Since the Lakers won their back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010, I’ve heard arguments over the years about Team X and Team Y and how they coulda, shoulda, woulda won if X or Y had happened.
It is, of course, very natural for players, coaches or fans to feel that way, and the Lakers aren’t immune: “If Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza were healthy the 2008 Finals woulda been different!”
One of these arguments comes from the Phoenix Suns, whom the Lakers beat 4-2 in the 2010 Western Conference Finals. Suns folk may point to the Ron Artest putback of Kobe Bryant’s miss late in Game 5, and how that would have changed everything had the game gone to OT, but I beg to differ for multiple reasons:
1) L.