However, since all of the comments, no doubt from Lakers fans, took exception to my article and thought that Gasol’s remarks were warranted, I must strongly disagree.
Were Gasol’s comments true? More than likely, but who really knows?
In Game One of the 1985 NBA Finals, the Lakers lost to the Celtics 148-114. It was called “The Memorial Day Massacre” and was the most lopsided loss in the history of the NBA Finals before the Lakers 2008 Game Six loss to these same Celtics, 131-92.
In 1985, the Lakers, who had lost the previous year in the Finals to Boston and were out for revenge, were thoroughly embarrassed by their abysmal defeat at the hands of their archrival.
38-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could manage only 12 points and three rebounds in his matchup with Robert Parish and apologized to his teammates after the game.
The analysts and commentators had a field day, saying the same things about Abdul-Jabbar that Gasol has said about Kevin Garnett.
I interviewed Abdul-Jabbar earlier in the season, and, when I asked him about the toughest defender he had ever faced, he instantly responded Nate Thurman, not Robert Parish.
Obviously, Abdul-Jabbar just had a bad game—plain and simple. The same as what Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers have said about Garnett’s Game One performance on Thursday.
"Whenever we lose a game, we're too old,” Doc Rivers remarked, “and whenever we win a game, we won because we have great experience. I tend to lean on the second part of that more than I do the first part."
In any case, I guess Abdul-Jabbar took all those comments about being old and over-the-hill to heart because he c...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
