The Celtics finally lost, and although many in the sports world would have you believe that the sky is falling, I for one am not entirely convinced. Give credit to Kobe and the Lakers, they played hard on Christmas day and earned their win. They were physical with the Celtics and very aggressive on both ends of the floor, forcing Boston turnovers and making big shots when it counted, but I'm not worried, and I don't believe that the Lakers have redeemed themselves at all for the turd egg they laid in last season's Finals. Since when does winning one regular season game at home count as a statement game? How does one victory on National TV even come close to making up for a humiliating 39 point ego-ectomy (to use the basketbawful terminology) of a defeat in basketball's biggest game of the year or the three embarassing losses that preceeded it?
It doesn't, at least not in my book. And herein, my friends (doing my best McCain), lies the difference between the Celtics and the Lakers. After the game, the Laker players admitted that they had this game circled on their calenders, that this one game meant more to them than the others. For this one game, on Christmas day, they were going to come out with all of their energy, enthusiasm and effort in order to show the Celtics that they could beat them, and they did. Kudos and good for them, but that isn't what championship basketball is all about.
The Celtics, on the other hand, have every game on their calenders circled. They know that a regular season game, whether it's against Cleveland, LA or Oklahoma City, it means the same thing at the end of the day. No matter who their opponent is on any given night, the Celtics' goal is to come prepared and to play with energy, enthusiasm and effort. Committing to defense, unselfishness and sacrifice won it all for the Celtics last year, and they have approached this season in exactly the same way this year as the defending champs. At the end of the day, the Celtics are a tough, defensive minded team that is determined to win at any cost and against any foe. It doesn't work every night, sometimes the other team is better or they aren't fully into it (see: Denver and Indianapolis in November), but the Celtics are the same team every single night that they play.
The Lakers, however, are not. Coming out of training camp they were defending like crazy and playing physical basketball and looking like a juggernaut that was destined for the promised land, especially in a weaker than average Western Conference that still hasn't produced a single team capable of seriously tangling with them. But after the first few games, they slipped back into their normal habits of scoring a ton but not going all out on the defensive end. Sure, they had a heated players and coaches meeting this past week after two back to back losses to the Heat and the Magic and a narrow escape of the Grizzlies, and sure, they played physical basketball on Christmas against the Celtics, but I still firmly believe that they are not the team that showed up on Christmas day to play the Celtics. When it comes down to it, Pau Gasol is still a softie, Lamar Odom still doesn't know whether to shoot, pass, dribble drive or tackle Ray Allen into the crowd, and Kobe is still the same Kobe that desperately wants to win, but only on his own terms and only if he can be the hero. Don't get me wrong, the Lakers are still formidable playing basketball as presently constituted, and they can blow the doors off of just about anyone with their talent, athleticism and depth, but they still aren't a physical team that can win with defense and toughness every single night.
But do they even have to be? If they can psyche themselves up when it really matters and play tough when they have to, can't they beat Boston in a seven game series and win a title next June? Maybe, but I'm not sold on them just yet. It's a hell of a lot easier to psyche yourself up for one game and play a style that isn't truly your own, but to sustain that for a grueling seven game series will take a lot of practice. The regular season is practice, and the exercise to be mastered is defending like crazy and playing your best game every night, no matter who you're facing. It's way too hard to just flick a switch and turn it on when it counts to beat an opponent (don't believe me? Ask the Detroit Pistons how that went for them over the past four seasons since their championship.), which is essentially what the Lakers did yesterday.
In the short run, LA is talented enough to approach some games as a tough, physical defensive minded team, but over the long haul, to quote the now immortal Denny Green, "they are who we thought they were." You have to adjust the tense of that phrase a little to make it fit, but the convoluded message is still clear: the Lakers aren't there yet. They're definitely closer than they were last June, but I still see a team that would prefer to put the ball in the basket than stop you from doing so. I still believe that if they stumble against some physical play down the road that Kobe will start launching contested 22-footers as long as you dare him to, and despite the loss yesterday, I still believe that the Celtics are the better team.
Keywords: Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers
