Posts Tagged ‘Magic Johnson’

< Older Entries
Newer Entries >

Riley’s Thread Ties Streak Record Chase

March 27, 2013  ·  9:57AM

If the Heat finally run their win streak to 34, break the record of the legendary 1971-72 Lakers and plant their flag in the pages of history, it will likely be the result of something spectacular done by LeBron James. Or heroic by Dwyane Wade. Or timely by Chris Bosh. Or perhaps out-of-this-world unexpected by the likes of Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers.

But making it all happen will have been Pat Riley, the link to past and present. As much as anyone in the game over the past four-plus decades, he’s the thread you cannot pull without some part of the NBA story unraveling — from the Showtime Lakers to the Slow Time Knicks to the South Beach Shuffle.

This steamrolling monster is his creation, a plan so bold and audacious that nobody really thought he could pull it off, and it all grew out of an intense drive that is belied by the image of slicked-back hair and designer suits.

The truth is, he’s always been far more Arm & Hammer than Armani, the Schenectady, N.Y., street tough who absorbed the work ethic of a father who toiled for 22 years in baseball’s minor leagues.

On that historic Lakers team with Hall of Famers Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich, Riley was a member of the supporting cast, but no less vital to the cause.

“He’s tenacious,” West said recently in a conference call with reporters. “I’d say to him in practice, ‘Go beat the hell out of Goodrich, I’m tired.’ ”

He’d been a high school star and his Linton team took down mighty Lew Alcindor and Power Memorial in 1961. He starred for Adolph Rupp at Kentucky when the Wildcats lost to the first all-black lineup from Texas Western in 1966 and was the No. 7 overall pick in the 1967 NBA draft by the expansion San Diego Rockets.

But by the time he was part of that famous Lakers roster, Riley was like a circus mouse trying to avoid getting trampled by the elephants. He used his wits to survive, sheer hustle to make his presence felt and overall relentlessness to carve out a nine-year NBA career.

“He definitely wanted to play more,” West said. “But it was a special group of guys and, like all of us, he understood that.”

Sure, he would never have won those four championships as a coach in L.A. without stars named Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. He wouldn’t have headlined on Broadway without a marquee star in Patrick Ewing. He wouldn’t be sitting in the middle of this 21st century media-frenzied hullaballoo today without the overpowering phenomenon that is now LeBron. Yet his own past has taught him the value of the cast of formidable role players he has brought to Miami in Battier and Ray Allen, Chris Andersen and Norris Cole.

Miami draws attention for its glamor — James taking the express elevator to the top floor to hammer home the dunk in Orlando or flushing and then scowling at Jason Terry in Boston — but the Heat have become the only team to seriously threaten the 33-game win streak because of a defense that is ferocious, hungry and unforgiving, like their architect.

For all that he has done on the many sidelines and the various front offices, maybe nothing defines him like the 1985 NBA Finals, when the Celtics blasted his Lakers 148-114 in Game 1 in what became known as the Memorial Day Massacre.

Before his team took the floor for Game 2 at the old Boston Garden, Riley repeated words that had once been spoken by his father:

“The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back … Some place, sometime, you are going to have to plant your feet, stand firm, and make a point about who you are and what you believe in. When that time comes, you simply have to do it.”

The Lakers won Game 2 and eventually the series, defeating the Celtics for the first time ever in the postseason to claim one of their most significant championships.

At 68, that drive and resolve are the rhythms that beat at his core, the occasional awkward dance steps on YouTube jammin’ to Bob Marley notwithstanding.

So when James and Bosh were both heading toward free agency three years ago and most NBA teams were scrambling for a way to get their hands on one of them, Riley’s plan was the bigger, bolder and bodacious one. An old friend who’d stopped by for a visit in Miami during that time recalls stepping into a darkened office where Riley sat, half-lit by the beam of a single desk lamp as wisps of smoke from a cigarette rose past his face.

“He reminded me of Col. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now,” said the friend. “Who knew what was going on inside that head?”

Now we know as we watch his awesome creation keep marching on.

“I’m happy for my friend, Pat Riley,” said West, “who was able to do it as a player and is able to replicate it as an executive.”

The thread through history with ties that bind.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (11) /

Heat Streaking To A Place Of Their Own

March 19, 2013  ·  2:39PM




We’re past the point now where the Heat can slip on their noise-canceling headphones and pretend the only beats they hear have been downloaded according to personal taste.

After 105-103 in Boston on Monday night, the drums are pounding louder than the “1812 Overture” all over the basketball world.

The Heat’s 23rd consecutive victory pushed them past the anomaly that was the 2008 Rockets and at very least tiptoes them across the threshold and inches them into the throne room with royalty.

