I’m tired of all the flashbacks and reminiscing going on in the NBA due to the Celtics/Lakers matchup set for tomorrow evening. All the montages and interviews and whatnot are making me noxious (thanks NBA for giving us a whole week before game 1).
Sure, it’s great to remember those great 80’s squads. Watch Rambo get his clocked cleaned. Watch Bird waving that towel. Magic with the baby skyhook. Etc. Etc.
But, that was 20 plus years ago. Today’s NBA is a different creature. Old timers will say it’s sloppier and more star driven. Youngins will say that the old timers are blind to the speed and athletic prowess of today’s NBA athlete.
There’s no denying the skill level of the 1985-86 Celtics. Their sheer dominance, how they lost only 3 times while “breezing” through the playoffs.
For the season, they finished 8th in points per game, second in field goal percentage. They finished first in opponent’s field goal percentage holding the opposite teams to 46 percent shooting and 104.7 points per game. They were one of the top defensive teams in the league.
Sure, some of that can be attributed to solid, fundamental defense, but, let’s not forget that they played back in the 80s—a time when grabbing and holding and hand checking ruled the court. Let’s be realistic. As skilled and fundamentally sound and as good of players as they were, Bird wasn’t athletic. Parish wasn’t athletic. Ainge wasn’t athletic. Mchale wasn’t athletic. None of them were. They played great defense because they were allowed to get away with certain things that in today’s NBA, would be impossible.
They’d still be an elite team because of the skill and talent, and because all of those guys were just really intelligent basketball players. But, they would be blown away by the athleticism in today’s NBA. Just look at how they were blown away by the athletes in their day.
A second year Michael Jordan demolished the Celtics with 43.7 ppg, 5.7 apg and 6.3 rpg while shooting 50 percent from the field. The legend of MJ was born in that series.
His teammates? Orlando Woolridge, Dave Corzine, rookie Charles Oakley and a washed up George Gervin who played 11 total minutes and didn’t score a single point.
It took a historic, double overtime in game 2 for that “Best Ever Celtics Team” to eek out a victory after Jordan dropped 63 on them. You might praise Jordan for being that transcendent (he was, in comparison), or you can flip the script and say perhaps the Celtics weren’t that good (they weren’t, in comparison).
Against the Hawks, Nique kept his playoff average at around 29 a game despite being two years from fleeing to Europe to play ball.
Who else did the C’s beat on the way to that championship? They, themselves, were disappointed that Los Angeles dropped the WCF to the Rockets, a 51-win team that featured the twin towers. The “disappointing” matchup with the Rockets still went to 6 games.
Meanwhile, the Lakers made their way to the top of the Western Conference, in a division that saw 8 50-win teams make the playoffs, the first in NBA history. In fact, the Warriors won 48 games and were rewarded with a lottery pick. That too, had never happened before.
In the first round, the Lakers faced a 50-win team who might have been more talented then them (Nuggets) and swept them. They then went on to face a loaded Utah Jazz team, favored by some to emerge from the West, and were pushed to 6 games, but ended up taking that series, on the road, in a decisive game 6. They, then, of course, took the reigning champion Spurs in five games. The same Spurs team who had won 3 of the last 6 championships.
You look at the Lakers, and you might not see power, but they’ve got length and athleticism in bunches. Not only do they have an MJ-esque (in my opinion, more skilled) player in Kobe, the rest of their squad is full of athletes. Lamar Odom is Magic-esque in his athleticism, probably more so. He’s long and tall and can handle the ball and board. Pau is a 7-foot finesse player who can run the floor and pass. Ariza is perhaps the most athletic guy on the team. Farmar’s a speed demon. Even Vujacic is more athletic than say, Danny Ainge ever was.
The 85-86 Celts couldn’t contain Jordan. In today’s NBA, they would have no chance against Kobe. For those who argue that the NBA changed the rules to take away hand-checking, the reason was because people couldn’t score anymore. When you’ve got MJ-like athletes on all teams (there’s at least two guys on every pro-league team that have MJ-like athleticism: J Rich, G Wallace; VC, Sean Williams; Ronnie Brewer, CJ Miles; etc. etc.) then the physical aspects of the game all get heightened. That’s why, in the 90s, it was really hard to score. And, when I say Mj-like athletes, I’m talking strictly athleticism. Not, obviously, ability.
So the game recently evolved to allow more freedom on the perimeter. The Lakers are physically more gifted and they’ve been trained, by the Zenmeister, to stick with their gameplan. In this way, despite the fact that all of the Boston players have the edge (excluding Kobe) in the mental fortitude department, they have the brain of a 9-time champion watching over them and telling them what to do.
Of course, if you wanted to go back and play ball in the 80s, the Lakers have the athletes to bang with the Celts as well. Imagine Ronny being cut loose like you know he wants to. Imagine Ariza let loose on the perimeter. Imagine Kobe…exactly.
I’m not saying the Lakers would roll over the Celtics. All I’m saying is that I believe that this Lakers squad could beat that Celtics team. And that is without question.
