NBA Playoffs

Notes From The Underground

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The Rockets win last night just delayed the inevitable. It just proved to me that they need an otherworldly performance EVERY night out of James Harden to even have a chance against the Warriors. This is the first round I’ve been able to sit and watch full games without interruptions.

A few thoughts:

  • Draymond Green reminds me of this song by Thelonious Monk, “Ugly Beauty”. His game ain’t pretty, but its effective. #numbersdon’tlie.
  • Lebron and Steph Curry are playing like comic book characters right now, and besides a few duds, so is Harden. #superheroball
  • Speaking of James Harden, when is he gonna cut that beard? All I think about it when I see his face, are the amount of germs he must be carrying in that thing. Does he vacuum the pollen out of that thing every night before he goes to bed? Seeing any body part with that much hair on it creates a lot of reservations in my mind. I wouldn’t put my face near anything that hairy. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Let’s be honest. There is no way the NBA Finals is not going to be Golden State vs. Cleveland. This means it is going to be a GOODASSFINALS in my opinion. Cleveland is motoring along, playing hard and physical, and I think they will provide a legitimate test for the Dubs. Everyone hates Delladova right now. He is the perfect villain–basically an Australian Patrick Beverly (but better shooter). He plays hard, and reckless, and he has hurt some people who happened to get in the way. I personally hope someone drops the hammer on him soon, but that is just me. Where is Dexter Pittman when you need him?

Cleveland has the best player in the world right now, but Golden State has the best team in the league. Tristan Thompson is nasty on the boards, and everyone on the Cavs is playing effectively in their roles. They are a very dangerous team, and if Golden State makes any mistakes, don’t come mentally prepared to play, or goof around even a little bit, Lebron will make them pay for it. Golden State should win this in six closely contested games, but don’t be surprised if Cleveland wins in 7.

See ya next Thursday

Peace out,

BM

bobbymickey@gmail.com

@clickpicka79

#thisagoodassgame

When Good Becomes Great

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Besides this Clippers-Spurs Series, and this classic playoff finish, this first round has been a dud. With so many things happening since my last post, one week has felt like three.

Scott Brooks got fired and replaced by Billy Donovan. This seems like incredibly poor timing to hire a rookie coach who has never even worked in the NBA level to take this playoff team to a championship in his first couple of years. I think Billy Donovan will do fine in the NBA, but I don’t see how he is the answer to what has been plaguing Team OKC. Maybe I’m wrong, I just feel that organization isn’t on the level with their players, or the fans.

The best Jayhawk to come out of the 90’s has lived up to his nickname, trolling the Raptors fans, and handling up on the court as well. A dude like Pierce in the locker room is exactly what the Wizards needed.

Big ups to maybe the best Jayhawk to come through Lawrence, for winning Rookie of the Year, Mr. Andrew Wiggins

Just a good week altogether for Kansas fans as it has also been reported that Chieck Diallo, the #7th ranked player in this year’s recruiting class. Bill Self also picked up the #21th ranked player in Carlton Bragg. I’m sure expectations will be high in the Land of Rock Chalk, but what else is new?

Good Ass Series of the Week

Game 7 Spurs-Clippers This is going to be intense. #HEROBALL

Memphis-Golden State

Tough break for Mike Conley and the Grizzlebies. They were really starting to gel. I think Warriors smoke em in 5 games.

Chicago-Cleveland

This series will remind you of the first love you ever experienced. Sometimes there were really beautiful moments, and sometimes things were just as ugly. But the most memorable part was how intense it all was. This will be a draining series, no matter who comes out ahead. Bulls in six. Side Note: Wouldn’t it be crazy if Cleveland somehow plays better without kevin Love pouting on the sidelines, and the Cavs went all the way to the Finals? That wouldn’t look good at all during contract negotiations would it?

Hawks-Wizards will remind you of that rebound person after breaking up with that first love.
There may be some things that are unappealing going into this series, but it’ll still be pretty damn fun if you don’t take it too seriously. I feel like this one takes a full 2 weeks to settle. Hawks in 7.

Houston-Los Angeles games would take 4 hours complete. Just pray that Spurs win. If you think watching West Coast games are bad now, just imagine if the longest free throw contest in history
begins next week. As the great Jalen Rose says, “NOT GONNA BE ABLE TO DO IT!!!!”

Peace.

