Game 56: Jerry West - World's Best Strawberry Cheesecake
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year thinking about the worst feeling in sports: Losing multiple championships in a row. Losing in the final stage of a long season, where the mutual city-wide pain becomes a badge of honor and an inside joke among friends who’ve never met, easily tops decades-long playoff droughts. Losing the World Series two years in a row fucking sucks. And that was before I found out that the victors -- BOTH TEAMS! -- had an elaborate cheating system. It’s even worse when you realize a court of law will never let you successfully sue the Houston Astros for the price of a game 7 ticket. It was a lot, that’s all I’ll say about that.
While the Buffalo Bills, who lost four Super Bowls in a row, usually top the list of Most Depressing Losing Streak due to the combination of the franchise’s ineptitude before and after the SB runs, the lack of any other pro teams in Buffalo, and the whole “living in Buffalo” thing, the Lakers’ losing streak against the Boston Celtics is a top contender. If they matched up together, the 1960s Lakers and 1990s Bills would probably play an infinite overtime quarter that never ends. Balls constantly striking iron on rims and uprights.
After the Lakers drafted Jerry West and moved to Los Angeles in 1960, the Lakers lost to the Celtics SIX times in the Finals. West and the Lakers finally won a championship in 1972, but the team didn’t defeat their hated rival until 1985… after another loss the year before, for good measure. So in honor of today’s game against the hated Celtics, here are the Jerry West-led Lakers’ six Finals losses to the Celtics, ranked by PAIN. From “Good game, you guys deserved it” to staying in bed in a depressed state for days.
1965 Finals - Celtics win in 5 games
This was the only Lakers-Celtics Finals of the Jerry West era to go less than 6 games. And for good reason: Lakers Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor missed the playoffs with the nagging knee injury that eventually ended his career at the turn of the next decade. West averaged an insane 40.6 points in that year’s playoffs, a total that would’ve been higher had he not gone 1 for 15 in the final quarter of game 5. Both games 1 and 5 were blowout victories for the Celtics, who cruised to their 7th straight title. Sometimes you just get your ass beat. No shame in that.
1963 Finals - Celtics win in 6 games
In 1963, the Lakers looked to avenge their overtime game 7 loss in the previous year’s Finals. But it wasn’t a fair fight. West missed the last 27 games of the regular season with a hamstring injury and entered the playoffs before he fully recovered. The Celtics took the first two games at home and never looked back. West averaged 27.8 points in the playoffs that year, a number he would dwarf in the coming years. Pro athletes don’t like to use injuries as an excuse, but I would. I complain about working from home if I have a minor sinus infection.
1968 Finals - Celtics win in 6 games
This looked like the year the Lakers would break through, as they split the first four games. But West sprained his ankle in their game 4 victory and the Lakers dropped games 5 and 6, including an overtime heartbreaker in game 5. West played his heart out, leading all players in the postseason with 30.8 ppg, but he felt they blew best chance at finally toppling the Celtics: "We gave them the first game, and we gave them the fifth. But I take nothing from them… They're all that way on the Celtics, and you can't teach it."
1969 Finals - Celtics win in 7 games
Before the start of the 1968-1969 season, Lakers management finally realized that maybe, just maybe, they needed an all-time great center to play against Bill Russell, the Celtic who was primarily responsible for them winning 10 titles in 12 years. And even though they got Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers fell once again in 7 games, despite going up 2-0. This is the famous NBA Finals where Jerry West, who averaged 37.8 points, became the first and still only player on the losing team to win the MVP. And while he deserved it (and was playing on a bad hamstring that caused him to limp), it was a consolation prize from people thinking he’d never win the big one. Multiple Celtics players went up to him after the final whistle to pay their respects, including Russell, who would shock Boston by retiring as both player and coach shortly after the game ended.
