 points in the close out game.
Now how could I say that anything is worse than ending your season on a 39 point rout in the NBA Finals to the hated rivals, the Boston Celtics? It was how the Lakers took losing coupled with the harsh reality and ramifications of not winning a third straight title.
I was ready to accept that the Lakers could be done after game 3 and had already started the process of getting over the season being over after the Lakers went down by 20, 30. I thought it couldn't get any worse. But oh was I wrong. What Lamar and Bynum did with the late flagrant fouls were classless and quite pathetic. Bynum's actions were more so than Lamar's; at least Lamar felt expressed his remorse after the game and didn't take off his shirt as he walked off the court after being ejected. Bynum looked like a straight up punk. The Lakers showed no heart, dignity, or class in their loss and it made the sting of defeat even worse for the Lakers and us Laker fans. What am I supposed to say to all the Laker haters now? In losing like this, it gives the haters all the reason to hate on the Lakers.
Unlike after losing to the Celtics in 2008, there's no sense that this team is coming back with a vengeance, at least not this same group. Everyone but Kobe is expendable and the roster is likely to make some huge changes. There's no storybook ending for Phil or Kobe. Kobe has to wait another year to tie Jordan for 6 championships, and he's only getting older. I feel even worse for Phil. His team was unable to give him his fourth 3-peat, and instead gave him his first ever sweep out of the playoffs and his probably its most embarrassing performance.
It's the end of an era, one that ended on a very sour note.....
i'll write about looking on the bright side next :)
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