BM
bobbyickey@gmail.com
#thisagoodassgame
@clickpicka79

Resting Up for the Playoffs

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From now until the 18th of April, every game will be a “tap that vein” game. Most of the playoff berths have been set, and now we are just waiting on the seedings to play out. I will be taking a vacation from the blog until the playoff seedings are set, then we can break down which series will be worth tuning into.

Western Conference Standings as of 4/6/15
1. Warriors

2. Rockets

3. Grizzlies

4. Blazers

5. Clippers

6. Spurs

7. Mavericks

8. Thunder

On the bubble: Pelicans, and Suns. Pelicans are only .5 games back of the 8th spot, while the Suns are barely hovering at .500.

Easter Conference Standings as of 4/6/15

1. Hawks

2. Cavs

3. Bulls

4. Raptors

5. Bullets errr Wizards

6. Bucks

7. Nets

8. Celtics

On the bubble:
Pacers, Heat, Hornets

the 6, 7, 8, seeds are all under .500…

There are 7 games left in the year. For the Bucks, Nets, Celtics, Heat, Hornets,and Pacers, every game will be a playoff game. The same goes for the Thunder and Pelicans. You want that playoff intensity, then watch any of the aforementioned teams. But like I said before, is it worth not being able to cancel date night in April because you wanted to see if the Celtics were going to squeeze into the 8th seed?

Well maybe it will be.

Good Ass Games for the rest of the season:

Monday

Duke vs. Wisconsin….Calipari’s no coaching ass got exposed again……people should start looking at 2012 as the aberration and not the norm. How many NBA prospects has he pushed out, and how many chips does he have? Exactly. Tonight’s championship game may be the “Good Ass Game of the Week”.

Tuesday
Golden State vs. new Orleans
San Antonio vs. OkC

Wed
Houston-san Antonio

Thursday
Portland-Golden State

Friday
Golden State-San Antonio

Saturday
Clippers-Grizzlebees

Sunday

Pelicans-Rockets

Monday-13th

OKC-Blazers
Clippers-Suns

Tuesday
N/A

Wednesday 15th

New Orleans-Spurs

Burnout

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The REAL season starts in 3 weeks,on April 18th. If there is something time-sensitive that needs to be done, do it before then. Once the playoffs start, game over. That coupled with the approaching end of the school semester willtake up every little bit of my time for the next two months.

I’ve watched very little NBA over the past two weeks, partially due to exhaustion, but also because life has intervened. I’m gonna pull a Popovich and monitor my minutes over the next 3 weeks so that I’m fresh for the playoffs.

Last night’s Notre Dame and Kentucky game was easily the best college game that I watched this year. To be a Good Ass Game, does not only mean a competitive. A Good Ass Game is one that is played at a high level. Notre dame-Kentucky was a Good Ass Mutha#$%in’ Game. When you consider what was at stake, (trip to Final Four/Kentucky’s win streak) the intensity alone, made it worth watching. That might be the closest Kentucky will come to losing this year.

The Final Four should be a good one. For all the missed jump shots, bad fundamentals, and ugly officiating, watching the NCAA is still slightly better than standing on the gym sidelines waiting for next in pickup games.

Good Ass Games of the Week

Today

Memphis-San Antonio

Never fails to live up to the hype. Grizz haven’t been looking too hot of late, but don’t sleep on them. Just like you wouldn’t underestimate a real Grizzly Bear–unless its that indie rock band…those guys are soft as Charmin tissue paper.

Oklahoma City- Phoenix

It is Russell Westbrook’s team now in OKC.

Monday

The “tap that vein” game of the week goes to Phoenix-Portland.

Tuesday

Clippers-Warriors on that late night tip. I’m into it.

Wednesday

Clippers-Phoenix Phoenix gets to play LAC on a back-to-back.

Dallas-Oklahoma City

What looked like a grab bag of various Western Conference finalists, looks now to be only 3 realistic teams, Warriors, Grizzlies, and the Spurs. I’m not buying the hype on Houston. Dallas doesn’t look all that good anymore. OKC and Portland get a mulligan due to crippling injuries to key players. I doubt I’ll even watch this game this week.

Thursday

Phoenix-Golden State
Houston-Dallas

Sigh. Just wake me up when the playoffs start. Now we are just watching games to see who gets seeded where. This last month is basically the conference tournaments without all the hype and pageantry.

Friday

Oklahoma City-Memphis

Get your Ya-Ya’s out while you still can. Build as much relationship equity as you can because you never know when a game 7 will fall on a date night. Don’t waste it on a meaningless game in April.

