Lakers Classic - 1987 Finals, Game 4

From: DY
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 9:33 AM
To: Steve
Subject: Game 4 1987 Finals

Dude,

Overall it actually was a pretty poorly played game in the first half, I don't think I remember it being so turnover ridden and awkward. Terrible shots, the Lakers weren't getting into their patented fast break (I think they said fast break during the broadcast like 52894884 times) and the Celtics were running and getting transition baskets. Seeing them run the clumsy, oafish fast break was like watching an overweight teenager with vertigo play hopscotch... and yet it was somehow effective. Looking back, the Celtics didn't really have the horses to run like that. They started 5 and pretty much played each of those 5 guys the entire game. Seemed like a big coaching error...

Also as much as I love those old Lakers teams, the entire team weighs a
combined 450lbs... I don't they could stand the physical Lakers of today. Certainly Bynum would have some trouble with Kareem, but he was 40 years old at the time of this game. And if you put Ariza on Worthy, LO on AC... hmm maybe this is a discussion for later in the season...

Bullets:

It was nice to see the young, strong, Coach Riley. It's that Riley that I prefer to remember, the one who helmed the blitzkrieging fast break offense of the Lakers. Not the bickering, coat-tail-riding, inventor of brawlsketball style he made famous in New York (emulated by anyone playing against a team with superior talent).

Ainge made attempted a pass in the second quarter that looked like he was literally trying to throw the ball out of the building. I think it landed in the 10th row. He was the least athletic player I have ever seen, but he lit the Lakers up in this game.

How come no one ever does the full blown sky-hook? Kareem would post up on the right side, spin baseline, and hook it and it was almost like a free-throw it was so dependable. Everyone knew exactly where it was going and yet no one could come close to stopping it. Why can't anyone figure that shot out in this day and age?

Greg Kite's takedown of Worthy, made me so upset that 21 years later, I
literally jumped up and yelled when I saw it. For some reason I thought it was Dennis Johnson who pulled him to the ground, but it was Kite who lowballed him. Awful thug play reminiscent of PJ Brown, Perkins, and Posey last year.

James Brown was the sideline reporter!!! A fresh faced new kid in the
media, was 80lbs lighter and 20 years younger... He was good at it too!
Young sideline reports should take notes.

Did you see the hook shot from full court at the end of the first half by Magic? It bounced in and out and no one really made a big deal about it. He was so good at the time, people almost expected a shot like that to fall for him.

Worthy was a FREAK athlete at the time. Same goes for Mychal Thompson.
Just incredible athletes for that day.

Coop gets called for a technical when he shoves McHale. I rewound that
section and it was McHale who was trying to pull Cooper down on that play (classic McHale cheap shot), Coop reacted and got called for the T. I HATE MCHALE AS MUCH TODAY AS I DID 20 YEARS AGO! How do they pay that guy in Minnesota ? He openly makes a trade that helps his REAL team and they continue to pay him. How embarrassing must it be to be the owner of the T-wolves and go to an NBA executive meeting. Do they all hang around in a group and giggle at him as he walks by?

I like how Worthy responds later by rocking McHale to sleep and then
flushing one right in his face. That was awesome.

McHale late in the game pushing AC around, and Byron Scott comes in to
defend his teammate. The more I think about it, AC being celibate (I had to look up the spelling...) in the pre-AIDS 80s on the most popular team in sports was the single most unbelievable thing to happen since biblical miracles. It is like going back to the exact point where the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and finding a house completely untouched. Seriously, fighting the urges against an onslaught of women like that must have been like hitting a bullseye on a dartboard from 60 feet in a hurricane. I just don't know how he did it, and I can't believe we didn't nickname him black Jesus.

The Magic hook shot on the inbounds play looks to me like a broken play.
They got a mismatch on the other side with Worthy against a smaller player and it looked like they wanted to get it to him on the baseline and for him to post up shoot it, or kick it out to the wing. But then Magic was just Magic.

--DY
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From: Steve
Subject: RE: Game 4 1987 Finals
To: DY
Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 10:25 AM

First of all, Robin refused to bet me on the outcome of this game. Do you believe that? Some Celtics fan.

