Mark’s question were excellent and really got me thinking about that critical period in hoops history. He also posed a fascinating question about pitting the 1960 USA team against the 1992 Dream Team.

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2010/08/lakers-roundtable-roland-lazenby-discusses-jerry-west-and-the-1960-us-olympic-teams-induction-to-bas.html

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, released earlier this year by ESPN Books.

He’s lost a step. Maybe a step and a half.

He’s not even close to the pressure defender he used to be. And even back in the day there were those moments when he could be exposed. And not just a little. Sometimes he could be exposed badly by really quick young guards. And the league today is nothing but quick young guards.

Derek Fisher guard Rajon Rondo? John Wall? Derrick Rose? You can hear the chops slurping at nearly every stop around the league. These young people want a piece of that old man.

And finishing with the basketball? Fisher’s mix ups at the basket used to keep Lakers assistant and triangle offense guru Tex Winter grumbling, except when it came time to think about replacing him. Then Tex, like most everyone else on the coaching staff, turned strangely silent.

They knew.

No one else can do all the things that Fisher does for the Lakers. And absolutely no one can do them in the heat of the biggest battles, which is what Fisher has done time and again. He has proved himself every single day of his career, ever since he came out of the University of Arkansas/Little Rock as a late first round draft pick back in 1996.

Fisher has delivered so many big moments in so many games that … Oh, why go on? We could spend all day adding them up here.

Let’s just turn it over to Phil Jackson. Here’s what he had to say after Fisher hit the big shots to deliver the Lakers their 2009 championship:

“Well, it’s character,” Big Chief Triangle replied when asked about Fisher. “We’ve always said the character has got to be in players if they’re going to be great players.  You can’t just draft it.  It’s not just about talent, it’s about character, and he’s a person of high character, brings that to play, not only in just his gamesmanship but also his intestinal fortitude.”

But who cares about that stuff in these smart-ass days of pro hoops?

Yeah, it’s true. Fisher’s market value is no where near $5 mil a year. That’s a joke.

So, yes, for all the stat geeks out there with their calculators and formulas, Fisher is obviously past his prime and not worth the money. They say, “Don’t pay that guy, Dr. Jerry. He’s not worth it.”

Some of these jerks send me messages too. Fish doesn’t fit the XYZ, they say, and if Phil Jackson really knew anything about basketball he’d bench the guy.

Never mind that Fisher just delivered the most amazing performance of his career to secure the 2010 NBA title for Los Angles.

To the stat geek naysayers, Fisher is the joke who’s time has passed.

The Lakers seem to subscribe to that XYZ geek talk because they’re reluctant to bring him back unless he cuts his $5 mil salary in half.

Besides, the Lakers need to save money this year. Things have just gotten too tight financially.

Yes, Mitch and Jerry, you can certainly buy that line of thinking. You can start to believe that Fisher is a luxury for this very talented team.

But that’s sadly narrow thinking. Fisher is an essential. Remember when you brought him back to the Lakers in the 2007 off-season? People said he then he was washed up, a joke.

All he did was play a giant role in three straight trips to the NBA championship series and two titles.

Derek Fisher is a proud, determined man. That pride and determination are the bedrock of his heart. Pay him for that.

Screw these ignorant people who want you to get rid of him. Screw ‘em. They’re just a bunch of booger eaters in my book.

Really it’s very simple, Mitch and Jerry. You must make the smart play. You must reward that pride and determination. Do it, and you will look very smart.

Just Pay Derek Fisher. Please.

Do yourselves, do all of us, that favor. Don’t buy that conventional thinking about market value. The market doesn’t know shit.

Pay Derek Fisher. Please. He’s earned every penny. And he’ll keep earning.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Don’t hold your breath.

Although Buss could have lauded Jackson any time over the past two years as the Lakers won back-to-back NBA titles, the owner’s silence on the matter has been deafening.

I’ve been pointing this out for months, by the way. And Mark Heisler of the L.A. Times, who just this week has offered a ringing endorsement of Byron Scott as a Jackson replacement, has repeatedly taken me to task for it.

But the truth that insiders have been telling me for months is clear.

If Jackson’s going to return as coach, he’s going to have to do it to despite the stony silence of the owner. And he’ll likely have to take a pay cut despite his success.

If Buss doesn’t want to pay Jackson the unheard of price of $12 million per season to coach the team, then he should never have agreed to such a deal when he gave Jackson a pay raise two years ago. You wanted and needed a championship so badly back then that you agreed to boost his money, Dr. Buss?

And now you don’t need a title very badly? That’s what you’re saying with this silence.

To complain about money now that Jackson has delivered two championship teams is unheard of. Win titles and take a pay cut? That’s a low blow, Dr. Jerry. And it’s not just me saying that. It’s your remarkable team captain, Derek Fisher, who discussed the issue in an interview with Ramona Shelbourne.

“As much as it is about his quality of life and how he’s feeling, his energy levels,” Fisher said, “I think his decision could be easier if he wasn’t maybe feeling as though he’s not being fully appreciated, which is how it ultimately makes you feel.

“It’s sad to me,” Fisher told Shelbourne recently, “when you think about what he’s accomplished in his career, that he still always has to deal with these type of scenarios where there’s a question of whether or not he’s the best person for the job, or he’s not really coaching because of the players that he’s had. He’s just a remarkable human being in terms of his approach to managing and coaching the team.

“I think not even just the Lakers, but the NBA as a whole, would lose a big part of what this game has been about the last 20 years if he’s not back. If he’s not back, it changes the whole landscape.”

Fisher, of course, is a free agent guard and will turn 36 in August. Has there ever been a braver, more forthright NBA player? The guy not only laid his heart on the line for the franchise’s 17th title (yes, Lakers won one in 1948 in the old National League), but Fisher is speaking up right now, even though it could cost him dearly.

Teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol have also spoken up, although their contracts are secure and in place. They’ve made it clear where they stand.

Some Lakers fans may let you off the hook for this one, Jerry. It’s obvious you’re gambling that your season ticket holders won’t protest if you let Jackson and Fisher slip away.

