He's seen confident teams keep their edge and win a title, like the '88 Lakers, and teams that looked a little too full of themselves falter in the early rounds, like the '81 team. They end up playing the game in a defensive way, rather than being the aggressor. If there was a characteristic of this team, they don't play that way. They've gone after everybody's jugular every game. They're the defending champions, but they want to go out and take everybody else apart.
Several things help explain how they've been able to win a title and remain so hungry.
Part of it is, this is not really the same team. Shaq and Kobe remain at its center, but Horace Grant, Rick Fox and Fisher all are new to the lineup from last season. This team wants to make its own statement, separate from last year. And if this is the peak to their season, it's helped their playoff cause that they had to traverse a few valleys to get here. We know what it's like to fail if we underestimate anyone.