Wilt, West and Goodrich. LeBron, Wade and Bosh. That’s a Hall of Fame red carpet that’s rolled out between them.

Make no mistake. It is all no more than a hollowed-out log if they aren’t standing under a shower of confetti and holding up the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June. Because that’s why you play the game. It is fine for the contrarian Jeff Van Gundy and stat geek Daryl Morey to point out that these serpentine win streaks that stretch from one month into the next are almost as rare as unicorns and therefore technically more difficult to achieve than championships.

But let me know the next time somebody hangs a win streak banner from the rafters or hands out rings for consecutive regular-season wins.

As Magic Johnson said: “I’ll take the diamonds.”

Heat upcoming schedule
Day Date Loc. Opponent Time (ET) TV
Wed. 3/20 @ Cleveland 7 p.m. League Pass
Fri. 3/22 vs. Detroit 7:30 p.m. League Pass
Sun. 3/24 vs. Charlotte 6 p.m. League Pass
Mon. 3/25 @ Orlando 7 p.m. League Pass
Wed. 3/27 @ Chicago 8 p.m. ESPN
Fri. 3/29 @ New Orleans 8 p.m. League Pass
Sun. 3/31 @ San Antonio 7 p.m. NBA TV

Still, there is no denying that what is happening here is special. Even the usual facade of the ‘”We’re-above-it-all” Heat is slipping to reveal the emotion that’s building like the lava dome under a volcano.

A week ago, those in the Miami locker room still insisted that nobody was thinking about a double-digit win streak or rushing to flip ahead several pages in the record book. But a look at the expressions and the emotions that showed on the Heat faces in the fourth quarter at the TD Garden on Monday night showed just how much has changed. They were down 13 with eight minutes to play. Rather than appear defeated, the Heat were defiant.

It is prudent to note that they are just over 2/3 of the way from the record of 33 held by the 1971-72 Lakers. If the Heat were an individual player chasing Wilt’s 100-point game, they would have 69. Impressive, but still a long way off. Yet stepping over the flotsam of the Houston team that couldn’t even win a first-round playoff series in 2008 clears a path toward their own unique place in the game.

“It means a lot,” James said. “I am a historian of the game. I know the history of the game. I know almost all the teams that have come through the ranks. To be sitting in second place right now, with so much that this game has given to our fans and everything, for us to be there, doing it the way we want to do it, it means a lot.”

Back in the summer of 2010, in the aftermath of “The Decision,” James was ridiculed for ticking off the number of championships that the Heat could win — “not one … not two … not three … not four … not five … not six … not seven …”

But now that they’ve got the first title, and it seems reasonable to think there’s another in the pipeline, this could be their once-in-a-slam-dunking-lifetime opportunity to put an indelible stamp and stake a place in the NBA’s pantheon.

While Michael Jordan’s Bulls won six championships, it is the 1996 team that set a regular season record of 72-10 that stands above them all. The 1967 Sixers, led by Chamberlain, won a then-record 68 regular-season games and made their mark by ending the eight-year reign of Bill Russell’s Celtics. The 1983 Sixers vaulted from an overpowering 68-14 regular season to the pinnacle behind Moses Malone’s “Fo’, fo’, fo’ “ proclamation that they nearly fulfilled by running through the playoffs with a 12-1 record. And, of course, the Lakers ran off their 33-0 streak early in the 1971-72 season, won a then-record 69 games and made their claim as the all-time best team by closing the deal on the championship.

A singular achievement. That’s where the Heat are now, fully engaged and fully aware that this is now the stuff of legacy. It is what James and Wade and Bosh came together to do.

“We’re aware, and it’s a special opportunity that we have with this group,” said coach Erik Spoelstra. “And you don’t want to take it for granted. You want to treat every day as a special opportunity to be with this group, to share these moments together, but more importantly to take a step closer to going after our goal. And every day that we improve puts us in a better position in a quest where nothing is guaranteed for anybody.”

It is almost a living, breathing creature inside the locker room, one they’ve fed and fueled. It forces the Heat to look at themselves differently.

The beat goes on, only now they’re driving it.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (71) /

Did OKC Loss Prove Lakers Have A Shot … Or That They Are Simply Shot?

March 6, 2013  ·  2:41AM

.

OKLAHOMA CITY – It was a glass half-full, glass half-empty kind of night for the Los Angeles Lakers against the reigning West champs.

In one sense, everything that could go wrong Tuesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder did. Kobe Bryant banged a nerve in his right elbow in the opening minutes, briefly had to leave the game and played through pain all night. Moments later Dwight Howard signaled for a timeout as the torn labrum in his ailing right shoulder seemed to flare. That issue and foul trouble made him a non-factor on either end of the floor, finishing with as many points (six) as fouls and as many field goals (one) as OKC’s six-minute man Hasheem Thabeet.

