Thank You Sports Gods!!!

Before the finals started, I wrote that I hoped the Sports God's wouldn't bestow a championship on LeBron and company, validating their soulless hijacking of the league and that ridiculous behavior as a legitimate way of building a championship. The Sports God's haven't been great to me in the past year. The Colts were more injured than anything. The Astros are the worst team in baseball. The Devils missed the playoffs for the first time in ever. Barcelona was granted second and third life with asinine refereeing decisions against Arsenal and Real Madrid. Nothing had really gone right, but this made up for almost all of it. They did not let the Heat win, and almost as importantly (and assuredly something that will get undercovered), they let a deserving team in the Mavs win.

The Mavericks were the essence of a great team. They had one great player, but eight other average to good ones. They didn't have a bad player, save for Peja who got benched this series but was great in the Lakers series. They were constructed about as well as any team since the 2003-2005 Spurs teams before Ginobili and Parker became all-star caliber players. What was more, they brilliantly put together a team with many veteran players who had never won a ring, who had spent countless years slogging on good teams but never winning it all, and that provided a great amount of collective motivation to finally unload a pack of monkey's off their collective backs.

Of course there was Dirk, the superstar who was unfairly punished for basically having two bad playoff series in his career (2006 Finals and 2007 1st round). Dirk has been an amazing player for years, and I used to hate him for being so good back in the mid 2000s. He's easily the best international player ever (depending if you consider the African-born but American-collegiate Hakeem Olajuwon). He's probably top-25 all time (although I threw up a little when someone said that a Duncan comparison for best-forward was in play). After Dirk, though, were many players who like him had never won a title. There was Jason Kidd, who twice made the finals as the best player on his team, but lost to teams that had some of the best players of all time in their prime, in Shaq in 2002 and Duncan in 2003. There was Shawn Marion, who was a major cog on three title-worthy Suns teams from 2004-2005 to 2006-2007, but each time lost to Duncan's Spurs and ironically the 2006 Mavs. There was Peja Stojakovic, who before yesterday, went to bed each night thinking about the shot he missed that could have won the 2002 Western Conference Finals before the Kings lost in overtime. There was Jason Terry, who with Manu Ginobili, has been the best 6th man for a decade, living off the memory of missing a shot that would have tied the game in Game 6 in 2006. Finally, there was coach Rick Carlisle, who despite taking two prior teams to the conference finals, had never made the NBA Finals and unceremoniously fired despite a career winning percentage around .600. The Mavs were constructed like a team should: 12 men tied together with one goal - winning their first title.

The Mavericks also had the benefit of having a great, great ability to get hot. Their defense carried them for the first two games, which they were lucky to split 2-2. Then, as would eventually happen, they got hot and started nailing threes (after 69% in game 5, they "cooled" to 50% in Game 6). The Mavericks never backed down from the Heat, like the Celtics and Bulls seemed to do. They never relented. They new they would get their points in the 4th quarter, but they also knew that the Heat couldn't get theirs. Keep the game close in the 4th and pull it out. It's a oft-used cliche in basketball and football, but I've never seen it used better than the Mavs did. The Mavs and Heat both knew that sooner or later, the Mavs would make their run. In Game 3, after blowing a late 7 point lead, the Heat didn't fall apart, but in Game 2 and Game 4 they did, with the Heat twice going over 7 minutes with just one field goal, while the Mavs hit everything in sight. This had been a problem for the Heat all year long. They struggled mightily to close games, something that changed against Boston and Chicago, but Dallas was just too much offensively.

Of course, I would be remiss to not touch upon the Heat. In all honesty, the Heat got what they deserved in a way. James, Wade and Bosh must have known that because of their three salaries, the rest of the team would be less than great. You could easily make the argument that although players #2-#3 in Miami were a lot better than #2-#3 on Cleveland, Cleveland had the better roster after that. James and Wade also knew that they would have too sacrifice playing their game all the time, which came to a head in the Finals. The Heat are still a great team, and those three players are all still great (or very good in Bosh's case). That said, Dwyane Wade is already 29. Bosh is already 27. James in 26, and has been playing since he was 18. These aren't young guys. The younger nucleus resides in OKC and Chicago, if not Memphis and Portland. The Heat will not run away with any titles. If they do win one, they will have to earn it. Many people have said that this was the best chance for another team to beat the Heat as the Heat will have to learn how to play with each other. However, you could easily make the case that this was the best year for the Heat to win a title, a year where teams wouldn't really know how to play them defensively, and in a time where OKC and Chicago are a couple years away and Boston and LA are a couple years too late. They just didn't realize Dallas was at the perfect place.

As for Mr. James, well, you can right of any MJ comparisons. FOREVER. LeBron James as a player is 2-8 in NBA Finals games. I don't like quoting win-loss records for individual players, but in the NBA it is fine, since one player can win a title if he gets the help needed (Duncan, Hakeem, Nowitzki). Again, LeBron is 2-8 in Finals games (I will say that the 2007 Cavs were immensely overmatched in 2007 against the Spurs). Jordan was 24-11. Jordan never lost a finals. Kobe lost two, but also won 5. Duncan never lost a title. LeBron's 0-2. Worse was that LeBron shied away from being the man in this series, even after Dwyane Wade injured his hip and never returned to the level he was in Games 1-3. LeBron passed the ball away like it was poisoned, like it was an object he wanted no part of. LeBron wanted to win titles easily, and it showed as when he needed to put in the effort (and not huge effort, mind you, as he was being guarded by an old Shawn Marion and an older Jason Kidd), he couldn't do it. LeBron might be the most talented NBA player ever, but he's not the best, just like Randy Moss in the NFL. LeBron gave up any hope of him being the true heir to Michael Jordan, unless he wins the next six titles. (By the way, I'm not going to talk about LeBron's ridiculous "the haters go back to living their problem-filled lives" comments, but I'll say that they are in line with someone who's insecure about their own ability and truly don't understand why they are hated).

