Series Now a Tale of Two Relics

Now it has come down to a tale of two relics.

One is that Boston landmark, the archeological ruins known as the Boston Garden. Or is it the Hanging Gardens of Boston, in honor of the ominous green banners that grow from the rafters?

The other relic under close examination right now is the old fella wearing No. 33 for the Lakers. His name is Kareem, and he’s older than the Watts Towers and most of the fabled L.A. freeways.

It was 20 years ago next fall that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) strode into Los Angeles, a heralded college freshman who attracted more gawkers than the Chinese Theater.

Two decades later, Kareem is still a tourist attraction. Friday night at the Forum, any time the Laker fast break didn’t break, they lobbed the ball to the Captain, and 17,000 fans and nine other players watched.

A few of them also tried to bother Kareem, but he either zipped the ball back to an open teammate, or turned his left shoulder to the defense and lobbed in the prettiest shot in basketball, the skyhook.

He scored 36 points. Three of his hooks came late in the fourth quarter, when the dirt-tough Celtics were fighting back. He also played strong defense and protected the middle. He had seven rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.

“I was the one getting all the open shots,” Kareem said with a shrug when someone asked him about his 36 points.

But there’s more to it than that. A lot more.

Kareem has had three great games in this series, and two he would throw back if he was a fisher The Lakers lead the series, 3-2. The three wins were Kareem’s three good games.vl,3

What Kareem does--or doesn’t do--in Boston will have a big bearing on who wins the NBA championship.

Last year in Boston, 37-year-old Kareem wilted in the heat like a cheap candle. This time he dismisses any worries about that, saying, “It’s going to be hot for Boston, too.”

But now it’s not a matter of heat, it’s a matter of heart. After the first game of the series, Kareem was embarrassed and humiliated when he watched the films of his sleepwalk.

He doesn’t talk much about it, but it had to be one of the low points of his career, of his life.

In Game 2 he played like a brilliant kid, digging down for something that probably only he knew he had.

There were two ways to look at the sudden transformation: Here was a great player responding to a challenge. Or, where was this kind of performance before, in Game 1, in past seasons?

“If you’re asking me for an explanation, I can’t explain,” Kareem said. “I’m doing my job to the best of my ability. Maybe I just found some ability in there I haven’t been using because I play on a very talented team.”

Maybe what’s remarkable is not that Kareem hasn’t dug down this deep in a long time. Maybe what’s remarkable is that at 38, playing against the meanest, toughest team in basketball, facing the most pressure of his career, Kareem was able to dig down and find what he needed.

Most guys don’t play their best basketball at 38. It’s too old for this game. And it’s too old to change one’s style. Or is it?

How many more times in the next week can Kareem reach down? One more time? Two?

“I feel good,” he said. “I don’t even have a lot of bruises. I was real tired in the third quarter, but I got my second wind. I’ll probably feel it (the fatigue) in about an hour. When I pass out.”

That was a joke. Old-timers like to kid themselves about being old, I guess.

But unlike most old-timers, Kareem doesn’t concern himself with the past. He was at UCLA in the ‘60s during some times of heavy frustration for the nearby Lakers.

He knows the history of the Boston-L.A. rivalry, including a first-hand look last season. He knows the series is the most embarrassing mark on the Southland’s sports history, and that he has a chance to win more than just a championship series.

But all Kareem says about it is, “I’m just concerned with this year. I just want to do it this year.”

Writers and broadcasters crowded around his locker Friday as he dressed in his sport shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, looking more like a college kid than an old-timer, if you could ignore the thinning hair.

He seemed a tiny bit put out when asked about his deft passing out of the low post.

“It’s so crucial now that everyone’s paying attention to it,” he said. “But I’ve always tried to move the ball around.”

A minute later, as he tied his shoes, he quietly summed up 36 points against the Boston Celtics in a vital championship series game by saying:

“I’m just doing what I’ve been doing all my life.”

All his basketball life.

And Sunday in Boston, in the hot and grimy Garden, for this old relic from Los Angeles the basketball game will be a matter of life and death.