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WorthyNum1
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Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 170
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 Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2024 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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Famous Coop moments in the Showtime era:
1) 1985 Finals game 2, the Celtics had closed the deficit to 104-100. He hit a jumper with 1:52 left, with the shot chock winding down. It's a 6-point lead and the Celtics never got closer.
2) 1987 Finals game 4, the Celtics were leading 103-97. Coop stole the ball from Parish and hit a crucial 3-pointer to cut it to 103-100, jump-starting the comeback. Starting with Coop's 3-pointer, the Lakers outscored the Celtics 10-3 for the rest of the game. Now, all the scorers of those 10 points to cap the comeback (Coop 3, Kareem 3, Worthy 2, and Magic 2) are in the Hall of Fame.
3) Just seconds after the 3-pointer, when the Lakers were trailing 103-102, he set a pick on Parish to free up Kareem for the dunk to take the lead. After the pick, Kareem was guarded by DJ, which was a mismatch.
4) 1988 2nd Round game 5, he hit the game-winning basket against the Jazz. Without this win, the Lakers' Back-to-Back might have been derailed in Game 6 of the 2nd round, as the Jazz blew the Lakers out. In other words, Coop's basket bought the Lakers a game 7 at home. |
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JUST-MING
Retired Number
Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 44000
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 7:56 am Post subject: |
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| WorthyNum1 wrote: |
4) 1988 2nd Round game 5, he hit the game-winning basket against the Jazz. Without this win, the Lakers' Back-to-Back might have been derailed in Game 6 of the 2nd round, as the Jazz blew the Lakers out. In other words, Coop's basket bought the Lakers a game 7 at home. |
One of the greatest shots in Lakers history. His only basket of the game, iirc. |
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Runway8
Franchise Player
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Posts: 22870
Location: La Jolla, San Diego
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| JUST-MING wrote: | | https://youtu.be/0QbvSEAkjI0 |
Cooper wasn't the most athletic guy, but Magic truly made it easier for people. Just imagine Magic with his choice of flyers in today's game. WOW! I used to have my socks knee high because of Coop, but mine had the red, blue, green stripes. LOL! |
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Runway8
Franchise Player
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Posts: 22870
Location: La Jolla, San Diego
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| JUST-MING wrote: | | WorthyNum1 wrote: |
4) 1988 2nd Round game 5, he hit the game-winning basket against the Jazz. Without this win, the Lakers' Back-to-Back might have been derailed in Game 6 of the 2nd round, as the Jazz blew the Lakers out. In other words, Coop's basket bought the Lakers a game 7 at home. |
One of the greatest shots in Lakers history. His only basket of the game, iirc. |
He was in a slump in that 88 playoffs, and Kareem's game fell drastically. Besides for first rd. 3-0 sweep of Spurs, everything else went 7 games. Jazz, Mavs, Pistons. They won back to back by the hair of their chinny chin chin. Still my favorite and the most nerve racking playoffs ever, in my opinion. |
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Big Game James
Star Player
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Posts: 4004
Location: The official trout slapper of LG.net
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| Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2024 8:37 am Post subject: |
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Cooper being in the HOF is a real surprise to me. I can never understand how he didn't deserve this 15 years ago, 10 years ago, or 5 years ago... but deserves it now?
Don't get me wrong, he was an elite defender. But that is the end of the conversation. He averaged a measly 9 PPG, 3 RPG and 4 APG throughout his career. Cooper contributed to 5 championships, but was not the player that carried the team. In fact, he wasn't even a starter! Nor was his jersey retired. Who is? Three players that carried Cooper to the 5 championships: Kareem, Magic and Worthy.
For reference, I don't consider Byron Scott, Robert Horry or Derek Fisher as HOF'ers either. They are all fantastic role players that contributed in different ways to the team. But based on this standard of Cooper getting in, I suppose they should be considered as well. I guess the standards for being a HOF'er is a lot lower than my own standard.
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WorthyNum1
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Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 170
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| Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| JUST-MING wrote: | | WorthyNum1 wrote: |
4) 1988 2nd Round game 5, he hit the game-winning basket against the Jazz. Without this win, the Lakers' Back-to-Back might have been derailed in Game 6 of the 2nd round, as the Jazz blew the Lakers out. In other words, Coop's basket bought the Lakers a game 7 at home. |
One of the greatest shots in Lakers history. His only basket of the game, iirc. |
In my subjective opinion, there are five occasions of scoring crucial game-winning points in Lakers history. Coop's shot is ranked #3.
My criteria is simple:
1) must be in a championship year. If the end result is not a championship, the game-winning points didn't make a difference.
2) without these points, the championship most probably wouldn't have happened.
In other words, Magic's junior skyhook in 1987, Jerry West's half-court shot against the Knicks in 1970 (that basket didn't even lead to a win), his winning basket against the Celtics in game 3 of the 1962 Finals (that win was the difference of eventually losing the series 4-3, 4-2 or 4-1), Derek Fisher's 0.4 seconds, and his game-tying 3-pointer against the Magic in 2009 game 4 aren't good enough. They didn't lead to championships, or their failure would not have led to dire situations.
My top 5:
5) 1952 championship
Jim Pollard's tip-in in game 4 of the WDF. With 2 seconds left, Pollard's tip-in eliminated the defending champs Royals and advanced the Lakers to the Finals. Granted, the score was tied. Had the shot not been made, the game would have gone to OT. Had the Lakers lost that game, the Lakers would have to play the winner-take-all game 5 in Rochester.
