NBA Voodoo: David Stern Fixes the Playoffs

A Different Drummer ^ | 5 June 2002 | Nicholas Stix

[mrustow]

Article argues that NBA Commissioner David Stern wanted so much for the Los Angeles Lakers to extend their two-consecutive NBA championships to a "threepeat," that he fixed the Western Conference Finals against the Sacramento Kings.

[diamond6]

Honestly, I think Shaq needs to get in better shape, if possible. The regular season is still important, as Sacramento was a worthy opponent and gave the Lakers a great challenge. I think the Lakers should go for #1 seed, still.

[Night Hides Not]

You may be right, especially if Buss is willing to pay for an improved supporting cast. If I were an aging star without a ring, I'd be willing to go to the Lakers for the minimum.

However, don't discount the increased competition coming from the Kings, Spurs, and Mavericks. The Lakers will not be able to coast through the regular season.

For the next five years, the wild card will be Shaq's health. If Shaq stays healthy, the Lakers could win 8 in a row.

[Oschisms]

Actually, the day I realized basketball was fixed was when they moved the 3 point line, outlawed hand-checking, and generally made the game more offense-friendly. This happened, coincidentally, the season after the team with the best defense in the league, the Knicks, lost the championship by a basket.

It's fixed, all right, but not necessarily for the benefit of large market teams.

[diamond6]

The prospect of the Lakers winning 8 in a row must stick in the craw of Laker haters and especially Red Auerbach to no end. He would probably be six feet under and turning over in his grave should that happen!

[diamond6]

I don't hear you! The silence from the Three Stoodges is deafening? Do you have no defense for my comments in posts 106 and 115?

[socal_parrot]

Any doubt that the outcome was rigged was erased when, with one minute left in the game, Kobe Bryant tried to get free of tenacious Kings guard Mike Bibby, in order to catch an inbounds pass. Kobe got free, alright. He smashed Bibby in the nose with a forearm.

The correct call would have been a holding call on Bibby. This shows the writer's true bias. He's probably upset that he can't play with his cowbell for a few months now.

[GoreIsLove]

I've seen Vlade play. I've seen Duncan play. And let me say, Vlade is no Duncan.

Not comparing them like that. Just giving an example of a center moving over to the four spot. Houston did with Sampson and Olaujuan in the eighties.

Don't you think part of the disfunction was due to Vlade?

I'd blame the disfunction on Elden Campbell, Nick the Quick, Cedric Ceballos and the inability of Del Harris to coach his way out of a paper bag.

The Lakers realized Vlade was not going to take them to the next level. Kareem spent a lot of time working with him & even tried to get Vlade to develop a hook shot. Mitch Kupchek and Magic worked with him on posting up. They sent Vlade to Pete Newell's Big Man camp. Nothing got Vlade to get over the hump.

Everybody in the NBA is good & most teams have at least 1 great player. Vlade is good, but not great - he is not at the next level.

Shaq's great, but the reason the Lakers succeed is because of Kobe and Phil. The Lakers at the time of drafting Vlade didn't foresee Magic's abrupt retirement, and some of the early Bull's championships might not have happened if Magic stuck around.

The Lakers were looking to trade for Duncan or Robinson when they realized Vlade was not the man. They would have gotten rid of him one way or another & he would not have been a Laker today.

Vlade became expendible because of Shaq, and then the trade for Kobe. If LA could have ditched Elden Campbell instead of Divac, I'm sure they would have.

[Night Hides Not]

Agreed...LOL! I never liked the Celtics either, especially after I read about Larry Bird being a dead-beat Dad. I know I should keep that stuff separated, but how can Bird be treated as a demi-God by Celtics fans knowing this?

From what I've read of Shaq, he's a good father.

[diamond6]

You're exactly right. The whiners don't want to talk about the fact that Bibby was so close to Kobe he was giving him a bear hug as Kobe was receiving the ball. The offensive player has to be given room to move.

[Skooz]

If you watched wrestling in the 80s maybe you remember the enormous guy "they found in a cave."

They used to drag him to the ring by a tow-truck chain. They would remove the chain when he entered the ring, he would annihilate his opponent and when the fight was over, they would put the chain back on him and drag him out of the ring.

I think he was supposedly from Borneo or something. The announcer used to always make the point: "...yes, they found him in a cave."

Remember that guy? I can't recall his name.

[Sir Gawain]

LOL, I'm not sure. I do remember that Kamala guy. The Ugandan Headhunter or something like that.

[socal_parrot]

Could it be George "The Animal" Steele? Or maybe a guy they called The Missing Link?

[socal_parrot]

The Missing Link with Boby "The Brain" Heenan.

[kailbo]

This article sounds like it is just from a disgruntled fan but, the fact remains, the refs are bad. Every single time Shaq shoots a foul shot he steps over the line before the ball hits the rim / basket. He only shoots 50%, but in reality he's shooting 0%. But no opposing coach has ever made an issue out of this to my knowledge.

[GoreIsLove]

Goes without saying. Shaq is closer to 400 than 350 these days, so something has to be done. I just worry that the Kings will more than likely have Stojakavich healthy next year in a playoff series, which probably would have tipped the series Sac's way this year. A healthy Shaq would more than offset this, but each year Shaq is more and more dinged come playoff time. If you rest him, he's out of shape.

[GoreIsLove]

but how can Bird be treated as a demi-God by Celtics fans knowing this?

Because Boston sports fans are insane and delusional. But the Peter Vecsey corollary (even a broken clock is right twice a day) applies to this year's Pats title.

[ffrancone]

It used to be that the dual rule book worked the other way. The original philosophy was that it was unfair for players like Chamberlin and Jabbar to be able to score literally at will, anywhere, anytime. So great latitude was permitted their defenders.

As a result, anyone was allowed to foul Jabbar anytime and the foul was rarely called. In fact, it always seemed to me that the league encouraged double-team fouls where both defenders were hacking hard at Jabbar simultaneously. This was true thru his entire career.

At some point that did change for the new generation of stars. I think the league figured out that having stars with spectacular highlight reels sold tickets. The other thing that changed was the complete abandonment of the traveling rule on stars. Enforcement of just that rule on Jordan would have changed Jordan's career significantly. And some of his best highlights were extreme violations of traveling.

Jabbar never benefitted from the change. Even as an old man, it took two defenders constantly hacking at him to keep him from scoring 30-40 points a game. Without taking anything away from Johnson, Worthy and other Laker stars of that era, much of their success came from the fact that it took two defenders with freedom to hack to contain Jabbar. Playing him one on one was just not an option if you wanted to win. So the rest of the Lakers were playing 4 on 3 most of the time.

[SlickWillard]

Big, big, big, big, big, big bump.

[mountaineer]

A silly allegation that Kobe was poisoned doesn't warrant a response.

[socal_parrot]

And...George "The Animal" Steele.