With Dodgers’ win, Los Angeles completes Slam

By Al S. Mendoza

 

LOS Angeles just scored a Grand Slam of sorts.

And what kind of a Slam is that?

It won both the NBA crown and the World Series plum in the same year.

Both are world championships in basketball and baseball.

To many, the NBA ring is more prestigious than the Olympic gold in basketball.

That is why not many NBA players are keen on competing in the Olympics.

But the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was an exception.

It was in that Olympiad that the Dream Team was formed—but with some political maneuvering attending it.

It was called the Dream Team simply because practically all the Who’s Who in the NBA then were there—from Michael Jordan to Charles Barkley, from Magic Johnson to Larry Bird.

The only one lacking was Isaiah Thomas, whose non-inclusion drew a storm that raged for years.

Known for his outspokenness and being vocal on issues both controversial and not, Thomas was cut.

Up to now, if that dent would crop up among NBA stalwarts, an animated debate immediately ensues.

Anyway, back to Los Angeles’s latest twin feats.

Achieving that is one of the hardest ever in sports.

The last time the City of Angels did the twin kill was in 1988.

First, the Lakers completed an almost expected victory in the world’s grandest stage in basketball almost three weeks ago.

Behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ Deadly Duo, Los Angeles defeated the Miami Heat 4-2 in the seven-game Finals.

The Lakers had been actually tipped to score a 4-0 sweep over the Heat.

But playing spectacularly in Games 3 and 5, Jimmy Butler almost single-handedly pushed the Heat to within 3-2 with his triple-double efforts.

But basketball being a team game, Butler would falter in the end, weighed down by an inferior support and a do-it-all attitude that eventually backfired in Game 6.

Going with the Lakers’ victory—their 17th in franchise history that tied them with their arch-rivals Boston Celtics—was James winning his fourth Finals MVP and his first in the West, two with Miami and one with Cleveland in the East.

Next at bat were the Dodgers.

Heavily favored, too, like the Lakers, the Dodgers somewhat flirted with defeat before finally brushing off the ghost of their infamous October demons in three championship playoffs.

Unleashing the solid team game they are famously known for, the Dodgers dealt the Tampa Bay Rays of Florida a 3-1 thumping on Wednesday for a title-clinching 4-2 series win to end a 32-year title drought.

Shortstop Corey Seager won MVP honors after also capturing the National League Championship MVP trophy, capping the Dodgers’ dramatic triumph in their third Finals in four years.

With a lineup laden with youngsters having potential for greatness, the Dodgers are favored yet to repeat next year.

So do the Lakers, with James and Davis almost sure of sticking it out in Los Angeles.

When both teams prevail again in the next season—not far-fetched—history could be rewritten.

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