'Shaq' In Time

Despite what the NBA wants you to believe, there isn’t too much excitement when you look at this year’s playoffs. The two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers seem poised to be only the fifth team in the league’s history to three-peat, with the indomitable Shaquille O’Neal close to joining the pantheon of truly elite basketball players such as Russell, Chamberlain, West, Bird, Magic, and Jordan.

The funny thing about the NBA is that in spite of all the hoopla and torturous 82 game regular season, picking the eventual champion is about as easy as Charles Barkley eating a donut. Unlike all the other major sports, in the past 15 years there has not been a single monumental leading to a surprise champion.

The Lakers from the late 1980s, followed by the Pistons, Bulls, Rockets and Spurs were almost all heavily favored to capture the Larry O’Brien trophy in their respective years. It is difficult to remember the last time a true underdog, like the 2001 Patriots in the NFL, ever won an NBA title.

Many basketball analysts like to point out that this year’s Western Conference playoffs may finally provide a real challenge to the Lakers. It is not hard to dispute that notion though when you consider the following: Chris Webber has never shown the ability to be a clutch player when it matters (Tyra Banks excluded), Tim Duncan has a 19-year old starting point guard passing him the ball and a gimpy 36-year old Admiral who is a frequent Shaq dunk victim, and Rasheed Wallace is about the most irritable man in America.

It is clear that what this year’s NBA playoffs represent instead of an actual competition is rather a Laker coronation, and their attempt to secure a place in basketball history. Assuming the Lakers win the title this June, questions will begin to arise as to how this version of the Lake Show compares to the great teams of the past. The four rivals that most readily come to mind are the ’72 Lakers, ’86 Celtics, ’87 Lakers, and ’96 Bulls.

The ’72 Lakers had perhaps the most talent of any team in NBA history, with Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Gail Goodrich comprising one of the most prolific scoring trios of all time. Despite amassing 69 regular season victories during the regular season (including a record 33 game winning streak), it is hard to imagine the ’72 Lakers standing up to their more athletic and defensive oriented modern counterparts.

Chamberlain was clearly in the twilight of his career, and would not be much more effective in containing Shaq than Dikembe Mutumbo was during the 2001 Finals. West was one of the most clutch players in NBA history, alongside the likes of Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, but would draw the unenviable assignment of guarding Kobe Bryant, whose athleticism would overwhelm the perimeter defense of ’72 Lakers. If the two teams were to play a series, the current Lakers would cruise, defeating their Inglewood ancestors in five games.

The ’86 Celtics would have been perhaps the toughest opponent for Shaq & Co. Boston’s frontline is unparalleled in history. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish would create all sorts of mismatch problems for Rick Fox, Samaki Walker and Shaq. McHale was the best post man the NBA had seen for 20 years until Tim Duncan recently came along, and if you think the likes of Wallace, Webber and Duncan exploit the Lakers glaring weakness at the power forward position today, the Celtics’ Hall of Famer would light it up like no one else.

Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge would keep Bryant and Derek Fisher in check to a reasonable extent, especially since their deadly shooting would force Bryant and Fisher to work overtime on the defensive end. Plus, Bird would be a factor in the crunch time, having been the greatest clutch player of all time.

The Lakers best player, Shaq, is ironically one of the last options his team goes to at the end of games given his poor free throw shooting and lack of a truly effective shot (dunks not included). The Celtics would face a tough battle but win this match up in five games.

The most interesting challenge for the current Lakers would have been Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Showtime version from 1987. With Michael Cooper being a premier defensive stopper to use in neutralizing Kobe, and Byron Scott rounding off the best offense in NBA history with his assassin-like three pointers, a 6’9 Magic Johnson would have a field day running circles around the 6’1 Derek Fisher. Shaq would dominate Abdul-Jabbar, who weighs about 60 pounds less, but that would be the only bright spot for the current Lakers. Worthy could double-team O’Neal often, without having to worry about his defensive assignment, Samaki Walker, being an offensive threat. Pat Riley could finally best his arch-nemesis Phil Jackson, as Magic & Co. would end up beating the present Lake Show in six games.

The ’96 Bulls would pose the biggest defensive threat to the current Lakers. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were all NBA First-Team Defensive members during their record setting year, and were arguably three of the top five defensive players of the era. Along with 6’7 Ron Harper defending the point position, the Bulls would be able to unleash the stifling “Doberman Defense” against Shaq’s Lakers. Shaq would be his usual 30-10 self, but the rest of the Lakers would struggle in countering the relentless on-the-ball pressure of the Bulls defenders. Although it would not be nearly as dominating as their sweep of the Shaq & Penny-led Orlando Magic during the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls would beat the Lakers in six games, as the ultimate intangible, Michael Jordan, would perform his usual theatrics.

The 2002 Lakers are on the cusp of achieving sports immortality, close to joining the Yankees and Manchester United as the only current dynasties in professional team athletics. Yet while we watch Shaq & Co. win their third straight title this June, their quest will not be complete, for they will still be chasing the legacies of all the great teams that preceded them.