Saturday

Golden-State-Dallas
New Orleans-Phoenix

OR

The NCAA Final Four.

I myself will be watching the college boys, but hey its your life. Do what you want.

Tip-off for the Michigan State-Louisville has already happened. I’m gonna lie on my bed and fall asleep to dudes bricking jump shots.

Peace

BM

@clickpicka79
bobbymickey@gmail.com
#thisagoodassgame

Vindication

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I’m not sure what to say besides I told you so. It feels good to be right. That Heat bench was damn near nonexistent during this series. There was a certain point in the game where San Antonio’s bench had outscored Miami’s bench 30-2.
Lebron balled out so you can’t put this on him. He came out hard and put up 20 first half blocks and impacted the game early on. Well guess what? The Heat were still down by 7 going into the second half.

It was a good all around team game for the Spurs (as usual). Boris Diaw made a sick alley-oop pass to Kawhi Leonard, the Finals MVP. Ginobili made his presence felt the minute he stepped onto the court, mashing on busters like it was 2005.
Tony Parker and Tim Duncan didn’t have the flashiest of stats tonight but they made plays every time the Heat made a small run at them.

Seeing this unselfish, multi-national team put it on the Heat after such a heartbreaking loss was exciting and inspiring. They could have folded up like lawn furniture and let the championship window close, but they fought through it, let it motivate them, and everyone on the team did what it took to improve. Seeing how much those guys appreciate this and seeing how hard they worked to not only get back to the Finals, but to beat that ass in such a convincing manner puts tears in my eyes.

I’ll give Miami and Lebron credit for the 4 year run they have been on, and see no reason why they can’t get back to Finals playing in that weak ass conference they play in. As it is, you never know what the fuck will happen from year to year,and nothing is ever promised. The Spurs played a great post-season and should be remembered for one of the best playoff runs of all time. This was a fun team to watch. Congratulations to the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, and I’m happy for every one of you Spurs fans out there who endured last year’s heart wrenching loss. It’s all water under the bridge. Enjoy this one. You earned it.

Not a Fluke

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Man I tried to told ya’ll.

The Heat have the best player, but the Spurs have the best team from top to bottom.
If the Heat didn’t have Lebron, they would be the Raptors, a good but not great team with mediocre subs. Ray allen has played well considering his age, and Wade got off to a good start in the series. But really, besides Lebron (who is still getting his numbers and deserves none of the blame for the way this is going) there is no one to be afraid of on this team. This might as well be 2007 when Lebron played with Cleveland.

IF you want to know why the last two games have been such a shift in dynamics, then look no further than Kawhi Leonard’s stats in games 3 and 4. Leonard had 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks last night. In game 3 he shot 10-13 with 29 points (3-6 from downtown).

I also like to point out my man Boris “Le Grand Croissant” Diaw, who racked up 9 assists in game 4. He is a tough match up, because he can handle the rock, can back you down, and he is an exquisite passer. The Spurs are in another gear with him in the game.

The Heat did manage to get more bench production from their group, but its almost too little too late. Game 5 in San Antonio will be closer than you think, but that arena is going to be rocking. After what happened to the Spurs last year, you know they are out for blood. You could tell the players were mad that they even lost game 2. This should have been a sweep.

OFF Season Noise

How about that Derik Fisher signing? 25 million for 5 years to a first year coach. Wow. I think if there were any situation that could be more perfect to fall into for a first year coaching gig this is it. Forget the fact that this is better than any contract the “Fish” got as a player. He gets to have Phil as a coaching mentor, and boss. The on the job training he will get will be tremendous. It will be a tough couple of years. The Knicks have a few bad contracts on the books still and no draft picks for a while. But who knows who will sign with them after 2016. I’ll be keeping tabs on that situation.

Someone told me that an old Mizzou coach just moved to Salt Lake City.

As much as I bag on Cleveland, Mark Jackson would be a great hire for a franchise that has shown that it has no plan whatsoever. Then again, why would a coach want to work for a franchise like that?

Carmelo the “ballstopper” to the Heat? Yeah good luck with that. Call me when they sign some decent bench players on the cheap. So much for the Greg Oden and Michael Beasley contributions. Honestly I’m tired of watching basketball this year. I want to spend the next months playing it instead of streaming it on my computer. Put them away Spurs. I don’t need any distractions. It’ll be tough enough to find a way to watch the World Cup.