It was a long strange year for the NBA. One with dizzying highs, but rooted in a terrible low, when three players hijacked a league. It looked like they had rigged the league and basically colluded to win the next eight titles. In the end, it was a forgotten team that won the title, a team that basically all of ESPN's supposed experts picked to lose to Portland for no reason whatsoever other than the fact that Dirk choked five years earlier. The Mavericks were 57-25. They were one game worse than the Heat in the regular season, and swept the Heat. Was this really a surprise, that a deep team filled with hungry, talented veterans could beat a team with 2.75 stars and little else? One statistic to leave you with, one that really defined this season. When Nowitzkti played, the Mavericks were 55-17 in the regular season, and 16-5 in the postseason. They were the best team, and they deserved to be.

Come on, Sports Gods, Don't Let the Heat Win!!!

So, I've avoided writing about the Heat all year long, despite my hatred for them and their star, Mr. LeBron James, aka the man who decided that he would be the first superstar to basically say "I give up winning on my own, I need the help of another top-5 player". The reason I have is that I was scared this would happen all along. The whole Heat saga in this first year is interesting. First, right after LeBron James made his announcement that he intended to take his talents to South Beach (that statement becomes more hilariously dickish and self-aggrandizing each day), everyone responded with a sense of "Holy Shit.... the Heat are going to win the next 10 championships, the NBA's ruined". After a couple weeks that turned into a sense of "Everything will be fine, since they can't afford to pay anyone good besides those three". Finally, before the season started, it returned back to a sense of "Oh, Fuck it. Who am I kidding? They'll win the next 10 titles." That's where things got weird.

With the Bulls never leaving 5th gear all season, and the Celtics reinvigorated for the first 6 months, the Heat became basically the 3rd best team in the East. A more funny thing happened after that, they just kept missing game winning shots time after time, especially LeBron, which led to a real fun round of "Why the hell is LeBron - who is a worse one-on-one creator than Wade taking the ball in EVERY last second play?" and the whole poopoo about the Heat crying after losing to I think it was the Bulls. The Heat were in tatters, capped off by a 30 point loss to the Spurs, and even then, when everyone was celebrating that the Heat were flawed and doomed and that Good trumped Evil, I resisted writing about them. Why? Because I was scared this would happen, that they would turn another gear in the playoffs, that they would prove everyone's initial reactions right. And I hope more now than ever, for the NBA's sake, that I am wrong.

It's not about me not wanting LeBron to win a title after he sheepishly decided that he wasn't good enough to go at it alone, or that he was tired of chasing it with mediocre to barely-all star talent around him. It's an impossible task to win that way, just ask Tim Duncan..... who of course won 4 rings with nary a 2nd-team all-NBA around him. Anyway, forget LeBron. This is about the NBA. Everyone rejoiced that the NBA was more relevant than ever this season, and that was largely true, and it was largely true because everyone gathered collectively to hate Miami. Everyone wanted the Heat to lose, to not win 70 games, and when they were vulnerable, and losing games in the regular season, and when it seemed that the Bulls, Celtics and Lakers were all better than the Heat, the NBA was great. Everyone feared the Heat winning the next 8 titles, and we all saw those fears unrealized throughout the regular season. Sadly, there was a postseason.

All of our worst fears might just come true, and probably will come true. The Heat, after all is said and done, are great and just have more talent than anyone else. The Heat have two of the 5 best players in the NBA, and play good defense. The Heat are the best team, and that kills me, and will kill the NBA. The interest came in because we loved to see the Heat lose, but if the Heat win the title this year, when it was year one, and they didn't have the best chemistry, what is to come later. Interest will definitely not be this high next year if the Heat wins the title this year. It will also validate the bastardly way they came together. Let's just remind you. All sources point to Wade, LeBron and Bosh deciding that they should play together sometime around the 2008 Olympics. They then played coy for two years, and finally, when they were all free agents, had teams FLY OUT AND MAKE FUCKING PRESENTATIONS WITH CELEBRITIES TO BALLWASH THEM INTO COMING TO THEIR CITY!!!!!!!!!! That's so fucking ludicrous I can't really describe it. They rigged the NBA, and then sat back and let each team blow them to persuade them to come to their city when they already decided this shit two years earlier. And now this will be seen as the way to go.

This sort of SuperTeam has never been attempted (other than yearly by the Yankees), and in a sport like basketball, where one or two guys can basically win by themselves, it is the most damaging. The NBA brought this upon themselves, and year one, where the Heat looked fallible, and LeBron was missing game winning shots, and Bosh was crying in the locker room, was all fun, but if that year is capped with a Heat title, the NBA is on watch. Parity is more than alive in the MLB, NHL and NFL. The NBA has never been big on parity, but if the Heat succeed in winning a title, this could become the English Premier League.

Long Live the Lakers & Spurs

In the span of two weeks, the Spurs and Lakers fell out of the 2011 playoffs, and with aging stars, coaching problems, and the rise of other talented teams and the rise of the super team, the days of the Bryant-led Lakers and Duncan-led Spurs have reached their conclusion. It was these two teams that dominated the conference for 12 years, with the Lakers winning the West 7 times (and 5 finals), and the Spurs winning 4 times (and a title each time). The Lakers and Spurs exemplified basketball at its best. One team had the stars, the highlights, the celebrities. The other team played the best team basketball of the new millenium, with great role players surrounding a star the size of hundreds of suns. The Lakers and Spurs also had the best two coaches, two men who combined to win 15 of the last 20 titles (that statistic is staggering). The post-Jordan era took a couple years, but it became the Shaq/Kobe/Duncan era, and while the first has already seen the luster of his star shy away, the Kobe and Duncan eras are now finished, and what an era it was.

It was interesting the way both teams lost. The Spurs somehow went 61-21 this year despite their best player being Manu Ginobili, and them having no great player and 11 average to good ones. Their era, in all honesty, ended in 2008, but they have been able to hang on with the collective brilliance of Popovich, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. They fought and clawed their way against the Grizzlies, the best 8th seed maybe ever and a team that has a legitimate shot at winning the title, and eventually lost in 6 games, but went down swinging with an amazing comeback in Game 5 in San Antonio, not allowing for their era to end on their own court. The Spurs always fought. They won their games with braun, not flash. They won four finals, one in a sweep, one in 5 games, one in 6 games and one in 7 games. They won in every way, winning defensive grudge matches against the defending champions Pistons to outgunning the 62 win "Seven Seconds or Less" Suns one round earlier and then two years later. They just won, and that's all their leader, Duncan, wanted to do.

Quiet man led a quiet team. The 4 title banners behind him were loud enough.

