JED JACOBSON/NEWSMAKERS Shaquille O'Neal's Lakers are one of the few teams that win with style.

From the Sidelines

Style and substance, a rare NBA mix

It has been quite an uneventful first half for the NBA. And most fans are tuning out and staying away because they just don't care to see if it's going to get any better. The problem with the NBA these days is that it's all style and no substance. Tune in to SportsCenter one of these nights—it's all about Vince Carter's high-flying windmill dunks and Jason Williams' no-look behind-the-back dishes to Chris Webber. This is all well and good, but unless you get excited by Stuart Scott's "Booyah!"s it gets a bit old. These days, the NBA is loaded with preposterously talented players like Carter and Williams, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant, show-stoppers who give ESPN more-than-sufficient highlight material. In the end, though, the NBA is just a show with plenty of big-time stars running around without a script. The problem isn't the lack of stars—it's the lack of plot.

No one cares about who is winning or losing—sometimes, it seems, not even the players. Far too many stars (Garnett, Gary Payton, and Shaquille O'Neal, to name a few) have seemed more interested in talking to late-night television's pretty boy Craig Kilborn than playing catch-up for a playoff position. With his team, the Sacramento Kings, trailing by double digits late in a game earlier this month, Williams felt the need to make an uncontested layup interesting by passing it off the backboard to teammate Webber for Booyah! material, only to see the ball—and the game—go flying out of reach.

Three of the best NBA teams—the San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trailblazers, and Indiana Pacers—are, while terribly unsexy, at the top of their respective divisions. Tim Duncan's bank shot, Scottie Pippen's man-to-man defense, and Jalen Rose's all-around play are not exactly highlight material. This, however, is what will matter in June when the NBA champion is decided. Sometimes we forget that what matters in the end is who wins. It's pathetic, but watching Garnett rattle off Janet Jackson songs with Kilborn was more entertaining than just about any game so far between first-place teams.

Executives at NBC and the NBA don't understand why so many arenas are empty, and why people would rather watch a game show than a basketball game. The message, really, is quite simple—winning still matters to fans, which is an encouraging thought. In an age of quick-fix sports networks like ESPN, million-dollar shoe commercials, and Kilborn, it's easy to get caught up in the hype and cheap thrills of the NBA. Carter and his Raptors are struggling just to make it into the playoffs. Williams and Webber are on a team whose laughable defense makes them a guaranteed first-round playoff loser. Iverson's 76ers are the most one-dimensional team in the NBA. When these guys start winning, people will begin tuning in. It may be a while, though.

What the NBA and the fans need is a team that is substance and style, a team that is the best without being the most boring. The Celtics and the Lakers of the '80s won championships while Magic Johnson and Larry Bird thrilled crowds. Jordan alone made his Bulls a team worth watching, even during the regular season. The Lakers are the one team this year that comes close to those great teams from the NBA's glory years that made winning championships entertaining. I've never been a Lakers fan, but just because I want a compelling NBA Finals, I've become one. O'Neal and Bryant may be the most dynamic duo in the league, and their team has the second-best record in the NBA. Bryant's game is so versatile that he's always a triple-double waiting to happen and O'Neal is one of the most dominant centers in NBA history. And they both can dunk pretty well.

Let's have an NBA second half full of spectacular highlights that actually mean something. Shaq and Kobe, you can save the season. You're the fans' only hope.

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