I’m not asking you to pay Jackson. I’m just calling for you to speak up and declare publicly how important he has been to the franchise.

I know that you don’t like that Phil’s an odd, distant kind of guy.

I know you don’t like the triangle offense he runs.

I know you don’t like paying him so much money.

I know you’re eager to prove that you can win one without Phil.

I know you’re not elated that he shacks up with your daughter and sometimes offers his disrespect in all those subtle little ways.

I know you like showing that it’s you, not Jackson, who is in control of the franchise.

I know you think your reputation and image are secure with all those championships you have in your pocket.

I know you’re a proud, stubborn man, but does this have to come down to ego and pride?

Yes, it’s a poker game. Lakers assistant Brian Shaw, one of two top candidates to replace Phil, is “close to accepting” the Cleveland Cavaliers job, according to his agent. What’s the last time an agent made such an announcement? And Byron Scott declared that he’s not waiting around on anyone, another obvious bluff. Are Phil, Scott and Shaw all trying to out-bluff Jerry Buss?

Does it all come down to yet more tiresome games?

Is that what you want as your legacy?

You have a chance to eclipse the Boston Celtics as the team with the most NBA titles, and you’re going to let ego and pride get in the way?

Say it ain’t so. Speak up and ask Phil to return. Show us you’re bigger than these silly games.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

It’s been 10 years since Bryant and Phil Jackson embarked on a remarkable run that would net seven trips to the NBA Finals and five league championships.

In the wake of the Lakers’ 17^th title in 2010 (the franchise won one in 1948 in the National Basketball League, which was far superior to the early NBA), I’m publishing excerpts of a private conversation I had with Kobe Bryant right after the 2000 title, his first with the Lakers. Portions of this interview were later used in the paperback edition of my book about a young Bryant’s hard adjustment to pro hoops, “Mad Game, The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant.”

In that key Game 4 in 2000, Phil Jackson and Tex Winter ordered the Lakers to spread the floor wide to confuse the Indiana Pacers defense. This , and the Lakers’ surprise use of the screen and roll, freed up Bryant to score down the stretch of the key games in the series.

When they coached the Bulls, Winter and Jackson would always wait for key moments in the playoffs to use their spread floor or “open court” look. The Bulls soundly beat the Miami Heat in the 1997 playoffs by spreading the floor and later did the same thing to the Utah Jazz in the championship series that year. Spreading the floor is one of the subtleties in Tex Winter’s triangle offense, just one of the reasons that  Bryant fell in love with it.

Q: Phil Jackson often had long, deep conversations with Shaquille O’Neal. But Phil never had such conversations with you. You kept expecting to talk with him the whole season, but you never got that opportunity to sit down and talk about life with him?

Bryant: No, not to that extent. But I’m sure we’ll have one before next season starts.

Q: Tex Winter’s offensive system has some surprises that worked well for you in the playoffs.

Bryant: The system worked out well for us. In the fourth quarter, the triangle offense sometimes kind of goes out the window a little bit. The system in itself allows us to spread the floor toward the end of the game and penetrate. That works because with the triangle offense everybody is a threat throughout the ball game. So the defense is scared to leave off of guys to try to stop me. They’re scared to leave off of Robert (Horry) and they’re scared to leave Rick (Fox) alone to try to stop me, because they know those guys will make shots.”

Q: In Game 4 against Indiana at the end, that spread floor worked well?

Bryant: “In Game 4 it worked really well. We were able to spread the floor, and I hit a couple of jump shots for us and took us to the brink. Now we are champions.

During the season, I wanted to use the spread floor. I told him, ‘Phil, man, why don’t you open the court?’ He said, ‘We’re not ready for that. We’ll get to that.’ I say open it up. That’s when I can go to work. But I’m glad that we waited till the playoffs to use it.

Q: On the night you won the championship, in Game 6, you also went to a different look at the end of the game. That time you went to screen and roll action, which is something the Lakers hadn’t done all year until the playoffs. It surprised the Pacers?

Bryant: “Yeah, we went back to the same thing that worked for us in Game 4, spreading the floor and penetrating, and then attacking them. I was able to get to the free throw line and knock down some free throws.”

Q: Have you ever had a more emotional day than the day you guys won the championship?

Bryant: The whole day was just emotionally draining. You know what though? It was fun. Emotionally draining, but a lot of fun. Just going through it. Stepping up to the challenge and responding to it mentally. It was a lot of fun.”

Q: What was the main thing you learned? I know it was a long season with a lot of lessons, but what was the most important?

Bryant: The biggest thing, from a basketball standpoint, was learning when to attack.

Q: From a personal standpoint, was your main lesson about sacrifice?

Bryant: Not really. Other people had to sacrifice on this team. I think my teammates did a good job of sacrificing, allowing me to be myself and allowing me to grow. I really didn’t have to make that many individual sacrifices on this team. I just continued to play my game, and my teammates understood that and they played around me.”

Q: How important has Ron Harper been to you in learning to be a better defender?

Bryant: I learn more from Harp about position defense, because he doesn’t really have the ability to move like he used to. He plays position defense very well. Ron helps me out a lot, though.

Q: During games if you started doing too much, Harper would get in your ear and tell you to slow down. How important was that?

Bryant: It was important because we’re communicating. He’s been there before. He knows what to do in certain situations. A lot of times we just talk strategy. He’s like a player/coach. He’s been there with Phil before. He knows what Phil likes to do. He knows what to run when the shot clock is going down,, whether it’s a three pass or a four pass or whatever. Harp has been instrumental in my growth. He’s helped me this year as a basketball player figuring out my teammates, understanding them better.

Q: Harper has been greater for you than any other player you’ve ever played with?

Bryant: Absolutely. Harper has definitely been more of a mentor for me than other players I’ve played with in the past. No question about it.

Q: How was your relationship with Shaq this year?

Bryant: We’ve always had a mutual understanding. Shaq is more vocal than I am, and he knows that. Me, I lead by example. We just do it our separate ways. That’s all we did all season long. It just depended on what we needed in certain situations. So even though we go our separate ways, it all linked up in the end.

