According to Doc Rivers, head coach of the Boston Celtics, the Celtics should have won the championship this year. He believes that if Kendrick Perkins had been healthy in the 2010 NBA finals, the Celtics would have defeated the Lakers and won the championship. This may be true, but according to MY interpretation of Doc Rivers’ logic, the Lakers should have won a few more championship rings this decade and Kobe Bryant should have 7 championship rings.
Sound ridiculous? Does it sound as ridiculous as a white, 6’4, unathletic, Canadian point guard winning back to back NBA MVPs after his 31st birthday? An injury to a key player during a critical stretch of games can derail a team’s championship run and rearrange the hierarchy of the entire league. Every championship is a result of skill, hard work, and maybe most importantly, luck.
Every sports fan likes to play the “what if” game. My favorite what-if: What if the Lakers had hired Phil Jackson in 2000 but they had kept their “The Lake Show” team together. Do you know how much firepower we had on that team? We would’ve had 4 all-stars all in the prime of their careers. This could have been our depth chart:
PG: Nick Van Exel, Derek Fisher, Tyronn Lue
SG: Kobe Bryant, Ron Harper, Brian Shaw
SF: Eddie Jones, Rick Fox, Deaven George
PF: Elden Campbell, Robert Horry, AC Green
C: Shaquille O’Neal, John Salley
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwO-pJowU84
Injuries can happen at anytime, as can suspensions, arrests, and freak accidents. They are part of the randomness of life and sports. For example, what if Ray Jackson didn’t Jackson it in his match vs Chong Li in the 1984 Kumite? Then Frank Dux and Jackson would have met in the finals, and who knows if Jean-Claude Van Damme had it in him to win it all? Would he have the heart to hit a man that he loves? (Bloodsport reference)
My point is this, the what-if game doesn’t work. Saying “well if ____ hadn’t been injured we would’ve won it all” is a very narrow-minded and unrealistic way to look at the NBA. It’s equivalent to saying “well if Adolf Hitler had suffered a heart attack in 1935, Germany would be the most dominant superpower in the world. Or Russia. Or any other country, it doesn’t matter.” Yes it’s true that if Nazi Germany hadn’t arisen and forced all the other countries into action they could have continued their economic development and technological superiority they might still be considered one of the world’s superpowers, but nobody knows. Maybe the Japanese would have continued to colonize the world and they would be the most dominant country in the world. Maybe the US would have never recognized its own potential and emerged as a superpower of its own. Nobody knows how history would have turned out, just like you don’t know the Celtics would have beaten the Lakers if Kendrick Perkins had been healthy. Maybe Kendrick’s minutes cut into Big Baby’s minutes and he doesn’t have the same effect he did in game 4 and the Lakers finish out the series in 5. It’s impossible to say what would have happened if a certain player hadn’t been injured, suspended, or a crucial shot did or didn’t go in. But just for fun, let’s take a look at the past decade of NBA history and see how injuries, suspensions, and feuds changed the course of history.
Next: 2000-2004: The ShaKobe Era
2000: The Lakers won their first championship in over a decade as Shaquille O’Neal finally established himself as THE MAN in the NBA and Kobe Bryant emerged as one of the elite shooting guards in the league. San Antonio had won the championship the previous year (sweeping an almost-identical Lakers team in the process). Tim Duncan was injured during the playoffs that season, if he had been healthy, who knows? Don’t forget the Lakers won the Western Conference Finals after a mental collapse by the Trailblazers that saw Portland give up a 15 point 4th quarter lead in game 7 of the series. If the Lakers didn’t win the championship in 2000, maybe the whole ShaKobe 3-peat dynasty wouldn’t have taken off.
