Every trip to the NBA Finals is special. Because for the vast majority of the league’s players, they don’t happen very often. Here’s the OC Register on a pair of key Lakers:
For Lakers fans, a return to the Finals for the first time in a decade is a reason to look back on a triumphant past. But reminiscing isn’t so fun for everyone in the locker room.
It’s also the first time Rajon Rondo has been back to the Finals since 2010. Back then, he was on the Boston Celtics team that fell under the crushing wheel of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and the Lakers after taking a 3-2 lead.
“I think I blurred a lot of it out: It was ugly.” Rondo deadpanned Tuesday, as he took the stage ahead of the Lakers’ series with the Miami Heat. “But that’s a long, long time ago, and I look forward to obviously changing the chapter and continuing to go past this different chapter in my life and write a better story ending.”
When it comes to chapters in the Finals, there’s been a long gap for two of the team’s key veterans off the bench: Rondo (10 years) and Dwight Howard (11 years). In both cases, their last Finals-contending team was bested by the Lakers and Bryant.
