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NBA - The Changing of the Guard

By Jeff Daniels
Sunday, May 19th, 2002

The NBA Championship! What's the formula for winning it all in the National Basketball Association? SHAQ, SHAQ, SHAQ, SHAQ, SHAQ! Most experts believe you have to have a big man to win it all. In past years, teams always built their franchise around the man in the middle, the center.

But oh, how times change. Today's game is controlled by guard play. Today's guards are bigger, stronger, and more athletic than they were 20 years ago. This has led to the "guard" becoming the cornerstone in which to build a championship-caliber type team.

History shows us that the great Boston Celtic teams of the '60s had Bill Russell in the middle. Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also helped their respective teams to many titles. The Portland Trail Blazers' only title was won in '77 behind red-head wonder Bill Walton.

There have been a ton of big men that have helped lead their teams' to a championship. Willis Reed and Robert Parrish, the list just goes on and on and on.

Those championships that I just referred to were all won more than 15 years ago. One has to examine the past 12 years to see the "Changing of the Guard."

In 1990, the Pistons won their second title in a row and although they had a quality big man in Bill Laimbeer, it was without doubt the guard play of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars that led them to a title.

The next three years belonged to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (1991-93). I really don't need to get into those three titles. Two words, Michael Jordan, oh yeah, and a guy named Scottie (Pippen).

I know Pippen played small forward, but the offense often times began with him because he was playing the point forward position.

NBA historians had to love the next two titles because they were traditional NBA matchups with traditionally built NBA teams. The Houston Rockets behind a future Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon defeated the Knicks and Patrick Ewing one-year and a young Shaquille O'Neal and the Orlando Magic the second year ('94 and '95).

The next three years once again belonged to the guard. Michael Jordan made his return and once again, the Bulls ran off three straight titles (1996-98).

Meanwhile, the Spurs, behind their twin towers, Tim Duncan and David Robinson, beat Ewing and the Knicks in '99, which brings us to the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. I know, SHAQ, SHAQ, SHAQ, SHAQ, and more SHAQ!

Shaquille O'Neal is the most dominant player in the game but down the stretch, the Lakers are able to win because of Kobe Bryant's ability to break his man down off the dribble and find the open guy. Just ask the San Antonio Spurs. A big man may keep you in the game until the end, but at the end of the game, you had better have a guard that can get a good look or create a good look for a teammate.

The previous two years, Shaq has been the MVP in the Finals, but through the first two rounds of the playoffs Kobe has been the Lakers' most valuable player - again, a guard, not a center.

The Lakers are the only team left in the playoffs that have a dominant big man. The other teams are pretty much guard-driven. Paul Pierce leads the Boston Celtics and we all know that Jason Kidd, my choice for league MVP drives the New Jersey Nets.

Not to be forgotten, Sacramento's best player is Chris Webber, a power forward, but he often times drifts further and further away from the basket as the game goes on. He is not a dominant post player, although he can be for periods at a time. Mike Bibby, Bobby Jackson, Doug Christie, and Peja Stojakovic are the four-headed monster that drives the Kings and late in games, they will have to come up big for the Kings to win with C-Webb often in foul trouble.

This brings us back to the reigning champs. The Lakers, as I mentioned before, are the only team with a dominant inside presence and unfortunately for the rest of the league, they also have one of the top two or three guards in all of basketball in Kobe Bryant.

The Kings and Lakers will probably play some nail-biting games over the next two weeks, but the Lake Show has to have the edge because of Bryant, not O'Neal. Kobe has proven time and time again in the playoffs that late in games he's virtually unstoppable. He has taken over games in an eerily similar way that one Michael Jordan took over games years ago.

Guards are have simply taken over the NBA. They rebound, defend, but most importantly, they control the tempo of the game, especially during crunch time. The Russels', Chamberlains', Ewings' Waltons', and Olwajuwons' have been replaced by the Bryants', Pierces', Bibbys', and the Kidds'.

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