Reverse Mortgage Sacramento
Here's what the Sacramento Kings have been thinking -- and saying --
ever since they lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals
back in June:
There should be an asterisk put on the Lakers' championship ...
Horry's game-winning shot in Game 5 was an accident ... the NBA didn't
want a small-market team in the Finals, so the refs hosed us in Game 6
... we'll get the Lakers next time ... we're the real champs.
It's all nonsense!
The truth is every Sacramento player, with the notable exception of
Mike Bibby, choked big-time in the waning minutes of Game 7. A
sad-sack series of airballs, backboard-fracturing jumpers, wide-open
shots not taken, silly get-me-out-of-here fouls, wobbly passes and
tentative defense.
As far as the refs sandbagging the Kings?
As a longtime admirer of Pete Carill (and his guru, Butch van Breda
Kolf), I was truly inspired by Sacramento's Princetonian offense:
Their passing skills were exceptional, and their back-door cuts were
slick. Give-and-go. Give-and-flare. The players working together in
total harmony like a handful of fingers, which made for some
aesthetically pleasing basketball. Zip! Stojakovic passes to Webber,
fakes a basket-cut, then fades toward the corner, receives a crisp
pass, and buries a long-range jumper. Zap! Every time a Knick defender
turned his head, the Kings wound up with a layup or an unguarded
jumper.
The game was won by the Knicks in the fourth quarter when Lee Nailon
came off the bench and scored 10 points. There was Nailon setting up
either on the left box or along the right baseline, spinning, curling,
darting to the hoop, absolutely disdaining the presence of his
"defender," Stojakovic. A jumper. A reverse layup. Even a stuff.
The game was won by the Knicks in the fourth quarter when Lee Nailon
came off the bench and scored 10 points. There was Nailon setting up
either on the left box or along the right baseline, spinning, curling,
darting to the hoop, absolutely disdaining the presence of his
"defender," Stojakovic. A jumper. A reverse layup. Even a stuff.