A lot of Fun
The "Basketball for Thought" is a commentary by Kris Gardner.April 14, 2004
Wow! I did not imagine I would have a good time after a meaningless final regular season game; but, Wednesday night at Toyota Center proved me wrong. The meaningless game was between the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks which the Mavs won 92 to 89; but, the excitement was just beginning.
The Mavs and the Rockets had already locked up their seeds in the NBA Playoffs: Mavs fifth, Rockets seventh; but, neither team knew who their first round opponent was going to be because two games had yet to finish: the LA Lakers at the Portland Trailblazers and the Sacramento Kings at the Golden State Warriors. The Kings and the Lakers were tied for second in the Pacific Division; but, since the Kings owned the tie-breaker, the Lakers had to beat Portland and the Kings had to lose to the Warriors. If the Lakers won the Pacific Division, they would face the Rockets and the Kings would face the Mavs. If the Kings won the Pacific, Sacto would play the Rockets while the Mavs would face the Lakeshow.
During the Rockets' game, people were already checking for scores on the two games. At the end of the Rockets' game, instead of conducting postgame interviews with the players, I decided to watch tv for updates on the games. Unfortunately, there was a slight problem: the Kings - Warriors game was the only one shown in the work room. The Lakers - Blazers game was on in the Rockets' locker room. Instead of going to the locker room, I walked back and forth between the media work room and the lounge watching the Kings crumble to the Warriors and checking the ESPN's sports crawler for updates on the Lakers' game.
Many people (reporters and workers alike) were asking for updates. Since ESPN's crawler is not basketball specific, we had to wait for the crawler to cycle to the basketball scores which took at least two minutes. Laptops were busy typing postgame stories about the Rockets - Mavs' game; but, the writers were also checking with NBA.com for updates on the games because they needed to know who the Rockets and Mavs would play in the first round. As midnight approached, deadlines neared and the Lakers and Blazers were still playing. The Lakers trailed the Blazers most of the game; but, LA began making a comeback in the fourth quarter.
I was helping my buddy, Matt Jackson, with score updates while he did his postgame Rockets radio show which added to the excitement. The Warriors finished off the Kings 97-91 which means a Lakers win would clinch the Pacific for LA and set up a match-up with the Rockets with game 1 beginning Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Portland led by 3 with seconds left in the fourth quarter when Kobe Bryant hit this ridiculous three-pointer (he traveled before the shot, by the way) to tie the game and send it to overtime. Friends of mine came from the Rockets' locker room telling us what happened. I finally saw replays of the shot; and, Kobe shot the ball practically sideways to the basket to tie the game! Points were few and far between in overtime; but, with the game tied and a six seconds left, Portland's Ruben Patterson was sent to the free throw line for two foul shots which would give the Blazers a two point lead. Ruben missed both free throws. Double overtime!
The second OT was a slugfest! ESPN2's "NBA Fastbreak" appeared on the television in the lounge stating "Portland 104, Lakers 102 End 2 OT". Matt ran with that news and mentioned it on the radio and began talking about a Rockets - Kings playoff matchup. One problem. The game was not over! The laptops read the game had two seconds left. Time-outs were called; so, the scoreboard did not update for a few minutes. I told Matt to confirm the score with his producer; but, his computer wasn't updating either!
Then, one of the Rockets' equipment guys comes into the lounge and says Kobe hit a three at the buzzer and the Lakers won! Matt and I have no confirmation; so, we don't know who to believe! After a couple of minutes, friends, computers, and, lastly, ESPN confirmed Kobe indeed hit a three and won the game for the Lakers, 105 - 104 in double overtime. Matt was pissed at ESPN's huge gaffe because he was live on the radio; but, he adapted on the fly and finished his show previewing the Lakers - Rockets first round match-up.
A pretty exciting end to a night I was dreading before tip-off because of the Rockets - Mavs' game 8:30 p.m. start.
Let the NBA Playoffs begin!
