An NBA finals and no Warriors or Lakers?

You mean they’re holding the NBA finals and there’s no team called the Warriors or the Lakers? The next thing you’ll tell me is the U.S. beat Pakistan. In cricket.

Yes, I’m still paying attention to the NBA. It’s a way of life. The Celtics used to own the NBA. That was when they had a coach who smoked cigars, arrogantly it must be added, after all those victories. 

Boston has 17 NBA titles, and after Thursday night’s 107-99 rout of the incorrectly favored Dallas Mavericks in the opener of these finals most likely will make it 18.

The Lakers also have 17, which, when combined with the Celtics’ total perhaps makes the Warriors boast of seven in the heading of their promotional emails, a bit unnecessary. Then again Golden State has done more than anyone else in the last 10 years or so. 

That includes the current Celtics, of whom the “Pardon the Interruption” talk show co-host Tony Kornheiser a couple of days ago, referring to Boston’s supposed abundance of stars “If they could win, they’d be the Warriors.”

He meant the Warriors of 2015-22, the team that set a record for victories and spoiled the fans in Northern Cal. 

As we’re too aware, however, nothing stays the same. Teams keep searching for what they used to have, all the while understanding life has changed.

The Lakers, most notably are trying to reclaim their success, desperately again seeking a new coach. Wednesday ESPN said it was going to be J.J. Reddick. Thursday the would-be choice had been revised to Dan Hurley, who has led Connecticut to consecutive NCAA championships.

No question Hurley knows what he is doing, but as anyone understands there’s a difference between college, where the coach is the boss, and the pros, where the superstar calls the shots, which may be under the rim or beyond the 3-point arc.

The guy who makes the ultimate decisions for the Lakers is their icon — and arguably, the greatest. No matter what else, LeBron must be kept happy and healthy, in no particular order. Of course, LeBron is 39, and even in this new era of sports, that’s getting long in years.   

Steph Curry, around whom the Warriors are built is 36 and obviously showing the effects of his age and his length of service.  

Then maybe the Warriors or the Lakers will find a gem in the draft. But the way things usually go, the best end up being picked by the worst. Both the Warriors and Lakers are in the middle of mediocrity.

That doesn’t present the opportunity to choose players who can get you back to the NBA finals. that I comprehend. 

Just don’t ask how the US can defeat Pakistan in cricket.

Hollywood reminders of Lakers success

We’ll leave the reasons for the Warriors’ loss, or if you choose the Lakers’ victory — the missed shots, the throttling defense, all those basketball explanations — and for a moment concentrate on the mental aspects of the result and how difficult it will be for the Dubs partisans to live in a sporting world where once again the power and glory belongs to Southern California.

There were more than a few examples during the telecast of the game Friday night, the one that if it didn’t signify the end of what had been labeled the Warriors dynasty, certainly was a jolting reminder that change had occurred.

You know the final score of the deciding Game 6 of the 2023 NBA Western Conference semifinal, alas a rout, Lakers 122 Warriors 101, L.A. wire-to-wire.

At Crypto.com Arena, where we were informed, seats were going for $30,000 — even if the announcer meant the private boxes, that’s not cheap — and the crowd included Elon Musk, Bad Bunny, Kim Kardashian, and from out of the past the serious fan, Jack Nicholson.

Yeah, Hollywood, celebrities as far as you could see and probably more than you can stand. But because the Warriors for the first time in years were unable to do the job, that’s the way it’s going to be.

That’s also the way it was when Magic, Kareem, or Kobe were out there, and the Lakers owned the Warriors and everything else west of the Sierra. Such a refreshing — and rewarding — interlude when Steph and Klay splashed, and Draymond got in an opponent’s face and got a technical or two. Or three.

Nothing is forever. The reminders kept coming. Now they’re here and indelible.

Maybe we were too caught up with history to pay close attention. Didn’t the Sacramento Kings win the first two games of their playoff over the Warriors? Yes, the Dubs pulled out the first round because Steph Curry scored 50. He was amazing. He was great. However, even greatness ages.

The Warriors’ front office, notably general manager Bob Myers, knows the progression and drafted people such as Jordan Poole, who was touted as the next Steph Curry. It is to dream. And miscalculate.  

Darvin Ham of the Lakers is a rookie head coach, a last-minute appointee as it were, but he’s been an assistant long enough to have helped develop Giannis Antetokounmpo into an MVP with Milwaukee. And he — and his staff — figured out how to defend Curry, who with Klay Thompson and Poole lost in the wilderness, and that was enough to stop the Warriors.

When an organization has an aging championship team it is confronted with a difficult decision whether to rely on the athletes which have been so good for so long or slowly remodel, rebuild, adding pieces to the mix.

The Lakers began the season in a hole, losing, but then they reshuffled and made trades. Their core was the always reliable, and obviously remarkable LeBron James and the frequently unpredictable Anthony Davis which was an advantage against the Warriors. Friday, James had 30 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. 

“Our leader,” confirmed Ham.  

Davis had 17 points, 20 rebounds, and two assists. Some non-leader.

Curry, naturally was the high scorer for the Warriors, with 32. 

“He never lets you relax,” LeBron said.

The presumption is the Warriors’ front office, already over budget but needing to upgrade, won’t be relaxing or standing still. But what moves are possible, and if LeBron and Davis hang around, will it make a difference?

In the autumn of 2001, Warriors coach Steve Kerr, teammate of Michael Jordan on those super Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990s, pointed out the window doesn’t remain open very long.

After four titles in six years, the Warriors have to wonder if theirs has closed.

Lakers’ AD is OK; are the Warriors?

An elbow to the head. A wobbly walk to the locker room. A statement of reassurance.