The Lakers were a team of flash and great ability, but always had odd, sometimes combustible chemistry despite having a coach who was fixated on the zen of things. From the Kobe vs Shaq days, where they feuded on and off despite combining for a three-peat. Then Kobe wanted out time and time again, before the Lakers were gift-wrapped Pau Gasol and made it to three more finals and back-to-back championships. It all ended much like the previous Lakers, getting ousted embarrassingly by a team that played more like a TEAM. For the Kobe/Shaq Lakers it was against the underdog Pistons. This time, it was against the underdog Mavericks, who really never should have been underdogs (more on them later this week). The teams may have changed, and the level of total embarrassment may have been different (this was a sweep), but all the elements were the same, and were so very Laker-ian. There was infighting, which this time came out as Bynum said that the team had trust issues. In the end, they quit on their coach and on their legacy.

The Lakers and Spurs are both great, great franchises, but they represent different things. The Lakers have been about the star, the celebrity, as shown by the line of rich, famous people that showed up to Laker games, to the Lakers love of signing tall, big men. The Lakers always wanted that feeling that they were the biggest team in size and in stardom, and most often, they were right. But this always came at a cost, as the Lakers were never the hardest working team, the team that was best at fighting. Everyone wanted everything on the Lakers, everyone wanted what being a winner in Los Angeles offered, and no one was willing to actually fight for it when it wasn't obviously there to be taken. Other than their dramatic, possibly scandalous and definitely lucky win over the Kings in 2002, they were the favorite in every series in their runs to the NBA Finals. They were never further than two games worse than their playoff opponent in their title runs. In fact, after Shaq left (the guy who was responsible for the Lakers not getting the #1 seed from 2001-2004 but turned it on to monstrous size in the playoffs), the Lakers made the finals three straight times but were the #1 seed each time. In years they weren't the #1 seed, they won just one playoff series (this year, against New Orleans who was basically a one man team). The Lakers never wanted to fight, they wanted to win and win with style. And they did, a lot.

At their peak, they were the most dominant 1-2 bunch of the decade.

Obviously, I feel like the Spurs were a team that fought more, but really, that because they had do. They never got that second great player, the way the Lakers did. If you look at the rosters that the Lakers and Spurs had over the last 12 years, three of the four best players to play on those teams were Lakers, with Kobe, Pau and Shaq joining Tim. (Robinson was basically Andrew Bynum level in 1999 and shell of himself in 2003). The Lakers had the better teams. They were the better destination. They didn't fight because they didn't really have to (I should say, this isn't to say they never did. They have won four dramatic 7 games series since 1999, Portland in '99, the Kings in '02, the T-Wolves in '04 and the Celtics in '10 - and didn't have home court in the middle two). The Spurs fought because they did. They were a machine that had to work to run smoothly, but when it did, there was nothing better.

The lasting memory of the Phil/Kobe era shouldn't be Odom elbowing Nowitzki while the team was down 26 with 9 minutes to go, and Bynum thugging JJ Barea just one minute later, but the fact that they were down 26, well maybe that should be the lasting memory. This was the fourth time that a Kobe led team lost spectacularly in a clinching game. Kobe basically took control of the Lakers starting in 2002-03. First, they lost by 28 at home in Game 6 to San Antonio in 2003, then lost by 31 in game 7 to Phoenix in 2006. Then the two real embarrassments, the 39 point loss in Game 6 to Boston, and finally this 36 point loss in a sweep, the first of Phil Jackson's career, much less Kobe's. When they went down, they went down hard. Luckily for them, they barely went down.

Head to head, the Lakers won four of the six playoff series between the two teams, winning in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2008, and the Spurs winning in 1999 and 2003. They never had a memorable series, and the only real lasting memory from these meetings was Derek Fisher's shot with .4 seconds left (a shot that gave the Lakers a 3-2 lead instead of San Antonio going up 3-2). Instead of really knocking heads with each other, they did it against the rest of the West. It is amazing that in an era where the Western Conference seemingly got better year after year, two teams were able to win the conference 11 times in 12 (and Dallas needed a lot to get by San Antonio the one year that broke the trend). There were some legitimately great teams in the West over the years, from the 2002 Kings to the 2004 T-Wolves, and 2005 and 2007 Suns. All of them fell to the Spurs and Lakers, all of them had home court, but still couldn't beat the two titans of the West.

Most of their playoff series were really one sided (only two lasted more than 5 games) but there still was one epic moment.

The Spurs were probably the champion that will be more easily forgotten, but they are the most important. At a time in the NBA where everyone is nervous that superteams will take over the NBA (if it hasn't already happened with Miami), and everyone is as nervous that small-market teams will never be able to really compete and never be able to lock up their stars. San Antonio is the answer to both questions. Parker and Ginobili might be borderline hall-of-famers (I would say Ginobili has a better shot than Tony), but there's never been a team that won as many titles in a short period of time with just one true Hall-of-Famer. They were a small market team, and they had success, and they locked up their best player. Not only any best player, but one of the 10 best players in NBA history. The Spurs showed everyone that the small town formula could work, that being housed in a city where free agents don't inspire to be isn't the death knell to title hopes. It takes luck, like getting an all-time coach and all-time player, but these aren't impossible hurdles. It's probably more likely to do that than to ever get players of the level of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to team up again under the new CBA salary cap. The NBA isn't doomed if teams learn the lesson that San Antonio taught us for 10 years.

Age is the greatest equalizer in sports. Age cripples players long before their desire to win goes away (and for everything I wrote about the Lakers never fighting, Kobe learned sometime around 2005 that the hard work had to be there, that winning was everything and although he wasn't always the hardest fighter, if he thought his team had a chance, he would die to win). It is happening to Roger Federer right now. He's at a point where winning one set off of Rafa Nadal when Nadal isn't playing close to 100%, is seen as a great result. It's happening in a way to Tiger Woods, who is seeing all of these twenty-something rise up at once and collectively make his run at Nicklaus exponentially more difficult. Despite their brilliance, it is happening to Duncan and Bryant. Big men decline quicker and more obviously, but in reality, the performance by Duncan and Bryant in 2011 were really similar. Duncan couldn't stop Zach Randolph. Here is a man who averaged a 35-15-5 against Shaq and Dirk in the 2003 playoffs, and he couldn't stop Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol consistently. Then there is Kobe, who destroyed everyone off of the dribble for years, and he got two layups in the entire Mavs series when being guarded primarily by Jason Kidd. The fact that those two had to play extended playoff seasons year after year after year didn't help either. These two all-time great players will be connected by their immense will to win championships, and by them dominating an era that after Jordan left, needed some domination.