4) 2010 championship
Ron Artest's rebound basket against the Suns, in game 5 of the WCF. Without this basket, the game would have gone to OT. Had the Lakers lost this game, they would have needed 2 wins (the next one in Phoenix) to win the series.
3) 1988 championship
Coop's winning basket against the Jazz, in game 5 of the 2nd Round. The Lakers were trailing by 1 point. Without this basket, the Lakers would likely have lost the game, and needed 2 wins (the next one in Utah) to win the series.
2) 2002 championship
Big-shot Rob's miracle against the Kings, in game 4 of the WCF. The Lakers were trailing by 2 points. Without this basket, the Lakers would have lost the game and trailed 3-1 in the series. They would have needed three wins (with two of the next three in Sacramento) to advance.
1) 1988 championship
Kareem's 2 FTs against the Pistons to keep the Finals series alive. Without Kareem's 2 FTs, the Lakers would have been eliminated in game 6, no more back-to-back. |
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Dr. Laker
Franchise Player
Joined: 12 Apr 2002
Posts: 17110
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| Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| WorthyNum1 wrote: | | JUST-MING wrote: | | WorthyNum1 wrote: |
4) 1988 2nd Round game 5, he hit the game-winning basket against the Jazz. Without this win, the Lakers' Back-to-Back might have been derailed in Game 6 of the 2nd round, as the Jazz blew the Lakers out. In other words, Coop's basket bought the Lakers a game 7 at home. |
One of the greatest shots in Lakers history. His only basket of the game, iirc. |
In my subjective opinion, there are five occasions of scoring crucial game-winning points in Lakers history. Coop's shot is ranked #3.
My criteria is simple:
1) must be in a championship year. If the end result is not a championship, the game-winning points didn't make a difference.
2) without these points, the championship most probably wouldn't have happened.
In other words, Magic's junior skyhook in 1987, Jerry West's half-court shot against the Knicks in 1970 (that basket didn't even lead to a win), his winning basket against the Celtics in game 3 of the 1962 Finals (that win was the difference of eventually losing the series 4-3, 4-2 or 4-1), Derek Fisher's 0.4 seconds, and his game-tying 3-pointer against the Magic in 2009 game 4 aren't good enough. They didn't lead to championships, or their failure would not have led to dire situations.
My top 5:
5) 1952 championship
Jim Pollard's tip-in in game 4 of the WDF. With 2 seconds left, Pollard's tip-in eliminated the defending champs Royals and advanced the Lakers to the Finals. Granted, the score was tied. Had the shot not been made, the game would have gone to OT. Had the Lakers lost that game, the Lakers would have to play the winner-take-all game 5 in Rochester.
4) 2010 championship
Ron Artest's rebound basket against the Suns, in game 5 of the WCF. Without this basket, the game would have gone to OT. Had the Lakers lost this game, they would have needed 2 wins (the next one in Phoenix) to win the series.
3) 1988 championship
Coop's winning basket against the Jazz, in game 5 of the 2nd Round. The Lakers were trailing by 1 point. Without this basket, the Lakers would likely have lost the game, and needed 2 wins (the next one in Utah) to win the series.
2) 2002 championship
Big-shot Rob's miracle against the Kings, in game 4 of the WCF. The Lakers were trailing by 2 points. Without this basket, the Lakers would have lost the game and trailed 3-1 in the series. They would have needed three wins (with two of the next three in Sacramento) to advance.
1) 1988 championship
Kareem's 2 FTs against the Pistons to keep the Finals series alive. Without Kareem's 2 FTs, the Lakers would have been eliminated in game 6, no more back-to-back. |
Props for going back to the Minnesota days.
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns". |
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ducasse
Star Player
Joined: 05 Sep 2002
Posts: 8316
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| Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| Big Game James wrote: | Cooper being in the HOF is a real surprise to me. I can never understand how he didn't deserve this 15 years ago, 10 years ago, or 5 years ago... but deserves it now?
Don't get me wrong, he was an elite defender. But that is the end of the conversation. He averaged a measly 9 PPG, 3 RPG and 4 APG throughout his career. Cooper contributed to 5 championships, but was not the player that carried the team. In fact, he wasn't even a starter! Nor was his jersey retired. Who is? Three players that carried Cooper to the 5 championships: Kareem, Magic and Worthy.
For reference, I don't consider Byron Scott, Robert Horry or Derek Fisher as HOF'ers either. They are all fantastic role players that contributed in different ways to the team. But based on this standard of Cooper getting in, I suppose they should be considered as well. I guess the standards for being a HOF'er is a lot lower than my own standard. |
I was initially surprised too, but after thinking about it, I think it makes sense and it should have happened earlier. The rings are a factor but beyond that Coop was selected to eight all-defensive teams and he has that DPOY award. Horry, Fisher and Scott don't have a resume with those kinds of accolades. He was acknowledged as the best defender in the league and one of only eight perimeter players to win DPOY. That's elite company. HOF is well deserved.
I think going forward this sets a standard that if you have multiple rings, many all-defensive team selections, and a DPOY award you are going to get in. Draymond Green is an example of someone that meets that criteria and who has not been much of a scorer, only 8.7 PPG. He also has eight all-defensive team selections, the DPOY award and multiple rings. In addition he has two all-NBA selections. |
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coldzim
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Joined: 30 Jun 2018
Posts: 334
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| Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| Big Game James wrote: | | For reference, I don't consider Byron Scott, Robert Horry or Derek Fisher as HOF'ers either. They are all fantastic role players that contributed in different ways to the team. But based on this standard of Cooper getting in, I suppose they should be considered as well. I guess the standards for being a HOF'er is a lot lower than my own standard. |
I think Norm Nixon will be a HOF. |
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