Yet despite a disaster of a 71-55 first half that sent Magic Johnson panic tweeting about deficient defense, a Steve Nash 3-pointer with 6:14 to go in the game made it OKC 110, L.A. 105, and a bit of apprehension gripped Loud City where the Thunder almost never lose.

The Lakers couldn’t buy a bucket the rest of the way; in fact, they didn’t score again and a game that felt like a Thunder rout throughout but wasn’t, ended up one anyway, 122-105. 

“Kobe didn’t look hurt to me. We’re not going to feel sorry for them,” Kevin Durant said. “If they’re out there playing then they can play. Kobe looked fine. Dwight [Howard] looked fine. We know they’re a resilient team, they’ve been fighting hard all year. They made some shots in that second half. They were making 3s, hitting contested 2s.”

If — and it remains a big if — the Lakers make the playoffs, they very likely could face this incredibly athletic and talented Thunder cast in the first round. If you’re buying half-full after this one then you believe that the Lakers are improving, that with a little more time, with a more engaged Howard (six points, six fouls, 16 rebounds in 37 minutes), with the likely return of Pau Gasol, they can at least muster up a scare.

If you’ve accepted that the 30-31 Lakers’ glass is half-empty with 21 games left, which in practical terms means their playoff tank is virtually bone dry, the view is that Kobe’s old-and-slow crew simply isn’t in the same class as the young Thunder with their dynamic, practically unguardable duo of Durant and Russell Westbrook, who was Wednesday’s leading scorer with 37 points on 15-for-29 shooting, plus 10 rebounds and five assists.

So which is it, half-full and rising or half-empty and leaking? Kobe just might have provided the answer when asked if the Lakers have the depth to make a seven-game series competitive with the Thunder, who got 63 points from Durant and Westbrook, and 39 more from its bench despite a slumping Kevin Martin.

“We do, but we don’t have the athleticism that they do, so if we allow them to play to their strengths and use their athleticism we’re going to be in trouble,” said Kobe, who finished with 30 points and a bum elbow. “They’re ready to get up and down and use their speed to get to the rim and we have to be able to alter that. If we can stay in front of the ball and be solid defensively, we give ourselves a much better chance.”

If …

The fact is the Lakers aren’t built to stay in front of the Thunder. Westbrook, 24, can’t be guarded by the 39-year-old Nash, and if Kobe’s on Westbrook then he can’t be on Durant, who is too much for Metta World Peace. Even speedy second-year guard Reggie Jackson had his way in the paint, juking for two key drives in the fourth quarter. The Lakers’ perimeter defense — and transition defense — failed miserably and Howard either wasn’t in position to guard the paint or was hung out to dry.

The numbers are jarring in the categories that include being able to “stay in front of the ball and be solid defensively.”

OKC outscored L.A. 52-22 in the paint and 22-6 on fast-break points. The Lakers committed 16 turnovers that the Thunder turned into 22 points. Meanwhile, in an anomaly, OKC tied an NBA record with just two turnovers. That won’t happen again, but unless the Lakers get a grip on their own turnovers — which they haven’t all season, ranking 27th in the league — it simply won’t matter.

No team other than the Miami Heat cashes turnovers into points more quickly than the Thunder.

But for those who insist on the Lakers’ glass still being half-full:

“I still think our team is capable,” said Nash, who corrected a 1-for-7 first half from the floor to score 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting. “I don’t think we had a good performance tonight by any means and we still had our chances to cut the lead to two or three a couple times. This is a process for our team. By no means are we a finished product or even in a comfortable place. We’re just trying to find ourselves still.”

They’ll find themselves in New Orleans Wednesday night, desperate again to get a win.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (44) /

#Vino Is Out Of The Barrel, Lakers At .500

March 4, 2013  ·  1:40AM

.

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Maybe you weren’t listening when Kobe Bryant vowed that the Los Angeles Lakers would not only make the playoffs, but make some noise when they get there.

Bryant was in full Black Mamba mode Sunday night at Staples Center, carving up and then finishing off the Atlanta Hawks late with big play after big play to help the Lakers reach  the .500 mark (30-30), the first time they’ve been there since  Dec. 28, in a 99-98 win.

Kobe scored 11 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter, which also included this not-so-subtle reminder to Hawks forward Josh Smith that he’s still got a few hops left (hey, Magic Johnson, forget about LeBron James. Why not throw that $1 million offer at this Kobe fella for the 2014 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest?):

.