All That Extra

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I don’t care if the game was competitive and close throughout. That shit was ugly. The officiating was terrible and the flow of the game was a bit klunky. I didn’t like all the flopping (both teams are accused of being the worst), or the miscellaneous elbows thrown at certain player’s midsections(someone needs to get a fine for that). I fear that this series will devolve into a bunch of scrums and ref-baiting as both teams get to know each other even more intimately.

It was insane for anyone not to think Lebron wasn’t coming back with a monster (and highly efficient) game. It was a thing of beauty. The deep 3 pointer in Kawhi Leonard’s face was the end of a pretty filthy run by him. Rashard Lewis chipped in 14 points, Dwyane Wade had 14, and Chris Bosh had 18 points as well. Ray Allen led the bench players with 9 points (Chris Anderson had the other 3 point for the Heat subs).

Manu Ginobili outscored the entire Miami bench by himself. Boris Diaw and Patty Mills were decent (though Mills took too many stop and pop jumpers for my taste), but the guy the Spurs need to play better is Kawhi Leonard. He doesn’t necessarily need to score, but he does have to take care of the ball for the Spurs to win this thing. He had a lot of bad possessions where he took bad shots or dribbled the ball too much. The Spurs can’t afford to have him foul out either.

I wonder what adjustments that Gregg Popovich will have for game 3. Will he have Kawhi guard Wade in the first half and then switch Kawhi onto Lebron in the 4th quarter? Will the Spurs decide to let Lebron score as much as he wants and focus on shutting down everyone else? Will Aron Baynes’ number get called on to throw some ‘bows of his own?

The 2-2-1-1-1 format of the Finals is something worth watching as well. If San Antonio steals a game in Miami, the series becomes a best of 3 with the Spurs having home court advantage. For all the talk about the Spurs missing free throws and that they could be up 2-0 in the series, people are forgetting that the Spurs haven’t played all that well. Miami (their starters at least) has outplayed the Spurs in the majority of both games and could easily be down 2-0. The fact that they could almost be up should frighten Heat fans. San Antonio hasn’t played their best game yet. If they can get a complete 48 minutes of focus out of the whole team, it will be a wrap. Let’s see what happens down in South Beach.

If You Can’t Take The Heat…….

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It’s 3:30 AM and I can’t sleep. I’m still buzzing from that game tonight. I hadn’t seen a game like that since watching those old Celtics-Lakers videos from the 80’s. There were 7 Hall of Famers playing in tonight’s game, and one future Hall of Fame coach. The stakes are high, and the level of play in that first half was unreal.

I watched the first half at this bar down the street from my buddy’s house and they showed it with the sound off. I didn’t realize the arena was a sauna until late in the third half, after I went to a bar that actually let us listen to it (which almost explains why the 3rd quarter was so sloppy–23 turnovers for the Spurs–wtf?).

The superstars produced. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili played huge, scoring 56 points between them (Ginoboli at one point was outscoring the entire Heat bench by himself). Tiago Splitter had a great game on the glass and finishing at the rim when he had good looks.

Jesus Shuttlesworth killed it–especially with that dunk on Danny Green (did anyone else see that elbow Allen threw at Marco Belinelli?). Lebron played very efficiently until his menstrual leg cramps put him out of commission during clutch time. Dwayne Wade looked damn good out there, doing some ballet type shit out there on the court.

Some people will blame the cramps on the Heat losing game 1 (the same people who forget that Tony Parker played the whole Finals last year injured with a hamstring injury that kept him from being at his best), but this will come down to role players.

Boris Diaw had 10 rebounds and 6 assists, Manu Ginobili had 16 points and 11 assists, and Danny Green went ham for a crucial stretch (two 3 pointers and a breakaway dunk for the lead) after missing his first five shots.

Mario Chalmers sat on the bench most of the game because he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble, and besides Ray Allen, no one on the Heat bench scored more than 2 points. The Spurs finished the game with a 31-9 run.

Now its only game 1, and there is no reason to get TOO excited. Chalmers will play better sometime during this series when the Heat need him the most, and the Spurs can’t count on Lebron’s “moon cycle” to continue through Sunday and beyond. There are a lot of encouraging things for Spurs fans to take from this.

Kawhi Leonard had a mostly quiet night and will certainly play better by the next game. I’m sure that the Spurs will cut down their number of (unforced) turnovers as well. D-Wade isn’t going to consistently shoot as well from the outside as he did tonight either. Many of the shots he took outside of the paint were shots you can live with if you are the Spurs.

