I'm going to write the Doc vs Jackson 2008 story from a Laker's perspective.
In 2008, the LA Lakers were an underpowered team led by Kobe and Gasol. Bynum was injured, Ariza was recovering from prior injuries, and Odom was somewhat inconsistent.
On the other hand, the much despised Boston Celtics were stacked at just about every position, lead by a Hall of Fame trio of Pierce, Garnett, and Allen.
Despite all their strengths, Kobe, under Phil Jackson's direction, hassled the formidable 66 win squad to a full 6 game series, before collapsing in the game 6 closer against a much more intensive defense squad, trained by Tom Thibodeau, one the league's best defensive coordinator.
In the year which followed, the Lakers eliminated their weaknesses and played a near flawless post-season, getting the most out of Odom and Ariza, winning their first title, after Shaquille O'Neil had left the team. Unfortunately, due to injuries, the Celtics did not meet the Lakers in the finals. That would have been the re-match of the ages.
And although the 2010 finals went to the Lakers, it was a much less satisfying win as it was mainly determined from the free throw line, and not in the heat of game 5, where only Kobe was scoring and no one else. In addition, key Celtics players were injured but least the Lakers did get to see a much less effective Paul Pierce in the fourth quarter of game 7 due to the defenses of a Metta World Peace.
1. The Celtics were never considered stacked in 2008. Most pundits, said before and during the season that the Celtics bench was very weak and that their PG position was a massive point of weakness.
2. The Celtics played the same defense before and after Tom Thibodeau was associated with the team. He was a very good assistant coach but he was not solely responsible for the construction or design of that defense. He just helped in the coaching of it.
3. After the Gasol trade the Lakers were the favorite to win the tittle every year until Lebron ended up in Miami. Given they had Bynum, Kobe, Gasol, Odom, Ariza, Metta, Fisher, Farmar and some others during those years, it's pretty safe to say if you consider the Celtics stacked, LA was equally or even more stacked.
First of all, I know Lakers fans in the Boston to NYC corridor, mostly transplants (who were not these media bandwagon types nor homers), but had nagging doubts about the Lakers.
Here were some of their worries that year ...
1) Gasol appeared to be a soft player, lacked defensive intensity, and was new to the Lakers system. It was speculated that it would take him a year to make the adjustment.
2) Radmanovic vs Pierce was considered a mismatch. And these were ppl who'd watch Pierce play and destroy the Lakers, during the regular season prior to the KG era. This was a glaring concern on their minds. Everyone knows that the moniker, *The Truth*, came from Shaq during one of those outings.
3) Bynum was injured which put a huge whole in the middle.
4) Ariza, being a top hustle player, was recovering from injuries.
5) Fisher was getting old
6) Odom didn't always show up and probably had issues, working with Kobe.
Now, with the above stated, educated Lakers fans were not all that confident that Kobe, as both, the key playmaker and scorer, could handle a team with 3 HoF all stars and a solid supporting cast, without at least splitting the first two contests. Yes, they had their doubts before the series started.
Plus, the arrival of Metta World Peace was in 2010, not earlier.
Parts of my hypothetical narrative above is reflected in some of their IMs back in those days.
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Topic: Between Doc (Clippers) & Brad (Boston), who will win a championship first? (Read 23120 times)