CLEVELAND, Ohio – Sometimes, in a world in which winning is supposed to be the only thing, it is worthwhile to remember those who did not win despite all the effort they expended and all the talent they possessed.
One of the huge ironies of the NBA Finals is that one of the most valiant of those who strived so hard in vain, Jerry Alan West Jr., is a consultant for the Golden State Warriors. They are, of course, a victory over the Cavaliers in Tuesday's sixth game from defeating LeBron James, the modern West.
It was West who counseled the Warriors to keep Klay Thompson, rather than trade him (and, reportedly, Draymond Green too) in a deal for injured Cavalier power forward Kevin Love.
West lost a lot in the NBA Finals -- eight times, four of them in the seventh game -- but he was never a loser. He was so revered that he became the model for the NBA logo while he was still a player.
Surely he sees himself in James, the basketball firestorm who, against all odds, has led the Cavs to two victories and into contention in the fourth quarter in every game until sheer fatigue has eroded his game.
West's numbers in defeat
Jerry West was known for playing through injuries, suffering at least eight broken noses, and for scoring insane numbers of points in defeat.
In 1965, he averaged 46.3 points in the West finals and 40.6 for the entire playoffs, which concluded with a five-game NBA Finals loss to Boston.
That record will not be topped. West played only 11 playoff games that season. Tuesday will be the 20th playoff game for James, with all that implies in fatigue with a shorthanded team.
Few players were more respected in their day than West. Wilt Chamberlain owned all the scoring records, but he had disappeared in the second half of the seventh game of the conference finals against Boston in 1968.
He limped to the bench in the seventh game of the 1969 Finals against the Celtics. After Bill Russell's 11thchampionship in 13 years had been secured, Russell said that only a broken leg would have been enough to keep him out of the game. (Actually, only stubborn Lakers coach Butch Van Breda Kolff was enough to keep Wilt out.)
West was never named the NBA's Most Valuable Player. It was a different era, post play was in the high noon of its long domination of the game, and Wilt, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Russell swapped the award back and forth among themselves.
The 1969 and 2015 NBA Finals
Nevertheless, in 1969 West became the only player on the losing team to be named NBA Finals MVP. He averaged 37.9 points. (For the record, James is averaging 36.6 through five games against the Warriors.)
Other eerie similarities were that Russell, the Celtics player-coach, refused to double team West for the first two games of the Finals, in which West scored 53 and then 41 points. Russell beat Golden State's much lauded Steve Kerr to the blatantly obvious tactic of double-teaming the other team's best player by doing so in the third game.
Kerr waited until the fourth game after James scored 44, 39 and 40 in the first three for a 2-1 Cavs series lead.
West also complained of exhaustion and had to sit out longer stretches than he was accustomed to as the 1969 Finals wore on.
Of his killing load of minutes played, James had assured everyone, "Of course I'm built for it. I'm ready for anything." His brave talk clearly was meant to reassure his teammates, not to realistically assess his chances of being unaffected by playing so many minutes.
But the Cavs' do-everything superstar confessed after the fourth game: "I was gassed out."
Epic efforts wasted
After injuring his hamstring late in a blowout fifth game victory West hobbled through the sixth game, a loss in Boston, then put up a 42-point (14 for 29 shooting) 13-rebound, 12-assist line in a two-point loss in Inglewood, Calif., in the seventh game.
For those who have only seen ESPN Classic replays of Magic Johnson's close-out sixth game at Philadelphia in 1980, his numbers were 42-15-7.
James already has two triple doubles in the Finals, a third in the Eastern Conference Finals, and he missed by one assist in the close-out game against Chicago. His numbers in Game 5 vs. Golden State: 40 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, and another loss because everyone was spent in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers also got 37 points from Jamaal Wilkes in that 1980 game.
West's most effective teammate in his epic 1969 game was Elgin Baylor with 20 while the injured Chamberlain had 18.
No Wilts, Elgins or Wilkeses are available here. James' support in the last game came from J.R. Smith (14 points, all in the first half) and Tristan Thompson (19 points, all on put backs or other "opportunity" baskets.)
For the love of winners -- and losers
Boston's John Havlicek hugged West after the buzzer of the seventh game in 1969 and, speaking as one great competitor to another, said, "Jerry, I love you."
It is a fallacy that we only remember winners. From Hector in the old myths to Hannibal, Lee and Rommel in recorded annals of conflict, we remember the vanquished who fought brilliantly against the odds too.
In basketball, we remember Jerry West, who lent nobility to defeat long before he helped design a team on the brink of beating the gallant King and his valiant men.
http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2015/06/west.html
http://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/j/lebron_james_vs_jerry_west.htm
not bad lot of hall of famers IN that pic Wit losing records