The two best players of their generation loved each other... which didn't make for great drama, but did make for a great story.

The Lakers and Spurs were equals. Their coaches were the two best in the game. Their best player were the two greatest of a generation along with Shaq (at least one of those players was in every Finals since 1999). There was amazing respect between those two franchises, and it would have been perfect if they got to meet this year, but life moves on. Kobe Bryant hails Tim Duncan as "the best power forward ever" and "other than Michael, the best player I've ever played against." Tim calls Kobe "the best player of the decade, easily" (although I, and some others, would dispute that). Kobe hasn't always been a Saint (lest us forget that rape case back in 2003), and Tim hasn't ever been someone willing to let people embrace him the way so many would like to, but they are both classy enough to have been the two people to carry the NBA from the Jordan era to the present. There teams have also been able to carry us through the years where we waited for that next Jordan to come. Now we are still waiting, but take a moment and think, when will the next Spurs and Lakers come? Could it be the Bulls and Heat in the 2010's? Possibly, but I doubt two teams own a conference like this again. Even the Colts and Patriots had the Steelers (and Steelers fans would say that the Colts are the "other" team, winning one less AFC Title while being admittedly more year-to-year great). The Mavs always won 50 games, but only once made the Finals and only twice (not including this year) made the Conference Finals. The Lakers and Spurs were not a true rivalry, since there was no hatred, but still they went together perfectly, and it ended in the perfect way, with them both bowing out quickly, in the fashion that defines them.

2011 NBA Playoff Picks

Man, the sports season just does not end (I'll have to be reminded of me saying this statement come July, when it is just baseball and the NFL possibly still locked out). March Madness one weekend, becomes the Masters the next weekend, and then that becomes the NBA playoffs. Finally, we get to see basketball each night that is played with actual, you know, plays and sets. Good basketball. Basketball that doesn't rely on three point shooting and zone defenses and slap-the-floor gritiness. Basically, it is basketball worth watching. Anyway, before I start rambling too much (again), I'll get to my picks.


Eastern Conference

1st Round

(1) Bulls over (8) Pacers 4-1

I think the Bulls are just a whole lot better. The Pacers have nice players, and remind me of a less-than-good Eastern Conference version of the Portland Trail Blazers, with one top player (Danny Granger) but lots of nice pieces. The Bulls, on the other hand, are just really, really good.


(2) Heat over (7) 76ers 4-0

Miami lucked out. They did not want to see the Knicks, and good on them for closing out the two seed and avoiding them. The 76ers just don't have that level that they can reach to possible beat the Heat. This could actually be counter-productive for the Heat who may get a false sense of security after breezing through round 1.


(3) Celtics over (6) Knicks 4-2

I think this will be a close series, but the Knicks just aren't a good matchup for the Celtics. They suffer against big size, which the Celtics have. The Knicks aren't great against the three, which the Celtics are good at. The Knicks struggle against premier point guards, and the Celtics have Rondo. That said, the Celtics have been an absolute mess (relatively) since the Perkins trade (more on that later).


(4) Magic over (5) Hawks 4-2

The Hawks are actually a good matchup for the Magic. Other than Dwight Howard, who no team truly matches up well with, the Hawks have advantages all over the place. They played them very well in the regular season, and as the Warriors in 2007 proved, regular season results shouldn't be discounted. In the end, the Magic are just better, mainly because of the man-beast that is Dwight Howard.


2nd Round

(1) Bulls over (4) Magic 4-2

I think this will be a much tougher series than most do. Dwight has been good against the Bulls, and Noah really can't stop him. For once, the Bulls don't have the advantage at the center position. The Bulls do have the advantage at point guard, as ever since that injury in 2009, hasn't been quite the same. What should be interesting is both teams really like to use their bench, so the team that does better in that area could decide the series.


(3) Celtics over (2) Heat 4-2

I trust that Shaq will be healthy. Why do I trust this? Mainly because I hate the Heat. That said, are we really going to let one game late in the season (a time where the Celtics have notoriously coasted the past couple years). The Celtics dominated the big moments of the first three meetings, and the first two didn't include Perkins. Perkins wasn't the reason the Celtics beat the Heat. He's a stopper. The reason is the rest of the team. Rondo is key, and Rondo should destroy what ever point guard the Heat try to throw at him.


Eastern Conference Finals

(1) Bulls over (3) Celtics 4-3

Good series. Good matchup. The Celtics have the experience, dominating the Eastern Conference the past three years. The Bulls are the young team, built in a deserving way, poised to own the East for years. Rondo vs. Rose should be spectacular. Noah vs Garnett should be as well. Just a great series, I really hope it happens. These are the two best defensive teams in the NBA, so this will essentially be the Ravens vs. Steelers of the NBA. Hopefully, like all those matchups in the NFL, this lives up to the billing.


Western Conference

1st Round

(1) Spurs over (8) Grizzlies 4-1

This is actually good news for Memphis, as they've never won a game in the NBA playoffs ever. The Grizzlies supposedly match up well with the Spurs, but that was with Rudy Gay, and two of the previous meetings (a Griz win and a close Spurs win) included Tim Duncan and then Tony Parker missing the games. Also, the Grizzlies tanked to play the Spurs. That shit won't work against the Spurs.


(2) Lakers over (7) Hornets 4-1

Not sure the Hornets win a game, but my guess is one time Chris Paul will just go Keyser Soze over Derek Fisher and Steve Blake. He's got one of those games in him. Other than that, without David West, the Hornets are hopeless. This is a one-sided series.


(3) Mavericks over (6) Blazers 4-3

I can't believe how many people love Portland, who always seems to be the stat-guys beloved team, a team that works a lot better in the statistical measures than on the actual court. The Mavericks also have Dirk, and historically have played the Blazers really, really well. Portland also scares me, because their best player is a post-player, and those usually don't work in crunch time. This will probably be a close series, but I trust the home team with the better closer (if not the best closer) in Dirk.