Anthony Davis, the Lakers beast in the middle when he wants to be, is fine. Which is more than you can say for the Warriors.

So much in so short a time. Some critical changes. Except one thing hasn’t changed. Well, make that two things haven’t changed. 

The Warriors haven’t won a game of this best-of-seven NBA Western Conference semifinal at Los Angeles, where Game 6 will be played Friday night. And unless they can figure out a way to do so, they’ll be finished.

Done. The former champions. And please don’t let the door or the painful reality hit you in the back.

From the Warriors’ side of the discussion, there are words of optimism, as is expected. But why? LeBron James is LeBron James, who well understands what to do when needed. And then there’s Davis, AD, whose injuries and time on the bench out of uniform earned him the mocking epithet, “street clothes,” but this series has tailored him a new reputation.

The Warriors had a very good chance to win Game 4 at L.A., but in the end, they could not. That’s what counts in sport, the final result, could-haves (the Warriors were up by seven heading into the fourth quarter) and should-haves mean zilch.  

The 6-foot-10 Davis has meant everything to the Lakers, scoring inside and keeping the Warriors from doing the same. And certainly, rebounding like mad.

He got hit in one of those go-for-the-ball scrambles under the basket with 7:43 remaining (and LA trailing).

On the TNT national broadcast, there was laughter — same old AD, getting hurt. On Thursday, in the L.A. Times, there were words of near-panic. 

”This is what the Lakers feared,” wrote the columnist Bill Plaschke. “This is what Lakers fans dreaded. And this is what the Golden State Warriors needed.”

Not exactly. What the Warriors need most of all is a road victory which seems improbable the way the Lakers are rolling — unbeaten at home in the post-season including a play-in game that got them in the playoffs. The Dubs had the home-court edge but that disappeared after they dropped the opening game.

After that, it’s been a difficult and so far worthless climb.

To make matters worse, Wiggins, who has played well (as a former #1 overall draft pick should be playing), may miss Game 6. On the injury report Thursday evening he was listed as questionable because of a left costal cartilage fracture.  

Should the Warriors pull off a miracle (is that too strong?), there will be a seventh game at Chase Center in San Francisco. 

Otherwise, they’ll be idle for a long time, next season.

Draymond has answer on how to beat Lakers

That was a quick answer from the Warriors’ irrepressible Draymond Green on how to defeat the Lakers after having been throttled by L.A.  

“Play better,” said Draymond, avoiding the essay response.

Next question: Against a Lakers team that is not only bigger, stronger, and suddenly realizing its awesome potential, how?

Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals is Monday night, and all the Dubs and their fans can wish is that it in no way resembles Game 3 on Saturday night, a 127-97 mismatch.

Yes, only one game, and with adjustments (the magic word in the postseason) and the Warriors only trailing 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, the situation could very well flip. But that may depend as much on one player from the Lakers, the inconsistent Anthony Davis, as anyone on the Warriors.

And as a reminder, the Warriors, this season on the road have gyrated between bad and awful, an indication this isn’t the Golden State team of the recent past. 

The issue in the sport is being able to dictate the style and pace of play, something the Warriors accomplished in the second game when they ran, defended, and shot with wild abandon (whatever that may be). But you can’t run when you don’t have the ball, and the Lakers choose not to run even when they had it. 

For good reason. 

The track meet style the Warriors prefer becomes the deliberate basketball that the Lakers play so well with AD, who Friday night once more was the monster unleashed (25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks), LeBron James (23 points), and one-time Warrior D’Angelo Russell (21 points).

The Warriors complained that early in the third quarter that, with the Lakers marching hither and yon to the free throw line, “the game stopped,” which is exactly how the Lakers liked it. That wasn’t the officials’ fault, it was the Warriors’ fault. They’ve always had reach-in foul problems. And with larger, more deliberate Lakers in their way, the Dubs on Saturday night were trying to get physical. 

The Lakers had 37 free throws Friday night and made 28. The Warriors were 12 of 17. Stopped? They could have held a picnic in the interim. Or let the players take a nap.

What the Warriors took was a figurative punch to the gut. Questioned what it was like when the foul calls (and Lakers free throws) were growing and growing, Draymond Green, once again a man of few words, said only, “It’s frustrating.”

Draymond, of course, has a history of drawing technical fouls for the things he says or does so in this case if brevity is not necessarily the soul of wit, it is a brilliant option to avoid getting charged with a T. 

It’s become apparent the 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis is the (sometimes tortured, frequently criticized) soul of the Lakers. When he isn’t injured or indolent, AD is overwhelming on offense, defense, and the glass.

If nothing else, and there is plenty else, he takes the opponents' attention away from LeBron, who even at age 38 is acknowledged still to be the best player in the sport.

You could say the Lakers have the Warriors on the run, but after getting stopped and pummeled in Game 3 that’s where the stagnant Warriors would prefer to be.

Warriors-Lakers: California here they come

This is as good as it gets for the not-so-late great state of California. Who cares if ESPN is fixated on listing events at Eastern Daylight Time?

Let's catch the last train to the Coast where oranges and redwoods grow and where the former Minneapolis Lakers and Philadelphia Warriors relocated with enviable success. 

Who imagined a few months ago when the Lakers were losing and the Warriors couldn’t win on the road that now in the lusty month of May they would be playing each other here in the NBA Western Conference semifinals, a playoff round as enticing as it should be entertaining.

LeBron and Steph, AD and Looney — and Klay, Draymond, and Wigs. Yes, basketball is the ultimate team sport, but it’s the individuals who make the shots and the difference.

To reprise that so-very-accurate Michael Jordan response when told there is no “I” in team, ”Yeah, but there is in win.”

