This NBA Looks Like NCAA, Minus Madness

The high points, low points and ticklish talking points of the weekend that was:

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The Lakers are North Carolina, organized, thoughtful and taking advantage of every bit of talent they have . . .

The Portland Trail Blazers are Kentucky, totally stocked and ready to race . . .

How can Phil Jackson show up, lose Kobe Bryant for a big gulp of games, and still start 10-4 with a Laker team that went 31-19 last season?

How is it that the Milwaukee Bucks bring in George Karl and become contenders, yet nothing ever seems to work in Washington, New Jersey and Clipperland?

Call it de-evolution or simply the merging of teenage superstars, salary-cap realities and edgier owners, but the NBA these days is beginning to look a lot like college basketball.

The Knicks are Nevada Las Vegas, the Jazz are, well, Utah . . .

Did you see what Portland and Scottie Pippen did to the Clippers on Saturday? It did look like Kentucky vs. Wright State.

The Lakers and Shaquille O’Neal vs. New Jersey on Friday? North Carolina vs. Bethune-Cookman.

Just as in college, the best teams have the best programs, led by powerful coaches who install the best systems, teach fundamentals and collect the best players, and everybody else is simply playing for entertainment value.

The other teams are... afterthoughts.

Nowadays, with agents squawking and sycophants whispering and salary-cap limits ready to burst teams apart at the seams, if you get into a spot where the star players don’t respect the program--Stephon Marbury, wherever he has been; the Lakers last season; Glenn Robinson before Karl; the Clippers, always--then there is all kinds of hell to pay.

The Pacers are Kansas; the Heat is Cincinnati; San Antonio is what UCLA used to be . . .

THE BIG PICTURE

The odds are, we won’t get Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi too many more times for too many more big titles, so it’s too bad Sampras’ victory Sunday at the ATP Tour championship final in Hanover, Germany, was so one-sided.

Sampras is 28, and always fighting injuries.

Agassi is 29, and nobody ever knows how long his latest career rejuvenation will last, or if it will be his last.

But while the rivalry remains, thank God for it.

Without Sampras and Agassi, men’s tennis is left with the dreary Kafelnikov-Kiefer-Kuerten merry-go-round, where all the fragile top-ranked players are either hurt or tanking in the first round or both.

Kafelnikov ended the year as the No. 2 player, but can you remember a single one of his matches?

It’s not just that Agassi and Sampras are Americans--though that’s part of it, I’m sure, for U.S. sports fans.

It’s that they play important tennis, the way McEnroe, Borg, Connors and Lendl did.

It’s that they gear up for each other, measure themselves by the balance of the rivalry, and are comfortable with carrying the sport along the way.

Sampras wanted the match because Agassi swamped him during round-robin play Wednesday, and because he wanted to set the tone for January’s Australian Open.

What other two men’s players think that way? What two other players could even try?

WEEKEND TALKING POINTS

1. Barry Sanders’ no-football Thanksgiving: His dad says Barry doesn’t miss NFL. Funny, the NFL doesn’t seem to miss him, either.

2. The exciting, first-place Kings: People say I’ve ignored this much-derided, up-and-coming franchise. Hey, I’m as intrigued by Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Jason Williams as anybody.

3. Pair of Kings: But seriously, folks, nothing says November like the NBA and NHL being ruled by Kings.

4. Sammy Baugh’s charge that Redskins threw 1940 championship game: Score was 73-0, Bears. When Daniel Snyder finds out about this, Norv Turner is toast for sure.

5. Skins Game: Fred Couples $635,000, David Duval $0. Check back with Baugh in 60 years about this one.

6. Virginia Tech: Don’t care if Nebraska beats Texas by 50 this weekend or what BCS-HAL computers churn out. Hokies should play Florida State for title.

7. Texas A&M-Texas;: “Amazing Grace,” is what Texas band played, and what this game--and these two schools--showed.

8. Ryan Leaf: Hurt ankle in flag-football game, but two-interception performance actually improved passer rating.

9. Shaquille O’Neal, statistical nirvana: 40 minutes, 34 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocked shots, 0 complaints.

10. Stanford-Wisconsin Rose Bowl: I like the Cardinal by 400 SAT points.

LEADING QUESTIONS

Aren’t congratulations due the people at Staples Center for the successful, 2-hour 3-minute debut changeover Saturday from the Kings’ day game to the Clippers’ at night?

What was harder, clearing out lingering King fans, or keeping out all those Trail Blazer, er, Clipper fans?

Who had the best day at Staples--Glen Murray, Pippen, or building executive Lee Zeidman?

A changeover in 2 hours 3 minutes? How come that reminds me so much of my last trip through O’Hare Airport?