Western Conference Wrapup

The better team won. That's right, you heard me say it, in overall talent and ability, I think the LA Lakers are a better team than the San Antonio Spurs. They just have more dynamic pieces to work around. Doesn't mean I like the Lakers any more or that I'm jumping on their band wagon, I'm stating a simple fact, the team with the better roster won. Despite a valiant effort by both Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, the rest of the Spurs were simply out hustled and out played by a younger Lakers team. Robert Horry didn't hit the big shots like they needed him to, Michael Finley played his usual Jekyl and Hyde basketball, no one on the rosters outside of Parker and Duncan are tremendously consistent. Sure Ginobili played the best season of his career, but when it came to the playoffs, he didn't have much left to give. He beat his body up again and again and this time, it just didn't have enough juice to run through the last stretch. All in all, it was a good run, I thought that the older team with the experience and the desperation would be able to pressure the younger Lakers (especially the bench) into bad plays, they proved me wrong.

I never expected the Spurs to stop Kobe, I likely won't expect anything short of an early exit from the game (due to injury or ejection) to keep me from pencilling him in for at least a good 25 points every game. I think that all in all, Kobe did a good job of stepping up the bar for his young teammates and leading them to this hard earned win. He's building a team that understands, despite having the best player in the game, they can't just sit and watch him do his magic, they're on the floor for a reason, and they have to do their part. He's convinced Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujajic, Luke Walton, Vladamir Radmonovic, etc... that they need to play together, and they've done it well. They look at the Spurs and realized that this is what made them a championship team, it wasn't Tim Duncan's amazing fundamental post ability (though that sure does help), it isn't Tony Parker's speed and penetration ability (that helps too), it wasn't Manu Ginobili's ability to make so many "impossible shots" (certainly doesn't hurt), but it was the fact that they functioned as one unit that made them so deadly. They stepped up to the challenge, and in the end, the younger legs and better talent won out. Certainly it doesn't hurt to have the best player in the league on your team too.

Spurs have realized that they need fresher and younger legs, while I admit that the Lakers are a better team talent wise, I think much of it was that the Spurs beat themselves. Role players weren't playing their role (a kudos as well to good Lakers defense), weren't able to play their roles, and the lumbering machine from San Antonio was brought to a grinding halt. I think the defense that Spurs played was phenomenal, the series produced some of the Lakers' worst offensive performances in this postseason. However, when they needed the shot to fall, it wasn't there. With Tony Parker being the youngest player to crack the rotation (age 26), and all other players hitting their 30s, Popovich and the Spurs front office need to bring and infusion of youth into their roster. It's obvious that while Ginobili is still kicking, the aggresive style of play that he so favors is wearing on his body. As Spurs slip into a quiet phase of rebuilding (I imagine they'll be just as quiet if not more so than Detroit), they'll continue to contend, they have to. The teams in the West are young and talented, we've seen this with Utah, with New Orleans, and now with the Lakers (don't even get me started on the Blazers).

I could go into the David Stern "Showtime" conspiracy, but, I hold no grudges, I thought the veteran team could pull the win, but I was wrong. Good job Kobe, way to hold your team together.

"Deserved"? That's stretching it

I'm not going to say that Spurs were robbed. I didn't see the entire game, but from what I can gather from the box score and the lines, aside from Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Brent Barry, the Spurs played horribly. Did they deserve to win? I doubt that Popovich or any of the Spurs think so. Should they have won? That's a completely different story altogether. Sure there could have been no calls and controversial calls on the Lakers, yeah, it's hard to believe that Kobe got his 29 points without a single trip to the charity stripe. Let's face it though, this one was obvious, Derek Fisher landed on Brent Barry, and the refs just sat there looking. I don't know what they were looking at, each other? In exit interviews you'll hear Barry and Popovich both say that the no call was the right call, because the refs don't want to deter the "outcome of the game". The fact of the matter is, call or no call, something happened, which invariably altered the outcome of the game. Simply put, the refs don't want to be responsible.

Putting aside all conspiracy theories of David Stern's dream of an NBA Showtime revival, let's simply look at the play. Barry fakes, Fisher bites, lands on Barry and Barry tries to get around for an open shot, chucking up a prayer that was more of a blind heave before the buzzer than any real attempt at making a shot. Had this happened 1 minute earlier, Fisher would have had his 5 personal foul and Barry would've gotten his two free throws. Assuming he makes them and no one scores, the Spurs and Lakers go into overtime. I've heard the argument that the Lakers "deserved" the win more. Sure they played better ball, but if they deserved it that much Kobe wouldn't have been rushing shots at the end of the 4th giving the Spurs back posession of the ball. Of course there's the no resetting of the shot clock after Fisher's toss skimmed the rim, ok, I can buy that, and the whole "poetic justice" of the next no call against the Spurs. To argue that the no call was made simply because the Lakers "deserved" the win? Excuse me? If that's not game fixing I don't know what is. The Lakers deserve the win if Brent Barry had clanked it off the front of the rim with Derek Fisher's hand in his face, if he had bricked it off back iron on an off balance shot, or if Kobe came around the weak side and swatted it, but don't tell me that the Lakers, who had let the Spurs come back within two, "deserved" the win when a 6'1", 200 lb point guard is sitting on Brent Barry's shoulder at the last shot. Lakers made mistakes at the end, sure the refs made mistakes but so did the Lakers. Kobe tried to drive it in instead of eating clock, Fisher bit on the pump fake, doesn't matter how well you played for the remaining 47 minutes of the game, mistakes cost you points, and sometimes mistakes cost you games.

Again, I'm not saying the Spurs were robbed, I'm not going to say that the Lakers were nearly robbed. If the Spurs played the way they were supposed to, they wouldn't have been in that situation to begin with (as most of you that read this would likely know I'm a Spurs fan). However, to say that the no call was the right call because the ref didn't want to affect the outcome of the game and hand the "undeserving" team the victory, that's bogus, by not calling it, the ref simply says, "This team should win, and the other one, well, jump through these burning hoops and if you make the impossible shot, then we'll give you your miracle". I don't get what the Lakers fans yelling at me are all defensive about, the foul wasn't in continuation. Barry gets a foul on the floor, gets his 2 free throws, presumably if he makes them both the game goes into OT and the Lakers can just prove how much more they "deserve" the win in the extra minutes of play. I'm not gonna say whether or not the refs called the game perfectly, because it's obvious that they're human and they didn't, but the fact is, they saw this one, and deliberately decided not to. Sure the Spurs didn't play like they "deserved" to win, but sometimes, even if you don't, you should. This is basketball, not figure skating, refs don't decide who "deserves" the win, they're just there to make the calls when they happened, and please don't tell me that this didn't happen.