There’s also an old journalistic idea that nothing is as dead as yesterday’s news. OK, but even moving forward past Sunday’s news, the Dubs stunningly overwhelmed the Kings, 120-100 at Sacramento, and Steph Curry set a Game 7 record with 50 points. In this case, yesterday’s news is going to live a long time.  

What we re-learned from both the Warriors and Lakers, who beat the Memphis Grizzlies, is that reputations as winners are well deserved.

LeBron James of the Lakers has scored more points than anyone in NBA history. Steph Curry is arguably the greatest shooter in NBA history. Two offensive stars ​​— yet in the end the results may depend on defense and rebounding. Or lack of it, which seemingly was why the Kings, after taking the first two games, lost four of the last five. They couldn’t stop Curry.

LA vs SF, initials representing the two cities founded by Spanish explorers. A rivalry of geography. And of pride.

For years and decades, NBA basketball out west belonged to the Lakers, to Wilt Chamberlain (although he did come out from Philly with the Warriors), Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and certainly Magic Johnson. Sixteen NBA titles, one fewer than the Celtics, to three for the Warriors, including one in 1975.  

Until Steve Kerr became the head coach of the Warriors, Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and Draymond Green were on the roster. Then the Warriors added four more titles. It’s a quick turn-around for the Dubs, who must shift attention and style to face the Lakers, starting Tuesday night at Chase Center. 

“We’re excited to have the opportunity,” Kerr said about going against the Lakers. “I think the Lakers changed their team dramatically at the trade deadline. They made some brilliant moves and became an entirely different team.”

“Darvin (Lakers coach Darvin Ham) has done an incredible job guiding that team. They’re excellent defensively. They’ve got one of the all-time greats in LeBron. But a lot of talent across the roster. So it’s going to take a big effort to beat them, and we know how good they are.”

Just as the Lakers know how good the Warriors are.

LeBron stops the boos — and the Warriors

One game, two conclusions: There’s nothing wrong with LeBron James. There’s plenty wrong with the Golden State Warriors.

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, the fans stopped booing the home team just long enough to watch James score a season-high 56 points and the Lakers defeat the Warriors, 124-116.

For the Lakers, who Monday night play at San Antonio, the victory ended a four-game losing streak.

For the Warriors, who Monday night play at Denver, the defeat extended a losing streak to four games.

“Right now I don’t give a damn about the 56,” was James’ post-game statement. “I’m just glad we got a win.”

That’s something Warriors coach Steve Kerr understood, because he didn’t get one in a game the Dubs led in the fourth quarter, as if that matters.

Suddenly the Warriors are in third place overall in the NBA. They already were behind Phoenix. Now they’re also in back of Memphis.

“There’s more games coming, so we’ve got to do this ourselves,” said Kerr, emphasizing the obvious. “We’ve got to dig out of the mud, and nobody’s going to help us.”

A tale of two Californians: in southern Cal, the patrons are more demanding — thinking back to the days of Magic and Shaq and Kobe, of showtime and multiple titles.

In Northern Cal, we’re grateful for the seasons of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and, oh-so-briefly, Kevin Durant.

The name missing from the time of Warriors success is that of Draymond Green, who for years — well, it’s just a few weeks, but it seems like years — has been rehabbing, not playing.

His last game was in January. You wonder if his next game won’t be until June.

Just as LeBron showed us he still is LeBron, on Saturday night Steph showed us he’s still Steph, 30 points and some poignant analysis on the post-game show.

“We’re finding different ways to lose,” said Curry. “Self-inflicted wounds.”

You understand what he means, but truth tell, the Dubs are losing only one way. They’re not getting enough points, and the opponent is getting too many.

One reasons is that Klay Thompson, back once more after two seasons recovering from two different serious injuries, has struggled.

Just because you’re finally back on the floor doesn’t mean you’re immediately going to be back in the groove. “I think Klay is pressing,” said Chris Mullin, the former all-star who now does commentary on Warriors telecasts.

Well, of course. He is impatient to be the player he was previously, and Warriors fans are no less impatient. Still, these things can’t be rushed. 

Thompson was out recently with what the injury report listed as  a “general illness.” Whatever, it knocked him off his stride.

“I feel like the sickness affected his conditioning and his timing,” said Kerr.

Timing is such a critical element, not only within the game, the passing, the rebounding, the switching on defense, but also on the scheduling.

If the Warriors played the Lakers on another night, well, LeBron is great but who would imagine he would get all those points?

And, in a way, make a point to anyone who figured he had declined.

“When he has it going like that,” Lakers guard Russell Westbrook, said of James, “there’s nothing nobody on the other team can do about it. He forced his will and was able to direct the game on all levels.

“It was really big, especially in a game where we needed a win.”

The Lakers got their needed win. The Warriors did not. “Obviously we’re going to have to get healthy,” said Kerr. “We desperately need Draymond.”

They need something, no question.

Now Warriors face the L.A. team without celeb fans

So big an emotional swing in so short a time.

The prelude to the Warriors’ opener was all about the other team, understandable perhaps because the other team is Hollywood’s team, the Lakers.

Everyone was calling them the “new-look” Lakers.

As they used to say in the old movies, “Hello, sweetheart. Give me a rewrite.”

Or if you’re the Lakers, “Give me some baskets at crunch time.”

Only one game. But in the great scheme of California things, including rivalries and Bay Area paranoia, a very big game.

A game in the right direction. A game the Warriors won, 121-114. A game that allowed Warriors coach Steve Kerr to observe, “We could be a good team.”

More on that possibility will be available when the Warriors play their first home game of the 2021-22 season on Thursday night at Chase Center.

