ShareThisNow are they ready? Is it the Los Angeles Lakers' time? Is the NBA championship in their pocket?
Because, honestly, people, I can't keep track. I do know that since the Lakers played really well against Denver the last five quarters of the Western Conference finals, I'm hearing those voices again. They're the best!
It's amazing what a two-game winning streak in the postseason will make us believe.
Let's review:
Two weeks ago, the pundits' pick was the Denver Nuggets, a tough, talented team hitting its stride at the right time, while the Lakers were yawning and scratching their bellies in Houston.
One month ago, the basketball brainiacs favored the Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of the best record in the league and a home-court advantage to die for, or at least ride all the way to the title.
Three months ago, all bowed down to the Lakers, an unstoppable force after a 7-0 road trip, capped with back-to-back wins in Boston and Cleveland.
Now? It's the Lakers again, the philandering finger of forecasting foolishness pointing back in their direction. All because they played a great fourth quarter in Game 5 at home, then played their best game of the postseason, destroying Denver on its home floor in that Game 6, series-clinching victory Friday.
They were brilliant on offense and decent enough on defense to break the Nuggets' will, an impressive evening of basketball, indeed.
"The last two games we proved to ourselves and to everybody else that we can be an extremely high-quality team," Lakers forward Pau Gasol said. "A team that deserves to be in the NBA Finals and is going for an NBA championship."
For the abridged version, there was his teammate, Trevor Ariza: "When we do stuff like that, no one can beat us."
The key word, of course, is "when."
When anybody plays like the Lakers played Friday -- moving the ball, hitting open shots, making 24 of 24 foul shots and holding the two best players on the other team to an 8-of-24 shooting night -- you tend to look like an NBA champion.
In this business, our collective "wisdom" tends to hitch on to somebody's wagon, and never mind that every time our ride snaps a spoke, we hop off and grab the next one rolling by.
Now that the Lakers look like a band of ball-sharing brothers, willing to dig down and play a little defense for five consecutive quarters, they do look like the championship team many thought they were as far back as ... a year ago?
Darn right. Remember when they were the popular pick to beat Boston? How'd that go?
Anyway, here's today's theory about the Lakers. They finally figured it out. Even Denver coach George Karl said so. Although he doesn't like to say nice things about the organization, he managed to soften the sentiment by taking partial credit for straightening the Lakers out.
"I think we gave them a spirit, that they had to come together," Karl said. "I think they did."
No doubt the Lakers deserve to be in the Finals. No doubt they should be a favorite. They've been, far and away, the best in the West all year.
Furthermore, Gasol said, the Lakers "have learned a lesson" about how to play at championship caliber "and we're going to keep it that way."
This time for sure? If I absolutely believed that (after hearing it a dozen times this postseason) I'd swear by them, too. As is, I'm pretty sure, that is, I'm reasonably certain, I mean, with certain reservations, I give them a good chance of winning it all.
And I couldn't be more positive about it.
(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
