Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
I must admit I have a soft spot for Phil Jackson. The half-time show of Game 4 with a story on Phil Jackson as a feature reminded me that had I read Phil Jackson's book Sacred Hoops back when I was a sophomore in high school. I loved that book. It really added to my love of basketball. So I gotta give the guy some credit. I mean after all he was just a few games or maybe a few Jordanesque performances away from 10 NBA Championships, and the all-time record for Championship wins by a head coach. But alas it was not to be, at least not this year. The Celitcs cleaned up last night in game 6 with an amazingly dominant performance. They never down shifted out of 5th gear; they just bit the jugular of the Lakers, and then ripped it out. But to me, by game four I knew who was the better team.
Game 1 the Celtics won handily. Game 2 they endured the strongest show of heart the Lakers had to offer. Game 3 they barely lost with a non-existent Paul Pierce and the Lakers' emotional homecoming. Then came Game 4; it was huge, and the definitive point in the series. After that game there was little doubt who would win. Even with the Game 5 loss, a game in which no Celtics showed much heart or poise outside of Paul Pierce but they still had a chance to win, it was still evident that they were clearly the better team.
But back to Game 4, the pivotal game. It exemplified what Phil was talking about on the halftime show of that same game. He quoted the Rudyard Kippling Poem Law of the Jungle; an excerp of which headlines this post. Throughout the series and especially exemplified in Game 4, Pierce was good, but no stronger than his pack. Just simply, The Celtics are better group of ravenous wolves. We all know what Garnett can do (try and forget game 5), and of course Ray Allen was lights out all series long. But have you ever heard of Posey, or House, or Poe? These guys knew how to come up huge when they were needed. Posey has a ring that he got with the Heat in 06; he knows what it takes, and knows his role, and Eddie House figured it out. Take a look at how P.J. Brown contributed especially in Game 2, or how Rajon Rondo persevered through his shortcomings and came up with a huge Game 6. Peirce had a team around him and he was clutch when he needed to be. He was and has been the Celtics go to guy, and now he has a pack that he can count on.
As for
As I have put out there before, I don't even think Kobe Bryant is that much better than Paul Pierce, maybe he looks better doing it, more graceful, athletic, ect and has better over all statistics, but that doesn't mean he gets the job done better or has a more IMPORTANT impact in every game. Pierce has been doing it his whole career, he just never had a team to back him up. He never had a Shaquille O'Neal and he still took a pretty sorry team to the Eastern Conference Finals back in 2002, and pushed the Nets all the way to a 7th game. And he has always been more of a team player and better leader. He doesn't have as much pure talent, but his versatility and heart are there. Not to say I would choose Pierce over
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