40-0

This is a special feature by guest blogger Christopher Sells

Ordinarily, I don’t make too much of Game One results. So knowing that the Lakers beat the Spurs Wednesday doesn’t really mean much. Observations after Game Three are usually much more astute.

With that being said, Phil Jackson’s 40-0 record in playoff series in which he won the first game is mighty impressive. Think about it. Phil Jackson is in his 17th year coaching. He has only lost seven playoff series. Total. He has won more titles than he’s lost series. And he only loses a series when he loses the first game.

I’m not ready to say the Lakers are definitely going to win this series now, but I’m much less inclined to pick the Spurs, just based on that information alone. Never mind the experience or the depth or the lack of scoring or anything else that you might bring up as a positive or negative for either team. All you have to remember is 40-0.

This could very well be the year that the trend is broken. After all, Jackson did have the benefit of a couple of superstars on a lot of those teams. Now all he has is Kobe and a team of mostly role players. Meanwhile, the Spurs are the latest championship institution and just came off a series win where they lost their first two games.

40-0 though. Really hard to argue with that.

[image:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2211/2482348716_a5b6c1af46_m.jpg]