Life is cruel, in that success and morality are often on different roads. While fair play is nice, the NBA system allows some wiggle room for unilateral interpretation of just what exactly is "fair". This is why you get 6 fouls. Selective Morality, my Californian friends. The ends justify the means.
Given that the Lakers know the penalty for bashing Duncan and Parker, the decision becomes one of how to spend those fouls. Slapping TP's arm is only going to put him on the line to score more points. Putting him on the floor will make a point.
I can tell LA isn't a hockey town. Hockey fans instinctively know when to abandon the exercise of skill in favor of some USDA-quality Ass Kicking. Right now, Parker beats the Glove off the dribble, and he's thinking "easy basket". If Luke Walton is properly utilized, TP will instead be thinking "I'm gonna get creamed". At this point, he's back to the 14ppg guy we thought he was, and it's 2-2.
If you all plan on signing Kobe back up, this will be a valuable lesson for him. While I bring this up a lot, I really feel that the Lakers need to introduce the Rambis/McHale aspect to this series.
I can recall an NBA Finals series...Boston and LA, in the 80s...I think it was 1984. In game 1, the Lakers simply beat us like government mules. They may have threw 140 points up on us, and most of the highlight reels you see of Lakers clowning Celtics come from that game. It looked like a 4 game sweep was imminent.
Then McHale simply assaulted Rambis on a layup attempt. Nearly took his fool head off. To his credit as a hard-nosed player, Rambis got right up in McHale's face- but it was too late. The message had been sent. I really thought that the still-young Magic was cowed by that play, and you could tell he was remembering it almost every time down the court.
Cedric Maxwell, on the McHale play..."Before Kevin McHale hit Kurt Rambis, the Lakers were just running across the street whenever they wanted," he said. "Now they stop at the corner, push the button, wait for the light, and look both ways."
Boston won that series, and the Lakers eventually brought in Maurice Lucas to kick a little ass for the Lake, and Robert Parish was being Big Manned into the crowd in a LA rout a few years later. You also saw a far more physical Magic afterwards. Detroit- a hockey town- learned that lesson from the TV, and bullied their way to a couple of 1980s NBA titles with Mahorn and Laimbeer. Hell, look at how Riley built the Knicks when he left LA. McHale taught him a valuable lesson with one well-timed flagrant foul on a bit player.
Every action has a reaction, and certain consequences must be weighed and accepted against whatever benefits the action may procure. Ask Kobe.
LA has a whole new set of people now, and it seems that this wisdom has fallen past your younger Lakers. Blame free agency, which shuffles players around, and has robbed Kobe and Shaq of an old vet on the bench who has seen this kind of play before. Jackson, who has rode the Chuck Wagon of Jordan, Shaq and Kobe's simple pre-eminence to a great reputation, seems truly befuddled about how to win without a decided talent advantage. If LA loses, Jackson should be fired before the final game is over.
Malone, who should know better, will also be of no help here. He played for a team that let Jordan skip like a schoolgirl around them in the Finals, and failed to use somebody named Ostertag to introduce MJ to the cruel realities of Selective Morality.
Niccolo Machiavelli
High Above Courtside...
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