It’s against the other L.A. team, the one with less hype, no championships and without Jack Nicholson, Adele or other celebrity fans — the Clippers. 

Will the Lakers, Russell Westbrook joining LeBron James and Anthony Davis, develop into the great team that some have predicted? And will the Warriors surprise us pessimists? Indeed, one game is of little indication.

Yet the simple fact that the Dubs outscored the Lakers in the fourth quarter — remember those depressing days when Kobe or Magic or Shaq would own the closing minutes? — had to be uplifting.

After the Dodgers ousted the Giants in the playoffs (never mind what they’re doing against the Braves) and the Rams moved ahead of the 49ers in the standings, the Lakers were going to make it a SoCal sweep. NorCal was nowhere.

Then, even playing poorly, somehow the Warriors defeated the Lakers in Los Angeles.

That was without Klay Thompson, who we’re told, after two years of recovery and rehab from those injuries to his knee and Achilles tendon, will play in November.

The litany is that basketball is the ultimate team game. Yet, winning and losing depends on an individual, on LeBron for the Lakers or Steph Curry for the Warriors.

They so often get the big basket or rebound. Or steal.

Curry, however, was not at his best on Tuesday. “I played like trash tonight,” he told TNT. OK, but it was the kind of trash that produced Steph’s first triple double in five seasons, 21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

“He really only cares about the win,” said Kerr. “Steph always comes back with a good game.”

Said Draymond Green, still the rock on defense, about the win even with Curry’s off-night, "It's a huge lift. We relied on him so much, and we're still going to rely on him a lot.

“When he can have a night like he did tonight, not get it going, we still come out with a win, that's great. 

The Warriors struggled early because Kerr chose to go with his so-called small lineup, which proved disadvantageous against the taller Lakers (the 7-foot Davis, the 6-9 James), if not disastrous.

“We’re still learning each other,” said Kerr. “Do we want to go big and get the glass, or do we want to play small and spread the court? As the seasons goes, we’ll figure it out.”

What pleased Kerr was the decline in fouls from last season when the Warriors had the highest number in the NBA, many from reach-ins. “Our defense was fine,” said Kerr.

That was the reason the Warriors came back in the second half. Defense was what propelled the Dubs to three titles and five straight appearances in the NBA finals.

Those days are gone. The Warriors are working for a return.

Steph on LeBron’s winner: ‘Great players make great plays’

Maybe it was appropriate. Steph Curry, who so often makes the long shots, being able to take the long view.

He didn’t like the result, getting beat 103-100 by the Lakers in the play-in game Wednesday night — the way he so frequently has won — but he relished the competition.

This was what he remembered, the excitement of the postseason, which he and the Warriors had missed since that fateful NBA final of injuries and defeat two years ago.

So tough this game, so emotional — head coach Steve Kerr used the term “disappointing” — and yet still so reassuring.

A game that reminded him, that reminded us, of the thrill and tension when every basket and every turnover become critical.

Curry, the NBA scoring champion and presumptive third-time MVP, joined the Lakers’ LeBron James to help make the evening nothing short of a Hollywood premier, exactly what league execs could have dreamed.

You had the two biggest stars in the game, Curry, who scored 37, and LeBron James, who as brilliant players are apt to do, hitting the winning basket from maybe 30 feet — a Curry-type-shot — with 58 seconds remaining.

That sent the Lakers into the playoffs at Phoenix and sent the Warriors into another play-in game, against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at Chase Center.

But neither Curry nor Kerr was that interested in what was coming, They preferred to ruminate about what had taken place — how the Warriors, with the defense they developed over the weeks, built a 13-point lead in the first half and then under pressure from L.A.’s fine defense gave it up on turnovers and fouls.

“This is a bitter pill to swallow,” said Kerr. “This was our game, and we couldn’t get it done.”

They couldn’t even though the Warriors’ Draymond Green slowed Anthony Davis. Even though Andrew Wiggins shoved and battled LeBron.

But as Curry, who knows all about excellence — five trips to the NBA finals — said when asked about LeBron’s game-winner, “Great players make great plays.”

And make the opposing team hurt.

“He proved why he’s the best player in the world,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of James. 

LeBron was hit in the eye under the rim as he grabbed a rebound and made the decisive basket.

“After the finger in the eye, I was seeing three rims,” said James, sounding like an actor in a an old cowboy film, “and shot at the one in the middle. By grace I was able to knock it down.”

It wasn’t grace, it was talent..

According to ESPN statistics, that was the longest go-ahead shot in the final three minutes of his career.
Said Curry, “It’s a great shot. Broken play . . . thinking he was out of the play. They found him. He got his balance back in time and knocked it down.

“That was a tough one because you really don’t expect it to go in. But everything changed when it goes in.”

Kerr was both distressed and magnanimous. A few months back, when the Warriors had lost Klay Thompson with the torn Achilles and they were trying to build a team, he probably would have been satisfied with taking the Lakers to the final minute.

But with Wiggins playing like the No. 1 overall draft pick he was and with Juan Toscano-Anderson the surprise he has been, a loss, even to the defending NBA champs, was a downer.

“I’m very proud of the way the way we played,” Kerr said.

He ought to be. Proud and disappointed.

Elgin Baylor lifted basketball from the floor to the skies

They say his first name came from the brand of watch his mother wore when Elgin Baylor was born. Where his talent came from, only the gods would know.

If you never saw Elgin Baylor on a basketball court, well, he was LeBron James before LeBron James.

They say Baylor, who died Monday at 86, was the first superstar in Los Angeles. Maybe in basketball, although there were football players named Jon Arnett and Bob Waterfield who were very great.

