WAS it just me, or did I sense something personal in little Jeffrey Van Gundy’s ABC diatribe before Game 6 about critics “especially in the media” being way off base in asserting Kobe Bryant should trust his teammates more.
“Kobe has the appropriate amount of trust in his teammates!” Van Gundy marvelously deduced in a horrified harrumph. The fact he withheld The Finals’ shot chart that suggested just the opposite. Bryant — who won his fifth NBA title in the Lakers’ 83-79 win over the Celtics in Game 7 last night — took twice the number of field-goal attempts, 120-60, than any other Laker–was all too predictable.
Meanwhile, even as Jeffrey was jumping ugly on this point, right before his distorted view, Bryant was doing his utmost to get Ron Artest and Pau Gasol intimately involved, as conspicuously evidenced by his game-high nine assists.
Meaning, Bryant stopped trying to do everything by his lonesome and instead did what he should have been doing all along (even Van Gundy should know it’s easier to guard one man than five), fed the ball to the mop of hair in the first row, who knows very well what to do with it.
As we used to say in geometry class at Harvard Latin School: “quod erat demonstrandum.”
To put a cap on Van Gundy’s disgorge of disingenuousness, Mike Breen, having prepared his own notes and apparently inattentive to the pontification of his partner, quoted Phil Jackson saying, “We have to play more tonight like a team.”
For some sneaky reason, Van Gundy thinks Bryant needs a court order of protection from the merciless media, a profession that should be despondent this ego elf misrepresents . . . as Bryant hasn’t generated enough favorable press on his own merit or earned widespread recognition as Michael Jordan’s clone.
“Nobody said a negative word about LeBron James scoring 25 straight points (and 29 of the Cavaliers’ final 30) against the Pistons,” Van Gundy garbled, “but they’re all over Kobe after he scored 23 straight. If his personality was more outgoing and he kissed up the media more nobody would’ve written a thing.”
Well, I’ve seen a fair number of unconscious (and unconscionable) efforts in the playoffs over four decades and those were certainly two of them. You’d think it’d even dawn on an ignoramus like Van Gundy the dissimilarity in coverage reaction has nothing to do with popularity and everything to do with results.
The Cavs beat the Pistons, 109- 107, May 31, 2007. The Lakers not only lost to the Celtics, 92-86, but when Bryant was notching 19 in a row during the third quarter, his team was outscored 28-26.
Why would Van Gundy think Bryant needs something more annoying than a vuvuzela as his public defender.
I’m going to tell you why; don’t put it past Van Gundy to be angling, campaigning, scheming, sucking up to star, whatever it takes to put himself in prime position to replace the Zen Hen should he skedaddle.
By the way, Game 5 drew its highest preliminary TV rating since 2004, up 36 percent over the same game a season ago.
Just goes to show, with Van Gundy in the equation, people would rather watch the Phonies than the Tonys.
This just in: Early in Game 7 last night, Mark Jackson, who had echoed Van Gundy’s incredulous sentiment that someone would question Bryant’s trust in his teammates, had this to say after Kobe unleashed an unsavory corner shot against two defenders: “When the help comes you’ve got to pass and trust your teammates” — in this case, Artest.”
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Conventional belief is that college coaches hardly ever succeed when the guys in the short pants make more than they do.
“There hasn’t been a successful college coach since Lou Carnesecca to carry that tune directly onto the pro sidelines,” a wire story stated and I paraphrase (a word I pray each night Doris Burke and other sideline messengers of coaches’ reflections will learn to do).
Say, what?
Maybe on Long Island.
Please, let’s dispense with the revisionist history, shall we?
For every stiff (Tim Floyd, Lon Kruger, Mike Montgomery or Jerry Tarkanian), there’s a star.
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Try these nametags for size, Dr. Jack Ramsey, Bill Fitch and Dick Motta. No, they all didn’t win right out of school, but all proved they could handle the transition without so much as a minute in the assistant principal’s chair . . . all won titles.
Then, there are the ones with no rings but stellar resumes. See Joe Lapchick, Frank McGuire, Cotton Fitzsimmons, John MacLeod, and, yes, P.J. Carlesimo, whose Blazers crashed the playoff party his first three seasons on the job.
This edition of FactCheck presented as a public service. We now return to our regularly scheduled sarcasm.
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Philadelphia and Sacramento rocked roundball to its core yesterday, swapping Samuel Dalembert for Andres Nocioni and Spencer Hawes. The Kings’ defense has been leaking long before BP made it fashionable, while the Sixers haven’t exactly been Ziplocking it, either.
The deal seems to suggest the 76ers will draft Derrick Favors vs. Evan Turner. A monumental mistake, if true. I’m more inclined to believe it’s a Doug Collins‘ concoction; find a spot to plant increasingly motionless Elton Brand, a very decent shot-blocker when healthy, where the team can get the most use of him over the next three guaranteed ($50 million) years.
Sunday is Father’s Day, a hallowed time when Spawn Kemp whips out those “Rhinestone Cowboy” sequins and belts out his favorite line. . . . “Gettin’ cards and subpoenas from people I don’t even know.”