Q: Did you guys have a better chemistry this year than in the past?

Bryant: Oh, hell yes. Now we understand one another. We grew up together. We came here together, grew up in the spotlight together, took our knocks together.

Q: What was the problem with other Laker coaches in the past? Did they seem to doubt themselves?

Bryant: I don’t think they were as sharp and had as much confidence as Phil has with his coaching staff. Phil and Tex Winter have been real demanding of me, because they wanted me to figure out about this game. It’s important for somebody to give you the direction. And the coaching staff we have now makes it a lot easier. You can go to them for advice, for game film, anything for improvement. It’s good to have that information from them. You don’t have to seek it out.

Q: Why did the triangle work for you guys?

Bryant: The concept is a team game. Hit the first man that’s open. That makes it harder for teams to guard you, because they can’t key on one man. There’s constant movement of the ball. When you have players with the athletic ability of myself and Shaq, it makes it easier for the other guys on  our team. It’s cool, man. It makes it very difficult for defenses because they cannot relax. As soon as they relax, boom, we’re gone. We’re moving with a purpose.

Q: When you decide to drop out of your offense, to move without using the triangle, do you have to explain that to the coaches later?

Bryant: (laughs) With Tex Winter, yeah. Tex is so pure with the game. ‘Move the ball! Swing the ball!’ We’re like, ‘Tex, man, chill.’ It’s hilarious. But Phil’s assistant coaches are as sharp as Phil is. They don’t play around. They know what needs to be done and they do it. They sit there watching the game like hound dogs, making sure you do everything fundamentally correct. Especially Tex. Look at Tex. He’s always the only one with a worried look on his face. He’s got that look 24 hours a day. He’s a perfectionist.

Q: You had said that you hoped to be coached by Tex before that ever happened. It was strange that you sensed Tex Winter would coach you long before it ever happened. That was almost a mystical thing with you.

Bryant: It’s kind of weird. I had always had this feeling that I was going to play in this system, with the triangle. I had a feeling I would. I told Eddie Jones that when we played together here. I told him, it would be nice to get this triangle here.

Q: When you first met Phil in his hotel room after he was hired as coach of the Lakers, what was it like?

Bryant: I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I don’t want to talk. Let’s do something!’

Q: What did you think of adding Brian Shaw to the team last year? What did you think when he arrived? Did you know him?

Bryant: I knew he owed me a pizza. I shot his lights out when I was like 12. He played for an Italian team in Rome back then (1989-90), and my father played for another Italian team. We got to shoot, and I shot his lights out. That was the first thing I said when I saw him with the Lakers. Because I didn’t know he was coming to our team. Then I saw him at the gym, and I was like, ‘Yo, Brian, where’s my pizza, man?’ He started laughing.”

Q: Kobe, who plays you the toughest, makes you play your best game?

Bryant: Eric Snow in Philly, he makes me play tough. He pressures me a little bit, has quick hands. The Sixers in general play me solid defensively. He won’t this next year, though.

Q: When you came back from injury last fall, a lot of people figured Phil was going to jump in and try to tell you what to do. But he didn’t do that?

Bryant: He let me do my own thing. It was important because he understood that’s how I am. I  like to do my own thing. He knows and has the trust in me that I’m gonna be prepared.

Q: Some players on the team said he was allowing you to change yourself?

Bryant: I didn’t even think about it. I just went with it.

Q; Phil brought in George Mumford, the sports psychologist, the Zen teacher and tai chi expert, to work with you guys. How was that?

Bryant: It was good because it gave people a chance to talk about things that might be on their mind, the hype, the pressure. I think it’s good for them to talk about those things. It increased our performance a lot. It really has. I’m surprised other teams don’t do that kKind of stuff. Working with George helps us to get issues out of the way before they even start.

Q: The pressure of performance, of the playoffs, can be destructive to players and to teams?

Bryant: Yeah, once it creeps into your team and your teammates, it can be destructive. Some people know how to handle it, some people don’t. The pressure can get to you. You got to know how to suck it up.

Q: Most NBA players don’t want to even acknowledge pressure. It’s a macho thing.

Bryant: The pressure is there, the pressure is there. But it’s how you deal with it. When you feel it, it’s how you deal with it.

Q: NBA players have tremendous pressure on them during the playoffs. If they play well, their futures will be successful. If they don’t, their stars will fall.

Bryant: You just give it your best. You prepare yourself as well as you can. You go out there and execute as well as you can. Then you sleep at night. That’s all. Then you get up the next day and do the same thing. Keep it simple.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Take Game 2 of L.A.’s title bout with the Boston Celtics, for example. After the Lakers took it in the shorts, she started telling friends that she was worried her father, team owner Jerry Buss, already had a deal with assistant coach Brian Shaw to coach the Lakers next season.

“She was worried there was already a deal in place,” explains my impeccable source deep, deep, deep within the Lakers’ inner sanctum, wherever that cave is.

“Everybody is circling like vultures,” said the source, referring to hopefuls Shaw and former NBA coach Byron Scott.

It’s been that way all season, of course. What can you expect if your boyfriend — Lakers coach Phil Jackson — and your father — Southern California’s playboy owner Buss — are the ultimate control freaks?

The two of them have been engaging all year in a tit for tat about whether Jackson will return to coach the team next year.

Buss could have cleared up the situation at any time, but the owner really didn’t want to, as my source explained. “He wants us to remember who’s in control.”

Jackson’s former aides say the same thing about him: The guy is a bitch of a control freak, eager to jump your ass just to show he’s in charge. And while those tendencies were already large for Jackson during his days coaching in Chicago, his ego has ballooned to Thanksgiving Day Macy’s proportions with all the worship and money (better than $12 mil a year) he gets in California.

So all the poor Lakers fans and media have been caught up in a tug of war between these two giant narcissists.

The sign that it might be coming to an end came just this week. No, not at the Lakers evening their series with the Celtics at three games apiece, but in the fact that the Lakers have decided to again raise ticket prices.

