May 30 2009
Lakers Show Championship Toughness
Lakers in 6. That has been my rallying call since game one in the Western Conference Finals.
The Los Angeles Lakers ended up beating the Denver Nuggets in 6 games. How lucky am I? I can tell you that luck had nothing to do with the Lakers winning. They did it by learning from their mistakes in the past. From facing adversity. From growing into a championship calibur club. The Denver Nuggets are not ready to make that step yet. And I don’t believe neither the Cavs nor the Magic are ready either.
Another big step is the maturity of Kobe Bryant. And I’m not talking about his stats (although it is nice to see such balance). I’m talking about his leadership. Time and time again Kobe lead the team. By letting players know when they made a mistake, when they made the right move, and he reminded them what their main goal was. And this team responds to that.
The Lakers will only lose the championship if they lose the championship. In other words, they won’t lose it because the Cavs or Magic play better. They will only lose it if the Lakers don’t show up. Neither one of those teams is better than the Celtics last year and I think this Laker team might have beaten that team also.
So I’m saying it now. If the Lakers play the Cavs they will win in 6. If they play the Magic they will win it in 5.
That is unless A) they don’t show up or B) an injury occurs. Mark my words.