Besides, in the fall of 1960, when Baylor arrived in L.A. along with the former Minneapolis Lakers, the team had a rookie named Jerry West, who not only became quite super but whose profile, dribbling, was adopted as the logo of the NBA.

Baylor changed basketball the way his successors, Michael Jordan and James, would later change it in their own way, with moves that few could make. He was 6-foot-5 and looked like a linebacker but played like a gazelle.

He lifted the game from the floor to the skies.

His style was unique. That term by the late Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, “yo-yo-ing the dribble,” that was a perfect description of the manner in which Baylor handled the basketball.

At times, as he thundered down the court, it almost seemed to be attached to a string.

He loved needling the media or giving nicknames. Elgin was the one who called West ”Zeke from Cabin Creek,” which if rhythmically pleasing was not accurate, since West was from another town in West Virginia.

The Soviet Union invaded Berlin in 1961, and Baylor went into the Army Reserves as a private first class. In the spring of ’62, the Lakers faced the Celtics in the finals. Baylor was allowed to play. 

Out of one uniform, the military’s, and into another, the Lakers’, Baylor scored a then-postseason record 62 points. The lead from the Associated Press started, “PFC Elgin Baylor, the Los Angeles Lakers’ one-man army…”

But the Lakers didn’t win the championship that year, or any year, until 1982, after Baylor had retired and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson were in the lineup.

In battle or in basketball, it’s not easy for one-man armies.

Baylor grew up in Washington, D.C. He crossed the country to stay and play briefly and successfully at Seattle U., and then College of Idaho. He wasn’t much of a student, but he was a hell of a basketball player.

The NBA wasn’t what it became. Television was minimal. So were salaries.

The Lakers, shifting west, played before crowds of about 5,000 some games at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Fans in Southern California were unfamiliar with the league. Jerry West lived in a modest home in Venice. Elgin Baylor was full of wisecracks but not himself.

I was with United Press International and would cover some Lakers practices where Baylor, looking for an easy mark, would bet me — a dime or a quarter, since sportswriters’ salaries were even more minimal than those of rookies — that he could make at least two of five shooting back over his head.

The game was well, a game, yet to become the towering international business of a half-century later. The Lakers finally captured the public’s imagination in April 1962 when they upended the St. Louis Hawks in the semis.

There was a digital crowd counter under the roof of the L.A. Sports Arena, so just as you knew how many Baylor and West had scored. you knew how many fans had seen them score.

Or for Elgin, seen him soar.

Baylor was voted into the NBA Hall of Fame. But not until a few years ago was a statue in his honor erected alongside Staples Center, now the Lakers’ home court.

A fantastic player. A fine human being. Hard to beat that combination. And it was hard to beat Elgin Baylor when he bet he could hit those half-court shots.

Yardstick game leaves Warriors with short end of stick

There was a time in the opening minutes when, even though already behind, Warriors coach Steve Kerr — your typical positive thinker — believed if they picked up the pace, tightened up the defense, the Dubs would very much be in the game.

A short while later, he realized what most of us already had realized. On this Sunday night, on the road at the Staples Center, he was wrong. The only thing they were in was the wringer.

If this was to be a yardstick game for the Warriors, one that would show where at the halfway mark of this NBA season they stood, well, they were left out in the yard, holding the short end of the stick.

The final score might have been somewhat respectable, the Lakers beating the Warriors a mere 117-91. But for most of the game, the differential was around 30 points. And once — yikes — the Warriors trailed by 35.

Yes, the Warriors somehow escaped with a two-point victory when the teams played a few weeks ago. But that was fantasy — the Lakers, then at full strength and rolling, looking around and, whomp, having their pockets picked.

This was the real world, the Lakers, defending champions, after a mini-streak of four straight defeats, without their No. 2 man, Anthony Davis. Of course, LeBron James is No. 1, in the sport, much less on the Lakers.

ESPN hyped this game as LeBron vs. Steph Curry, perhaps understanding the game wouldn’t be close. But surely it never contemplated the mismatch that was broadcast nationally.

At the start of the third quarter, announcer Dave Pasch told us the Warriors are known for their ability to come back. Oh well.

“It got away from us early,” said Kerr, all too honestly. “I didn’t think we had much penetration. They sort of took us out of everything we wanted to do.”

The Warriors had a three-game winning streak going, their longest of this season — oh for those glory days when the they won 28 in a row — and we were going to find out just where the team stood in to the Lakers, the Nuggets and the Trail Blazers.

We found out, and when they play at Portland on Wednesday night we’re liable to find out much more.

Golden State mostly has relied on the remarkable Curry and his ability to toss up those 3-pointers. But the man is only a few days from his 33rd birthday. He wears down.

After several games around 30, Steph was limited to 16 points Sunday night. It happens.

“Nothing worked,” said Kerr.

The Warriors were overwhelmed on the boards, 60 rebounds to 35. The Dubs watched along with the national audience, only they were up close. If you don’t go to the basket, you’ll rarely get a missed shot.

To make matters worse, Draymond Green, who’d had a triple-double in the Warriors’ most recent win, incurred a sprained ankle in the second quarter Sunday and left the game. But as Kerr indicated, Green probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference in this one.

For those who care about such things, not only did the Lakers thump the Warriors but the Dodgers beat the Athletics and the Angels beat the Giants, giving southern California teams a sweep. But the baseball games were exhibitions, Cactus League. The Warriors’ loss was genuine.

“Draymond said it a little bit at halftime,” Curry observed. “We have to remember even when we’re playing well — we won three in a row — teams still want to beat us, and beat us bad.

“They still have a lot of memories from the last five, six years.”

What many of us will remember was what happened Sunday night against the Lakers. Oooh.