A serious Depression has settled up the entertainment industry in L.A., so there’s no way Buss would raise prices with only Brian Shaw as his hole card. “I don’t know how Jerry Buss could raise ticket prices and get everybody (season ticket holders) back next year if he doesn’t have Phil as a coach,” offered the big source, who studies the Lakers’ parlor games and internal divisions up close.

Jackson will try to get the last little twist in their control game by taking as much as a month to announce he’s coming back for another shot. He’ll have a hard time, though, because Buss is determined to get him to take a pay cut, right after supposedly paying him yet an additional $2 million bonus if Jackson wins the title.

That remains a decent-sized IF heading into tonight’s Game 7.

Jackson hasn’t had much fun goosing Buss lately because the Zen Master has had his hands full coaching against these Celtics in the playoffs. “Phil has been resolutely focused on getting through this series,” says the deep insider.

The inner circle can’t think of a more out-of-whack series since 2000 when Rasheed Wallace led Portland in coughing up a huge lead against L.A. in Game 7 of the Western Finals. There’s substantial delight in Jackson’s group in contemplating the fact that Rasheed’s tank job in that game was the thing that jump-started his Lakers dynasty.

They all say, thank you, Sheed. And they won’t mind at all if you go ahead and play a role in assuring a Lakers’ win this Game 7 too.

As for Brian Shaw, everyone in and around the inner sanctum is used to his incessant self-promotion, so nobody sees this thing as horrific disloyalty to Phil, the insider explained. “Brian Shaw has been out for Brian Shaw ever since he joined the staff… He’s always looking to improve his position.”

Excuse me, but that describes just about all assistant coaches in the entire realm. The NBA pays its head coaches millions while its assistants get plumber’s wages. So who can blame BS?

Even without Jeanie’s Shaw assumption, there’s abundant drama in this Game 7, with both Jackson and Boston coach Doc Rivers potentially coaching their last games for their respective teams.

The even money says that Jackson returns in L.A., that Jerry Buss, long a skeptic about Jackson’s approach, has been made a believer this season, watching him make things work.

Perhaps, perhaps. But let’s not forget how crazy things have gotten this season every time the Lakers lose. And, hey, these are the Celtics. They lead the world in making the Lakers loony.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

To celebrate that time when all the ghosts were finally sent packing in Boston Garden, I’m posting this excerpt from The Show, my oral history of the Lakers published by McGraw-Hill.

BREAKTHROUGH

Unfortunately, the Lakers couldn’t get out of town after the 1984 Finals, a series that had brought the franchise an eighth championship defeat at the hands of the Celtics without a single victory. They had to spend one more night in their hotel, trapped inside of Boston with the Celtic blues again. Needless to say, it was a sleepless night. Owner Jerry Buss chain-smoked. Michael Cooper spent the time in deep and miserable mourning sequestered in his room with his wife, Wanda. Coach Pat Riley quickly put away the white tuxedo he had planned to wear for the championship celebration and began thinking about next year.

Joined by his friends Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre, Magic Johnson talked the night away. About music. Cars. Old times. Anything but the series. Occasionally the conversation would drift that way, but they’d steer it away. He had not played well, and the loss was too tender a subject.

Isiah Thomas: “We talked until the morning came, but we never talked about the game much. For that one night I think I was his escape from reality.”

Early the next day Kareem had agreed to appear on the CBS morning news.

Josh Rosenfeld, former Lakers PR man: “When we showed up at the studio, Cedric Maxwell was there. The producer’s idea was to have Cedric and Kareem on together. We were there about 10 minutes, and Cedric was sitting across from Kareem. Cedric had said a lot of things during the series. Kareem asked the producer, ‘Is he on first, or am I on first?’ She said, ‘Oh, no, we want the two of you on together.’ Kareem got up and very politely said, ‘Thank you for inviting me. I can’t do that.’ This poor girl, the producer, she was frantic. She was in tears. She followed us out to the limo and said, ‘We can reformat the show. You can go on after Maxwell.’ Kareem said, ‘No, I’m not in the mood anymore, but thank you.’ Then he explained to me, ‘Maxwell accused Worthy of choking. I can’t be seen on national TV with him. It would be offensive to my teammates.’”

The Lakers’ humiliation would remain for months. Johnson returned to California, where he was set to move into his new Bel-Air mansion, only the furniture hadn’t arrived. His palace sat as empty as his heart, so he hid out for three days in his Culver City apartment. His mother, Christine, phoned to see how he was doing. He told her he just couldn’t talk about it.

Yet everywhere he turned there seemed to be something to read about it. The Celtics were having fun with their victory. McHale even dubbed him “Tragic Johnson.” Asked about the 1984-85 season, Bird said of the Lakers, “I’d like to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves. I’m sure they have guys who feel they didn’t play up to their capabilities.” Asked if he meant Magic, Bird replied, “You think we don’t love it? Magic having nightmares [about his poor play].”

Johnson retorted that he had no need for redemption.

Even worse than the Celtic cockiness was the trashing Johnson took from the LA newspapers. “I sat back when it was over,” he said later, “and I thought, Man, did we just lose one of the great play-off series of all time, or didn’t we? This was one of the greatest in history. Yet all you read was how bad I was.”

Michael Cooper: “Magic has had his trials and tribulations throughout his entire NBA career. That’s the thing I’ve always admired about him. He’s always met them head-on and conquered them to the best of his ability.”

His meeting this Celtics challenge began when the Lakers returned to Palm Springs for training camp that fall.

Byron Scott: “When we walked on the floor that first day of camp, we saw it in everybody’s eyes. This was going to be a serious year.”

Especially for Riley.

Gary Vitti, longtime Laker trainer: “Pat was screwed down pretty tight, like a spring. And it escalated from there.”

Byron Scott: “Riles made us aware of exactly what he wanted. He let us know from day one, ‘I’m gonna work you from the first day of camp to the last day of the play-offs.’ He didn’t let up. That’s the main reason we kept going all year, because we had a coach who wouldn’t let us stop.”

