{"id":14671,"date":"2026-06-12T21:31:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14671"},"modified":"2026-06-12T21:31:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:31:50","slug":"alexander-what-now-after-the-spurs-historic-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14671","title":{"rendered":"Alexander: What now after the Spurs\u2019 historic collapse?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The world according to Jim:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 Sorry, Lakers fans. We\u2019re going to have to dredge up some painful memories here for a few moments, but there\u2019s a point to be made.<\/p>\n

Read more Treasury expands bank data-sharing rules tied to Trump immigration crackdown<\/a><\/p>\n

When the San Antonio Spurs spit up a 29-point lead Wednesday night to go down 3-1 to the New York Knicks in the electric atmosphere of Madison Square Garden, it surpassed the NBA Finals record for largest one-game blown lead that had been established by the Lakers, against the archrival Boston Celtics, in Game 4 in 2008. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 The scenario was similar if not a carbon copy. The Lakers lost Games 1 and 2 in Boston and won Game 3 at Staples Center, 87-81. After a quarter in Game 4, they were ahead by 21, and Sasha Vujacic\u2019s 3-pointer from a Kobe Bryant feed made it 45-21 with 6:45 left in the first half. At that point, the place was rocking.<\/p>\n

But Boston outscored the Lakers 76-46 the rest of the way, including two 10-0 runs. Eddie House\u2019s jumper put the visitors up to stay with a little more than four minutes left, and the final was 97-91. The Lakers made one of their last 10 shots in the third quarter and nine of their last 30. And after that game, Lamar Odom told us:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe let our execution affect our defensive play, and they took the game from us. We\u2019ve got to play the same way, with the same effort, throughout the game, especially a game when we\u2019re up 20. If you don\u2019t, you know, you saw what happened tonight.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 Here\u2019s the footnote, and this too is good news\/bad news for Lakers fans: L.A. won Game 5, also at home in what was then a 2-3-2 Finals format, but was crushed in Game 6 in Boston. The Lakers then went on to win titles the next two years, including a Game 7 victory over Boston at home in 2010.<\/p>\n

The bad news in this scenario? The Spurs, down 3-1, aren\u2019t going to win this one in all likelihood. But they\u2019ll learn from this, they\u2019ll be back, and they\u2019ll be a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference for seasons to come. \u2026<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u2022 That said, if you have the ball and a one-point lead with 13 seconds left, why in heaven\u2019s name aren\u2019t you pulling the ball out \u2013 this means you, De\u2019Aaron Fox \u2013 and forcing them to foul you? \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 My other question, and maybe I\u2019m too much of an old-school adherent, but if you have the tallest guy on the floor in 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama, why aren\u2019t you getting him to the low block when you\u2019ve had an offensive drought and badly need a bucket?<\/p>\n

Yes, he\u2019s a marvelous talent, and\u00a0bigs are expected to shoot and make 3-pointers in modern hoops. But it wouldn\u2019t hurt him to reach out to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and ask him, \u201cHow did<\/em> you develop the skyhook?\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 Watching that scene in the Garden for both Knicks\u2019 home games, didn\u2019t it make you miss Finals games in L.A.? I mean, those used to be a June tradition here. \u2026<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u2022 And both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final have provided this reminder, as did last year\u2019s classic World Series between the Dodgers and Toronto: One of the best parts of a playoff series is the storyline, the drama and tension that build as a series proceeds.<\/p>\n

Read more King tides this weekend add flooding worry as big waves continue<\/a><\/p>\n

Even though the Knicks-Spurs series is 3-1, there have been tons of talking points. And if you\u2019re not following the NHL\u2019s Vegas-Carolina series, you\u2019re missing out. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 So, a question for Ducks fans: Are you rooting for the Golden Knights, figuring that their winning the Cup would make your team look better? Or are you rooting for the Hurricanes because you still hold a grudge? \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 Today\u2019s quiz: New Kings coach Peter Laviolette is the 29th head coach (including interim) in franchise history and just the second to have won a Stanley Cup in a previous head coaching stop, at Carolina in 2006. This is a two-parter: Who was the other head coach to do so? And how many of the other head coaches in Kings history won Cups in previous stops as player, assistant coach or in the front office?\u00a0 Answers below. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 This headline from The Athletic: \u201cGianni Infantino has no regrets over U.S. as co-hosts, suggests people \u2018chill\u2019 over World Cup visa issues.\u201d\u00a0Has there ever been an organization, or a leader, as tone-deaf and out of touch as FIFA and Infantino are? \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 Oh, and here\u2019s another classic, also from The Athletic:\u00a0 At a pre-World Cup briefing last year with some L.A. officials, someone described as a senior FIFA executive laid out the organization\u2019s game plan \u2013 which, as our own Scott M. Reid reported earlier this week, translates to: \u201cThe benefits are ours, the costs are yours.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As the story put it, L.A. Sports and Entertainment Commission CEO Kathryn Schloessman raised her hand to essentially ask what, exactly, her city was going to get out of this besides a mountain of debt. The response: \u201c\u201cHosting this tournament will put your city on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seriously?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 It\u2019s too bad this FIFA executive was not named. He deserves to be mocked, as does anyone else in that organization who treats this region, or any other, as some sort of unsophisticated backwater. Pal, try getting out a little bit more before you suggest L.A., or anyplace else on this continent, needs your help.<\/p>\n

Especially at this price. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 When do event sponsorships border on the absurd? During the NBC telecast of the U.S. Women\u2019s Open at Riviera last weekend, a graphic noted the legendary Ben Hogan\u2019s triumphs on that course by saying he had won the \u201cGenesis Invitational\u201d in 1947 and \u201948. Wrong. It was known as the L.A. Open (he also won in 1942 at Hillcrest). Sponsorship dollars don\u2019t buy the right to rewrite history. \u2026<\/p>\n

Quiz answer: Marc Crawford was the only other coach hired by the Kings to have previously won a Stanley Cup as a head coach, with Colorado in 1996. However, 15 of the previous 28 were members of 43 Cup winners all told, either as players, assistant coaches, executives or scouts.<\/p>\n

Larry Robinson (1995-96 to \u201998-99) won 10, six as a player with Montreal, one as an assistant with New Jersey in 1993 (and two others with the Devils as head coach in 2000 and assistant in \u201903, plus one as an executive with St. Louis in 2019). The other leaders: Red Kelly, who coached the 1967 expansion team\u2019s first two seasons, won eight as a player (four with Detroit, four with Toronto). Johnny Wilson (an interim coach installed midway through the 1969-70 season) won four as a player with Detroit.<\/p>\n

And Bob Pulford (\u201972-73 through \u201976-77), arguably the franchise\u2019s most successful coach before Darryl Sutter got there, won all four of his as a player with the Maple Leafs. (That 43, by the way, includes the 2012 and \u201914 Cups, credited both to Sutter and then-assistant\/later head coach John Stevens.)<\/p>\n

Read more 180 years: When California was a Republic before it became a state<\/a><\/p>\n

jalexander@scng.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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