Columnist Dean Juipe: Kings do NBA playoff fans a favor

Dean Juipe

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

The question was innocuous enough, directed as it was to a four-times-a-week sports columnist.

"When are you going to write something about the NBA playoffs?" came the inquiry from a casual fan, knowing that such a mainstream topic is certainly fair game when the boss expects something from you on what seems to be a daily basis.

"Maybe never. Or at least not this year," was the response given earlier this week, the result of believing the ongoing playoffs were boring, monotonous and predestined to result in a championship for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The playoffs? They looked to be scripted and simply not a worthy subject.

But that was then.

Thanks in large part to the Sacramento Kings, and to a lesser extent the Portland Trailblazers, the Western Conference portion of the playoffs have risen to must-see status.

The Eastern Conference remains another matter, as there is not a team on that side of the bracket that would rank among the top four in the West. The eventual representative from the East has but a singular hope when it comes to winning the league championship: That whichever team emerges from the West will be weary, if not incapacitated, from a succession of hard-fought games.

The key word when the playoffs opened was tedium. They were going to drag through May and well into June and there didn't appear to be a team that could derail the Lakers.

Likewise, playoff storylines appeared prematurely tired and of little value.

Los Angeles was 67-15 during the regular season and had a look of invincibility. Shaquille O'Neal was dominant to an extreme and Kobe Bryant -- who is still only 21 years old despite being in the league four years -- was looking more and more like Michael Jordan's heir apparent when it comes to spectacular plays and showmanship.

But suspense has replaced ennui and, suddenly, the Lakers have to win tonight in Los Angeles or their season will be over. It's one thing when a regular-season champ like the St. Louis Blues is eliminated in the first round of the hockey playoffs, but it would be quite another to see the Lakers fail to survive the opening round.

It could happen if the Kings -- who won a riveting game Tuesday in Sacramento to even their best-of-five series at two games apiece -- can muster a repeat performance. But, even if they were to lose, the Kings have exposed the Lakers as vulnerable and potentially overmatched if and when they're paired with the Blazers.

Seeing the Blazers play is like seeing the Harlem Globetrotters as a kid. You think, "Wow, these guys are unbelievably athletic" and you can't imagine a more physically gifted team.

Portland -- which eliminated Minnesota in a spellbinding game Tuesday -- has a better all-around starting lineup than Los Angeles and maybe a better bench, which means containing O'Neal and Bryant is far and away the key item in any head-to-head clash with the Lakers.

At the very least the Kings and Blazers are responsible for adding an element of intrigue to what had been the dullest-looking basketball playoffs in history.

As an NBA fan, it's appreciated.

As a columnist, it's a reprieve.