Riley later explained that his team’s psyche was fragile. They had won two championships on their talent, but the Celtics had challenged them with psychological warfare in 1984 and won. The Lakers would have to either form as a team and fight back or fall apart.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “That first series that we gave them in ‘84 really seasoned us. It gave us the mental tenacity that we didn’t always exhibit. We couldn’t outrun everybody. We had to understand that sometimes there were other ways to skin the cat.”

It was something that Paul Westhead had lost his job trying to tell them.

By the 1985 play-offs the Lakers had regained their composure and their strength. The frontcourt was bolstered by the return of Mitch Kupchak and Jamaal Wilkes to go with Kareem, Worthy, Rambis, McAdoo, and Larry Spriggs. The backcourt showed Magic, Scott, Cooper, and McGee. As a group, they were driven by their ‘84 humiliation.

“Those wounds from last June stayed open all summer,” Riley said as the play-offs neared. “Now the misery has subsided, but it never leaves your mind completely. Magic is very sensitive to what people think about him, and in his own mind I think he heard those questions over and over again to the point where he began to rationalize and say, ‘Maybe I do have to concentrate more.’ I think the whole experience has made him grow up in a lot of ways.”

After all, Johnson was a mere 25, and at a time when most pro players were just beginning to feel comfortable in the game, he already owned two championship rings. Across pro basketball, observers sensed that he was about to add to his jewelry collection. The Celtics, however, were conceding nothing. With a 63-19 regular-season finish, they had again claimed the home-court advantage. The Lakers had finished 62-20. And neither team  dallied in the play-offs. Boston dismissed Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadel- phia in quick succession. The Lakers rolled past Phoenix, Portland, and Denver.

For the first time in years, the Finals returned to a 2-3-2 format, with the first two games in Boston, the middle three in Los Angeles, and the last two, if necessary, back in Boston. The situation set up an immense opportunity for the Lakers to steal one in the Garden, then pressure the Celtics back in Los Angeles.

Yet on the eve of the Finals they were struck by old doubts.

James Worthy: “We really weren’t sure of ourselves. We got back to the Finals and said, ‘Golly, we got the Celtics again. How’re we gonna do it?’ We just came out and played like a bunch of women, really. Didn’t have any aggressiveness. No killer instinct. We paid the price for it.”

Which was one final, profound embarrassment. Game 1 opened on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, with both teams cruising on five days’ rest. The Lakers, however, quickly took on the appearance of guys who had just come off two weeks on the graveyard shift. The 38-year-old Kareem, in particular, slogged up and down the court, while Boston center Robert Parish seemed to glide. Often Kareem would just be reaching the top of the key to catch up to the play when all of a sudden the action raced the other way. He finished the day with 12 points and three rebounds. And Johnson had only one rebound. Meanwhile the famed Showtime running game had been slowed to a belly crawl.

And the Celtics?

They placed a huge red welt on the Lakers’ scar from the previous year, 148-114. Scott Wedman hit 11 for 11 from the floor, including four three-pointers. Danny Ainge fired in six straight buckets at the end of the first quarter to finish the period with 15 points. “It was one of those days,” Boston coach K. C. Jones said, “where if you turn around and close your eyes, the ball’s gonna go in.”

Abruptly, the Celtics quieted their trash talking, as if they sensed that they had gone too far. They hadn’t expected it to be this easy. And the last thing they wanted to do was rile the Lakers. “It’s definitely time to back off,” Maxwell said. “It’s not like backgammon or cribbage, where if you beat someone bad enough you get two wins.”

But it was too late. The teams didn’t play again until Thursday, and there was an uneasy air in Boston despite the big win.

The next morning in the Lakers’ film sessions, Kareem moved to the front row, rather than recline in the farther reaches as he usually did. And he didn’t blink when Riley ran and reran the gruesome evidence of his terrible performance. In fact, the captain went to each of his teammates later and personally apologized for his effort.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “That horrible game, the Memorial Day Massacre. That was mainly me. I remember watching the film of that game. The camera would follow the ball, and I would always be at the back of the pack. I’d be out of camera range, always bringing up the rear. I realized I simply wasn’t keeping up with the play. I had worn down over the course of the playoffs. So we had like three days before we played. The massacre was on Sunday, and we didn’t play again until Thursday. And I did like a mini training camp. I just made myself get my cardiovascular back to where it should be. I told everybody, I promised, that whatever happened on the next game I would give my best, whatever that was. Pat was trying to accommodate me minute-wise, but I don’t get into shape unless I work myself into shape. I got to play. So the more time I spent on the bench, it really wasn’t getting the job done. We needed a different way of approaching it.”

James Worthy: “A lot of the discussion was pointed at Kareem. But it was all of us, because none of us played well. But he was our leader.”

“He made a contract with us that it would never happen again. Ever,” Riley said later. “That game was a blessing in disguise. It strengthened the fiber of this team. Ever since then, Kareem had this took, this air, about him.”

James Worthy: “That set the tone. That game was the turning point in Laker history, I think. We came back strong and Kareem led the way. Riley, too. He stepped forward. It was the turning point in his career, too. He took his coaching to another level. It brought the last development of his coaching technique. It was to utilize all aspects. After that particular game it wasn’t pretty. It was factual. It was the truth, and it was presented to us in a way we couldn’t deny. We had to go out and do something about it.”

As the second game approached, the Lakers knew exactly what they had to do. “Our break starts with good, tough defense,” Rambis said. “That forces teams out of their offense. Then we must control the boards. That’s where the work comes in. If we do those two things, the fast break is the easiest part.”

Before Game 2 on Thursday, Kareem went to Riley and asked if his father, Al Alcindor, could ride on the team bus to the Garden. Riley consented and thought of his own father.

Gary Vitti: “Pat talked about when he was a little boy. His big brothers would take him down to the playground. He was the smallest guy out there, and he’d get beat up every day and go home crying. They’d take him home, and his father would say, ‘Take Pat back down there tomorrow.’ And the big brothers would say, ‘Dad, the guy’s getting beat up.’ His father said, ‘Take him back. At some point, you gotta plant your feet, kick some ass, and make a stand.’”