With four lead changes in the final minute of the final game of a wild Sunday of action, the NBA kicked off its own version of March Madness. The playoff chase is in full swing in both the Eastern and Western Conferences as teams from the top and bottom of the standings continue jockeying for position.

The Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers all scored big wins on the day before Bryant and the Lakers held off the Hawks, they led by 16 early, in the nightcap.

And truth be told, no team will be under more pressure over the next few weeks than the Lakers, who play 10 of their next 14 games on the road (starting with Tuesday night’s tilt in Oklahoma City on TNT).

But Kobe, who high-fived Hollywood star Jeremy Piven after that retro dunk over Smith, remains the most confident man in the room.

“I have plenty left but you guys are free to criticize and say I don’t,” he told reporters after the game. “Go right ahead.”

He said his mission was simple. “I just wanted to attack. Take the game right to them. Be aggressive, be physical.”

The Hawks tried to guard with Smith and other bigs and it backfired when it mattered most. ”They switched with the bigs and when they stay home with the shooters,” Kobe said, “it’s my job to cook ‘em”

Did he ever. He went into his vault in the fourth quarter, particularly down the stretch, going right at Smith, Al Horford and anyone else in his path for the game-winning plays.

“That’s pretty incredible,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I don’t know where he’s getting his young legs from. But the last three or four possessions he just went to the rim and made some incredible shots. The last three or four minutes was all him.”

Smith probably has no idea where Kobe’s lift came from either. But he’ll be forced to relive being on the wrong end of that dunk for a while, as it will no doubt be added to Bryant’s season and career highlight reel.

“He’s been doing it for a long time, so you have to respect what he brings to the table,” Smith told reporters after the game. “He’s an assassin. He wants that moment. But from a defensive standpoint, I love taking a challenge like that and try to step up and try to make it tough for him. It was kind of like a tug-of-war match. We were going back and forth, and they made one more play than we did to win the game. I live for moments like this.”

The best line of the night, however, came from Kobe himself. And it had to do with his new nickname (“Vino” … which is Italian for wine) that connects to his roots and his game, which is seemingly getting better with age.

“I was in my coffin a few years ago … Vino is out of the barrel.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (98) /

Magic’s $1 Million Dunk Offer For LeBron

March 1, 2013  ·  10:06PM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Finally, someone put their money where there mouth was instead of just whining about LeBron James making an appearance in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.

Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst and Magic Johnson made his plea for James to take his pregame dunk exploits (above) to New Orleans for All-Star Weekend next year, and sweetened the deal by offering to put up $1 million for James to end the suspense and help revive the contest that Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins made a must-see event 30 years ago.

“Please LeBron, get in the dunk contest,” Johnson said earlier tonight on ESPN’s Kia NBA Countdown pregame show. “I’m going to put up a million dollars. A million dollars to LeBron. Please get in the dunk contest. I go every year. I want to see you out there. A million to the winner.”

If Magic is offering up a that kind of cash for the winner, surely there might be a few other superstars willing to join the fray. Perhaps 2011 Sprite Slam Dunk champion  and Los Angeles Clippers All-Star Blake Griffin would be willing to consider accepting the challenge? Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook has yet to showcase his stuff on All-Star Saturday night. And there has to be a standing invite for the reigning champ, Toronto’s Terrence Ross.

Presumably, any other superstars willing to get in the mix are welcome, too (hey, it’s not our money. It’s Magic’s cash, and he’s got plenty). It’s not just about the money, though. It’s about the competition. A star-studded field in New Orleans could help revive the contest and finally end the speculation about what LeBron might do on that stage.

After coming under fire for his spectacular pre-game dunkfests earlier this week, LeBron said he was considering not participating in the Heat’s unofficial contests anymore. But he decided against it a day later and was up to his old tricks before the Heat took on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Now comes this offer from Magic and a chance for LeBron to not only win a cool $1 million but to donate it to the charity of his choice (you know he won’t keep the cash if Magic’s stunt works and he actually accepts and wins the contest).

All we need now is to hear from LeBron …

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (158) /

Buss, Hearn Rank Among Greatest Lakers

February 25, 2013  ·  5:36PM

a

a
They gathered at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, on Chick Hearn Drive and everything, for a public goodbye to Jerry Buss, with Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Stern, Shaquille O’Neal and others talking at a memorial for the Lakers owner who died last Monday. That was followed by a private ceremony Friday as Buss was laid to rest.

