On ESPN, Kevin Arnovitz contrasts two tales of one city in advance of tonight’s Staples Center showdown.
For the Los Angeles Lakers, 2012-13 has been the Season of the System. Mike Brown was fired for a failure to effectively implement his Princeton offense, then succeeded by Mike D’Antoni, the architect of a high-octane spread pick-and-roll system that’s been appropriated by coaches all over the league. Had many Lakers fans had their druthers, Phil Jackson would’ve returned to re-institute the triangle, the gold standard of modern-day systems.
Back in November, when Los Angeles was engulfed in system overload the week Brown was dismissed and D’Antoni hired, Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro was asked which system he deployed.
“Chris Paul,” Del Negro said.
Del Negro wasn’t being flip or coy. The question was straightforward, and he offered the best approximation of his team’s blueprint when it had the ball — the Chris Paul System.
