MW: How You Like Me Now?

There were a lot of interesting subplots to this year’s NBA Finals, the biggest being the Celtics and Lakers reviving their ’80s glory days as many of their legends watched from the sideline.  There were also many individual stories.  Would Kobe win his first Shaq-less ring?  Would Danny Ainge’s maneuvering and assembling of the Boston Three Party payoff?  Would Phil Jackson take down the Celtics to pass Red Auerbach for all time championships?  This series will send legacies in a variety of directions. 

For one thing, we can officially kill the Kobe is the next Michael Jordan talk. Kobe is a great player, but MJ he’s not.  The Celtics’ defense smothered and harassed him into some horrible shooting games.  MJ just had that ability to will himself over the top.  All time greats take over on the biggest stage.  Kobe disappeared.  This is his second straight finals loss.  MJ went undefeated in the finals. 

I don’t think the loss negatively impacts Phil Jackson’s legacy.  Nine titles are nine titles, even if he did get out coached by Doc Rivers. 

Kevin Garnett had the most to gain by winning a title.  He had everything else: MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All Star MVP,  loads of All Star games and All NBA Team spots.  He had everything but that Championship.  For the first ten years of his career he languished in Minnesota, destined to be another Charles Barkley or Karl Malone.  He was so loyal he wouldn’t ask for a trade from the T-wolves.  Then, overnight, he was teamed up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, two accomplished All Stars looking for that ring.  They were a great combination.  Big time players with small time egos. 

A big knock on KG has been that he shied away from taking the big shot, or settling for fadeaways when he was the biggest most athletic player on the court.  Boston was the perfect situation for him.  Watching his emotions in that crazy post game interview provided to you below by Brinson gave me chills.  All of that was real.  That was 11 years of pent up rage, emotion and passion. 

It certainly brings up the question of what one ring does for your legacy.  ESPN ranked the top 10 power forwards of all time in 2005.  At that time, they ranked Garnett sixth behind, Duncan, Malone, Barkley, McHale and Pettit.  Since that article, Duncan has tacked on two more titles and cemented himself as one of the greatest players of all time, regardless of position.  I am an unabashed Duncan homer, but you cannot deny his greatness.  He shows up when it counts most and did so with no other hall of famers (David Robinson doesn’t count because he was a shell of his former self and rode Duncan to that ring).  Mchale and Pettit are the only people ahead of Garnett on that list with a ring.  But apparently, rings don’t matter that much because they are both behind Barkley and Malone.  It’s still too early to call, but I would still put Garnett behind those two plus Mchale on the all time scale.  Not to slight the big ticket at all, but this was Paul Pierce’s series, as he took home MVP.  The Celtics return their big 3 for the next couple of seasons,  so they could easily add to this title and cause us to revisit this issue when all is said and done. 

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