Just before he died, the elder Riley had reminded his son that to survive you had to make that stand. Riley recalled those words to his players in his pregame talk. It was time, he said, to make a stand.

Gary Vitti: “That’s why Pat is what he is today, those types of influences. Riles is an inspiring guy. I mean after hearing him, I wanted to go out there and kick some ass, too.”

And the Lakers did. Kareem, in particular, reasserted himself with 30 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks. Cooper hit eight of nine from the floor to finish with 22 points. And just like that, the Lakers evened the series, 109-102. Best of all, they had stolen a game in the Garden and now returned to the Forum for three straight.

“They expected us to crawl into a hole,” Lakers assistant Dave Wohl said of the Celtics. “It’s like the bully on the block who keeps taking your lunch money every day. Finally you get tired of it and you whack him.”

They hosted the Celtics on Sunday afternoon and really whacked ‘em again, returning the favor of Game 1, 136-111. This time Worthy was the man, with 29 points. But Kareem’s presence was felt again, too. He had 26 points and 14 rebounds.

At one point, Boston had led, 48-38, but Worthy dominated the second quarter and Los Angeles charged to a 65-59 edge at intermission. The Lakers ran away in the second half, during which Kareem became the league’s all-time leading play-off scorer with 4,458 points.

Bird, meanwhile, had fallen into a two-game shooting slump, going 17 for 42. He had been troubled by a chronically sore right elbow and bad back, although some speculated his real trouble was Cooper’s defense.

As with ‘84, the series was marked by physical play, although this time it was the Lakers who gained an edge. “We’re not out to physically harm them,” Kareem offered. “But I wouldn’t mind hurting their feelings.” Before Game 4, the NBA’s vice president of operations, Scotty Stirling, warned each coach that fighting and extra rough play would be met with fines and suspensions. Riley told his players of Stirling’s warning, but K. C. Jones chose not to. With their uninhibited play, the Celtics stayed in it, and the game came down to one final possession. Bird had the ball but faced a double-team, so he dumped it off to D. J. above the foul line. From there, Johnson drilled the winner with two seconds left. Boston had evened the series and regained its home-court advantage, 107-105.

Game 5 two nights later in the Forum was another showdown. The Lakers went on a 14-3 run at the close of the half to take a 64-51 lead. They stretched it to 89-72 after intermission, until the Celtics closed to within four at 101-97 with six minutes left. But Magic hit three shots and Kareem added four more, giving him 36 on the day, as the Lakers walked away with a 3-2 lead, 120-111.

“People didn’t think we could win close games,” Johnson said afterward.

From there it went back to Boston. Lakers GM Jerry West didn’t dare make the trip for fear of spooking the proceedings. Across the country old Lakers held their breath and watched the tube. After eight painful losses, this seemed to be the best chance yet to end Boston’s domination. The Celtics would have to win the final two games. With a mere 38 hours’ rest between games, that just didn’t seem possible.

Kareem was there again, this time with 29 points, 18 of them in the second half when it mattered. The score was tied at 55 at intermission.

Kareem sat much of the second period in foul trouble while Mitch Kupchak did admirable work as a backup. The Celtics had played only seven people in the first half, and Magic could see that they were tired. It was written on their faces. Riley told him to keep pushing it at them, not to worry about turnovers. Just keep up the pressure.

He did.

And the Celtics did something they had never ever done before. They gave up a championship on their home floor, on the hallowed parquet, 111-100. Boston forward Kevin McHale had kept them alive with 36 points, but he got his sixth foul with more than five minutes left. And, thanks in part to Cooper’s defense, Larry Bird was closing out a 12-for-29 afternoon. “I thought I’d have a great game today,” he said afterward.

In the end, the Lakers’ victory was signaled by the squeaking of sneakers in the deathly quiet Garden as the crowd slipped away. It was the same crowd that had so riotously jostled the Lakers the year before.

“We made ‘em lose it,” Johnson said with satisfaction.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: “They fought as dirty as they could until they realized they were gonna lose. Then they came back with Celtic pride and all this crap. Being able to shut those people up in Boston Garden, that was so satisfying. Even though we came back to LA and lost a game, we didn’t lose any momentum. That was the first year where James really just started to dominate. He just emerged in such a spectacular, wonderful way. It was a nice thing to see. He could finish the break and he could post up. He was just so versatile. And we had Mitch Kupchak and Bob McAdoo on the bench. It was just great stuff.”

Kareem was named the MVP. “He defies logic,” Riley said of the 38-year-old Laker center. “He’s the most unique and durable athlete of our time, the best you’ll ever see. You better enjoy him while he’s here.”

Johnson’s trophy was the sweet redemption he had said he didn’t need. “You wait so long to get back,” he admitted afterward. “A whole year. That’s the hard part. But that’s what makes this game interesting. It’s made me stronger. You have to deal with the different situations and see if you can come back.”

For Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss, the celebration was quieter and very personal.

Jerry Buss: “The Garden was nearly empty with the reporters taking notes in the locker rooms and writing their stories.  Hampton Mears, one of my old friends, and I slipped out to the center of the Garden parquet. We giggled and exchange high fives. The most odious sentence in all of sport — the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics— wasn’t true anymore.”

From the Garden, the Lakers retreated to their hotel, where at last Riley got to celebrate in his white tuxedo from the year before.

The team’s next business was to vote on Pres. Ronald Reagan’s invitation to visit the White House. If the coaches hadn’t cast ballots, too, the team might have passed. It was a close vote, but the ‘85 champions visited the presidential quarters. They were tossed about on a bumpy flight into Washington, but once there Kareem and Riley had a nice chat with Mr. Reagan. Then it was on to LA.

Byron Scott: “We wanted to get back home to party with our families and friends.”

Across the country, old Lakers felt a weight lifted.

Pat Riley: “All those Celtic skeletons came out of the closet.”

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

All good Lakers fans worth their salsa know about the balloons.

