12 MINUTES OF GLORY

Okay, so a little hyperbole in the title but I had to come up with something and I rarely write these posts without a title first - I find it usually degenerates nicely from there. First however, let’s create a restore point. Dateline: the Skid. Four underachieving games, the longest Lakers losing streak since the Smush era.  Each game winnable and in fact, we were in each right to the end. Brian Shaw said we should have won them, laying out how little things start to turn against a team and in turn how an opponent’s confidence builds as they realize they’re actually in this thing. He obviously has the inside track but I’ve personally never much liked the oft-used "should have won" scenario. You win a game because you played better and in each of the four games we were outplayed, period.

Sidebar: Whenever I think of Shaw I think of the 7^th game in the Lakers/Portland western finals, 2000. I was at Staples and like most everyone else, fairly glum when the 4^th quarter rolled along, down by 17.  And then, one of the epic comebacks in playoff history, up on my feet and screaming with all the rest, the Shawshaq redemption, say no more.

As for "should-haves", last night’s game was a legitimate example of expected target practice and the win was delivered accordingly. Sacramento’s not nearly the same caliber from the days of Fox vs. Christie, they’re currently riding their own losing streak straight to the cellar and if the Maloof brothers possess a lick of sense between them they’ll kick Westphal to the curb while there’s still a chance to stem the hemorrhaging. The guy’s not coaching, he’s blaming. The biggest question mark last night was Pau, overtaxed as of late and nursing a sore hammy. There was a question as to whether he’d see action, Jackson’s penciled-in starter being one Derrick Caracter, subject of a quickly abandoned journal in SfS’s budding days. Pau was good to go come game time however and delivered a solid 16 points in 26 minutes of smolder. Not a lot of rebounds but 5 assists and somewhat surprisingly for a leg without lift, 3 blocks. Kobe and Odom each played well and the starters in general looked like they were running practice drills, executing according to plan under the watchful eyes of a home crowd that was fully expecting free tacos.

And so, the final quarter came with the lead long established and the only question being which version of the bench would show. Not always but often enough over recent years, large 4^th quarter leads have brought a complacency, a feeling of garbage time in the truest sense. It wasn’t the case last night. This unit wasn’t the Killer B’s save for Shannon Brown. This was the end of the bench mob, a 3^rd-string unit that included prodigal son Luke, one-time machine Sasha, and Caracter & Ebanks, two second-round rookies who rarely see the floor together. They came in like it meant something and it did, sky-walking dunks from Brown, an impressive array of post moves from Caracter (often at the expense of DeMarcus Cousins), a solid effort from Ebanks, hustle energy from Sasha and obvious joy and enthusiasm from Luke who was bouncing around on his toes, collecting a bucket, a rebound, a steal and an assist in the process. His dad was calling the game for the Kings and must have been thrilled to see the kid playing pain-free. All 12 players who suited up, scored. Caracter and Ebanks notched career/season highs. The 4^th quarter unit not only preserved the lead but increased it and while Pau eyed Caracter’s five fouls with trepidation, the starters were still able to enjoy the action from the bench, strapped firmly to their ice.

Somewhere down the line, the four-game losing streak will be a reference point, the blowout against the Kings vaguely remembered and the final quarter will be the tiniest of footnotes, if at all. Certainly, it won’t be in the pantheon of epic 4ths like the Portland/Lakers game 7. But for me, it felt something akin to the first outing of the season, a stretch of playing time where all goes right in the world, a seldom-used unit firing on all cylinders, the crowd up and cheering and me grinning at a shaky laptop feed, moving in past snowy pixels and finding a memorable moment to lock onto as morning hours approached and the temperature dropped.

RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON

The numbers (zero points in six minutes) weren’t memorable in any way except they chronicled the return of Luke Walton to the floor after too long an absence. The guy Phil refers to as his son, missed most of last season with pretzel-back surgery, was iffy for a comeback and then pulled his hammy in exhibition. Walton, the biological son of Big Red, grew up in the road tour that’s known as the NBA with frequent side trips to the deadheads tie-dyed circus. He chose Arizona State over UCLA because of Coach Lute Olson and eventually became the only one of four roundball-crazed brothers to make it to the show, drafted at number 32 in the second round.

Walton wasn’t predicted to play much his rookie season but wound up appearing in 72 games. This was the same year the team was supposed to romp to the Larry O’Brian. Payton and Malone signed up for a pittance in order to make a last run for the ring. Iron man Malone went down with a knee injury however, the team lost to Detroit in the finals and the loss itself was part and parcel of a divisive and acrimonious season that culminated in the wholesale gutting of the team - Walton was one of five remaining players.

The Rudy T era lasted 41 games, Frank Hamblen played substitute teacher and Jackson himself returned improbably, less than a year after the release of a scorched earth book. Role player Luke began to flourish again in the triple post system with above-average court vision and passing skills. He started at the wing in his fourth season and was rewarded with a six-year, $30 million dollar contract. The yearly amount was league average but the length was an anathema to blog critics who instantly saddled "Puke" with ruining any chance of ever signing a marquee free agent. The inconvenient truth is that Kobe, Paul and Andrew take up all of the cap by their lonesomes which limits the team to using its exceptions, Bird rights, veteran’s minimum and of course, the draft.  Said logic's never dissuaded Luke-haters who are often the same shrill voices who whine that Phil's only lucked into his rings through his players.

Luke’s game has never regained the highs of his breakout season and he lost minutes and stature to the revolving door of Vlad, Trevor and Ron. Still, he’s a guy Jackson clearly values, referring to him as his conscience on the court. And frankly, if a coach with that many rings wants to say Luke organizes his offense it’s fine by me. If he wanted to say Mike Penberthy organized his offense I’d go along and if he ever wanted to bring back Slava I’d be happy as a shell.

Now in his eighth season, Luke’s a survivor in uncertain health, a guy who arrived his rookie year in an old Coupe de Ville rag top, bought a ribs joint in Manhattan Beach and was used as chief clipboard holder and bottle-washer this past championship season.  He may well have coaching in his future but for now he seems determined to get a little more floor burn and a third ring as a player. 

Team notes:

With injuries and fatigue affecting the early schedule, Phil Jackson plans on increasing Derrick Caracter's minutes.   Sounds a little like Luke's rookie season, doesn't it?   With so much recent talk centering on Kobe's knee health, he chose to look ahead optimistically to 2012.   Lamar Odom birthday coincides with some spectacular recent play.  And Sasha's lack of PT has him considering his options.