1962 Finals - Celtics win in 7 games
This is where the heartbreak started. The Celtics defeated the Lakers in the 1959 Finals, but it was without Jerry West, so there was little shared history or hatred yet. The Lakers took a 3-2 series lead by winning game 5 in Boston, a rare event that would become a sticking point for the Lakers-Celtics rivalry into the 1980s. But the Celtics blew them out in Los Angeles to force a game 7 at Boston Garden. The Lakers trailed for most of the game, but tied it 100-100 in the last minute. With 5 seconds left, Frank Selvy missed a wide open jumper and Elgin Baylor failed to tip it in. Boston won in overtime and kept their dynasty intact. A devastating loss for the Lakers, but at least they could tell themselves they’d be back in the Finals soon. They were right. Unfortunately, it would always be up against the Celtics.
1966 Finals - Celtics win in 7 games
Failed comebacks are a killer. I’d rather get blown out then get my hopes up. In 1966, the Lakers won game 1 in overtime, but the win was lost in the post-game announcement that coach Red Auerbach was naming Bill Russell as his successor. The Lakers promptly shit the bed and lost the next three games to reach the brink of elimination. Still, the Lakers came back to force a game 7, something no team did until LeBron’s 2016 Cavaliers. But in game 7, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West dug a huge hole for the Lakers by shooting a combined 16% in the first half. The Lakers made a comeback, but fell two points short, allowing Auerbach to smoke one last victory cigar as head coach.
West would eventually win a title as a player (vs the Knicks) and he finally won two rings against the Celtics as the Lakers’ GM, but his early losses “scarred [him] even to this day.” As he told the NY Times, “I wanted to win for the franchise and for the people. And when you can’t do that, it’s devastating, particularly for someone like me.” Don’t feel too bad, Jerry. Trading Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant more than makes up for all that losing you did!
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World’s Best Strawberry Cheesecake
Crust:
¾ cup coarsely ground walnuts
¾ cup finely crushed graham crackers
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
Filling:
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
4 eggs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Topping:
2 cups sour cream
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Glaze:
1 quart medium strawberries
1 12-ounce jar red raspberry jelly
¼ cup Cointreau
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Lightly buttered 9-inch springform pan.
Crust: In food processor with steel blade, combine all ingredients. Press into the bottom of the springform.
Filling: In food processor with steel blade, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly. Spoon over crust. Set pan on a baking sheet and bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees. Don’t be concerned if cracks appear on cake. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes. Retain heated oven.
Topping: Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate. When cake has cooled slightly, spoon topping over, starting at center to about ½ inch from edge. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer. Cool, then refrigerate for at least 24 hours or 2-3 days.
Glaze: Several hours before serving, wash berries and dry completely. Combine a little jelly with cornstarch in sauce pan and mix well. Add remaining jelly, Cointreau, and water and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until thickened and clear, about 5 minutes. Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally. Using a knife, loosen cake from pan and remove springform. Arrange berries, pointed ends up, over top of cake. Spoon glaze over berries, letting excess drip over sides. Refrigerate until glaze is set.
Like Jerry West’s Lakers showed, you can have the world’s best team in practice, but you’re only given the title of WORLD CHAMPION if you can execute on the court. This may have been the world’s best strawberry cheesecake recipe, but how would I, someone who never baked a cake until a few months ago, do with it?
Hang this cheesecake up to the rafters.
After my springform pan arrived in the mail, I started the 3 day process of baking this cake. For the filling, I used my food processor but I elected to go with the electric hand mixer and bowl route for the filling. Who has a food processor big enough to mash four bricks of cream cheese? Jerry West’s wife, I guess?
Once my cake was baked, I topped it with the sour cream-sugar-vanilla mixture and put it in my fridge for a full three days. As luck would have it, Albertsons was selling BOGO strawberries because it was the day after Valentine’s Day, so I got a nice deal on the finishing touch for my cake. Have I mentioned before that I’m doing this entire project out of pocket during bouts of unemployment? I’ve sent Jeanie Buss many Venmos but no response yet.
I did it. I baked a cheesecake. I’m not a big cake guy. Pie is the superior round dessert. But I love cheesecake. Even the frozen variety you get at Trader Joe’s is great IMO. But nothing tastes better than a homemade cheesecake born out of Jerry West’s tears.
