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- May 9, 2005
After going to the parade this week, the championship is really starting to set in, so I thought I'd pop in here for a few thoughts.
Out of the five championships for which I've been alive, I think this is the sweetest. I was a Laker fan but not a huge basketball fan for the 2000-01 titles. Last year's was great because we got to see Kobe and Fish climb back to the top, Phil make history, and players like Lamar and Pau get their first ring, but they never really faced a memorable challenge aside from the Nuggets (I don't count the Rockets). But this year was tough, and to overcome everything that was stacked against them made the ultimate payoff that much more enjoyable.
Someone said that the word to describe this year's team was perseverance, which I think is perfect. They overcame nagging injuries to Kobe, more knee problems with Bynum, struggles with Ron and the offense, an inconsistent bench, Lamar's moonlighting on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a terrible dunk contest performance from Shannon Brown, the threats of Cleveland in the East, a young and hungry Thunder team in the first round, a focused Suns team in the WCF, an aggressive Celtics defense in the Finals, a record-setting night from Ray Allen, a 3-2 deficit, one of Kobe's worst offensive showings of his career, and a 13-point hole in Game 7. Seeing them claw back into the second half of the deciding game was thrilling, but not completely unexpected, and it was a fitting way to win the title.
It was really moving to see Pau and Fish shed tears, Ron and Lamar jump around like kids, and Kobe unable to hold back that big grin. The emotions seemed to be running higher than last year. Perhaps it was being in front of the raucous home crowd, which certainly made things sweeter for me as a viewer.
It's even more rewarding when I think back to a lot of the great memories from this season, especially all those buzzer beaters from Kobe. It was an amazing year from the start, perfectly capped by an emotional championship. They took out the brightest star in the playoffs (the Thunder, at least in my opinion) and went on a revenge tour against Phoenix and the Celtics, taking care of whatever demons were still leftover.
My only disappointment is that we didn't get to see more shots and hear more stories of the disappointed Celtics players after Game 7. I at least wanted to see something from Paul Pierce and KG for all the talk that they were spitting through the previous two weeks.
Out of the five championships for which I've been alive, I think this is the sweetest. I was a Laker fan but not a huge basketball fan for the 2000-01 titles. Last year's was great because we got to see Kobe and Fish climb back to the top, Phil make history, and players like Lamar and Pau get their first ring, but they never really faced a memorable challenge aside from the Nuggets (I don't count the Rockets). But this year was tough, and to overcome everything that was stacked against them made the ultimate payoff that much more enjoyable.
Someone said that the word to describe this year's team was perseverance, which I think is perfect. They overcame nagging injuries to Kobe, more knee problems with Bynum, struggles with Ron and the offense, an inconsistent bench, Lamar's moonlighting on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a terrible dunk contest performance from Shannon Brown, the threats of Cleveland in the East, a young and hungry Thunder team in the first round, a focused Suns team in the WCF, an aggressive Celtics defense in the Finals, a record-setting night from Ray Allen, a 3-2 deficit, one of Kobe's worst offensive showings of his career, and a 13-point hole in Game 7. Seeing them claw back into the second half of the deciding game was thrilling, but not completely unexpected, and it was a fitting way to win the title.
It was really moving to see Pau and Fish shed tears, Ron and Lamar jump around like kids, and Kobe unable to hold back that big grin. The emotions seemed to be running higher than last year. Perhaps it was being in front of the raucous home crowd, which certainly made things sweeter for me as a viewer.
It's even more rewarding when I think back to a lot of the great memories from this season, especially all those buzzer beaters from Kobe. It was an amazing year from the start, perfectly capped by an emotional championship. They took out the brightest star in the playoffs (the Thunder, at least in my opinion) and went on a revenge tour against Phoenix and the Celtics, taking care of whatever demons were still leftover.
My only disappointment is that we didn't get to see more shots and hear more stories of the disappointed Celtics players after Game 7. I at least wanted to see something from Paul Pierce and KG for all the talk that they were spitting through the previous two weeks.