To Curry, ‘kind of like a blast from the past’

By Art Spander

Steph Curry hit this one. Not with a jumper, with a comment, about a victory that that was as emotional as it was unlikely. “It was,” said Curry, “kind of like a blast from the past.”

From the distant past, from the Warriors’ championship seasons, five, six years ago, when Golden State was Golden and no deficit seemed impossible to overcome — which Monday night against the Lakers a deficit seemed to be but wasn’t.

You know the NBA. There’s almost no time to dwell on what happened. Virtually every night there’s another game, in these Covid-19 days of a compressed schedule, frequent back-to-backs, sometimes on consecutive days.

The next game for the Warriors is Wednesday night against the Spurs at Chase Center. Then Thursday, there’s another one, against the Knicks at Chase. No time to reflect on a game that may be the most significant for a team trying to find its identity.

The Warriors trailed the Lakers, the best team in basketball, by 19 points in the third quarter, then trailed them by 14 in fourth. And the Warriors somehow won, 115-113, when Curry, who had an OK night, made a big basket at the end and LeBron James, who seemed distracted, missed one.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr was both disappointed with that start and delighted with that finish.

“We had a couple of good days of practice,” said Kerr, doing a remote interview from Staples Center in L.A. “Then we came out and stunk it up. It was way off, at least for the first half. But I liked our fight. We came back in the second half and finished it off.

“Our guys were flying around. We have to scrap. I don’t think we scrapped enough. If we play defense and compete like that, we have a chance to beat anybody.”

Well, they did beat the Lakers, who are the current champions and who had lost only three times previously this season. The game was the third of a TBS triple-header, and as Kerr pointed out it gave the nation a chance to see Kelly Oubre, who replaced Andrew Wiggins as the catalyst of the second unit, the guys off the bench.

“Down the stretch, in order to make that comeback, it started with our second unit,” said Kerr. “We were able to come back and continue building.”

To the public the Warriors are Curry, and he is the star. But Curry and Kerr — and Draymond Green, who had his best overall game so far — will remind us the key is defense. When the Warriors make stops, they subsequently make runs, which was the case Monday.

Curry gets open, free of the double teams, the Warriors get baskets. Steph was only 1-for-6 in a stagnant opening period and was just 8-for-22 for the game, but did get 26 points.

“I didn’t shoot well,” said Curry, “but I was aggressive. So were the others. When we’re aggressive, we’re able to make plays.” 

Oubre had 23, and Eric Paschall 19.

Rookie James Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in the November draft, struggled, but Green told him, and us, that there will be days like that even for veterans and particularly for the new kids.

Green went to the basket a couple of times as well as going to teammates with passes, and was a major part of the equation.

“I think Draymond is still finding his way,” Kerr said of a man not long ago chosen Defensive Player of the Year. “He was off for nine months. His energy and intensity is what we need to win games.”

Once the defense was effective, Green and Curry worked together on offense, as we remember.

“This was a measuring stick for us,” said Curry. “We have to prove this is who we can be.” 

Which they did in the second half.

January 19, 2021 /Art Spander

Lakers, Warriors

articles, basketball

The great Jerry West reflects on the great Kobe Bryant

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — This was one of the greatest, the Logo, the man whose silhouette is the emblem of the NBA, Jerry West, who said his own farewell so many 40 years ago, talking so glowingly, acting the fan as much as the expert, reflecting, praising another about to enter retirement, Kobe Bryant.

Those of us of a certain age inevitably link past with present, perhaps too much because memories often outshine reality. West and I broke in together, the fall of 1960, in far different professions but very close connections, he a rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers, I a rookie with the wire service United Press International.

He wasn’t yet “Mr. Clutch,” but he already was Mr. Reliable, and from press row, on the floor in those days, his skills were unavoidable.

It was fascinating Thursday night to hear West, now an executive with the Warriors, discuss the brilliance of Bryant, whom West, then the Lakers' general manager, maneuvered to make L.A.’s surprising No. 1 pick in the 1996 NBA draft.

This was Kobe’s night, his final appearance at Oracle Arena as a player, and despite a sore right Achilles tendon, Bryant did start — after pointing out, “I think the fans deserve that effort from me” — and scored just eight points in the Lakers' 116-98 loss to the Warriors.

This was also West’s night. He was Kobe years before Kobe, and what Jerry prized in himself — a love of the game, unshackled intensity, greatness under the spotlight — he prized even more in Bryant.

West and Bryant are one and the same, 40 years apart, driven, almost obsessed and, of course, unbelievably talented. You couldn’t stop West as he drove toward the basket or tossed up a jumper. You couldn’t stop Bryant. How many times did Kobe hit that winning basket when everyone in the place knew he would take the shot?

“We got what I thought was the No. 1 player in the draft, Kobe Bryant,” said West, “17 years old, and it wasn’t in vogue to draft 17-year-old kids yet ... I think the one thing that was very evident to me right away was that, from my perspective, at 17 years old, I’d never seen anyone with the skill level that he had.”

So the Lakers traded their center Vlade Divac to Charlotte for the 13^th pick in that ’96 draft, and got someone West said “was a showman but he was also a winner, and he has left a legacy throughout the world ... One of the things I admired most about him from a distance, because I wasn’t there any longer, was his ability to play when other players would simply not play. He would play through things that other players just wouldn’t.”

These farewell tours have their purpose, even if the man or woman being honored is not what he or she used to be. Some 10-year-old is presented an opportunity that would never come again. Even if Kobe has a one-for-14 night, as he did at Oracle in November, the kid saw him.

If a 37-year-old Kobe Bryant, a 39-year-old Peyton Manning or a 40-year-old Tiger Woods are not what they used to be, they’re still trying, still living the dream, still fighting against what the future holds. West, 77, understands. After a sporting career, life can be an endless search for stability.

