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The reason no one has been willing all season long to acknowledge the Lakers for what they are -- the most overrated team in NBA history -- is the belief that when the postseason arrived, all that playoff experience and pressure-tested talent would magically mesh and march through the opposition. I'm a big proponent of the value of playoff experience, but I'll take a big wait-and-see on this one. The important qualifier is collective playoff experience. Putting together a bunch of guys who know what a Game 7 feels like is all well and good, but it doesn't mean as much when we're talking about different Game 7s. Shaq and Kobe and Gary Payton and Karl Malone all have won a do-or-die playoff game, but they've never done it together. Neither have the Timberwolves' leading trio of Kevin Garnett, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. In both cases, the collective basketball IQ is such that maybe they can figure it out on the fly; it's just never been done before. The closest anyone has come to finding that championship chemistry in short order were the 2002-2003 Spurs, and even they had seven returning players on their roster, padded by veterans such as Steve Kerr and an electrifying talent such as Manu Ginobili. The Wolves' answer in those departments is Trent Hassell and Fred Hoiberg. The Lakers, similarly, offer Luke Walton and Bryon Russell. The Spurs also had the benefit of honing a specific system from the start of the season and incurred no significant injuries. Neither the Lakers nor the Wolves have that going for them, either. Truth is, I heard all the same lofty expectations of Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen, despite similar evidence to the contrary. That's one of several reasons why, if the Lakers or Timberwolves get as far as the Western Conference finals, they will have defied history to do it.
Approximate Word count = 1227
Approximate Pages = 4.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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