I know I'm in the minority, but that game and shot are completely meaningless to me since we didn't go on to win the O'Brien.
It's not meaningless to me because 1) I love D-Fish and 2) It's one of the most memorable playoff games of all time. Sure we didn't win it all that season, but the end of that game is one of the greatest endings in sports history. Just a phenomenal clash of great teams.
Oh. I know I'm in the minority. It was an amazing game. I have had a problem with that since I was a little kid. I would actually classify it as a psychological issue for myself. Growing up playing soccer, no matter how well I did, or even how well our team did, if we weren't the winner of the league or the winner of the tournament, it just felt like a failure. Almost to the point where I'd wonder what the point of playing in a tournament was if we couldn't win it. I have obviously tempered that significantly as I've gotten older, but when it comes to the Lakers, first and second round exits are a complete waste if we are a legit contender (I know, I know. Experience, cohesion are vital). But if you asked me to choose between losing in the Finals or having a dreadful season and getting a top 3 pick, I might choose to get the top 3 pick. It sounds crazy...but there it is. A window into my soul.
I'd take losing in the Finals. It hurts like hell, but when I look back I can say "well we got this far and we needed that one break to get us there and it didn't work out". I'd take the 03/04 season where Malone gets hurt over the last two years and I wouldn't need a second to finish that decision. I hate losing to, but more than that I love competing. If I lost, but I gave every bit of myself I'm understanding of the loss. If my team losses, but we did everything within our power to win then I'm alright with that. If we're losing and people are slacking off, I'm going to say something. If I feel like I could have done more and we lost I drive myself crazy and make conscious efforts not to go down that same path again.
I remember so clearly watching this game as a kid. I think I was about 11 or so and I was going crazy after Fish hit that shot. Losing in the finals absolutely sucked, especially when I thought we would beat the Pistons no problem. However, looking back it's not surprising at all how things ended. We were really top heavy and when Malone went down we didn't have anyone to back him up. With all that said re watching that game made me realize how much I miss watching the Lakers play in a competitive playoff game.
We actually had Ho Grant to back up Malone and he was hurt as well. We were playing our 3rd stringer (Slava) against Sheed. Kobe and Shaq probably hated each other more at that point than at any time in their history.
Watching this game last night made me think of something that brought me great sadness...... Kobe may never get to play in a playoff game again and that's so sad to me because Kobe gets up for all the games he plays in but during the playoffs its special. Its win or go home time and I just want to be able to see Kobe play in that kind of environment again.
