The NBA according to Ellis

By Don Ellis

In case you hadn't noticed, the Lakers are back.

The three-time defending league champs were written off by many after they won only 11 of their first 30 games. But since then, the Lakers are 37-12, and the naysayers have crawled back into their respective holes.

What were those people smoking, anyway? It must have been some good stuff, because they all forgot that Shaq is still the most dominating hoopster on the planet. And that Bryant guy isn't too bad, either.

Did the Lakers coast through most of the regular season? Of course they did. Did Phil Jackson care? Of course he didn't. The Zen-master and his disciples have been through this enough times to realize that the NBA's regular season means about as much as the "Say No To Drugs" banner hanging in the Blazers' locker room.

But now it's playoff time, and the Lakers are hitting on all cylinders. They won't have home-court advantage throughout the playoff, but so what? In the last three post-seasons, Shaq, Kobe and company are a combined 18-8 on the road.

The Dallas Mavericks made history by winning their franchise-record 58th game of the season. Not that it matters; teams that refuse to play defense are quickly sent packing once the playoffs roll around, and it will take a minor miracle for Don Nelson's boys to even reach the Western Conference finals.

Can any of you see Dallas beating LA, Sacramento or San Antonio in a seven game series? Me neither.

As for the NBA's Division II - also known as the Eastern Conference - it's anybody's guess as to which team will "win" the opportunity to be the sacrificial lambs in the NBA finals. The Pistons' hopes ride on the health of Ben Wallace's knee, of course - but you have to like their chances, simply because they play more defense than any team outside the 1985 Chicago Bears.

The Sixers have a chance, because Allen Iverson has more heart than Bill Gates has money. AI could get hot and lead his team all the way to the Finals, but it's unlikely since he has to do most of the work himself.

The Celtics? They play good team defense, but someone needs to remind them that there is no law against taking a shot from inside the three-point arc.

The Pacers were the hottest team in the league early on, and the Nets are the defending conference champs, but they both lost games to the Bulls in the past week, eliminating them from consideration in my book. Though, they both have potential to get through to the finals, should they play up to capability.

Speaking of the Bulls, Jerry Krause resigned his position as Vice President of Basketball Operations (a fancy term for "GM") last week. Krause will always and forever be known as the guy who broke up the Bulls dynasty, even though Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson should shoulder some of the blame. And Krause should get some of the credit for building the Bulls dynasty, although Jordan and Jackson get most of the credit for that.

While it's true that Krause didn't draft Jordan, da Bulls probably would have zero titles if not for three Krause trades - Olden Polynice for Scottie Pippen, Charles Oakley for Bill Cartright, and Will Perdue for Dennis Rodman. More recently, "Crumbs" (as MJ used to call him) managed to convince (soon-to-be-ex) Cavalier GM Jim Paxson to give him Jamal Crawford AND a cool 3 million in cash for Chris Mihm, who sits behind 2nd-rounder Carlos Boozer and straight-from-high school second-year "phenom" DeSagana Diop.

John Paxson seems to be the favorite to replace Krause (although this writer thinketh that B.J. Armstrong will get the job), and if he's a smart man, he'll jump at the opportunity. Sure, the Bulls have been horrible for the last five seasons, and they'll need to win their season finale at home versus the Sixers to break the 30-win plateau for the first time since Jordan retired. But Krause has left his successor with a roster full of talent, albeit very young and somewhat raw.

But Jamal Crawford, Tyson Chandler, and Eddy Curry have started to play some outstanding ball over the past month or two. In Crawford's 29 starts this season, he has averaged 15.2 points and 6.0 assists while shooting over 37% from beyond the arc. And the Bulls are a very respectable (relatively speaking) 12-17 this season and 16-19 over the past two seasons when Crawford is in the starting five.

Since the All-Star break, Chandler has averaged 11.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.89 blocks per game, while Curry- who leads the entire NBA in field goal percentage- has put up 16.3 and 6.3 on 62% shooting.

Whoever winds up with the Bulls' job will certainly have an abundance of young talent to work with. The trick will be to avoid having this team become the Clippers east as all the young players fight for playing time, recognition, and (gasp!) money.

That's it for now- next week, I'll be giving you my award winners for the season, as well as my playoff preview.


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