2001: The Lakers were definitely less motivated during the regular season. Shaq and Kobe were openly feuding, with Shaq playing at less than 100% and Kobe becoming more and more of a ball-hog while at the same time becoming the best shooting guard in the league. Here’s a story which I think almost nobody remembers and some Laker fans may be too young to even realize. The reason the Lakers won that championship that year was because of Derek Fisher. And here’s the other thing people may have forgotten, before that season, Derek Fisher sucked. Here’s what happened. Before the 2000-2001 season, Derek Fisher was pretty much a perennial backup point guard who nobody paid attention to. Think of him as like Chris Duhon. Early in the season Fisher fractured his leg during practice and was thus sidelined for most of the season. Since he wasn’t very mobile, he started doing the two things which we know him for now: he lifted weights and practiced his shooting. When D-Fish re-joined the lineup with 20 games left, he became the 3-point bomber we know him as now.* After his return, he became a legitimate scoring option who spaced the floor and hit clutch shots. The Lakers overcame their lethargic regular season and eventually dominated the playoffs with a 15-1 record. The key to it all? Derek Fisher’s injury.
*Some interesting Derek Fisher records: He has the highest 3 point field goal percentage in NBA finals history, he has played in the 5th most playoff games in NBA history, his 15-20 performance against the Spurs in 2001 is the best 3 point shooting performance in a 4 game series in NBA history, and Fisher has the 2nd most 3 point field goals in NBA finals history, second only to the legendary Robert Horry.
2002: The Lakers won the championship on cruise control. Although there were some scares throughout the playoffs, no injuries, freak accidents, or suspensions could have stopped the Lakers. Don’t forget the “lucky shot” made by Robert Horry in Game 5 of the WCF against the Sacramento Kings, probably the greatest shot I’ve ever seen, and also the slanted officiating we saw throughout the series. The Lakers could have easily lost that series, but even with Shaq-Kobe at Defcon 3 the Lakers won that series and the finals for their third straight championship.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp19op8uK1E
2003: Shaq-Kobe was at Defcon 2 (I’m assuming a lower number is worse in the Defcon system but I’m really not sure), and the Lakers could have STILL possibly won a championship. The Lakers were ousted by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals in Game 6, but the Lakers could have won that series and possibly more. The series was tied 2-2, and Robert Horry (who went 0-18 on 3-pointers for the series) missed a potential gamewinner at the buzzer which rattled in and out. When he missed that shot, you could see the expression on his face. He felt cheated. His very existence was to make gamewinning three point shots, and he had just missed his opportunity to add to his legend. It’s as if Brad Pitt in the movie Troy, aka Achilles, didn’t get a single kill during the Battle of Troy. And then in the battle with Eric Bana, aka Hector, he had an opportunity to kill him but ended up blowing it because his leg cramped up. If that shot went in, the Lakers would have been up 3-2, and could have potentially won the series and eventually the championship. I’m not saying it would have happened (they were seriously starting to fall apart that year), but if you’re using Doc River’s logic, it’s possible.
2004: With Shaq-Kobe officially at Defcon 1 (with the rape charges ongoing and HoF teammates Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining the team and bringing their own sizable egos), the Lakers came short of the championship in the NBA Finals. Yes, the Lakers were totally disjointed, but they got to the NBA finals and could’ve won it all. The Mailman played injured in four games of the finals and missed game 5. With Karl Malone the Lakers would have had another scoring option to space the floor and try to keep Kobe and Shaq focused on the task of winning the championship. Would the Mailman’s presence have enabled the Lakers to win the championship that year? I don’t think they would have won it all, but it’s certainly possible. Without Karl Malone, the Lakers had to start Slava Medvedenko (no knock on Slava, I’m a huge Slava-fan, but you can’t win with Slava playing very many minutes.) The rest is history as we know it, Shaq demanded a contract extension and Kobe was a free agent. They both wanted to be the man, and in the end they couldn’t coexist with each other. Sha-Kobe breaking up was just about as traumatic as Arnold giving up movies to pursue his political career and Shawn Michaels being double-crossed by Mike Tyson and subsequently DX in 1998. What if they had been forced to stay together? What if Jerry Buss, Magic Johnson, and Jerry West could have talked to them and convinced them to stick together. They didn’t have to like each other, but they could’ve worked together. They could’ve been paid equally but then fought for the adoration of the fans or switched off trying to dominate ball games. Shaq and Kobe were two of the best players EVER and they had playing styles which both complemented each other and supplemented each other in a symbiotic synergy which the NBA will probably never see again. Even while hating each other’s guts they won three championships and came reasonably close to 2 more. Who knows what would have happened if they stuck together, but ShaKobe will forever remain in my mind as one of the biggest “what if” of them all.