I don't think I've seen this game since it originally aired back in '87. Seen the baby sky hook replayed about a zillion times, but I forgot about all the skirmishes. That Greg Kite is a real son of a bitch. And a funny lookin' son of a bitch at that. What was going on with all the mustaches in 1987? Kite. Bird. Rambis. Even Michael....excuse me - I mean “Mychal” Thompson was rockin' the 'stache in the 80s.

Kareem looked horrible in this game. I don't remember him making a single shot, but every time they showed the scoring tally, there was his name among the game leaders. Where did those points come from? Did I black out during his scoring barrage? I agree that the sky hook was a thing of beauty during Kareem's career, but it seemed like every time he touched the ball in this game, he would turn and throw up that hook and it would just clang off the rim. And God forbid Kareem ever pass the ball during this game, even knowing that he didn't have the hook going for him. Granted the man was about 67 years old at the time, but he just looked awful. I loved the play where Kareem had a turnover and cherry picked at the offensive end of the court for what seemed like about 15 minutes until the Lakers came running back on what turned into a 4 on 1. Kareem set a pick on Dennis Johnson and was surprisingly praised for making a smart play by the horribly un-objective former Celtic Tommy Heinsohn. Guess they didn't notice that Kareem failed to run the floor...or jog the floor...or even walk the floor to go back and play a little defense after the sloppy turnover. He was obviously being judged and praised on his career accomplishments during this game and not on the game itself.

(By the way, Heinsohn was a former Celtics player and Celtics coach and he would eventually go on to be a member of the Celtics broadcast team. So I ask the question - Who the hell put this CBS broadcast team together during the 80s? Whatever happened to assembling a broadcast team with a little bit of objectivity? Why didn't they just hire a couple of guys from Southie to do the game instead? "Aah, that was a wicked haahd foul by Kite. Huge play! Huuuuge play!!")

At any rate, Magic was more consistent with the hook shot in this game. Speaking of the Magic Man, how unbelievable was he? He made every type of shot possible - right and left handed! Hook shots, jumpers, lay-ups, threes, free throws. You name it. The only thing he didn't do was dunk. And I don't recall Magic ever being much of a dunker. For all the flash and glitz he had, dunking was just never his style.

This wasn't exactly Bird's best game ever. He was known to be a helluva passer in his career, but he threw a few passes in this game that were more than a little suspect that went out of bounds completely untouched.

Did you see Bill Walton celebrating on the sideline, giving Greg Kite a very awkward high ten after a Celtics fast break bucket? The first thing I wondered was "okay, so how old is little Luke when this game was going on and what was he doing at the time?"

You're right about the size of the Lakers. They all looked so much smaller than I remembered. Coop and Scott looked like children. And I don't know what happened to Magic. I think sometime during the 90s, the current Magic Johnson ate the 80s Magic Johnson.

The only thing I wish we had while watching this game was the radio broadcast of Chick Hearn and Keith Erickson. That's the way we used to watch these games - with the television muted and a radio blaring Chickie Baby. I miss the old 80s Lakers, but there's a lot to love about these current Lakers too.
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From: DY
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:36 AM
To: Steve
Subject: RE: Game 4 1987 Finals

Dude, and about the white short shorts by the Celtics? There was one point in the game on an inbounds play where the camera was behind a Celtic player and I totally saw his jock strap... not good times... AWFUL times...

As for the time that 90s Magic ate 80s Magic? I think they called that "The Magic Hour"...

--DY
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From: Steve
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:46 AM
To: DY
Subject: RE: Game 4 1987 Finals

You're right! Forgot to mention the shorts! At one point, Bird was getting ready to throw an inbounds pass. Just before the ref handed him the ball, he hiked those suckers so far up his torso it made me cringe. Yikes! No way he was ever able to have children after that masochistic punishment. Between the shorts, the mustaches, and the hairdos, these guys hardly looked like world class athletes. I suppose we're gonna refrain from even mentioning the inordinate number of white dudes on the Celtics. I haven't seen this much black on white since the US Team ran roughshod through the Olympics in China this past summer. I couldn't tell if they were showing a basketball game or the annual GM meetings. There were a few guys on the Celtics bench in warm-ups that never got in the game that had to have been the team's accountants...

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