Game 7, 1969 NBA Finals. The Lakers have lost six NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics, but for the first time in the history of the rivalry the L.A. guys have home-court advantage. Game 7 is being played in the Forum.

Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke is so sure that his team is finally going to win a title that he orders the rafters filled with balloons. As soon as the Lakers win, Cooke wants the balloons released as his pep band plays “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

Celtics player/coach Bill Russell walks into the Forum before the game, looks up in the rafters and says, “Those balloons are gonna stay up there a hell of a long time.”

To this day, Jerry West remains furious over Cooke’s blunder. The owner had ceded the emotional edge to Russell and his Celtics, who promptly sealed the Lakers in their private hell despite West’s furious effort with 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.

The moment revealed two seriously important truths about championship play in American professional basketball:

1) Emotion is the huge factor because it drives focus. The team that finds a deep emotional edge in the championship series is going to win, forget what should happen.

2) You better watch what you say in the Lakers/Celtics rivalry because it all sticks around forever. You could be eating your own trash talk for decades.

Now, there remains a long way to go in this series, which the Lakers lead 2-1 heading into tonight’s Game 4, but there’s absolutely no question that Pierce, the outspoken Celtics forward, presented the Lakers with a huge emotional edge when he announced after Boston won Game 2 in Los Angeles that the series was headed to Boston and wouldn’t be returning to L.A. for the sixth or seventh games.

His meaning, of course, was that the Celtics were going to win all three games on their home floor to take the title, four games to one. Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Hill heard the comment and couldn’t wait to pose the question to Lakers guard Derek Fisher on camera.

“Your reaction to Paul Pierce saying that the series is not coming back to LA?”

You can see the whole sequence in the excellent Fisher highlight video put together by up-and-coming producer Chris Manning ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hShtVQxuJQ ).

Fisher, the emotional leader of the Lakers, says nothing in response to Hill’s question. He simply stares with indignation.

If there’s any question about the depth of Fisher’s anger over Pierce’s comment and other insults from the Lakers, you need look no further than the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the series, when Fisher personally closed out a pivotal win for Los Angeles.

Now, the emotional and motivational power of Pierce’s words has become all too clear for the Celtics.

It’s true. The series could end in Boston — with Los Angeles taking all three games played in the Garden.

You’ll never hear Lakers players express anything close to that notion, yet there is no question that the insult drives their focus in the series. Fisher was answering post-game questions for the TV cameras immediately after Game 3 when he changed gears and began talking about Game 4.

Manning’s video also offers a scene from the ESPYs with the Celtics gloating over their 2008 humiliation of the Lakers in the championship series. The camera quickly cuts to a stone-faced Fisher, sitting in the audience.

There is a deep, deep reserve of emotion driving Fisher and his Lakers in this series.

The Celtics realize that all too well now. That’s why Boston coach Doc Rivers has stepped up his media complaints that the officials allowed Fisher to be too physical defensively in Game 3. The counterpoint to that, of course, is that Fisher has to move through the series of moving and brush screens that the Celtics set for Ray Allen every time down the floor.

So, in addition to an emotional war, the championship series is a public relations battle, with either side willing to pay the league fines for criticizing the officiating this time of year.

Boston minority owner Jim Pallotta reportedly went off on Commissioner David Stern over the officiating immediately after Game 3. Expect to see a hefty fine for Pallotta and possibly Rivers. If they can sway the officiating of the series, it will be money well spent.

Too bad they can’t come up with some strategy to erase Pierce’s fool-hardy boast. If the Lakers can ride the emotional tide to the superior kind of focus that allows them to out-rebound and out-defend the Celtics in Game 4, they’ll take a 3-1 lead and put huge pressure on Boston.

There’s no question that proving Pierce a good prophet is just the kind of motivation Fisher craves. He doesn’t have to say a word to confirm that.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon recently released by ESPN Books.

On the good side for the Lakers, they’re older and wiser. They now have Ron Artest to help them defend Boston’s Paul Pierce, who is a major load.

And James Posey, Leon Powe and Eddie House no longer anchor Boston’s bench. They’ve been replaced by Tony Allen, Rasheed Wallace and little Nate Robinson.

More important for Boston is the growth of Rajon Rondo as a point guard. He’s fantastic and should cause Los Angeles plenty of trouble. Then again, the Lakers have played against an array of talented point guards in the Western playoffs and should have some confidence that they can at least stay in the gym with Rondo as Kobe Bryant will slip over and help teammate Derek Fisher deal with that headache.

But the things that worried Tex Winter then still play on my mind. Boston’s half-court defense is excellent, and their frontcourt still has the muscle to intimidate the Lakers.

Back in 2008, Tex told me that the Lakers couldn’t play well against the Celtics in the half court, that they needed to run, to get into the open court to have a chance to score more before Boston’s defense set up and smothered them. Some folks might think that’s funny, coming from Winter, the architect of the triangle offense.

Winter’s favorite method of attack is largely his controlled, half-court offense that stresses floor balance, spacing and team play. But he had always allowed for a break in his system, and he liked to use it when circumstances called for it.

Against the Celtics, circumstances scream for it.

He told me in 2008 that he thought Lakers coach Phil Jackson waited too long to try to get the break going. The Celtics got control of the series and the Lakers never recovered.

Of course, there was this other little problem. To run, you’ve got to be able to rebound, to get the ball and get it out and go.

The Lakers couldn’t win the battle against Boston’s frontcourt. The Celtics kept them bottled up for the series and wound up humiliating them.

Lakers forward Pau Gasol has stated many times this season the importance of rebounding. He knows what it means now. If the Lakers can win the rebound game with the Celtics, they should win the series in six or seven games. If they can’t win it, they’re going to have to come down the floor each time and play against that impressive Boston defense.

The Lakers do not want to do that.

Thus, the battle for the boards will be fierce and could well determine the champion this year. It’s obvious that Phil Jackson wants to do everything he can with his commentary to get Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins to back off their physical play.

