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 Yes, the Lakers took gas in Boston to maintain an L.A. sports tradition. |
Lakers' June gloom fits dark side of L.A. sports
By BUCKY FOX
of TheColumnists.com
We’re live in the City of Angles.
How about this angle: The Laker No-Show.
Such was the stamp an ESPN radio caller voted to stick to the Lakers after their 39-point crash in Boston.
More flooded the air: A Kobeat-Down. A Euro Trashing.
I could’ve added El Lay Down.
Yes, the steam was rising after L.A.’s Game 6 compression.
But for good old dark depression, that NBA Finals finish paled vs. Game 4 --when the Lakers led by 24 points and lost.
That fall from joy to jaded cast a pall
over every L.A. sports bar. Suddenly a team jammed with youth
and hope looked skinny and dopey. A club full of bright Europeans
played like lightweights.
And when the lights came up, left standing was a Celtic lineup
of 12 blacks coached by a black clinician, Doc Rivers--the first
all-black NBA champs.
Couldn’t blame L.A. radio’s Dave Smith for pushing the Lakers next season to suit up “less Euro, more ghetto.”
I trumped him by calling in for “no Euro, all ghetto.” Simply, Phil Jackson better muscle up with Ron Artest types and fight back or he’ll never see title No. 10.
That’s next season. Right now Laker fans feel like moping. Kind of like previous dark days in L.A. sports history:
Angels 1986. The standard for gloom. One strike away from their first American League title. No way they could blow it: 3-1 series lead, 5-2 lead in the ninth, Anaheim Stadium partying. Then before you could say Boston sucks, Donnie Moore surrendered Dave Henderson’s homer. The Angels were doomed, losing the pennant series in seven games.
Lakers 1969. With Wilt Chamberlain joining Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, the Lakers had it in the bag. They would sack the Celtics after going 0-6 against them in NBA Finals. Instead they blew a 2-0 series lead and blew up in seven games. Again.
Dodgers 1962. They had the Most Valuable Player in Maury Wills, the Cy Young winner in Don Drysdale, the greatest lefty in Sandy Koufax, a three-game lead with six to go, a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning of the deciding playoff game. And lost to their nightmare, the San Francisco Giants.
Lakers 1984. This time they would surely shake the Celtic curse. This was Showtime starring Magic Johnson, Kareem Jabbar, James Worthy. Instead, L.A. lost two overtime games and the series 4-3.
Angels 1982. No team had blown a 2-0 series lead in the American League playoffs. Until the Angels did to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rams 1969. At 11-0 they looked like NFL champs. Come playoff time, they had a 20-14 fourth-quarter grip on Minnesota. Then lost 23-20.
Angels 1995. They had the AL West wrapped up. Up by six games as late as Sept. 12. Then, bam: nine straight losses. A 9-1 tiebreaking loss at Seattle put the Halos out of their misery.
Lakers 1970. The Chamberlain-Baylor-West bunch couldn’t lose a Finals Game 7 for the second straight year. Oh yes it could. This one came in a capitulation to a New York Knick team that barely used its MVP, injured Willis Reed.
Rams 1979. L.A.’s champions of the ’79 NFL season entered the January 1980 Super Bowl a sure thing: They would lose. Still, they led the dynastic Pittsburgh Steelers 19-17 in the fourth quarter. Upset? Not Terry Bradshaw, who bombed away to John Stallworth to lock in a 31-19 L.A. loss.
Dodgers 1978. They decked their old World Series rival Yankees the first two games. Then let ’em off the mat. New York took the next four and raised baseball’s trophy.
A submission to an L.A. antagonist would replay 30 years later.
©2008 by Bucky Fox. The Lakers logo is courtesy of the team. This column first posted June 23, 2008.
You can visit Bucky Fox's website at www.BuckyFox.com
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