| Tuesday, May 2
By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com |
|
|  | | Getting Kobe and Shaq to play together means Phil was The Man. |
As this is written, the basketball-loving world knows that four
pivotal games in the Western Conference playoffs will be contested
Tuesday night and Wednesday night.
All four could end in the next two nights, or we could be looking at
Game 5 in all four.
In any case, the second round won't begin until this weekend, and for
that we can all thank -- or blame -- NBC, TNT and TBS.
The protracted first round is all about optimizing TV ratings. While the NBA isn't kowtowing to the networks quite as obsequiously as
the NHL has bowed and scraped to accommodate its new network partner,
ABC, we wonder if anyone at Olympic Tower remembers when the first round
was regarded with such little import that it was conducted in
"mini-series," best-two-out-of-three affairs that recognized that the
first round was supposed to serve as prelude to the real drama instead
of a faux docudrama in its own right.
Of course, what we have tonight at Phoenix' America West Arena
qualifies as drama of Wagnerian weight for indeed there is a fat lady
clearing her throat in preparation for an aria that will hail the
conquerors of the reigning kings.
Tim Duncan will be held out of yet another game by the Spurs, and
nobody can convince me the effect, both physical and psychological, of
his absence on the Spurs isn't far greater than the absence of Jason
Kidd to the Suns. Kidd's absence has allowed Kevin Johnson a stage for a
mini-drama of his own making, and besides, Penny Hardaway runs the show
for the Suns in crunch time while Kidd sits in street clothes and
ponders the wisdom of his hairdresser's opinions.
I believe tonight is Phoenix's one and only chance to advance to the
semifinals. If the Suns can't get the job done on their home court, they
would face a nearly impossible scenario Friday in San Antonio.
The Suns have to know it, too.
Get ready to cue that fat lady ... and won't that be dramatic.
Maybe this first-round melodrama business isn't so bad, after all.
Now, on to this week's rant.
Remember back one month ago, when I presented the case for nearly a
clean sweep of the post-season awards for the dominant Western
Conference?
Remember how I presented the case for Phil Jackson being nearly the
no-brainer choice for Coach of the Year as Shaquille O'Neal is for MVP?
No? OK ... here's a reminder:
"Coach of the Year? I'm sure my good friend Jeffrey Denberg, Mr. Eastern Conference, is
going to insist that Orlando's Doc Rivers merits the award this season
for convincing a group of undertalented players in Orlando to
overachieve to the point they are about to make the playoffs. The fact
Rivers is one of the nicest guys in the business and played much of his
career for the Hawks while Denberg was covering them no doubt will add
to Denberg's passion for Rivers' candidacy.
But how can anyone, even Denberg, in good conscience vote for a coach
other than Phil Jackson? The argument that Jackson had the most talent
with which to work won't hold water for the very reason that the Lakers
have essentially the same roster they had last season, when they were
such a disappointment. Besides, O'Neal gives Jackson much of the credit
for his own emergence this season into the completely dominating player
everyone always has predicted he could be. Plus, he has found a way to
make O'Neal and Kobe Bryant peacefully co-exist. His lone "coaching"
failure this season was his inability to get his dear friend and
ex-Knicks teammate, Bill Bradley, the Democratic Presidential
nomination, but we won't hold that against him.
Jackson ought to be as much of a no-brainer for Coach of the Year as
O'Neal is for MVP."
See, those three paragraphs are from my column four weeks ago, so
imagine my surprise when Rivers last week was declared this season's
Coach of the Year. And that was without Denberg's vote,
according to Jeffrey's column in which he listed award votes.
How could this happen? Maybe the NBA needs to re-define its coaching award. How about calling it "Coach of The Team That Most Exceeded
Expectations for the Year" Award? Often, it seems to go to the coach who
voters believed maximized his team's potential, regardless of record.
Meaning no disrespect whatever to Rivers, who did a great job of
almost, but not quite, getting the Magic into the playoffs, but I
reiterate: no voter should have had to ponder for more than 10 seconds
before casting a vote for Jackson.
Here is what Jackson did this season to earn the award:
Coached his team to the biggest single-season increase in number
of wins, 36. Extrapolating the Lakers' 31 wins in the 50-game 1999
season to 82 games you come out with 51 wins, which gives you an
improvement of 17 games with a roster that, by and large, was unchanged
from the previous season. No team improved that much, not even the
Mavericks and Nuggets, who tied for second-best improvement.
Installed the complicated triangle offense and somehow got his
players to buy into its every concept and execute its subtleties in
little more than a month of training camp and the first full month of
the season.
Ameliorated the simmering feud between Shaq and Kobe
and got two of the game's best players to share the glory, not to
mention the basketball. Peaceful co-existence between superstars is
easily as difficult to effect as harmony among overachievers.
Convinced O'Neal that his biggest contribution to Lakes success
would come through assiduous application of defensive intensity.
Somehow exorcised the demons that lived in O'Neal's head whenever
he stepped to the foul line ... at least until Sunday night's playoff
game in Sacramento.
Coached his team to the best record in the league by a whopping
nine games.
Because the Lakers have O'Neal and Bryant many of my colleagues in
the media presumed that any coach could have done what Jackson did, a
notion for which I have four words: Del Harris and Kurt Rambis.
Jackson has every right to feel slighted after doing one of the best
coaching jobs in recent memory. Perhaps after the Lakers win the
championship in June, I will start another debate by offering up
Jackson's credentials as one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.
For the moment, though, Jackson has his hands full trying to
reinfuse confidence in O'Neal's free throw stroke.
We all know what a tough job that is.
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com |  |
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