“I told Kobe tonight — I had a little time to spend with him — when I left the game, I could have played more,” said West. “I could have played at a very high level, too. I could not play at the level everyone wanted me to play. And I was not willing to compromise what I felt was a standard I had established in this league. The thing that people don’t realize is that players who play the game at a very high level put an awful lot of pressure and stress on themselves every day to come out and try to make the team win.

“ ... I’m not comparing myself to Kobe at all. I’m just telling you, if we lost I always felt it was always my fault, my fault because I felt could have done more. It took me a year, frankly, to realize what an enormous burden had been lifted off my shoulders.”

Bryant’s shoulders still look strong as he finishes his NBA record — and last — 20th season. His legs do not, however, and that’s why he’s struggled on the floor. West reminds us that a different sort of struggle is ahead of Bryant, replacing basketball with another challenge, difficult for any athlete, particularly one as famed as Bryant.

“This has been a remarkable player,” said West of Bryant, “a player for the decades, simply one of the greatest that ever played the game.”

As judged by one of the greatest who ever played the game.

Warriors got what they wanted: 16th straight win

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — They wanted it, and they said as much. No false modesty, no “it doesn’t matter that much,” which in truth it doesn’t — but at the same time it does.

The record, 16 straight wins to open an NBA season, is just another notch on the gunslinger’s belt, another verification that the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are a very special team.

But we knew that already, didn’t we? They won the championship last season, and that’s the ultimate goal in any sport, and now they’re focused on trying to do it again. But the playoffs are months away, so what they’ve accomplished in the first 16 games of the 82 on the regular schedule is a guidepost to their greatness.

And the way it happened Tuesday night at the Oracle, with a 111-77 victory, similarly was a verification of the decline and fall of their once superior, once proud opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers, who along with the Celtics were one of two great franchises of the '70s, '80s, '90s and early 2000s. The Lakers of West and Baylor, Magic and Kareem, Shaq and Kobe. The Lakers, who once, during the 1971-72 season, set an even more impressive record, winning 33 in a row. The Lakers, who forever and a day owned the Warriors.

But it’s all different now. The Warriors have taken control of pro basketball, so much so that ESPN and TNT continue to revise their schedules to show the Warriors, to show Steph Curry, who scored a game-high 24 points, to show Draymond Green, who had 12 points the first quarter and 18 overall.

The Warriors, once the punching bag (they won only 17 games in 2000-01), once the laughing stock, now are the class of the league, must-see basketball, the “New Showtime,” while the Lakers, the old Showtime, have gone the other way, almost to oblivion.

They are 2-12, which would be awful even if it weren’t matched up against 16-0. And inevitably, sadly, Kobe Bryant, 39 and losing the battle both to the men guarding him and Father Time, is only a shadow of what we knew. In this historic game for the W’s, Kobe also made history of a sort, going 1-for-14 from the floor (it was a 3-pointer) and ending with just four points.

But this is supposed to be about the Warriors, the wonderful, enthralling Warriors, who at game’s end shared their delight with a sellout crowd (listed at 19,596, but there might have been dozens more) by staying on court while the fans, cheering, stayed in the stands. The guys on the floor loved it. The spectators in the building loved it.

“It feels great,” said Luke Walton of the record and the reaction. As you know he’s listed as the interim coach, temporarily replacing Steve Kerr, who is recovering from spinal leaks incurred during off-season back surgery. Walton — the son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton — insists this is Kerr’s team, and that’s probably accurate, but Walton is pulling the strings in this record run.

For certain, Walton — the son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton — has never lost a game while a head coach, whatever the designation. For sure he’s never backed away from the idea that the record is inconsequential. It’s like a 30-foot shot. If you’re going to go after it, then get it.

“You’ve got to celebrate it,” he said of the Warriors overtaking the 15-0 starts of the ’48-49 Washington Capitals and the ’93-94 Houston Rockets. “You’re obviously a piece of history now, and we want to continue the streak. We feel like we can. But you can’t be content because it’s only November.”

Whatever the month, 16 wins without a defeat is mark of distinction, a mark that others envy and of course will try to halt, which, sooner or later, someone will. But it’s like the “A” you learn in the classroom. It always will be there no matter what occurs in the future.

Before the game, Walton said that Kerr, who sits in the locker room as a matter of medical precaution and to show Walton is the boss courtside, reminds him of four core values: enjoyment, compassion, mindfulness and competition. In other words, have a great time and win. Which is what the Warriors have done since the season started.

“We went by and congratulated each player,” said Walton of what took place in the locker room immediately after the close of the game. “What they did, they now are in the history books. This turned into a mini-goal a couple of games ago, and we accomplished it and now we have to make sure we don’t drop off.

“I don’t think our guys play with any pressure, to be honest. I think challenges like this, in this streak, bring out the best in them. We saw that tonight with the way the guys played.”

Beautifully, brilliantly and successfully. What else is there?

Klay Thompson beats team he cheered as a kid, the Lakers

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — He grew up a Lakers fan, but of course. His father was playing for them when Klay Thompson was born, then became one of their radio commentators.

Still is, but now the son plays for the Warriors and Mychal Thompson had the pain and pleasure Wednesday night of watching Klay at his best — and the Lakers at their worst.

Mixed emotions, like the old joke about your mother-in-law driving your Ferrari over a cliff? Hardly. “He was proud,” said Klay, after Mychal came and went from the Warriors' locker room.

So was Klay. He was 15 of 19 from the floor, in the first game of his third NBA season and the first game of the Warriors’ 2013-14 season, and scored a career-high 38 points in a 125-94 rout.

