Spring Break
Brown finally won his first championship 'the right way'
Joby Martin
Issue date: 7/9/04 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
Shakespeare couldn't have written this one any better.
The script was supposed to be written for Karl Malone and Gary Payton, who were facing perhaps their last chance to capture the NBA title that has eluded them throughout their combined 33 years in the league.
These veterans had paid their dues, having already cemented their hall-of-fame status. They deserved it.
By the time the series was over, one thing was clear -- no one deserved it more than Larry Brown.
The Los Angeles Lakers, with four Hall of Famers in their starting line-up, had been bested by the Detroit Pistons and their soft-spoken genius of a coach.
The Lakers had rampaged through the Western Conference playoffs, dismissing the defending champion San Antonio Spurs and handling the Minnesota Timberwolves with relative ease. They stood like giants, facing what everyone thought was an inferior opponent. No team in the Eastern Conference would be able to compete with this juggernaut of a basketball team, or so it seemed.
But the commentators and the pundits and the guys sitting in sports bars did not consider the collective will of the Detroit Pistons. They depreciated the masterpieces that Brown is able to paint with merely X's and O's. The Los Angeles Lakers knew nothing of selflessness; the Pistons defined it.
But Brown knew something that the national media didn't. He knew how to win "the right way." He knew the Lakers lacked chemistry and cohesiveness. He knew the Lakers wouldn't play defense for 48 minutes. He knew that his team had too many scoring options for the Lakers to stop. He knew exactly how he was going to win his first ever NBA title after all these years.
This was substance over style. The Motor City defeats Hollywood. It was almost like David and Goliath with the 7-foot-3, 370 pound Shaquille O'Neal playing the role of the giant perfectly.
But this giant wasn't only slain, it was completely obliterated. If not for a near-miraculous shot by Kobe Bryant in game two, this series would have been a sweep. The aftermath of these finals has left Lakers' coach Phil Jackson without a job, Bryant becoming a free agent, O'Neal demanding to be traded and Malone contemplating retirement.
On the other sideline, Brown had gotten what he had wanted so badly - a ring.
There was simply nothing left for him to achieve. This man has done it all.
He played for one of the greatest coaches of all time, Dean Smith, at North Carolina. He was an all-star point guard who won an Olympic gold medal. He won a NCAA National Championship with Kansas.
He's coached 21 years in the NBA and has already been voted into the Hall-of-Fame. This summer he will be coaching the latest incarnation of the Dream Team in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
His resume is now complete. He will no longer carry the reputation of being the best coach to never win the big one. Finally, he had won the big one.
Throughout all of this, Brown has been fueled by one thing: his love for the game of basketball. Brown is almost like the Eisenhower of the hardwood, seeing value in "strategery" (as President Bush calls it). No one knows better than he that most games are won on the chalkboard, that schemes and systems and tactics can trump physical ability on any day of the week. He coaches basketball "the right way."
That is why Brown left the Sixers, because that team was simply not playing "the right way."
Brown was always tormented by Allen Iverson's insistence to not only be the first scoring option, but the only scoring option.
His work ethic is polar opposite to that of the out-of-shape and oft injured Derrick Coleman.
The Sixers were no longer a Larry Brown-type team.
Philadelphia fans can hold a grudge if they want to, and it seems they always do. Usually I'm no different, except this man has paid every due there is to pay. This championship ring symbolized the completion of the one of the greatest coaching careers of all time, in any sport, at any level. It was simply meant to happen.
It took Brown 21 years to win an NBA Championship. Frank Sinatra did it "My Way", Larry Brown did it "the right way."
Joby Martin is a sophomore majoring in communications.
The script was supposed to be written for Karl Malone and Gary Payton, who were facing perhaps their last chance to capture the NBA title that has eluded them throughout their combined 33 years in the league.
These veterans had paid their dues, having already cemented their hall-of-fame status. They deserved it.
By the time the series was over, one thing was clear -- no one deserved it more than Larry Brown.
The Los Angeles Lakers, with four Hall of Famers in their starting line-up, had been bested by the Detroit Pistons and their soft-spoken genius of a coach.
The Lakers had rampaged through the Western Conference playoffs, dismissing the defending champion San Antonio Spurs and handling the Minnesota Timberwolves with relative ease. They stood like giants, facing what everyone thought was an inferior opponent. No team in the Eastern Conference would be able to compete with this juggernaut of a basketball team, or so it seemed.
But the commentators and the pundits and the guys sitting in sports bars did not consider the collective will of the Detroit Pistons. They depreciated the masterpieces that Brown is able to paint with merely X's and O's. The Los Angeles Lakers knew nothing of selflessness; the Pistons defined it.
But Brown knew something that the national media didn't. He knew how to win "the right way." He knew the Lakers lacked chemistry and cohesiveness. He knew the Lakers wouldn't play defense for 48 minutes. He knew that his team had too many scoring options for the Lakers to stop. He knew exactly how he was going to win his first ever NBA title after all these years.
This was substance over style. The Motor City defeats Hollywood. It was almost like David and Goliath with the 7-foot-3, 370 pound Shaquille O'Neal playing the role of the giant perfectly.
But this giant wasn't only slain, it was completely obliterated. If not for a near-miraculous shot by Kobe Bryant in game two, this series would have been a sweep. The aftermath of these finals has left Lakers' coach Phil Jackson without a job, Bryant becoming a free agent, O'Neal demanding to be traded and Malone contemplating retirement.
On the other sideline, Brown had gotten what he had wanted so badly - a ring.
There was simply nothing left for him to achieve. This man has done it all.
He played for one of the greatest coaches of all time, Dean Smith, at North Carolina. He was an all-star point guard who won an Olympic gold medal. He won a NCAA National Championship with Kansas.
He's coached 21 years in the NBA and has already been voted into the Hall-of-Fame. This summer he will be coaching the latest incarnation of the Dream Team in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
His resume is now complete. He will no longer carry the reputation of being the best coach to never win the big one. Finally, he had won the big one.
Throughout all of this, Brown has been fueled by one thing: his love for the game of basketball. Brown is almost like the Eisenhower of the hardwood, seeing value in "strategery" (as President Bush calls it). No one knows better than he that most games are won on the chalkboard, that schemes and systems and tactics can trump physical ability on any day of the week. He coaches basketball "the right way."
That is why Brown left the Sixers, because that team was simply not playing "the right way."
Brown was always tormented by Allen Iverson's insistence to not only be the first scoring option, but the only scoring option.
His work ethic is polar opposite to that of the out-of-shape and oft injured Derrick Coleman.
The Sixers were no longer a Larry Brown-type team.
Philadelphia fans can hold a grudge if they want to, and it seems they always do. Usually I'm no different, except this man has paid every due there is to pay. This championship ring symbolized the completion of the one of the greatest coaching careers of all time, in any sport, at any level. It was simply meant to happen.
It took Brown 21 years to win an NBA Championship. Frank Sinatra did it "My Way", Larry Brown did it "the right way."
Joby Martin is a sophomore majoring in communications.
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