The Thunderstorm...

I am still in shock from what I saw four nights ago. 

The Spurs dominated the first half, clicking on all cylinders.  They looked as good as a basketball team could possibly look while cruising to an eighteen point lead.  Everyone was contributing and it looked like we were headed for a game seven. 

But then the second half happened.  Wow.

The Oklahoma City Thunder made every possible adjustment on defense, locking in and shutting down the high octane Spurs, and at the same time they somehow raised their offensive game to a level I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before. The Spurs did not collapse, they were collapsed.  They didn’t blow the lead, it was outright snatched from them, in every way. The Spurs played great in this series, but the Thunder were even better, and they left absolutely no doubt.  They are the best team in the league.     

Let’s put it this way.  If you watched these games you'd have to think that the Spurs would have beat the Heat in 4 and the Celtics in 4, maybe 5.  Right?  And the Thunder just beat them.  It’s true folks.  The Eastern Conference Finals was only a formality.  The NBA champion has already been crowned. 

Even so, I do want to talk about the East a little bit.  It was a great shame for America that the Celtics dropped game six so hard at home the other night.  Wasn’t it?  It’s hard to explain what happened.  Or even what it looked like.  You would think that the Celtics might have been tired, or that injuries had caught up to them, (or their well documented age,) but on the court it just looked like a lack of effort.  Everyone was a step slow, Doc Rivers couldn’t inspire them, and they looked like a different team from what we had seen so far in the series. Even Rondo didn’t seem as aggressive as he had been up until then, and he seemed about half as fast as he had been earlier in the series, (or maybe that’s just an optical illusion after watching Tony Parker against Russell Westbrook.  The fastest I’ve ever seen.) 

Which leads me to a point (or tangent) that I’m sad and shocked that I haven’t heard anyone make on ESPN yet… here we go, ready?  Ahem.

It looked like the East and West were playing two different sports!

Didn’t it?  San Antonio against Oklahoma City was unbelievable basketball.  Fluid, exacting, they spaced the floor perfectly, great passing, great transition games, and great defense.  And so fast!  It was incredible that the older Spurs could keep up, but they did.  Nothing was arbitrary in that series.  They were both meticulous, and well coached, always moving the ball, making the extra pass, almost always getting a good shot.  It just turns out that Oklahoma City was the better of the two.  But what would they have looked like against the Celtics in that last game? (when they really started clicking, at a level that I’m sure even surprised them?)  They would have won by 50.  Against the Heat?  They would have won by 50!  I’m telling you.  There is no way either of those teams would have stayed in the same building with them.  They are that much better.  Or at least they were against the Spurs. 

For Miami everything is arbitrary. There is never any flow.  Do they ever run an offense? LeBron makes it look okay when he is making shots, and he has been miraculous so far in the playoffs, because he’s that good as a player, but Miami has serious issues on offense.  Issues that they would never have if Gregg Popovich was their coach.  By the way (quick tangent within the tangent) Could you IMAGINE how good LeBron would be if Pop was his coach.  Woah, that just got really scary.  Anyway, I would have loved watching the Spurs absolutely dissect and dismantle the Heat in that hypothetical series.  It wouldn’t have been close.  And it would have been so wonderful to see.

But here in reality, all we get is the real, so it’s The Thunder against the Heat in the NBA Finals.  Which is definitely a great matchup.  For the league and for purists, and for the public.  It has everything that you’d want.  Big Three vs Big Three, LeBron vs Durant, a team hastily constructed against a team organically grown, glitz and glamour vs… well, Oklahoma City.  I love where this can go.  There is intrigue galore.

I just hope that Scotty Brooks can get his team hyped up and focused enough to continue playing as well as they were when they closed out the Spurs.  Because if they can play to that level then it will be a sweep.  Miami would have absolutely no chance.  But if the Thunder “play down,” as can very often happen in sports, especially with young teams, or if they get caught up in the sideshow of the Finals; or if they get intimidated by the fact that two of the best three players in the world are on the same team, against them, then Miami may have a chance in the series. Miami is a good high screen, perimeter defensive team, because of their length, and that’s the Thunder’s strength, so one might give them a fighter’s chance.  But if the Thunder play like they did on Thursday night… there is no chance.  None.    

So a lot of this will depend on Thunder coach Scotty Brooks.  It’s like he has the keys to an untested, hyper-dynamic marvel of technology.  No one is really sure how much it is capable of yet, including him.  Attitude will go a long way.  Maybe he needs to hypnotize them into believing they are still playing the Spurs.  The team that pushed them to a supernatural level.

The Thunder deserve the title.  They went through the Lakers, Mavericks, and Spurs to get here.  Three teams that combine to account for 10 of the last 13 NBA Championships.  Meanwhile, the Heat struggled with Indiana, and bumbled their way through an injury depleted East.  But as we know, there is no justice in the NBA playoffs.  You have to show up.  It's zero-zero, right now.        

So there you have it.  

There's the rub.  Once again.  It’s Luke vs the Death Star.