(5) Nuggets over (4) Thunder 4-2

This should be the best first round series, and as you can see, my only picked upset. Again, I think the Thunder are a team that looks a lot better on paper and in stat-guy's eyes then on the actual court. My biggest problem is that Russell Westbrook thinks he's as good as Kevin Durant, and is taking way too many shots these days. Also, the Nuggets can play defense now, and they love their coach and love each other. I know that sounds sappy, but this team has always been emotionally led, even in the Carmelo days. They also have the swagger and are virtually unbeatable in their current iteration at home.


2nd Round

(1) Spurs over (5) Nuggets 4-2

The Nuggets should bring out the best in the new Spurs. Both teams are extremely deep, both can run and hit threes, and both can play defense when necessary. I just feel that the Spurs have slightly better players, and they can play better defense when necessary. The Spurs also are more consistent day to day, so the Nuggets have the ability to play at level 10, but probably only for two games.


(3) Mavericks over (2) Lakers 4-2

Yup, you read it. Yup, I mean it. The Lakers are a weird team. They have the length, but the big lineup isn't their best at crunch time (no Artest on defense). The Mavs also have some things that work really well. First, no one on LA can guard Dirk at all. Secondly, the Mavs have enough bigs to throw at the Lakers, in Haywood and Stevenson off the bench to join Chandler. Also, they have the Beaboius factor, as his speed can give Fisher nightmares. Should be a fun series, and I just think that the Lakers think they can just push the "on" button, but sadly for them, the West is a lot better in 2011 than it was in 2010. The Lakers runs to the Finals have really been unimpressive over the years. They got a 8-5-3 seeds last year, and a Yoa-less Rockets team two years ago. The Mavs are the best second round opponent they've had.


Western Conference Finals

(1) Spurs over (3) Mavericks 4-2

Man, this should be a great series. These two teams always bring out the best in each other. The Spurs would die to see the Mavs again. They can run so much speed at that team, and the Mavs don't really defend the perimeter very well. The biggest problem can still be stopping Dirk, but Duncan has always done a good job, even in his advanced age. Both teams are deep and use their bench a lot, which helps the Spurs as their bench is just a bit better. Overall, the Spurs still owe the Mavs for the 2006 Second round, where the Mavs basically ended the Spurs run for two straight titles.


NBA Finals

(1) Spurs over (1) Bulls 4-2

Man, this would be a great series. Both games between these two teams were close, and the Bulls were at full strength each time. The Spurs have the experience. The Spurs also have no way of stopping Rose. However, the Bulls also aren't nearly as good stopping perimeter teams as they are at stopping post-up teams, and the new Spurs don't rely on Duncan and post-ups any more. About Timmay, he's prone for a great finals. His per-minute numbers have basically been as good as ever, and he is fully rested and ready.

Another reason I love the Spurs: no one loves them. It is strange. Here's a team that basically led the tough West wire-to-wire. Their record actually should be better, as a 6-game losing streak skews things. Of course, Duncan missed most of those games, and still, against four eventual playoff teams, the Spurs lost each game by less than 10 points. They played good even when they weren't playing good. Also, they didn't pad their record against all bad teams and struggle against good teams (like the 2008-09 Cleveland Cavaliers). They were 2-1 against the Lakers (throwing away the game where they rested everyone). 1-1 against Chicago and Miami, 2-1 against Boston, 4-2 against the Mavs. They've been the best team all year, and also the most under the radar. I say that's just when the Spurs strike, just like when everyone slept on them the whole of 2005 and 2007. That's just how the Spurs roll.


'Till Next Time.

Melo-Drama

Carmelo Anthony is finally a New York Knick. Finally is an understatement, as Carmelo's "Will he, Won't he?" routine hijacked the New York Sports Talk Radio stations and stole every headline of every paper. For the last two weeks it was non-stop prediction and speculation about all things Carmelo. It is a great move for the Knicks, giving them a top-10 player along with a veteran point guard whose contract is set to expire right around the time that Chris Paul and Deron Williams become free agents. The Knicks did have to give up some nice pieces, but they kept their best young piece, rookie Landry Fields, and also got an underrated player in Corey Brewer from the Timberwolves. They are immediately a better team, and more importantly, a hot spot for basketball again. As a New Yorker, and a person actively hoping that the Miami Heat meet fiery endings to each season they employ one LeBron James, I love this move. I did not love, however, the horrible case of hypocrisy the Carmelo coverage illicited.

ESPN did cover the Carmelo coverage, to be sure. They did their due dilligence, leading off SportsCenter with Carmelo updates and had their different basketball minions (also known as analysts) makes some points, but there was a more apparent movement on ESPN and the other main sports networks the last couple of weeks. There was a movement to call the whole thing a headache and Carmelo a drama queen who couldn't make up his mind. Various ESPN personalities claimed that this was dragging and taking way too long and, of course, "can Carmelo make up his mind!!!" I heard this a lot. On ESPN. On SI.com. On WFAN Radio. This made me think: Where was all this concern and drama over the length of the situation when LeBron James was doing the exact same thing for basically a year from the beginning of the 2009-2010 season until his decision.

ESPN had a two hour SportsCenter for the sole purpose of previewing LeBron's Decision which was being broadcasted on ESPN, which was followed by a one hour SportsCenter reacting to the decision. ESPN spent most of the two-hour SportsCenter following the Cavaliers being eliminated by the Celtics talking about LeBron, a man who choked away another top-seed, and his future and not the Celtics and the brilliance of a team that would die for each other. ESPN spent approximately 20,000 hours covering LeBron and his decision, and not only never criticized the ridiculous amount of time spent covering one man's decision, they agreed to have a one hour special to announce news that could have been done in ten seconds. Really, ESPN? Spending two weeks talking five minutes per each SportsCenter about a top-10 player and a possible midseason Mega-Trade is nauseating and too-much, but spending the good parts of May, June and July, and ten hours on the decision day was fine (let alone the whole LeBron thing wreaking of unethical journalism)?



