Lakers Win NBA Championship
Kobe Bryant has finally proved he could win an NBA title without the help (or is it hindrance?) of Shaquille O'Neal, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-86 win over the Orlando Magic, taking the series four games to one. Bryant left behind his Hannibal Lecter scowl long enough to score 30 points, and was rewarded with the league's playoff MVP trophy, which has been named for Bill Russell.
This is the Lakers' 15th championship in franchise history (including titles won in Minneapolis), and the fourth this decade, rivaling the NFL New England Patriots for Team of the Decade honors.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson reached a milestone of his own, surpassing the Boston Celtics' Red Auerbach with ten career NBA championships. But there will always be controversy because, with players like Bryant, Shaq and Michael Jordan, Jackson didn't really have to do much coaching. How would he have done with ordinary players?
As for the Magic, who were outplayed and outclassed by the Lakers during the series: Well, at least we got to know Dwight Howard.
Penguins Take Stanley Cup
Instead of the Detroit Red Wings becoming the first team in a decade to win consecutive Stanley Cup championships when they themselves did it, the Pittsburgh Penguins became the seventh different NHL champion this decade. After the home team won the first six games of the series, the Penguins went into Detroit's Joe Louis Arena--with Muhammad Ali in attendance--and beat the Red Wings 2-1 in Game 7.
Sidney Crosby of the Penguins, picking up where Mario Lemieux left off, wasn't much of a factor in Game 7 after he took a hit that sidelined him for half the game. Teammate Evgeni Malkin took up some of the slack, resulting in his being named the Conn Smythe trophy winner for most valuable player during the playoffs. And the goaltending (save for Game 5. a 5-0 shutout by Detroit) by Chris Osgood of the Red Wings and Marc-Andre Fleury of the Penguins was what you'd expect in big-game situations.
And Marion Hossa, who left the Penguins to join the Red Wings because he thought they had a better shot at the Stanley Cup, bet on the wrong horse again.
Two observations:
- The practice of home teams wearing dark jerseys and road teams wearing white needs to stop. It was ludicrous to watch Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh being filled by Penguins fans who wore white to support their team, even though the home team was wearing black and the Red Wings were wearing white.
- With the digital TV switch, those of us with cable and satellite shouldn't be forced to buy over-the-air converter boxes just so we could watch hockey on NBC without seeing players skate around in what looks like a sea of New England clam chowder. That's what it looked like watching KARE's high-definition signal on an analog TV without letterboxing. They'd better fix the problem before the Winter Olympics next February. Anyone care to see skiers and figure skaters in a fog of white?
No comments:
Post a Comment