So this must be Return of the Jedi, right?  (We need a picture of Kevin Durant with a light saber and LeBron James with a heavy hooded cloak.)  

Let’s do this America…

It’s time for the NBA FINALS!

The Real...

Over the last nine months I took a break.  Personal issues in my life and a job situation that was rather isolating, moved me to a peculiar place mentally and emotionally.  I was frustrated, I was disenchanted.  I wanted no part of the world as it was before.  I wanted to get away from myself.  In a lot of ways I didn’t want to be happy, or maybe I wanted to find a new way to be happy.  Either way, for whichever the most appropriate or significant reason, about nine months ago for the first time in my life, I decided that I didn’t care about sports.

But that’s another story for another day.  This blog is about today.  And as I find myself thrust back into the real world (and the real America,) I’ve let myself re-enter interest, at least somewhat, into a place that has been so familiar to me over my lifetime; not just sports, but the best one, the NBA playoffs.  Honestly though, it was only of mild interest to me for the first few rounds, which of course was a huge change from past years.  It wasn’t all that important to me who won or lost, or that they were playing at all really, but every few days I would check the scores to see who had advanced.  It was familiar, but it certainly didn’t command that much of my attention.  But then about a week and half ago, things changed.  I started watching the Conference finals.

In short, these have been the most compelling two Conference finals matchups (taking place at the same time) that I can ever remember.  And that is really saying something.  For numerous and varying reasons, they have both been absolutely captivating.  Like, you-have-to-see-the-entire-game kind of captivating!  When has that ever happened in the NBA?  I’ve considered myself a huge NBA fan for more than 20 years, but if it wasn’t “my team” that was playing (in the Conference Finals or NBA Finals,) I was fine with missing the first quarter, or even the first half.  Hell, what’s the hurry right?  If it’s a blowout, the team that’s behind will come back and make it close.  All the real action happens in the third and fourth quarters anyway, right?  Every fair-weather fan knows that!!!  Well, not this time.  And for so many reasons.  Let’s start with the West. 

The San Antonio Spurs vs The Oklahoma City Thunder.

You could put aside the similarity of these two teams.  The small market financial limitations aspect, the brilliant way in which the teams were assembled (each team’s best four players were drafted and developed by them,) the complimentary way the players fit together, how deep each team is.  You could even ignore the fact that the architect of this Oklahoma City team, Sam Presti, used to work for San Antonio, and basically stole the entire “blueprint” and philosophy.  (Really, he was just doing what every NBA team should have done.  Y’know, wwtsasd?  What-Would-the-San-Antonio-Spurs-Do?) 

You could completely discard all of that, and the obvious old-verses-young, “changing of the guard” storyline.  Plus the other similarities.  Like the unusually humble superstar (Durant and Duncan,) each team’s unbelievably skilled and lightning fast floor general (Westbrook and Parker,) and each team’s all-star third option, usually coming off the bench even! (Harden and Ginobili.)  Or even the similarities of the fan bases.  Each team is the only “major league” game in an otherwise “minor league” town, and each building is rocking with intense fans. 

Of course there is one major difference there.  The San Antonio fans have basically had fourteen years of a basketball utopia.  The Spurs have been the best team in the league over that span (apologies to the Lakers,) always contending and winning four championships along the way. (They would have won more if they weren’t in the brutal West.)  The Oklahoma City crowd has had none of that.  The team has only been in town for four years, and while they’ve been improving every year, they’ve always been a young team, full of potential but lacking experience.  Still both fan bases love their teams unconditionally, and that can’t be said about too many of the teams in the NBA. 

So basically these two teams are bizarro versions of each other.  One created in the other’s image trying to ascend and usurp the throne.  The other trying desperately to defend the young challenger’s assault and remain on top.

But, you could throw all of that stuff completely out the window.  And you’d still have to watch every minute of these games.  Why?  Well.  Because they are playing the best basketball we’ve ever seen.

Plain and simple. 

When I saw the first two games of this series I was amazed.  The Spurs played incredibly well, and won both games.  But what was so compelling was the fact that the Thunder were playing brilliantly too.  Offensively and defensively, both teams were just awesome.  I’ve never seen a better matchup.  It was just perfect basketball.  Whoever had enough energy at the end was going to get the win, but it was going to be impossibly hard.  Two things became clear to me at that point.

First, whichever team wins the Eastern Conference will not win ONE game against either of these teams in the Finals. Neither the Heat or Celtics will stand a chance. These two are, by far, the best two teams in the league.  And secondly, this series was all going to depend on adjustments.  Which coach would be able to make the changes necessary to get any possible edge, and will his team through the thick of it, to do the incredible?  Because it was going to be unbelievably difficult.

So now it all comes down to game 6 tonight in Oklahoma City.  And it feels like a game 7 really, because neither team can really afford to lose.  Who will have the will and the skill to finish with the win?  Tonight we’ll find out.    

It’s been nothing short of amazing so far.  Seriously. 

If you love basketball… it doesn’t get any better than this.    

Underdogs out.