Failure = Fuel

"LA will be burning cop cars." That's what my good buddy Max said. I bet him $5 it wouldn't happen. We've tasted victory before. The LAPD won't let 2000's violent fandom take place again. It's post 9/11. And it's a recession. The city won't pay for a championship parade (update: they'll split it 50/50 with the team), much less let a few unruly wastrels molotov LA's Navi's.

I won the bet, though I got about as much pleasure out of that little victory as I did out of last night's Lakers victory. OK, a tad less - winning a bet vs. Max is like beating a small child at Scrabble. Winning an NBA championship is a much bigger deal, but for some reason I'm not as energized by the 08-09 title as I should be. It's almost as if I saw Kobe hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy, Pau, Lamar, Mbenga and friends in the background, before he actually did it last night. There were no goosebumps when the team was on the podium. Maybe I was too hungover from the previous night, too sun-baked from the day, or maybe the sight of Vanessa Bryant and kids reeked too strongly of a publicity stunt on Kobe's part. Let Gary Vitti and Jordan Farmar stroke that trophy, not Sasha & Melia Natalia and Gianna, yafeelme? This championship wasn't a foregone conclusion when the finals kicked off, but after the Magic's game four implosion, it certainly seemed that way. Today is a Monday that's just slightly less lame than the last.

"You can't succeed until you've tasted defeat." I dunno who said that, but I think it's especially true of the NBA today. Failure poisons MLB players forever - especially relief pitchers. Failure in the NFL regularly turns highly touted college QB's into Division II QB coaches. Failure destroys skiers and racecar drivers - especially failures that occur at speeds over 50 MPH. But in the NBA, failure is fuel. Nobody on ORL had really failed before this series. David Robinson was PWND by the '90s before Jordan retired and the greatest power forward of all-time helped get him atop the heap. KG's career was defined by failure before the Celts took the title last year. If you're a Lakers fan, you know the failures of the past seven years, on and off the court, are too numerous to count. The team is stronger for them. Kobe knows what doesn't work. Luke Walton and Jordan Farmar store those failures in their fat and burn them when they're called off the bench. Lamar knew that nothing less than a title could alter his cringe-worthy destiny. Last night he did it, and today we think of him in a totally different light than we did two months ago.

More powerful than any of that might be the lingering thought in Magic players' minds that they couldn't win. Especially after Courtney Lee missed the alley-oop, especially after Dwight missed those two free throws, especially after they gave up that 12-point lead in the first quarter of last night's game. The Magic hadn't failed BEFORE. They were in the midst of failing NOW. Shots don't fall when you don't believe, and more driven opponents thrive on that lack of faith. That's what you saw in the second and third quarter last night when the Lakers played some of the best high-octane basketball of the season. They kicked ass, and for a minute made me think they could beat last year's Celtics.

Now, two questions remain. First, will the Lakers want it enough next year to repeat? And will the Cavs acquire a difference maker to make LeBron's failure relevant? Coming from a basketball fan first, Lakers fan second, I hope the answer to both of those questions is Yes.