After the Spurs reverted back to the form they showed in the last two
years against LA--play great in the first half, carry a lead into the
fourth quarter, choke it all away--I doubt that the Lakers will lose to
them. More to the point, I doubt that the Spurs will fail to choke in 2
of the next 3 games. And with Webber out for Sacramento, San Antonio
is pretty clearly the only team standing between the Lakers and another
title.
In the NHL playoffs, I'm pulling for anybody but the Ducks. It
makes sense for Minnesota, Ottawa, and New Jersey to have hockey teams.
But Anaheim? I never understood that.
That would be even cooler. Maybe we'll have three major
championships in LA at the same time. Pretty good for an area with only
three major sports represented!
I'm also pretty sure that's never happened before, although New York came close in 1969-70.
No city has ever held both the NBA and NHL titles at the same time.
Several cities have been in the finals of both at the same time, but one
or both teams have lost in every case.
The best performance by one city in one year was Philadelphia in
1980. The Phillies won and the Sixers, Flyers and Eagles all were
runners-up.
New York in 1969-70 is not what people usually make of it. The Jets
won the Super Bowl in January of '69, but that was for the 1968 season.
By the time the Knicks won in the spring of '70, the Jets were no
longer the champions.
Thank you Thlayli!!
Philadelphia gets no respect at all. Granted, the city hasn't won a
championship in any of the big four major sports since 1983. Right now,
they've got four pretty good teams, but that counts for nothing.
And even in 1980, when, as Thlayli tells us, all four of their teams
went to the championships, Philadelphia was widely derided as a "loser
town" because three of the four lost.
It's the same thing as mocking the Buffalo Bills for losing all those consecutive Super Bowls. To lose, you have to get there.
The Lakers will lose this year, but I fear the New Jersey Devils
(imho, the Lakers of Hockey) will win. It's very distressing to me.