“It’s always a pleasure playing against the Lakers,” said Klay. “I was going to their games since I was a kid.”

For the Lakers, with Kobe Bryant still recovering from that Achilles injury and unable to suit up, with people named Nick Young and Shawne Williams in the lineup, there was no pleasure facing Klay Thompson or the Warriors.

The Lakers were so bad, the sellout crowd of 19,596 at the Oracle didn’t even once chant “Beat L.A.,” until L.A. was beaten, down 88-58 early in the third period.

Just one game. Remember that. The Warriors won’t always be holding the other team under 30 percent shooting, which was where the Lakers were just before the half, although by game’s end L.A. had climbed to 39.3 percent.

Won’t always shoot 59 percent, as they did in the third quarter. “We were clicking,” said Mark Jackson, the Warriors' coach, and he meant it not as a boast but as a simple fact.

NBA basketball can be irritatingly erratic. Tuesday night, in their home opener against the Clippers, the team that is supposed to move ahead of the Lakers in the southern California pecking order as well as the standings, the Lakers scored 41 points in the fourth quarter. Wednesday night, the Lakers scored 40 points in the first half.

“We have a lot of learning to do,” said Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni. “We probably let our emotions get too high (after Tuesday). And give Golden State credit. Klay Thompson just lit us up, and David Lee (8 of 13 for 24 points) did the damage. He hit some shots that were unbelievable.”

The Warriors may get a better sense of their skill level and future when Thursday night, in what amounts to a round-robin among the three teams, they play the Clippers in Los Angeles. Maybe the Clips win, and then Golden State and both L.A. franchises are all 1-1.

“We have to get better,” said D’Antoni. “That’s all it is.”

But no matter how much better, in this era when the Lakers are tumbling from the heights, they won’t be as good as the Warriors. Or, despite Tuesday night’s result, the Clippers.

Thompson was a starter and not the sixth man because 6-8 Harrison Barnes has a foot injury. Although he’s only an inch shorter than Barnes, Thompson, the Warriors' first-round pick from Washington State two seasons ago, is a different sort, a bomber who can go inside when needed.

“There’s no secret that Klay Thompson is a phenomenal shooter,” emphasized Jackson. “I don’t think enough credit is given that he’s a heck of a basketball player. Not only did he shoot the lights out, but he defended — first line of defense on (guard) Steve Blake.

“Our overall defense was awfully impressive. Obviously that is a team that is coming off a big win (Tuesday) night, but we did the job we are supposed to do.”

This was the first game, certainly, for the Warriors' huge off-season acquisition, Andre Iguodala. Although Iguodala had only seven points and four rebounds, Jackson, the coach, said those numbers are to be ignored.

“When you look at (Iguodala) as a basketball player," he said, "you appreciate everything he does on the floor from rebounding to playmaking. He’s a guy with a high (basketball) IQ, and he impacts the game without scoring . . .  You look at Andrew Bogut’s game the same way.”

The 7-foot Bogut, his ankle finally healed after surgeries and therapy, played 18 minutes and scored only two points. But he jammed up the middle and had eight rebounds.

D’Antoni was enthralled with Thompson’s performance.

“There’s not much more you can tell (the Lakers) than to get on him," he said. "That’s one of the best shooters I’ve seen in a long time. The guy’s good.”

And the guy knows he’s good.

“That’s what we live for,” said Thompson of his big night. “It’s crazy. I never imagined I’d have 38 points in three quarters, but you surprise yourself sometimes.  After my third three, I was locked in. I knew. Actually I knew in pregame. I was hitting everything.”

RealClearSports: Nobody Equals Kobe in L.A.

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LOS ANGELES -- Perspective is required in judging sports in Southern California, a place where the Angels play in Anaheim but call it Los Angeles, the Dodgers have gone from greatness to embarrassment and for nearly two decades the NFL has been an absentee.

The chaos, organized as it may have been, leaves the Los Angeles Lakers as the only pro team north of San Diego which really matters and its main man, one Kobe Bryant, as keeper of the kingdom, not to mention current leading scorer in the NBA.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: Cheers, Jeers - and Baskets - Follow Kobe

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The people who weren't cheering him were booing him. It was a game in the arena of the Golden State Warriors, but for Kobe Bryant, it could have been in L.A.'s Staples Center.

"Yeah,'' Bryant said, "when we're up, it does feel like a home game."

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Lakers bring electricity to town

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The long ago Pacific Coast League baseball team was called the Hollywood Stars, a name both pretentious and truthful in Southern Cal. Down there, if you’re not signing autographs, you’re asking for them. It’s an L.A. way of life.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Lakers on the Freeway to Success

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Ray Allen's jumper must have been stopped at security. He traveled from L.A. to Boston, but his shot wasn't allowed to board. Or knowing the airlines, maybe it was shipped to the Bahamas by mistake, with those suitcases which were supposed to go to Baltimore.

Is there a Bureau of Missing Baskets?

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Celtics: A History of Agony for Lakers

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They came from Minneapolis 50 years ago -- you think a team in southern California ever would be named "Lakers?'' -- and nobody seemed to care.

The big games played in L.A. in those days were not under a roof. As the Rivieras sang, people were out there having fun in the warm California sun. Not indoors.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

RealClearSports: Lakers-Suns: As Good As It Gets

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

Remember the film from a few years back, “As Good as it Gets’’? Jack Nicholson was in that one. Nicholson, who as always, was courtside Thursday night when the Lakers and Suns played a game that was, yes, as good as it gets.

Maybe it wasn’t for Suns fans. Not when they look at the scoreboard. But if they are able to see the big picture, if they judge a sporting event for what it can offer in excitement and drama and irony, even they grudgingly might concede.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010