Mourners spoke with sincerity and humor – and even love, the way Johnson came to view Buss as a father figure – and in some cases tried to define Buss’ impact on the NBA since buying the Lakers in 1979. That was the easy part. Former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo said “He was as innovative as anyone I’ve met in basketball in my four or five decades.” Stern noted a few years ago that “Jerry, quite simply, was a pioneer in understanding what the value of entertainment was in a community” and 10 titles is a statement all its own. Buss made historic contributions.

Placing him in the entire Lakers stratosphere, home to legends on and off the court, is tougher. Several of the 10 or 15 greatest talents in league history have played, or continue to play, for the franchise. One of them (West) is also among the best front-office minds ever. This is the organization that had the rarity of a broadcaster making the Hall of Fame.

Put it this way: Wilt Chamberlain casts a shadow over most every player in NBA history, but has trouble cracking the team’s top 10 because all he had was five seasons. Some were pretty remarkable (20.5 points and 21.1 rebounds in 1968-69, 27.3 points and 18.4 rebounds in 1969-70), but the cold reality is that the imposing Wilt wasn’t even the best center in the L.A. era. Abdul-Jabbar was, and O’Neal may be ahead of Chamberlain as well.

Strictly on impact during the Los Angeles years:

1. West. He averaged 27 points, 6.7 assists and 5.8 rebounds while playing his entire 14-year career for the Lakers, numbers that stand out enough but are especial because he and Elgin Baylor helped the team carve out an audience after the franchise moved from Minneapolis. And then West became the personnel boss who kept L.A. in near-constant title contention. Plus, he coached three seasons. His presence with the Lakers span four decades – from 1960 through 2000 – and set standards as a player and executive.

2. Johnson. He was more than just great to the extent of three MVP awards, three Finals MVPs and centerpiece of five championship clubs. Johnson was, well, Magic. He was the embodiment of what Buss wanted in a glam franchise, he was a leader, and he was demanding in a way that was welcome at the time but would have been savaged today in the way every Bryant sideways look at a teammate is dissected.

3. Buss. The doctoral student in chemistry turned real-estate mogul turned owner was the only Laker who bought his way into the organization. Once there, he tilted life in Los Angeles toward the NBA, surpassing the Dodgers in passion in a change that once seemed impossible. Buss did more than just fund West’s jackpot roster moves. He made the money flow by promoting the Lakers as a Hollywood landmark with glitter falling off players as they breezed downcourt, which made the rest of the league jealous and/or angry but also made the rest of the league rich. Buss was known to meddle in personnel decisions, but, a gambler himself, also urged West to go for broke rather than play it safe.

4. Bryant. His on-court feats make him one of the legends regardless, but he gets extra credit as a player who bridged championship generations. Bryant may be known to many for being divisive but should be remembered, among the many positives, for being part of a continuation, no easy task. Simply, if Bryant does not work, prepare and will himself into becoming a superstar, the Lakers get more like one, maybe two, titles in the 2000s instead of the five.

5. Phil Jackson. Jackson was an underrated coach, far better on Xs and Os than most outside the game would credit, but his presence was undeniable. The credibility he built up from the Bulls years allowed him to tweak, drive, cajole and manage head-strong Bryant and head-strong O’Neal. Most others in the same situation would have become road kill.

6. Pat Riley. What a fit in style of play and style period. Riley mastered the psychological tricks long before Jackson and perfected the Showtime system Buss wanted, all the way to Riles becoming part of the Hollywood production himself. The slicked-back hair, the expensive suits, the draw to the spotlight, the growing ego – Riley fit the mold. Four titles in seven years said it was OK to be that way.

7. Abdul-Jabbar. Of course the numbers – the average of 22.1 points and 9.4 rebounds in 14 seasons in L.A., the three MVPs in that time, the five championships, the first two seasons of leading the league in five statistical categories each time. But the real impact is that Showtime doesn’t play out to full glory without his professionalism and preparation. Imagine if Abdul-Jabbar led with his ego when Magic splashed onto the scene. Imagine the infighting, imagine the trade possibilities that could have altered the NBA landscape for years. Kareem was a selfless, well-liked teammate from high school to college to the pros, and never was that more meaningful in setting an example of maturity with the Lakers.

8. O’Neal. People forget, in the rush to knock Shaq for his behavior late in his career, that the O’Neal of the Lakers years was an awesome display of power that few can come close to matching, let alone actually being on the same short list. When the work effort matched the talent, he was that rarity of the player no team could answer. And when the work effort didn’t, because of health or dedication, he still put up Hall of Fame numbers.

9. Baylor. He never won a championship, which pained him decades later anytime someone mentioned it as a needle, but an incredible forward who once averaged at least 27 points a game in five out of six seasons. It was Baylor, not West, who was the established star to attract attention when the team moved to Los Angeles in 1960.

