Coming off of the finals sweep at the hands of Detroit, and having lost center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to retirement, the Lakers were supposed to take a few more steps back toward the rest of the NBA pack.
Instead, the opposite occurred. For the first time in franchise history, Los Angeles went undefeated in eight exhibition games, then opened the regular season by winning ten of eleven. Everything was going swimmingly—centers Mychal Thompson and Vlade Divac were teaming to average more than 18 points and 12 rebounds per night, Magic Johnson and James Worthy were (as always) playing at All-Star levels and A.C. Green had continued his emergence as one of the league’s three or four best power forwards. The bench—led by Divac, Larry Drew and Michael Cooper—was its deepest in years. “We were unbelievable,” said Drew, Johnson’s backup. “From the day I arrived, I felt a focus and determination I’d never seen before. I’ll never forget when I first got there, and Magic educated me on each player—where they liked the ball, how to use them most effectively, who was the first option, who was the fourth. The whole team worked so hard in practice and off the court, when the games started, it was a breeze.”
But, for too many Lakers, it was no longer fun. Save for Divac’s quirky antics and scattered moments of levity, Johnson and Pat Riley, the veteran coach, were sapping the joy from the franchise. The star point guard would win his third MVP award in four seasons, but devoted too much time to berating and screaming. Having played so long for Riley, he was now becoming Riley. His practice comments no longer included soothing touches. If you messed up, Johnson rode you hard. With Abdul-Jabbar’s departure came a certain behavioral liberation. Johnson’s inner-dictator was emerging. This was not a good thing. “He was really pushing us in practice, telling us, ‘Hey, you got to do this better, you got to do that better,’” said Cooper, his closest friend on the team.
Gotta read the whole thing:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1967588-exclusive-book-excerpt-bitter-dark-days-of-pat-riley-and-the-showtime-lakers
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