Then there's also the criticism of Carmelo. LeBron was criticized roundly and suffered a major image injury after the self-aggrandizing decision, but until it happened everyone was fine with him hijacking the NBA offseason. It was only until we saw the bastardized hour long special that everyone agreed that the whole thing was a dick move. In Carmelo's case, it looked like many media people thought it was a dick move before he made any decision. The whole time media personalities were begging Carmelo to finish it, to make a decision, for the Nuggets to hurry up the process, for Mikhail Prokhorov to stop trying to force the Knicks into giving up more (a genius move, by the way). Everyone showed impatience when Carmelo was privately going over his options. He didn't hijack the league. His team still did pretty well. However, when it was LeBron, he was basically given carte blanche by everyone until it was over, until we realized what a douche he had been.

Of course, LeBron is the star. LeBron is the icon of the NBA along with Kobe and Melo is in that next tier with Duncan, Durant, Griffin, Nash and others. That said, he's worthy of taking his time to make his decision about where to play. He's worth giving up five minutes per SportsCenter. No one was worth what LeBron did, except for LeBron (in the eyes of LeBron.... and ESPN). I have rarely seen a more obvious example of big-star bias at work and it really shows that unless you are willing to be a lap-dog for the media and self-promote yourself to no end (you know, like creating a twitter moniker called "KingJames") you aren't worth the media's time.

I hope Carmelo wins a ton in New York, and not only because it might be really fun to go to a Knicks game again. I hope Deron Williams or Chirs Paul joins up in two years and they form a more well-suited Big-3 than the one in Miami. That said, Carmelo's decision leads more credence to the theory that the NBA will be hijacked by Super Teams in the near future.

At the current rate, by 2014, the NBA will pretty much have five big teams in the biggest markets, and 25 shit ones. After seeing Wade, Bosh and LeBron pull off what they did the Super Team is really becoming a reality, especially after in Carmelo Anthony's wedding, Chris Paul said in his speech that him, Melo and Stoudamire would be playing together within three years. We are two-thirds of the way there. Top players are basically telling the league that they will only go to big markets, and it will become more relevant when Deron Williams leaves sleepy Utah and Chris Paul leaves New Orleans and Kevin Durant eventually leaves Oklahoma City, and Dwight Howard leaves Orlando for LA. The NBA will become an uncompetitive joke, even to a bigger extent than MLB, because there are no real undervalued skills like there are in baseball and individual players have a bigger impact in basketball. Free Agents just will not go to Utah, or Portland, or Sacramento. And drafted stars on these teams will leave at first sight of "freedom" for their quiet, little town. In the new collective bargaining agreement, the NBA and NBA Players Union better come to some sort of way of solving this issue, some way to keep players on their team, to not turn the NBA into the English Premier League. That said, let's hope that this super team keeps it up.

LeBron: Dick to the Max

I thought it all along, but I never knew just how correct I was: LeBron James is a massive, uninhibited, arrogant, childish dick of a man. He’s a coward, he’s not a warrior, he’s not a champion. He’s not a fighter. He’s a dick, plain and simple.

This has nothing to do with the evil superteam that has now been created in Miami. Sure, they will be the most hated team in sports since the 2007 Patriots, and probably a relatively bigger villain since a basketball team will never be as hated as a football one. Miami is now enemy #1 in American sports. I don’t even totally think they are assured to win titles. Basketball still is a team sport, basketball teams still need player 4-12, and the Heat don’t have those. The Heat also have two players that have really done nothing in the playoffs. LeBron and Wade are way too similar, way too commanding of the ball, and frankly, LeBron has way too much of an ego to be subversive. Either way, LeBron can go out and fall and break his leg tomorrow and I won’t care at all.

LeBron James is a dick, because he is a coward, a fool, and a narcissistic schmuck. He is a coward because picking Miami is basically LeBron saying to the world, “I cannot win a title unless I have one of the three best players in the league on my team.” Even if this was true, LeBron admitting it is ridiculous. Michael Jordan, a guy who is so far above anything LeBron can or will do, would never have willingly gone and signed with Isiah Thomas’ Pistons, or Clyde Drexler’s Blazers when he couldn’t win titles. No, he would have bottled up the energy of playoff defeats and gone out and beat those guys on the head with a bat (he did just that). Kobe Bryant would never go play with D-Wade. LeBron is basically giving up the fight to build a champion together, taking the easy way out. He will never be known as the Greatest player now, because he will never win a champion without Wade on his side. Even if the Heat go out and win 4 titles, Wade will still have one more ring, and one he won without LeBron and with as much (or little depending on how you look at it) talent as LeBron has had in Cleveland these past two years.

LeBron is a fool because he thinks that people love this shit he pulled. He has no idea because all the King does is surround himself with yes-men who fellate him regularly. He thinks everyone loves him, and maybe that was true to a point previously (people like me and others saw through his lovable front he tried to push past us all), but no more. He is also a hated player now. He has gone past Kobe, or A-Rod or Belichick, he is now the biggest sports villain in America. LeBron is a fool if he thinks this will grow his brand. His brand would have been the same had he gone anywhere. The only thing this can grow is Dwayne Wade’s brand.

LeBron is a narcissistic schmuck because of that very same brand. Someone needs to go to LeBron and piss on his face until he understands that he is an ATHLETE. He is not a businessman. Because if he was, he would understand how painfully bad this whole sharade came off, and he would have cancelled his trainwreck of a show. He is not a mogul, he is not an entertainer (he is painfully unfunny when he tries to be funny, and his antics seem so much more forced now), he is a fucking athlete. I hope to God he never becomes a billionaire, because honestly, if you are an athlete and you make a billion dollars, then earn that money by playing your fucking sport. Not by conning the world into believing you are a caring, happy-go-lucky guy. He is more of a narcissistic fuck by having this whole show. Sure, Dwayne Wade had people come and court him, but when he finally settled on staying, there was no show, there was no big fanfare, there was no one-hour special.

LeBron decided to make a huge spectacle of this, decided to make the whole world stop and glue their eyes to the TV and watch this attention-whore make a decision. When Michael came back, he said just that: “I’m Back.” No big show, no interview with Jim Gray, no cahoots with ESPN, and no faux show for his sponsors. When Tim Duncan (a player that is still above LeBron on the career totem pole, and took times half as talented as the 2009 and 2010 Cavs to championships) decided to stay in San Antonio, there was nothing but a phone call to Gregg Popovich saying “I’m ready to go back to work.” LeBron doesn’t want to work, he wants the world to give him babies to kiss and money to launder and ads to promote. LeBron wants the glory, he doesn’t want to work.

