MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / June 24, 2000

Things to ponder while washing that championship champagne out of your hair…. Yeah, yeah, the Lakers won 67 games and captured the franchise’s first NBA championship since 1988. But let’s hold off putting the “great” labelon this team. Remember, the Lakers struggled down the stretch when theyhad a chance to win 70 games.

And it’s not like they rolled through the playoffs. Sacramento took themthe distance in the first round. Portland had Los Angeles on the ropes inthe Western Conference finals before letting the Lakers rally from 16 points back. And when they had a chance to close out Indiana in the finals,the Pacers schooled them with a 33-point victory in Game 5.

This was also essentially a two-man team – Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Had Bryant not missed Game 3 with an injury, the Lakers couldvery well have swept. Rick Fox and Robert Horry came up with some bigshots in Game 6 but without Shaq and Kobe, this was a very ordinary team.

O’Neal and Bryant are two of the best players in the game. But until theLakers get more balanced, learn to close out opponents and win a few more championships, the dynasty tag should be withheld.

And just wondering, what will the Big Shakespeare (a.k.a. The BigAristotle, a.k.a. the Big Maravich, a.k.a. Shaq) call himself next week? TheBig DaVinci? On the subject of closing out an opponent, what has happened to the best relief pitchers in baseball? Houston’s Billy Wagner, already having a nightmarish season with nine blown saves, may be out for the rest of the year with a partial tear of a tendon in his elbow. Arizona’s Matt Manteihas as many stints on the disabled list (two) as saves this season.

Atlanta’s John Rocker is making much more news off the field than he has on and has even had a stint in the minor leagues. Montreal’s Ugueth Urbinahas spent much of the season on the DL.

With the exception of Houston, all of those teams are over .500 despitetheir relief woes. On the other hand, the league leaders in saves (ToddJones of Detroit and Florida’s Antonio Alfonseca) both play for teams with losing records.

Maybe while Rocker is in New York next week, he can talk about his control problems with Chuck Knoblauch. Right now the two could have a duel withbaseballs and not hit each other from 10 feet.

But it’s not true that when he threw his helmet onto the field Tuesday night after being called out for runner’s interference, it was the first time this season that one of Knoblauch’s throws ended up in fair territory.

All right, who’s playing for second at the British Open? Maybe if Tiger Woods has a 15-stroke lead at St. Andrew’s, he’ll let Jean Van de Veldeplay the last hole.

There is a report that Reggie White is considering coming out of retirement and playing in the NFL this season. Who’s next, Dick Butkus?Somebody needs to tell White that Dan Marino and Danny Wuerffel, probably the only two quarterbacks who he could probably chase down now, are no longer in the league.

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