If the Celtics can control the boards and the tempo, they have a chance to win even though the matchups elsewhere are a mixed bag. Of course, rebounding is a team issue. The guards will have to do their part on both sides. Bryant and Rondo, in particular, have gotten to the ball a lot in these playoffs. They will join in the battle for the boards.

So it’s down to Pat Riley’s adage from the days of Showtime: No rebounds, no rings. Lamar Odom must be aggressive for the Lakers. And Jackson has to hope that Andrew Bynum can play through his injured knee to have an impact.

Bryant obviously is another huge factor. He is playing the best basketball of his life, less athletic, wiser. In a way, his knee injury and other ailments have been a blessing for the Lakers. Those things mean he usually hasn’t tried to do too much. If he gets impatient and tries to win it all and attack the Celtic defense off the dribble, he’ll play right into Boston’s hands this time around.

Obviously, Game 1 and 2 are huge. The Lakers were humiliated by Boston in 2008, and if they fail to hold home court in the first two games, their doubts will grow through the series. On the other hand, that humiliation could steel the Lakers’ resolve.

Either way, hopes are high for a classic series, one that folks will remember for years to come.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

Can Rondo prolong the careers of the Big Three? Garnett just turned 34, Pierce 33 in Oct, + Allen 35 in July. Prolly not much past this year.

Note: Question should include Doc Rivers? Can the rewards of coaching Rondo keep him in the job?

Dwight Howard has gotten better in the post, but the truth? He’s still a year or two away, and that’s if he works insanely hard.

But his post play has been one of the glaring weaknesses for the Magic. Hell, post play has been a glaring weakness for the league. Teams that have it fare well. Teams that don’t ultimately get embarrassed. Want to win, LeBron? Get yo ass in the posts. Don’t believe me? Ask MJ.

Watching Celts/ORL is like watching 1 of those horror flicks where the monsters pull out the victims’ hearts and eat ‘em raw. It’s bloody.

This offseason is the grandest game of pickup basketball in the history of hoops. Who knows how to pick a side? Gonna take mucho smarts.

Now’s the time for young free agents. It’s pickup. Get your team together and u can play Bill Russell for a decade. Hesitate + lose. Pickup.

I don’t think Jerry Buss will sit with a pat hand after the season, but you have to wonder because he isn’t rushing to sign up Phil Jackson. That’s letting personal get in the way of business.

Celts’ message to LeBron + others: Don’t waste time; band together; build a force. It’s pickup. Get your team together. Can’t do it alone.

Truth: If Michael Jordan had been a free agent with the power to pick his own team, he’d have Joe Wolf + other UNC blood. Gotta be careful in pickup.

Truth: MJ is lucky he had Jerry Krause helping him play pickup, even though Krause was far from perfect and pretty whack a lot of times.

Some years the playoffs go on and on like a bad joke. This feels like one of those years, but we’re all hoping for a great punch line June 1

Jerry Sloan says it’s a simple game if you lay your heart on the line every night. What happens when a team like Boston takes your heart?

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.

LeBron James’ management team, led by his former teammate Maverick Carter, has officially announced that his decision on which team he picks as a free agent this summer will be based entirely on the opportunity to win championships.

Money will not be an issue for LeBron James. Repeat, money will not be an issue.

That should be great news for the Los Angeles Lakers, because no team has had success over the past decade like the guys in Forum Blue and Gold and their coach, Phil Jackson.

Nothing more dramatically points out just how badly team owner Jerry Buss needs to dispense with all this drama about Jackson’s status.

Not only does James badly want to join a winning organization, but he sorely needs a coach who will not hesitate to coach him.

PJ will not hesitate to coach him. Only a person like “ten rings,” as he is called in Lakers online circles, can truly stand up to James and coach him like any supremely talented player needs to be coached.

Critics have long crowed that the main reason Jackson has always won is that he has always coached the best.

Well, here’s the bare and harsh truth. There are so many ass kissers and uncertain creatures populating the ranks of coaching and management today in the NBA that it’s hard to find someone who can do what needs to be done and say what needs to be said.

Jackson is that rare guy who can coach a superstar. It is the bedrock of Jackson’s rare and special ability.

Tex Winter was a retired college coach with a great career record when he came to the Chicago Bulls in 1985 to help coach a young Michael Jordan. Winter, who has never backed down from aggressively coaching stars and role players alike, once told me how intimidated he felt the first time he watched Jordan in practice.

Once he got over that sense of intimidation, Winter was the kind of guy who wouldn’t hesitate to get on Jordan about any little detail, from fundamentals like his chest passing to team things like ball movement. Winter often spoke of how he admired Jackson’s ability to work with and coach the game’s very best. In that sense, Jackson and Winter used to feed off each other. That’s what made them so special. They actually coached the superstars.

But the NBA is a players’ league and its best players, especially the elite players like James,  have long intimidated those around them. That’s why their coaching staffs become coddlers and their personal managers become Yes Men.

LeBron James is on just such an island right now. He’s 25 and has just come off the most disastrous season of his career. He must make an excellent choice as a free agent. Very much is as stake. He and Carter know that they face wasting his immense talent if they have many more seasons like 2010.

All of which means Lakers owner Jerry Buss needs to drop the mind games he is playing with Jackson and offer the coach the contract he deserves. If he can’t offer a contract immediately, Buss could still quell all the media speculation by reassuring Jackson and Lakers fans that the coach will be welcomed and rewarded for his work.

There has been talk that Buss wants Jackson to take a substantial pay cut from his humongous $12 million a year salary. Jackson has already indicated he’ll make concessions.

These two giant egos — coach and owner — need to settle their differences so that the Lakers can compete for James. Signing such a player would obviously secure the franchise’s future.

Yes, the Lakers are about to return to the NBA Finals for a highly challenging series against the Boston Celtics.

But the future is now for Buss as well as it is for LeBron James. Lakers fans can only hope the owner is too smart to let his cool relationship with Jackson get in the way of securing a once-in-a-lifetime player like James.

Buss already has a once-in-a-lifetime coach. Perhaps the team owner will wake up during these playoffs and realize that.

Roland Lazenby is the author of Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.