NBA Finals: Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Media Hyperbole

Pau Gasol? Being the owner of 12 franchise records with the Memphis Grizzlies can be compared to being the only clean and shiny car on a dingy lot of previously-owned specials. While we cannot overlook the fact Gasol was one excellent reason for Kobe's scoring freedom this season, a case can be made that his game has not substantially improved working with Bryant. After the first two games of the Finals, one could conclude his game has been underachieving at best, invisible at worst.

Other comparisons are too plentiful and would take hours to cite. Suffice to say, the argument is a specious one, propagated by those who either have little knowledge of the NBA or have been hired to write sizzling and dynamic advertising copy for those who have a financial interest in making sure these Finals are one for the ratings ages.

This is not another chapter in a fabled sports rivalry

From the cover of national magazines to the increased volume level of broadcast promotions, we have been bombarded with this being the renewal of the storied Celtics-Lakers rivalry that for years made the NBA Finals must-see viewing for even those who thought basketball was still contested with a peach basket.

While comparing Kobe to Michael Jordan shows a lack of any real understanding about what it takes to be a sporting legend, this is just an attempt by marketing masterminds to brainwash an unsuspecting public. At the very least, those who cannot read nor use the lame excuse of not having been born when the giants of this rivalry thundered from one coast to another. Even old video can be converted to play on an IPod.

Thanks to expansion and a changing schedule, the Lakers and Celtics barely even know each other, playing a couple of times during the season in what amounts to the standard jockeying for position. Even Paul Pierce has been quoted as saying the two teams barely, if even, know each other.

There is no familiarity here, no history, no real passion. Not only have the players changed, but so have the franchises, the skill levels, the officiating, the fact that no one can watch rats scurry across the rafters at the demolished Boston Garden while teams were playing, and even Jack Nicholson is this side of using a walker to take his court side seat.

The names are the same, but don't allow yourself to be suckered into this media creation. It's a new era, a very different time, and there is no current rivalry between these two teams. Using past meetings to discuss fond memories makes for great conversation around the bar, but is meaningless and more laughable than laudable.

Officials do not win or lose games and there is no conspiracy

Former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula taught me an invaluable lesson once when peppered with questions about how a late game call by an official cost his team a chance at victory.

Decisions by the referees do not cost one the opportunity to win any game at any time. What your team did or, more to the point, did not do in the earlier stages of the game is what really comes back to haunt you when the final score is tallied.

Phil Jackson knows this never-wavering rule of sport. Same as Shula. Same as Doc Rivers. Same as any other head coach or player who faces reality in the course of defeat.

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