Wow, as a lifelong fan of the Los Angeles Lakers The Blot can honestly say I’m as excited for this NBA Championship, the franchise’s sixteenth, as I was the first time I watched the Lakers win one in the ‘80s. It’s definitely a feeling that never gets old, and this one was especially sweet considering the team’s collapse against the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals.
It’s hard to believe the Lakers have now been to the Finals three straight years and are coming off back-to-back championships. Before Derek Fisher’s return and Pau Gasol’s arrival in 2008, the team was in a freefall and Kobe’s departure was all but certain. Now the years with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown are just a distant memory!
There are a number of reasons this championship is especially sweet, and at the top of that list is because it came against the Lakers’ hated rivals, the Celtics, and was the perfect revenge for 2008’s loss. On top of that, Kobe now has 5 titles (and 2 NBA Finals MVP awards), on par with Magic Johnson, and Phil Jackson has won 11 titles, widening his record over the Celtics Red Auerbach (who has 9 titles to his credit). Another amazing statistic is that Jackson is the only NBA coach to ever win multiple titles in a row four different times! He had two different three-peats with the Bulls, a three-peat with the Lakers and now back-to-back championships again with the Lakers. That’s just incredible, isn’t it?
Another interesting turn of events from last night’s victory is that Kobe now has more NBA titles than Shaquille O’Neal (5 to 4). When asked what winning another NBA titale means to him individually, Kobe responded “Just got one more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank. You know how I am. I don't forget anything." I may be a Shaq guy, but that’s still pretty funny (and true).
I could go on and on about Pau’s amazing performance throughout the playoffs (he probably should have won the Finals MVP award this year), Ron Artest’s amazing in game 7 or DFish’s continued clutch shooting…but I won’t, because you already know how great they were! Instead I’ll just make an impassioned plea to Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss to please, please, please resign Phi Jackson. Pay the man his money so the Lakers can you win you a second three-peat. As we all know, Phil likes to do things in 3s.