End of an Error
So ended another Laker postseason, not with a bang but the usual whimper.
By the end, it was hard to remember they were ever considered a marquee team, chasing their first title on the way to establishing a dynasty, rather than a lightly-organized collection of stars, entourages and agendas, but that was how they went out . . . feet first . . . with the last Forum crowd chanting “Eddie! Eddie” for a traded favorite.
But it’s true. This wasn’t merely a talented team but a highly talented team, which makes what happened so shocking and so shameful, even if it’s nothing that John Wooden in his prime couldn’t deal with.
Actually, it’s nothing the Laker front office couldn’t have dealt with, back in its functioning days, but their leaders haven’t exactly been a pillar of stability this season, which is where the problem began.
“We’ve had so many excellent years,” Magic Johnson, the minority owner with the steam coming out of his ears, said at halftime of Sunday’s game.
“Twenty-something years since I’ve been here [Johnson arrived in the 1979-80 season.] You can’t fault anybody. Hey, everything we did was from good intentions.
“It’s just that some people disagreed for the first time. We didn’t have this before, in terms of bringing Dennis [Rodman] in, other situations, trades . . . It was the first time everybody wasn’t on the same page, but one out of 20-some years isn’t bad, you know what I’m saying?”
One out of 20 is great, unless it’s the last one, and the management lineup, which will reshape the team and, almost certainly the coaching staff, is unknown, with the primary decision-maker, Jerry West, shrinking from a point-blank commitment to stay.
Actually, Laker officials believe West has weathered his emotional storms, overcome his doubts and will remain.
Said one: “I think Jerry’s in a good place now. Of course, how long that will last, I don’t know.”
Said Johnson: “I don’t think that Jerry would ever leave this way.”
For whatever it meant, West, who hates media scrums, deliberately made himself available after the game, hanging out in the hallway outside the Laker dressing room until the pack discovered him. He answered questions calmly, looking relaxed, even resolute, suggesting team officials will get back to work “in the next two or three months.”
This was good news to Laker insiders, since it suggests West plans to stay at least that long.
“I don’t think anybody expected this,” he said of the sweep. “But if you have games that are winnable, and you don’t know how to win them, you’re going to be more disappointed.
“I think everybody needs to relax. We do have talent. We realize talent doesn’t always win games. We need to be more cohesive in close games. We need to have a better plan. We need to have our players understand their roles better.”
They also need the coaching situation resolved. Kurt Rambis, who has an “interim” tag, is Old Laker family, although no one cut him any breaks in his first gig.
However, even with owner Jerry Buss looking as though he was leaning over backward for him, an 0-4 sweep in the second round, with a major sideline mishap in Game 2, when the Lakers didn’t use the foul they had to give, or double-team Tim Duncan five feet from the hoop, would seem to have settled Rambis’ fate.
“One of the things we did, we left our options open, with regard to our coaching staff,” said West. “I thought Kurt did a great job in a very difficult situation. . . . I thought he did a very credible job under adverse circumstances.
“Like I say, we have kept our options available. Once everyone calms down a little bit and the rhetoric runs through the media, I think we’ll be better prepared to try to make a decision.”
Not that this was Rambis’ fault. He was what they hired, a young, untested coach, in the end, the unluckiest actor in a dysfunctional farce.
“We’re not organized,” Johnson lamented at halftime. “We’re not together. We’re not playing with passion. This is supposed to be our desperation game? C’mon. C’mon.”
“This is what we used to do to people and it’s hard for me to accept this, being on the other side. I mean, it’s difficult. I just can’t believe it. It should be embarrassing for everybody putting on a purple and gold uniform.
“I think what we have to do now--everybody has to reach inside themselves and say, ‘Did I really do what I was supposed to do?’ First of all, you’ve got to start blaming yourself. And quit pointing the fingers at everybody else. We never did that.
“I’m waiting on the Lakers to say, ‘I didn’t do my job.’ Everybody has to say it, OK?”
OK. Everybody from top to the bottom. Then, and only then will they have accomplished anything in this most embarrassing season they’ve ever known.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
OUT OF THE BOX
AT THE LINE
Neither the Lakers (68%, ranked 27th) nor the Spurs (69%, ranked 24th) shoot very well from the free-throw line. Here’s a breakdown of what happened in Game 4.
FIRST QUARTER
LAKERS: 7 for 10
SAN ANTONIO: 15 for 19
SECOND QUARTER
LAKERS: 5 for 9
SAN ANTONIO: 12 for 18
THIRD QUARTER
LAKERS: 7 for 11
SAN ANTONIO: 3 for 4
FOURTH QUARTER
LAKERS: 4 for 6
SAN ANTONIO: 9 for 13
*
INSIDE STORY
Comparison of the game’s three big men:
Shaquille O’Neal
Field goals: 12-23
Free throws: 12-23
Points: 36
Rebounds: 14
Tim Duncan
Field goals: 11-14
Free throws: 11-14
Points: 33
Rebounds: 14
David Robinson
Field goals: 4-7
Free throws: 4-6
Points: 12
Rebounds: 7