The folks at NBA.com have been nice enough to allow us to ask some of their personalities questions during these playoffs. This time around, I got to ask Chris Webber to cut through the BS and tell us the truth about how players feel about big rivalries like the C’s-Lakers
We know what players SAY when they’re asked about a rivalry… but
what’s the truth? Players know how much this means, right? They are
aware that this is something even more special than even the NBA finals,
don’t they?CW: First of all, yes. It’s very easy to
hate the teams that you’ve played before. We learned that in college.
You learn it really quick. I think the difference is that somebody like
Kobe or Paul Pierce could care less about Larry Bird or Magic Johnson
right now. I think you’ve heard Kobe say that in his past few
interviews. He’s not playing it for them. If he’s playing it for them,
then he’s going to lose. You have to play it for yourself.I
don’t think that Bill Russell and those guys played for anybody else but
their teammates, and that’s what you have to do in sports. So they know
it’s a big rivalry, but so what? What does that mean if you don’t win
it at the end of the day? Talking about it, or going back and revisiting
highlights really don’t do anything for you…. I think that most of
the people who act on the ra-ra of rivalries usually are the ones that
aren’t really focused.
Follow that link for a lot of great Q&A with CWebb from some of the best C’s and Lakers bloggers out there.
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