Trios and trends
PARIS [The Monday International Show] - For years now, NBA experts feel that, to be great, a team needs 3 stars in the vein of Magic-Kareem-Worthy, Bird-Mchale-Parish or Jordan-Pippen-Rodman. Last season, it was Pierce, Ray and KG, and we saw what happened to them when Garnett went down this season as well as what happened to the Spurs without Ginobili! After two games in the 2009 NBA “sunshine” Finals, it's obvious that the trio of Kobe, Pau and Lamar is, so far, superior to the Magic's trio of Dwight, Hedo and Rashard due to more consistent effort and teamwork up to now.
PARIS [The Monday International Show] - For years now, NBA experts feel that, to be great, a team needs 3 stars in the vein of Magic-Kareem-Worthy, Bird-Mchale-Parish or Jordan-Pippen-Rodman.
Last season, it was Pierce, Ray and KG, and we saw what happened to them when Garnett went down this season as well as what happened to the Spurs without Ginobili!
After two games in the 2009 NBA “sunshine” Finals, it's obvious that the trio of Kobe, Pau and Lamar is, so far, superior to the Magic's trio of Dwight, Hedo and Rashard due to more consistent effort and teamwork up to now.
In game 2 sunday, all these stars came to play-in the second half- after a nervous and discombobulated first half!
The refreshing honesty and self-critcism of Stan Van Gundy, Orlando's Mr. Everyman coach, towards himself, his players and the media horde built the foundation, along with his adjustments, for a wonderful comeback near-win in game 2 after an embarrassing blowout loss and LA party in game 1.
Once again in these playoffs, the Magic showed their capacity to adjust and bounce back after a severe defeat, but the LA trio was just slightly better and definitely lucky to see poor Courtney Lee miss 2 layups in the last ten seconds of regulation.
Will those misses be the equivalent of Nick's bricks in 95? Time will tell.
For once, my pre-season prediction of an LA title looks pretty good but Orlando should be able to win 2 of 3 in the confort of their home surroundings and send the Finals caravan back to Hollywood for a game 6 which would make the NBA and its rights holders happy!
In fact, the Lakers are due for a stinker like they did against Houston and Denver because they do have a tedious tendancy to get overconfident in the image of their seemingly half-asleep but legendary coach!
Covering the first two games I've become convinced that Kobe-Pau is the best one-two punch in the league today, ahead of Parker-Duncan, Pierce-Garnett, Lebron-Mo and Paul-West.When you add Odom's unbelievable unselfishness and all-around style he can literally play all five positions on the court-this gives Phil Jackson a wonderful 6th man button to push to fill in the holes because, other than Lamar, the Laker's bench is weak!
The triumphant trio of LA should suffice but don't underestimate the enormous improvement of steals-king, Trevor Ariza in a contract year and the sneaky slyness of veteran Derrick Fisher who has finally showed up in these playoffs.
With the Lakers it's quality over quantity similar to Orlando which doesn't have much of a bench either with the notable exception of Pietrus.
The 2009 Finals, played under the cloud of a world economic crisis that David Stern says will create a 10 percent drop in revenue and subsequently a similar drop in the next salary cap, are symbolic of a future where everyone will be obliged to live with less.
We in the media can't complain because we're lucky to spend two weeks during this recession watching great games in sun-drenched Orlando and LA!
In the end, trios and tandems put aside, this will primarily be the consecration of Olympic champ Kobe Bryant proving that he will not be denied this time around!
Georges EDDY