It didn’t take spending the summer in Europe to teach me
that Football is the king sport in this world, but it was quite the
reminder.
Obviously, it’s more
than a sport out there; it defies both cultural boundaries and sensible
emotional ones.
People go crazy
and I get that.
It was amazing to
watch my first
Classico between FC
Barcelona and Real Madrid on tv a few days ago, just imagining what it must
have been like to be
at Camp Nou that night for the insanity.
It was impressive to watch how expertly
FCB controlled the ball and the tempo, and seeing Messi in real time was great,
and of course I was happy with the Barca victory.
Look, I can appreciate a good football match and the nuance of
offenses and defenses even in a nil-nil draw, but for better or for worse, I
must admit that I have my limits.
What can I say?
I’m
American.
And now that I’m back
stateside in Miami, I have been quite happy to get back to basics; to good ole
‘Murican sports.
And even though
Major League Soccer is in the midst of its playoff schedule (and the LA Galaxy
pushing for a
three-peat,) let’s be
serious for a second.
At long
last, the NBA has returned to action!
I’ve written before, perhaps one time too many, about how
fun the offseason is for us NBA junkies.
In a lot of ways it’s more fun than the games themselves. It’s all about free-agents, salary cap
space, new coaches, general managers, trades, and trade rumors, and we
absolutely love this stuff. Which
teams got better? How will player
x, y, and/or z, play together? Can
the new coach/system work with the personnel? What trades are left to be made? But all of the elements regarding each team and their
respective efforts to improve, all lead to one all-encompassing question. Can any of these teams beat the Miami
Heat?
LeBron James may have said it best, when he said that,
“sometimes in order to win championships and back to back championships you
have to get a little lucky.”
And
of course, that was never more clear than in last year’s Finals Game 6, when
the Spurs basically had their fifth title in hand.
One of the greatest coaches of all time chose to keep his
best rebounder out of the game in a crucial stretch, and it ultimately cost the
Spurs the title.
One play, and one
guy named Ray Allen, changed the entire outcome.
Sometimes it comes down something as simple as that, and
history is written, and the whole underdog world is sucker-punched in the
gut.
San Antonio should have been
the champion!
Again!
The year before, if Oklahoma City
hadn’t mystically elevated their offense to an unbelievable and absolutely
unsustainable elite level in the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs would
have been matched up with Miami even earlier.
And as I thought at the time they would have been in a
fantastic position to beat Miami, before the Heat really solidified their playoff
identity.
It’s crazy to think how close we came to having
two more Spurs championships in a row these past two years.
It’s infuriating, but it’s sports.
LeBron and the BeachBoys were just too much for
all-comers.
And yea, we can
complain all we want about the
depleted
east and how unfair it was that the Heat basically waltzed into the finals
while the giants in the west had to battle it out amongst themselves, but in
the end Miami was the team left standing, earning them their second straight
championship.
So as annoying as it
is, they are now the
ninth team in
NBA history to attempt the ever-elusive
three-peat.
Mikan’s Lakers did it in the ‘50’s,
Russell’s Celtics did it in the 60’s (twice,) Michael’s Bulls in the 90’s
(twice,) and Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers in 2002.
Magic’s 80’s Lakers, Isiah’s 90’s Pistons, Hakeem’s 90’s
Rockets, and Kobe’s 2011 Lakers couldn’t pull it off.
And interestingly, Russell’s Celtics couldn’t finish off
their
third one losing to
Philadelphia in 1967, but it’s hard to imagine another team winning an
incredible eight championships in a row, (so you could call it an acceptable
failure.)
All in all it’s happened
six times in the NBA’s sixty-six year history, and that’s what the Miami Heat
face this year.
It’s just really
hard to win basketball games this consistently.
So the question remains.
Who is the team to beat these guys?
What team has Miami’s Vice?
Of course it’s well documented that I
think San Antonio had that squad, and still does, but getting out of the brutal
West is never a given.
So this
year the giant slayer needs to come from the
East, and I think this team plays in the city of New York!
Only they don’t go by the greatest
abbreviated nick-name in sports.
Those Knicks will falter quickly on the defensive end and go out in the
first round, Indiana will put up a valiant fight but run short on talent, and
the Bulls as always will be too feeble and undermanned when the moment counts
the most.
No, there’s only one
team in the East that has a shot to dethrone King James, and they play in New
York’s most populated borough.
Yea, I’m talking about BC Brooklyn!!!
Owned by a Russian Billionaire, they
should
have a European name, and the will be the ones to challenge Miami. Mark my words!
But, more on that later...
for now, the MLS playoffs are on.
Just kidding ;)
Thanks for reading!
Underdogs out!
No comments:
Post a Comment