Lakers 'Had Too Many Europeans' Says Brilliant Boston Columnist Shaughnessy

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, please share with us why you think the Celtics won the championship.

"Kobe Bryant scored 22 for the losers, but ultimately LA just had too many Europeans."

Calling a team soft is one thing. Asserting certain players aren't big or tough enough to bang with heavyweights, that's a common practice and perfect sensible as a critique if the facts back it up. Indicting the ethnic lineage of a group of players in generalist sense? That's racial profiling, buddy.

Pau Gasol might be an example of one of these "soft" players; it's easy to see Kevin Garnett dominated Pau physically repeatedly, including in a few memorable possessions in Game 6. If we're talking about Pau and Pau only, I'll buy it: Pau's lack of ability to adapt to a physical matchup hurt the Lakers. And hey, include Vladimir Radmanovic all you want. Dude's built like a Bourne villain and averaged 3 rebounds this season. (You'll get no agreement here that Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf are softer than the average NBA player. Turiaf watched his chest get split open three years ago, for corn's sake.)

Does the so-called soft nature of Pau or Vlad have an iota to do with their ancestry? Of course not. Pau's skinny for the center spot, and has always had the skills suited to a finesse offensive game. Same with Vlad. Same with Peja. All Serbs and Spaniards are not the same, just as all Southies and gremlins are not the same. You'd think we'd get past stereotypes lazy and offensive at some point this eon.

And I mean, seriously Shaughnessy: the San Antonio Spurs have won three titles this decade featuring a roster full of Euro-born (Tony Parker, Rasho Nesterovic) and Euro-bred athletes (Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto). The argument that the Lakers lost because the racial makeup of their roster isn't just stupidly offensive; it's offensively stupid. (Of course, this is expected with this particular writer.)