LeBron James has now ruined his legacy forever. People will never view him the same way. We all thought he was an arrogant prick when he scheduled this primetime show, and that was even before he decided to cop-out and go to Miami. LeBron James is such a dick, he’s made Dwayne Wade into a bad person, while he deserves so much more. LeBron James is such a fraud. People want to say that he went to Miami because he really wants to win. Sure, he wants to win, but not because he wants to be called a champion, but because he wants to win one because it will increase that brand value of his. LeBron is just a marketing puppet now. It is hard to take someone like him seriously. I hated the throw chalk into the air and dance around like a jackass during meaningless regular season LeBron. I hated the give up in the second round of the playoffs and walk off the field looking completely content and go out and blame your teammates when great players have won with talent just as bad LeBron. But that hate is nothing like it is to give up on trying to win by myself and think only of myself and my insecurities, and decide to take a deuce on the world by going to Miami LeBron. That’s the worst LeBron of all.

To finalize, LeBron is a dick. LeBron is a coward for running away from the challenge of winning himself. LeBron is a fool because he thinks the true reception he will get from the world is unending adoration instead of the reviled contempt that the world now has for him. LeBron is a narcissistic fuck for making this whole thing about him, and by thinking that he is bigger than basketball, something that if it did not exist LeBron would probably be working at Macy’s. LeBron should go take a good look at what he’s done to himself, because God knows we have, and what we see now is the most reviled dick of an athlete in recent memory.

Why the Celtics Have to Win

I would never have thought I would ever write that statement. I hate Boston teams. All Boston teams, especially those that play in Foxboro and Fenway. The Celtics don't bring out the same fury that the Pats and Sawx do, but they still are a Boston team, and for that reason, I hate them. But I want them to win so, so, so badly that I don't care what city the Celtics play in, I just care that they beat the Lakers. It is mainly becuase sooner or later basketball has to become what a team sport is, where "team" trumps "talent." The Lakers are the more talented team, with the best player. But the best player winning gets a little old. For once, let the team with more hunger, more fight and more importantly, more team chemistry win the series. Let Boston win one for "teams" everywhere. Let the ruthlessness of stars dominating the NBA till Kingdom come finally end. Especially since the next three months in the NBA will be dominated with the talk of one individual who has seen his star-status grow while his collection of rings lay stagnant, let the NBA finally be about the team.

I first really noticed it in the Cleveland series. Although the Cavs were the team who routinely showboated in choreographed dance during the regular season, the Celtics were the team that actually loved to play with each other and just loved each other. The Celtics were the team with the tighter bond, and it was those bonds that helped them upend the Cavs. At the tensest of moments, they trusted each other, they fought for each other, they played for each other. The Lakers have some of these traits as well, but there is a nervous tension on that team. You get the feeling that they don't all trust each other. Kobe doesn't trust Odom since he disappeared in the 2008 Finals and 2006&7 series against the Suns. Kobe doesn't trust Gasol since he was surprisingly quiet in the Suns series. No one trusts Artest since he has no internal governor, and puts up shots when he's firing blanks. No one trusts Bynum since he just looks lost. The Lakers are a strange team in that their whole is actually less than the sum of their parts. They should be better. Even then, they are damn good. They can easily win this series, but the Celtics have to.

The Celtics have clear advantages at the power forward position (Garnett vs Bynum, Odom, etc), and a Titanic sized advantage at point guard (Rondo vs Fisher, Farrmar). However, their biggest advantage is inside. It is cliched in sports to say that "heart" and "passion" and "will" will swing a series, but in this case it is true. The Celtics have a special bond, because in 2010, they were most 'un-Boston-like'. They were counted out, understandably so after their 27-27 finish to end the season. They were the fourth best team in the East by record, and many people had the Heat and Bucks (before Bogut's injury) as teams that were more of a threat in the East than the Celtics. Then, after a dominant first round series against the Heat, people still did not think the Celtics were anything more than first round fodder, and another tune-up for the perpetually overrated Cleveland Cavaliers. Than, after blowing an 11-point third quarter lead in Game 1 against the Cavs, everybody, even the staunchest of Boston supporters said "well, they blew their best chance to win a game." How little people, including me, understood what a team that played through each other, more than with each other, could do.

There is a huge difference between a team that plays with each other and a team that plays through each other. The first is a team that has great talent, and plays well as a team, but it is more of individual talents working together to create a beautiful finish. Great examples would be Barcelona in 2010. The talent was still there, but the feeling that they were all tied together, with the ball as the string, was gone. Guys like Sergie Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez were talented enough players, but they weren't guys that would die for the team. A team that plays through each other is like the Celtics, or the New Orleans Saints. Every player is out there, but really it is just one giant body, one mass that contains many moving parts. Every pass, every shot, every dribble, every pick and every roll is a team movement, is a team play. Everything is team. 2010 has been the year for the team, with Alabama's team defense shutting down Tebow mania, with the Saints team of 53+New Orleans riding the wave of emotion to a Super Bowl in the bayou. Then Duke, the iroinic underdog, riding juniors and seniors that knew how to play defense to another banner that will grace the roof of Cameron Indoor. Why not the Celtics joining in?

It pains me to admit that I am whole-heartedly rooting for a Boston team. I have never done this before since the Red Sox in '04. Since then, Boston has become somewhat the more arrogant New York. Like how a born-again Christian becomes an even more fanatical Christian than those who were there before, trying to catch up, Boston, when becoming the city of champions, became more arrogant than the cities that already won titles (see: York, New) to catch up. Boston was on top of the world in sports from 2004-2008, with the Pats, Red Sox and Celtics combining for five titles. Well, those days are over. The Red Sox are the third best team in their own division, the Bruins just blew a three games to none lead, including a three goals to none lead in Game 7 at home, and know Bostonians are questioning whether the Pats have another Super Bowl run in the Brady/Belichick era. Boston has suffered a precipitous drop, and they finally have a chance for a little redemption. And it is because for once, they have the likable team, not the pompous collection of individuals.

