Anyone who really knows me is fully aware of my love for the Los Angeles Lakers. I have been a Lakers’ fan since the early seventies and I do not intend on changing. The NBA 2007-2008 year has ended and the LA Lakers have clinched the lead in the Western Conference. This simply means that they will have home court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoff.
There are major factors that go in to playing any sport.
The owners, coaches, and those who study stats are intimately aware of the factors that can have the pendulum swing in their direction. Those factors are the law of averages and the principle of persistence and momentum. Oftentimes, you will hear the announcer say, “Whenever the Lakers shoot fifty percent or more and score over a hundred points, they are 38 and 4.” What they are saying is that the odds are in their favor to win.
Momentum is a strange phenomenon because once it latches on it continues to increase. What happens with momentum is that it is mental. Once you think that you have enough points or wins, your mindset shifts to cruise control and then momentum is lost. This is why a team can be winning a game by more than 25 points, and they not only lose their lead, but they also lose the game.
When the mentality shifts to cruise control and the other team has narrowed the spread to less than fifteen, the cruise control mentality shifts to survival mode. Suddenly the team that once led by more than twenty-five points is now playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
Persistence is another plus which works in the favor of a team that displays more than a desire to win, but single-minded doggedness to conquer despite the odds.
I have seen this kind of perseverance in Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and now, Kobe Bryant. Once Michael Jordan had momentum in a game, he never played a team that he did not want to push the dagger into deeper. He knew how to keep the momentum until it worked like a dynamo.
Kobe Bryant can have a lasting legacy if he continues to play the game to conquer his opponent, instead of playing to convince the naysayer; and he will win the championship.
Neither life nor business is any different from sports. All are governed by rules and regulations that must be adhered to, coupled with desire, will, persistence, and faith. Challenge yourself to move off the pedestal of mediocrity and move into a dimension of the victorious.
Leave a Reply