Letter Writing

"I don't want to leave tomorrow
Yes I said it all inside of a letter
That I put in your hand when we walked in the sand
Don't you understand"
--When There's No Tomorrow, Peter Cetera

Just tried to find a good one about writing a letter, 'cause today's entry is just a cut-and-paste exercise. Read Sports Guy's column about being put in charge of NBA TV for a weekend and got excited about responding to tell him games he needs to include. I ended up spending like 45 minutes going back and forth on which games to select, finally settling on the following three. The full text of the e-mail I sent follows...

first of all, this is the best decision the good folks at nba tv have made since deciding to televise nba summer league (for die-hards who really care about marcus douthit's line) and the rucker park games (is that really where joe forte ended up?). still don't enjoy the quarter-screen-sized viewing area they give us (never a good idea to complement lakers-pistons '88 with wnba game stats), but i'm definitely tuning in...i have three suggestions, the first two of which displays clearly my so-cal bias. the second, i think you'll agree, shows an understandingof greatness that transcends regional homer-ism.

Lakers @ Clippers (11/6/92): The season opener between the Lakers and Clippers, and a great battle in what would turn out to be a playoff season for the Clips. It was a huge transition for the Lakers, bridgingthe gap between the Showtime and Shaq/Kobe eras, and Larry Brown's squad had a deep enough roster to challenge for city supremacy. Manning dropping 23 a night, Harp adding 18 (and that sweet double-line in his haircut) and Mark Jackson running the show from the point, plus role players like Loy Vaught and Gary Grant. Two of the fatter individuals in league history even got some run on this squad--Stanley Roberts and Hot Plate Williams. Anyways, the game itself was sweet. The Clippers were down the whole way but came back to force overtime by holding their more prestigious opponents to just 14 in the fourth. Manning had26, Harp 22, Jack 17 and 11, and Kiki Vandeweghe came off the bench to tally 16. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The last vestiges of Showtime, Byron Scott (29 points) and James Worthy (24) combined to make sure the season wouldn't start off on the wrong foot and the Lake Show emerged with a 114-112 overtime triumph. My old landlord has had Clippers season tickets since 1986, bless his heart, and he's since upgraded to courtside, but he's told me about that game countless times--something he'll never forget. Good stuff.

Lakers @ Jazz (Conference Semis, Game Five, May 1997): I've been a Laker fan my whole life, but I think a necessary (and often overlooked) step in Kobe Bryant's journey to superstardom was the "airball game"that closed out this series against the Jazz. The Lakers, even with Shaq, were still a bit short of greatness and the Jazz were en route to their first of two Finals appearances. Mailman was unbelievable, racking up 32 and 20 (including eight points in OT) and Stockton had 24 and 10, going 11-for-13 from the floor. That's stupid. Point guards don't have that kind of shooting numbers. Shaq had 23 and 13 but fouled out and Nick the quick had 26. Kobe shot an airball that would have won the game at the end of regulation and then missed three more shots (two airballs) in overtime. This is important because it's four of the greatest players of this generation going at it and it's a formative moment for Kobe, no doubt. Del Harris gave him the chance to be a hero on multiple occasions and he airballed it. Seeing the fire that burns inside that guy, I can't even imagine the determination this game gave him heading into the off-season.
(This game brought up an interesting side issue as I was thinking back. It reminded me how much I used to hate Karl Malone. Absolutely despised him. As soon as he signed with the Lakers, I took to him pretty darn quickly. I really, really like him now and definitely hope he comes back. Is there a statute of limitations on guys like that? A certain amount of time that has to pass before you can go from hate to love? Who is beyond such a transition? Like if Roger came back to Boston, how long would it take you to forgive him? It's tough.)

Pacers vs. Celtics (1991 Playoffs, First Round): I have no doubt you've already considered this one, but I don't know which games you can omit. You obviously need Game 5, with your boy running back onto the parquet to lead the Celts to the series clincher. I'm saying you also need Chuck Connors Person's ridiculousness in Game 2 in the Garden, knocking down like seven or eight treys and stunning the No. 2 seed. Game 4 wasn't bad either, with both Rifleman and Reggie stepping it up. Tough decisions. I was finishing eighth grade and I remember going out in mydriveway after that Game 2 to practice the Rifleman cock-back, holding my hand up after a jumper to admire its beauty and then cocking back the wrist to re-load like Chuck did. Watched Game 5 at the local pizza place while my buddies played 1942 or some other arcade game; I sat and watched in awe, expressing frustration during commercials that my friends weren't appreciating what was taking place.

Best of luck with the playlist man, you can't go wrong.
--Scott Riddell, Los Angeles