10. Chick Hearn. A tough call between Hearn and Chamberlain. Chick’s impact on the Lakers, though, is greater. He had a huge role popularizing the NBA after the move from Minneapolis and, in decades to come, became nothing short of one of the popular men in the city, if not the sporting world. Hearn was a connection that lasted decades.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (6) /

Will Week Of Mourning And Remembrance Bring Clarity For Howard?

February 23, 2013  ·  9:36AM

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – Dwight Howard is coming to Dallas.

That is, he’s coming with his Los Angeles Lakers teammates Sunday for a high noon (CT, ABC) showdown against the Mavericks, an important matchup for two franchises uncomfortable with being out of the playoff mix and determined to get in.

In Big D, sports radio has buzzed about Howard signing with the Mavs since the day his three-team wish list surfaced last year, with Dallas next to Brooklyn and the Lakers. With each dose of drama from L.A., hope floats that the game’s most dominant center will soon come to stay.

Local air-wave chatter with the Lakers coming has been off the charts. Brooklyn is virtually out of the picture and Howard’s L.A. story soured long ago, so, “Why not Dallas?” is the dialogue now. The morning talk guys are pleading for a Dwight love-in Sunday at the American Airlines Center. Because, really, that’s all that the playful Howard really wants, to be loved, right? To be part of a tight-knit family, to be cheered by loyal fans through thick and thin?

In a most unexpected way, the passing of the Lakers’ visionary patriarch, Dr. Jerry Buss, and the emotional proceedings this week might somehow pierce Howard’s hardening exterior and help clarify what lies ahead. During this sad week of mourning and remembering in L.A., perhaps a glint of inner-peace — or at least a clearer understanding of his time and place — will nestle into Howard’s too-often conflicted noggin.

Howard has likely never experienced the varying emotions that he has witnessed since the organization announced Monday that Buss lost his fight with cancer at age 80. That emotion erupted in every nook and cranny of the proud Lakers franchise that Howard has known for all of eight months. It touched the core of the Lakers’ vast fandom. It swelled throughout the city of Los Angeles.

During Thursday’s memorial service at Nokia Theater, Howard, 27, watched as Lakers greats Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and the original Superman, Shaquille O’Neal  (often critical of Howard), paid tribute to the man who created Showtime, the most glamorous and glorious enterprise the league has ever seen.

Magic asked all past and present Lakers players and coaches, about 50, to stand and be recognized. Earlier, Kobe appealed directly to his teammates.

“For our current Lakers,” Kobe said, “I encourage all of you to look around the room, look at the greatness of one man’s vision, look at the players that are here, coaches that are here; we have one thing in common, we all believe in Dr. Jerry Buss. We are playing for something bigger than ourselves, bigger than a single season, playing for the memory of a great man, Dr. Jerry Buss.”

It should have served as a humbling moment for Howard, a player boasting all the physical gifts to thrive but whose immaturity and indecision have damaged his reputation. It should have made his differences with Kobe — Howard’s polar-opposite, a hard-driving, unrelenting, five-time champion — seem infantile and insignificant.

The night before, Howard played his most inspired game of the season with 24 points and 12 rebounds to beat Boston in something rare this year, a Lakers’ rout. He said he had been thinking all day about getting the win for Dr. Buss. On Friday he played through pain and posted 19 points and 16 rebounds in a hard-fought home win over Portland. Before he tweaked his right shoulder, Howard had 15 and eight in the first half.

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak this week heeded the advice of the local Dallas talk show hosts and showered the chiseled, 265-pound Howard with loving praise on national radio. Kupchak even said that Howard, who will become a free agent on July 1, should one day have a statue in front of Staples Center. He told Howard to trust him. Told him the future of the great Los Angeles Lakers belongs to him.

The Lakers have opened their arms to Howard. And all he’s had to do is watch and listen to understand what that means. The franchise is Howard’s — if he wants it.

As he repeated during All-Star weekend, he won’t be rushed: “This is my life, this is my career, it’s my legacy…”

All of that comes to Dallas on Sunday.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (50) /

Buss Made Lakers A ‘Showtime’ Operation

February 18, 2013  ·  12:47PM

.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who brought 10 NBA championships to Los Angeles and “Showtime” to the basketball world, died Monday at the age of 80.

Buss died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to his assistant Bob Steiner. He had reportedly been hospitalized with cancer, but the immediate cause of death was unknown.

There have been few sports executives in history to make the kind of impact as Buss, putting together lineups that included superstars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant and took the Lakers to the top of the basketball world.

