What we learned in the NBA Finals News Miami Heat

Because teams, players, coaches and referees all reveal themselves in various ways, every play of every game is fraught with meaningful revelations. And the pressure inherent in a championship series certainly ups the ante.

So then, here are some nuggets of transcendent meaning that can be gleaned from the latest Lakers-Celtics set-to.

While Doc Rivers did a superb job, he was way off-base in deriding Phil Jackson for "whining" about the refs after the lopsided 38-10 foul situation in Game 2. Since he's been there before, Jackson knew that the public airing of his grievance would work to his team's benefit — and it did. In fact, it always does. In other words, loudly complaining about being short-changed by the refs in a playoff series is as much a part of a coach's job description as formulating a game plan. Besides which, Jackson's protestations were entirely justified.

With all due respect, the only plausible reason for Lamar Odom's lack of on-court awareness is that he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder.

In any case, Odom is imminently dispensable and must be dealt for someone like Ron Artest, Udonis Haslem or Shane Battier.

Sometimes how a team plays is more significant than whether they've won or lost a specific game. Which was the case with the Lakers' sloppy, error-filled victory in Game 5 that certainly pointed to the probability of their getting swamped in Game 6.

2008 NBA Finals

Tuesday's Game 6

Celtics crush Lakers, win NBA title

Analysis

Whitlock: A color-blind championship
Kahn: Are Celtics a team for ages?
Hill: Bad karma for Zen Master
Kahn: Celtics win it with defense
Kriegel: Celtics bring pride back
Rosen: Boston at its best in finale
Goodman: Kobe comes up short

Lakers-Celtics history

Hill: Rivalry's 10 greatest moments
Behrendt: Bird, Magic reminisce
Hill: Ranking the Celtics-Lakers Finals
Boeck: West revisits the rivalry
Kahn: Gamesmanship marks rivalry
Whatifsports.com: All-time teams series

Photos

Celebration in Beantown
Finals pics: Game 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

Video

NBA Finals Video Central
Watch Boston's victory parade
Marques Johnson Game 6 analysis
Game 6 postgame: Celtics | Lakers

Also

NBA Finals central: Lakers-Celtics
Title talk: Discuss Celts championship
Complete NBA playoff coverage

Pau Gasol needs to forgo playing in the Olympics and instead spend the offseason enrolled in gladiator school.

All of the media reports that Jackson was thoroughly out-coached by Rivers are absurd. Rivers simply had the far superior team and had many more options (particularly on offense) at his disposal. In fact, the Lakers' shooters (Sasha Vujacic, Vladamir Radmanovic and Derek Fisher) all got plenty of good-enough looks but simply failed to covert them. Also, the failure of the Lakers' screen/roll defense was primarily due to the lack of awareness of the baseline rotators, not because the defensive game plan provided the screenee with no immediate help.

It says here that Jackson only made two minor mistakes: Not giving Ira Newble enough pressure-time daylight so as to be prepared to take a turn guarding Paul Pierce; and not reacting quickly enough when the Celtics played small-ball.

Pierce was deservedly honored as the finals MVP, but if Pierce was all the Lakers had to worry about, there would have been a championship parade in Los Angeles. (Look at PP's shooting and scoring totals in Game 5 and 6.) Indeed, the real difference in the series was the Lakers' inability to combat the speed, quickness and decision-making of Rajon Rondo.

Dick Bavetta, Bob Delaney and Ken Mauer are all front-runners, homers, arrogant, grudge-holders and vastly overrated. As such, they should be prevented from ever working both conference finals and championship series forever more.

Kevin Garnett certainly deserved to celebrate after the Celtics won Game 6. However, despite his repeated chest-thumpings, it's one thing to play well in a 39-point blowout and quite another to succeed in the waning moments of a game that's still up for grabs. Until he does the job in the clutch, Garnett is still not a franchise player.

Yogi Berra was right on: "It ain't over till it's over." Too bad those tragically young Lakers who prematurely celebrated the win that never happened in Game 4 never heard of Yogi.

But the biggest lesson to be learned from the series is actually the reprise of an old one: Defense wins championships.

It's a lesson that too many players, coaches and general managers still haven't grasped. That's because offense is more glamorous, more easily appreciated by both advertisers and casual fans, more financially rewarding to all participants, more ego satisfying and much easier to play and coach.

And since it was Bill Russell and his playmates who first taught this lesson, it's only fitting that the modern-day Celtics reaffirmed it. So it is that the "discovery" of defense constitutes the true significance of Boston's 17th championship.

It's defense that was, is and hopefully will be the essence of the Celtics' legacy.