Commentary : Respect Will Come After Third Title

Walk up to a Laker, any Los Angeles Laker, at almost any time, and he’s likely to be repeating a line that has been hammered into him by that well-known cult leader, Coach Pat Riley.

“The media and the public never take the Lakers that seriously,” said Mychal Thompson, a victim of Riley’s torturous brainwashing technique. “We weren’t supposed to get this far.”

“Nobody takes the Lakers seriously,” said a thoroughly conditioned Michael Cooper. “At the first of the year, nobody thought we would be here. It was supposed to be Portland, or Phoenix.”

Phoenix? The Suns were 28-54 last season. Their turnaround this season was completely unexpected. But the master teacher has relentlessly pounded the lack-of-respect theme into his team. He began at the beginning of the season, and he has not let up.

“The Lakers never get any respect,” said Riley, almost sniffling.

This attitude causes most outsiders to squint, shake their heads and wonder what in the world these guys are talking about. No respect? The Lakers? Winners of five championships in nine seasons? The first back-to-back champions since the 1968 and ’69 Boston Celtics?

“People always are devising a way for us to fail,” Riley said. “We weren’t supposed to be in the finals. Others were. But they’re not. We’re here.”

It would be almost cruel to ruin the Lakers’ persecution complex, because they have done a great job working up a mad attitude. Riley has convinced them that their honor and good name have been violated, and they certainly are challenged from within to prove themselves by defeating the Pistons in the NBA finals, which begin Tuesday night in Auburn Hills, Mich.

It is ridiculous, of course, to suggest the Lakers have not been respected throughout the season, but give Riley credit. It has been an effective technique to motivate his team. Riley, more than any coach, understands that there is a fine line between a champion and a near-champion. And so he devises challenges that are designed to give the Lakers the slight edge they need to compete at the highest level.

The flaming desire to prove themselves and win another championship will serve the Lakers well. The Lakers, who have a 16-game winning streak and an 11-0 record in the playoffs, will defeat the Pistons for the second consecutive year and win their third consecutive championship because of two guards:

Magic Johnson and Jerry West.

Johnson is the dominant player in the game, and when all else is equal, the dominant player will win the championship.

But he has been aided greatly because West, the Hall of Fame guard, understands what it takes to win championships more than the Pistons’ executives.

In Game 6 last year, the Pistons had a 3-2 series lead and a three-point lead with a minute left. They were that close to winning the championship. They failed, but they had a solid foundation that could have led to a title.

Instead, they made a radical midseason change that sent Adrian Dantley to Dallas for Mark Aguirre. They tampered with a winning combination. It did not affect them in the regular season--they had the best record in the league at 63-19.

But it will come back to haunt them in the playoffs. Aguirre has a storied history of playoff failure that dates all the way back to his choking days at DePaul. If he had been added as an eighth man--much like West added Orlando Woolridge to the Lakers’ team--it could have been different. But Aguirre is a starter, and that fine line between a championship and a near-championship has been disrupted.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are motivated.

“I’m mad because the coaches didn’t put me on the All-Defensive team,” Cooper said. “Coach Riley wasn’t considered for Coach of the Year, and that’s another incentive. This is Kareem’s last year, and that’s another incentive. And then we were underrated at the first of the year. You’ve got four things right there, and that wasn’t even mentioning winning three championships in a row.”

The Lakers are believers, and soon, everyone else will be, too. The series will last no more than five games.