Prior to Buss taking over the Lakers in 1979, the Boston Celtics were the NBA’s reigning royalty with 13 championships and six times defeating L.A. in The Finals. But under this ownership, the Lakers ushered in the ‘Showtime’ era behind Johnson, Worthy and Abdul-Jabbar to win titles in 1980, ’82, ’85, ’87, ’88. With O’Neal and Bryant (both as a pair and with Bryant as the headliner later on), L.A. took home titles in 2000, ’01, ’02, ’09 and 10.

In the process, Buss made the Lakers into the most exciting act and hottest name in sports by attracting A-list Hollywood celebrities to their home games at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. and the downtown L.A. Staples Center. It was the presence of Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson sitting courtside and interacting with players and coaches as the Lakers’ highest-profile fan that led to the star-filled scene on Sunday at the Toyota Center in Houston where the 62nd NBA All-Star Game was a virtual Who’s Who of big names from the movie, music and sports industries.

Born Gerald Hatten Buss on Jan. 27, 1933 in Salt Lake City and raised in Wyoming, he worked himself up as a child of Depression Era breadlines to become a multi-millionaire. He would complete one of the biggest transactions in sports history when he purchased the Lakers, L.A. Kings hockey team, the Forum and a large chunk of California real estate from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979 for $67.5 million. The Lakers franchise has an estimated worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine, second only to the New York Knicks in the NBA.

The day-to-day operation of the team had recently been taken over by Buss’s children, Jim (basketball operations) and Jeanie (business operations).

Buss was a graduate of the University of Southern California, earning a doctorate in physical chemistry.

Even in a city such as Los Angeles, where the Hollywood stars shine, Buss — for more than three decades — had the show that most often sparkled. The NBA and the sports world are dimmer with his passing.

“He’s meant everything to me in my career in terms of taking a risk on a 17-year-old kid coming out of high school and then believing in me my entire career,” Bryant said at an All-Star weekend news conference in Houston. “And then for the game itself, the brand of basketball that he implemented in Showtime carried the league.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (31) /

Kings’ Fate Dominates Stern’s Final All-Star Presser

February 16, 2013  ·  10:34PM

h

HOUSTON – The final All-Star press conference of NBA commissioner David Stern‘s 30-year tenure played out like so many of the others, with Stern working the room with a mix of charm, seriousness, humor, pride, lawyerly word-parsing and snark.

The most notable difference from past performances was increasing play-by-play with deputy commissioner Adam Silver, his presumptive successor when Stern officially steps down Feb. 1, 2014, weeks before next year’s All-Star Weekend in New Orleans. Silver, at that point, will be the one fielding the familiar questions about expansion, drug testing, international growth, the D-League, etc.

For example, when asked about dueling bids from New York and Brooklyn to host the 2015 All-Star Game, Stern said: “This is terrific. There are two applications in, one from Brooklyn and one from the [Madison Square] Garden. And I really think that commissioner Silver is going to have a great time with those applications, I really do. And I asked him to send me a postcard to tell me how they go.”

There was less banter on the subject that dominated the Q&A period of the half-hour-plus news conference: the possible franchise relocation of the Sacramento Kings to Seattle, pending a sale to investor Chris Hansen‘s group, its transfer application and approval by the league’s Board of Governors. The procedure is well-established, the subject has been (and will be) covered extensively on NBA.com – here, here and here, among other pieces – and, as Stern said, “I don’t see any scenario where both cities are happy.”

Asked to what degree the final verdict – keeping the Kings in Sacramento or re-branding them as the new SuperSonics – will hinge on economics vs. emotions, the commissioner said: “I don’t believe it’s going to come down to economics because it’s not about, ‘OK, I say 525 [million dollars].’ ‘All right, I say 526.’ To me, that would be economics. I think the owners are going to have a tough issue to decide. But I don’t want to get to it because we don’t have the predicate for that tough decision yet.”

Stern said that, unlike last year in Orlando, Sacramento’s mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA All-Star, did not meet with league executives in any attempt to broker a deal. Johnson, who did meet with interested media after Stern’s news conference, still is working up a counter-offer to keep the Kings.

“And then the owners are going to have to deal with it,” Stern said. “This is a good time to be a commissioner and not an owner.”

A glimpse of Stern’s famous protectiveness of all things NBA flashed in a later question about Seattle’s possible return as a league market, given the Sonics’ sale and move to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Asked if he regretted the way the NBA left Seattle, he said: “But I seem to remember, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, that there was a $300 million‑plus subsidy for the Mariners, and a $300 million‑plus subsidy for the Seahawks. … There was a legislation which precluded that for the Sonics, and [Washington Speaker of the State House Frank] Chopp said that we should take the money from our players.  Is there anything that I’m missing there?”

Zing.