Raining on the Reign of King James

While watching Sportscenter after Game 6 of the Cleveland/Boston series, I expected to see a nice breakdown of the game, and then a nicer preview of what should be a great Orlando/Boston Eastern Conference Finals. I quickly realized I could not have been more wrong. No, ESPN took the next two hours to talk exclusively about LeBron and where LeBron will decide to go six weeks from now. I really was not surprised. I mean, what is surprising about ESPN endlessly musing about the intentions of a confusing man that will not take place for another 50 days. The LeBron free agent watch just started, and it already was nauseating. But really, the more important question is, what has LeBron done to deserve this type of coverage and fallating. LeBron, or "King James" which is an nickname that bleeds arrogance and one that he has never tried to distance himself for, is overrated, is not a winner, and really does not deserve half the coverage he is about to receive.

First off, yes, LeBron is a great, great player. He has a combination of skills that probably has never been seen in NBA history. He's a man-beast, who can get a layup at any time. He is a great passer, and a great help defender. He's great. He's not a winner though, and there is a difference. I like stats, but really, I am not a member of the statistical revolution in sports for the simple reason that in the statistical revolution, the thought of someone being a "winner" is ignored and laughed at. Statisticians would tell me that LeBron is easily the best player in the NBA. He is the most talented, but best and talented is not the same thing. LeBron might put up stats like no one else, he might be the most dominant NBA player since MJ, but really, at the end of the day, I wouldn't want him.

LeBron has now twice won 60 games in the regular season and failed to make the finals. LeBron has also been on the team that had the best record in the NBA for two straight seasons, and he has failed to reach the finals. The former has only happened one other time, the latter: never. That's right. LeBron's Cavaliers are the first team EVER to have the best record in the NBA for two consecutive seasons and fail to make the NBA Finals either year. One year ago, they fell six wins short of an NBA title, and were one miracle LeBron shot from being swept by Orlando. This year, they couldn't even make the Eastern Conference Finals. That is a total underachievement for the team that was hailed b nearly everyone as the best in the league either of the last two seasons.

What is more amazing is that LeBron is really a victim to an entirely hypocritical media. The media loves LeBron for his regular season greatness, but always fails to point out the fact that he has been a disappointment for each of the last two postseasons. They claim that he has no help on the team. Firstly, that is patently untrue. He may have no one that is as good as Scottie Pippen, but Antawn Jamison is a regular all-star. Anderson Varejao is a defensive force. Mo Williams is an all-star. J.J. Hickson was one of the most efficient players in the NBA per minute played in 2009-10. He has enough talent around him to win 65 and then 61 games in the regular season. Seeing that, he should have enough talent to at least get to the conference finals, let alone the NBA finals. If LeBron didn't have talent around him, how did his team attain the best record in the league two straight years? Are all of his players programmed robots that only play well in the regular season? If the media thinks that Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao are stiffs and aren't a good enough supporting cast, why does that same media vote Mo to an all-star game and vote Varejao to the 2nd team All-NBA Defensive Team? I'm sorry, but if he can play on the team that has the best record in the league each of the last two seasons, then he has enough players around him to win three rounds of the playoffs.

The next excuse is that LeBron cannot win games by himself. Well, if he can do it, by the media's perspective, in the regular season, why the hell not can he do it in the playoffs? I'm sorry, but if he can routinely "win games by himself" for the first 82, he should be able to do it in the final, most important, stages of the season. LeBron was terrible in Game 5. Just abhorrently bad. That was an embarrassing performance, and it led to the most titillatingly hilarious excuses, that LeBron was injured. If LeBron was injured in Game 5, what allowed him to, admittedly, play brilliantly in Game 3? Was there some new injury? Was he someone healed by Jay-Z's presence through osmosis that allowed him to drop bombs in Game 3? The only explanation is the admit what no one in the media is willing to: LeBron does not rise to the moment anymore.

Now, LeBron did have a great run in the 2007 playoffs to the NBA Finals, with a breathtaking performance in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, but that was before LeBron was "King James", in fact, that was when LeBron became "King James." He took advantage of a weak year for the East (by East standards), and surprisingly little true expectations in that series, and delivered. Well, it seemingly went to his head. His team, which was in 2007 really full of players that were simply not as talented as San Antonio, was lifelessly whipped like a fish in a sweep. Either way, LeBron's magical performance in Game 5 changed him, changed the way everyone viewed him. He became the media's newly-anointed "Greatest Player In the League" after that game, and it really went straight to his head. He became arrogant, he became more interested in upholding his stature as the media darling than he was with winning games. He became a brand, a corporation, fueled by endless media propaganda that hailed and coronated him way too soon.

I first realized this when he claimed that his goal in life was to become the "world's richest man." Michael Jordan, the guy LeBron's aspires to match in greatness, would rather be caught playing baseball than to say that his goal in life was to become the "world's richest man." No, Michael's was to win, and win at all costs. So is Kobe's. So is Tim Duncan's. They want to win, LeBron wants to be hailed as a great player. There is a huge difference in motivation at hand here. Even Tiger Woods, the man who will very soon become the world's first billionaire athlete, is not fueled by the ridiculous money he makes, he is fueled by winning golf tournaments (as well as banging broads). LeBron is not fueled by the chance at winning a ring, he is fueled by world supremacy. If LeBron wins a ring one day, he probably will not cry out in sheer unfettered joy like Kevin Garnett did with his "Anything is POSIBBBBBBBLLLLLEEEEE" chant after the Celtics won his 2008 Title. No, LeBron is the man who left the court Thursday night not the least bit sad, or angry that his season ended in futility again. No, he looked like the man who is one day closer to getting a large paycheck from some team.

Dwayne Wade is man who seemingly killed his own body to win a title, and he did it with an aging Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Udonis Haslem as major players. Dwayne Wade won a title with less talent around him than LeBron had each of the past two years. Dwayne Wade is similarly a free-agent on June 1st, yet he will get about one hundredth media attention that LeBron will get. And Why? Because LeBron can put together better regular season numbers because he is his teams primary ballhandler? In actuality, no one knows why. I would rather have Dwayne Wade. Here is one thing I do know. LeBron has now twice led a team to the best record in the NBA in the regular season. LeBron has not a single finals appearance to show for himself. Tim Duncan, a player that garnered about one millionth the media hype that LeBron has, has never had the talent around him to have the best record in the NBA. He has won four titles. Those are numbers I care about.