Next: 2005-2007: The Tim Duncan Era
2005: There was simply a lack of quality contenders and the San Antonio Spurs were just too good for the rest of the league. Their dedication to defense and Tim Duncan’s brilliance allowed them to win two championships during this period of time and 4 within a 9 year span. The most notable performance of the Spurs’ championship run came in Game 5 of the Finals vs the Pistons. Robert Horry came through with likely his most amazing clutch performance as he scored 21 points off the bench without scoring until the final play of the 3rd quarter. His medley of 3-pointers and his left-handed poster dunk in the final minutes of the game sealed the deal and gave the Spurs a 3-2 lead in the series. Without Horry’s spectacular play, there’s no doubt Detroit could have captured back-to-back titles.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZdik09RGJI
2006: The Miami Heat rode Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal to a victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Wade was generously awarded an average of over 16 free throws attempts per game. If the refs hadn’t been so eager to call so many touch fouls in the NBA that series, the Mavs could have easily won the championship (they won the first two games).
2007: The Spurs lucked out in their Western Conference Finals series vs the Suns. Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were both suspended for game 5 for leaving the bench during a minor on-court altercation. That’s basically like losing Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for a crucial playoff game, no wonder Phoenix fans were upset. If Amare and Boris Diaw hadn’t been suspended, it’s possible the Suns could have gone on to win the championship that year.
Next: 2008-2010: The Black Mamba Era
Make no mistake, the current Lakers championship run is Kobe Bryant’s Sistine Chapel. If the Lakers can complete another three-peat, this will be Kobe’s greatest work of art, and for Phil Jackson it will be his Last Supper.
2008: The Lakers and Celtics met unexpectedly in a matchup which rekindled old rivalries and was the inception of new rivalries as well. The Lakers were defeated in an admittedly embarrassing fashion in 6 games as the Celtics captured the title. But the Lakers were without two of their key players: Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza. Imagine if the Celtics didn’t have James Posey or Kendrick Perkins and the Lakers were completely healthy. I don’t see the Celtics winning that series, in which case the Lakers would be sitting on their second three-peat of the decade.
2009 and 2010: The Lakers were the class of the league and won back-to-back championships. In 2009, Kevin Garnett was injured for much of the season and playoffs, and the Celtics never had a chance to properly defend their title. In 2010, Kendrick Perkins was injured in their Finals’ matchup with the Lakers. If the Celtics had been healthy both of those years, it’s possible they could be sitting on a three-peat, and not us.
Kobe Bryant at this point in his career could already have 7 championships, or maybe he should only have 3. If Karl Malone had been healthy in 2004, Robert Horry hit his game-winner against the Spurs in 2003, and Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza had been healthy in 2008, Kobe could have added three more rings to his collection. Conversely, if Tim Duncan had been healthy in 2000 and Kendrick Perkins has been healthy in 2010 maybe he would have lost out on both of those opportunities.
By taking a look into recent history and looking ahead towards the distant future, we can only hope as Lakers fans that we will continue to build upon recent success. It will take a combination of skill, hard work, preparation, and luck. We need all of our key components to be healthy and peaking at the right moment. We’ll also need a few lucky bounces and timely whistles. We have the talent and the desire to make a push for the history books. For the 2010-2011 NBA season, it’s championship or bust. It’s time for Kobe Bryant’s Sistine Chapel.
Shoutout to @710ESPN for this article idea.