As usual, beside the occasional Borscht Belt routines, Stern and Silver addressed a gamut of topics:

  • The league had no comment on the National Basketball Players Association vote Saturday to terminate executive director Billy Hunter after 17 years of service. “We await notification from the union as to who we should be dealing with,” Stern said.
  • Proud of the NBA’s drug-testing program, Stern repeated his remarks from last week in Minneapolis that human-growth hormone (HGH) would be added to the list of banned substances before the start of next season, subject to an agreement on testing protocol. He said of NBA players, “They want to be perceived as playing in a drug‑free sport.”
  • The NBA’s vision for the D-League, Silver reiterated, remains a 30-team league with 1-to-1 affiliations with parent clubs. “We think it’s the second-best basketball in the world after the NBA,” Silver said. D-League teams may be used to extend the NBA brand through promotional games internationally, he added.
  • Stern and Silver both talked of further growth opportunities globally, particularly in India, Africa and China. Stern will be traveling to Mumbai and Silver said a basketball academy might be opened in India similar to one the league created in China.
  • Stern’s favorite All-Star memory? No surprise here: Awarding Magic Johnson the MVP trophy after the 1992 game in Orlando. Johnson had abruptly retired before that season after being diagnosed with the HIV virus. “Giving sweaty Magic Johnson a big hug right after he hit the last 3, and still being able to hug him – because he’s alive – every time I see him,” the commissioner said. “That is at the top of the list.”
  • Second-best? Staging the “50 Greatest” players event at the 1997 All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, with 47 attending and only Hall-of-Famer Pete Maravich deceased at that point (Jerry West and Shaquille O’Neal missed the weekend.)
  • As for future All-Star Games – the 2014 game is set for New Orleans – Silver said that Cleveland also has applied to host the 2015 game, in addition to the Knicks and the Nets. Other ideas have been floated from time to time. “We’ve discussed playing internationally,” Silver said. “I’m not sure if it will work, logistically, but it’s something we’ll continue to study. We’ve looked at other neutral cities [like Las Vegas in 2007]. We’ve looked at refreshing All‑Star Saturday Night and other innovative events for the weekend and I think we’ll continue to do that, the same way we have under David’s leadership.”

Let the passing of the torch continue.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (10) /

Bizarr-o Lakers Making Most Of Role Reversals

January 29, 2013  ·  1:25PM

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – As this most recently re-imagined Los Angeles Lakers squad seeks a third consecutive victory tonight with the New Orleans Hornets in town (10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV), let’s review the strategic and — ahem — metamorphic changes that have led to such rare rays of sunlight poking through the storm clouds.

In a rout of the Utah Jazz last Friday and an impressive grind-out win on national TV Sunday afternoon against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers suddenly became a slow-it-down, halfcourt, utilize-the-bigs offense. The very kind of stuff critics have demanded and the offensive genius, Mike D’Antoni, deplores.

Pau Gasol has made 14 of his last 18 shots as he internalizes dissatisfaction with losing his starting job to a guy named Earl. Dwight Howard has 23 rebounds in the two wins as he wears a smiley face trying to convince everyone — especially himself — that he’s happy.

And, most unpredictable, in this Lakers mini-surge that could tie for the second-longest win streak of the season with a win tonight, Kobe Bryant has become Magic Johnson and Steve Nash has become, um, Kobe?

Kobe dished 28 assists in the two wins, six more than his total shot attempts (22), which is equal to or less than his total shot attempts in 10 of 12 previous games this month.

As for Nash, who ranks fifth all-time in assists and is some 4,300 ahead of Kobe, he has 32 points in his last two games, his second-highest two-game point total of the season. Playing mostly off the ball — and probably more like a modern-day Jason Kidd than Kobe — shooting guard Nash had just seven assists in the two wins, including a season-low two against Utah. Before this odd role reversal, Nash had fewer than seven assists in a game just once in January.

So this is how the Bizarr-o World Lakers roll now, just shake up everybody’s traditional role?

After the OKC game, Gasol gushed to a Spanish-language newspaper that the Lakers aren’t really running D’Antoni’s famed offensive system any longer, which had become quite apparent. Then Nash offered the opinion that they aren’t really running any system at all, just playing.

Bryant said he’s open to all possibilities and that he lies awake in bed at night thinking up new ways to attack this thing.

So here we are with the Lakers seeking their best win streak since winning five in a row from Dec. 14-25 before embarking on a long seven-game road trip.

The offensive genius coach has had to swallow his system. The 7-foot power forward has had to swallow his pride. Kobe’s become Magic and Nash has become a spot-up shooter.

Sure, it all makes sense now.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (14) /

< Older Entries
Newer Entries >