The so-called sports experts picked the Los Angeles Lakers to win this year's NBA championship in 4 or 5 games. And why not? The Lakers have all of the big name stars. The Lakers/Spurs series was commonly referred to on local and national sports talk shows as THE Championship series. We all know now that this was a bit premature. And we have all been regaled with the "that's why they play the game" quote more than a few times over the past week.

So, why did the Lakers lose the championship series? And why were all of the experts so wrong? I've been listening to the sports shows on the radio and these questions keep coming up. The 20/20 hindsight, common wisdom, is that the Lakers played without enthusiasm and without teamwork. Even before game 5 all of the experts conceded that the Lakers did not have a chance.

But it wasn't so much that the Lakers played so poorly. It was more that the Detroit Pistons won the championship. They won it with teamwork. Old-fashioned? Maybe so. But think about what it means. A team, playing together, is better than just about any collection of big name all-stars, everything else being equal.

It makes me pause. I'm once again reminded of the effectiveness of a team............
10:07:33 PM    comment []