THUNDEROUS ENVY

The Lakers aren’t a young team; they’re a seasoned team with some young guys mixed in. The Oklahoma City Thunder is a young team. They start a bunch of high flying pups who should still be in college. The starting five for the Thunder has less than 35 games of playoff experience combined compared to Kobe and Derek Fisher who have 177 respectively. But give the advantage to the youngstas because they had upwards of 18 blocked shots against the elder champions. In the end, they were a 3-pointer away from overtime and nearly upended the second most storied franchise in NBA history.

What happened last night? The Lakers had the equivalent of a mid-life crisis basketball style. But instead of dying chest hair black, buying a bunch a jewelry and staying out all hours of the night, the analogy is maintained by the Lakers’ attempt at up tempo basketball. There were several frenetically placed bursts where the Lakers didn’t act their age as they forced fast breaks and underestimated the cat-like reflexes of their opponents. It’s like playing your little brother or sister and treating him/her like it’s still last year when they were weaker and intimidated by your mere presence. Think again ma brothas of purple and gold lore. The Atlanta Hawks you are not. The Lakers are not even the Golden State Warriors but rather an extremely skilled team with a rare combination of veteran championship experience and uh…three 7-footers who alter shots. The Laker fast break is, in two words, Shannon Brown. Aside from that, they are a half court team.

Just one more reminder that accepting who you are is not the same as accepting who you think you are. Oscar Wilde may have said it best, “To get back one’s youth one has merely to repeat one’s follies.”