There were parts of Game 1 that were scintillating and there were parts that were head scratching, but overall that was a good ass game. I expect an even better, less sloppy game come Sunday. There was a lot of good ball movement and great passes. That a sect is just going to get better. I know it is only game 1, but had the Heat stolen tonight’s game, the series would have taken on a completely different tone. Dust out the old VCR, and hit record button. This series is going to be one people will talk about for decades.

Lovable Losers: 2002 Sacramento Kings

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Recently the 2002 Western Conference Finals was commemorated with an oral history by the people closest to the action.
A lot has happened in 12 years and there was so much I’d forgotten or just plain missed during that epic series. I wanted so badly for the Kings to dethrone the champs that I’d forgotten how lousy the officiating was for both teams throughout that series. I’d forgotten how poorly the Kings had played besides Bobby Jackson (why didn’t Rick Adelman give my boy more burn during crunch time?) and Mike Bibby (who was absolutely clutch). Let’s not waste anymore time, here is a long overdue, installment of “Lovable Losers”–an homage to the 2001-2002 Sacramento Kings.

Head Coach: Rick Adelman

Record 61-21

Starters: C Vlade Divac, PF Chris Webber, SF Peja Stojakavic, SG Doug Christie, PG Mike Bibby

Key Bench Players: C Scot Pollard, SF Hedo Turkoglu, PG Bobby Jackson

Were it not for Lebron James ascent into basketball royalty, the Eastern Conference would still be a doormat. Besides the Heat, there isn’t a team in the east what could beat any of the top Western Conference teams twice in a 7 game series. After Michael Jordan retired, the Eastern Conference became a doormat and once the Lakers grabbed the mantle away from the Bulls, the NBA Finals was about as entertaining as a community pick up game. The New Jersey Nets were atrocious and everyone knew that whoever won the West would take the title. The kings won 61 games that year, had home court advantage and looked primed and ready to finally give the Lakers a run for their money.

Well what happened? Why did they lose? The Kings had one of the most entertaining teams around. They played good enough defense. They were easily the best passing team in the NBA at that time with a legitimate point guard taking over the duties from Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. Chris Webber (a human highlight reel all by himself and Vlade Divac were two of the best passing big men around. Bobby Jackson was an electrifying spark plug that came off the bench (he won the sixth man award that year). Peja Stojakavic and Doug Christie were bombing 3 pointers from the wings and the corners. They also had one of the loudest arenas around (Think OKC’s Chesapeake Arena but with Cowbells). Watching the Kings play at home was about as good of a basketball watching experience as you could get back then. Just hearing the crowd go apeshit to Rock N “Roll part 2, after a back breaking 3 pointer, would get me and my brother hype. “Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!” I’m serious. I thought 2001 was the year. They had a better team than the Lakers from top to bottom, but a lot of things conspired to happen to keep that from happening (we’ll leave the refs out of it this and only discuss the things that were in the Kings’ control).

Coaching

Most players will tell you that Rick Adelman is a “player’s coach” and great to play under. He is a great offensive mind who has gotten multiple teams deep in the playoffs. However, no coach has cock-blocked Adelman’s path to the title more than the Zen Master, Phil Jackson. Jackson had Jordan when the Trailblazers ran into the ’92 Bulls, and ten years later he had Shaq AND Kobe Bryant. What the fuck you supposed to do with that? Outside of the Spurs and Kings, nobody could give the Lakers any run, and that was at Shaquille’s absolute peak as a player, and Kobe had barely scratched the surface of his potential. Phil was always a step ahead of Adelman, and Adelman’s failure to give Bobby Jackson any meaningful minutes (in game 7) when the rest of the players were nutting up, was a gigantic coaching error. Doug Christie was chucking up bricks, and Peja was shooting air-balls. I’m saying though.

Bench and role players

The Kings had no bench really. They only went 8 deep. Los Angeles had chess piece upon chess piece. Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw chipped in just enough to help out Shaq and Kobe. Scot Pollard was good for committing fouls on Shaq, and offensively he was good for rebounding, or passing.

I’m going to name off these names and you tell me if any of these guys scare you:

Mateen Cleaves
Lawrence Funderburke
Jabari Smith
(a young) Gerald Wallace
Brent Price
Chucky Brown

That is what Adelman had to work with. When it came down to crunch time, the starters were tired. Christie was asked to guard Kobe Bryant on defense and then was expected to create shots on offense. Hedo Turkoglu was still green. Vlade was banging with Shaq the entire game, and Chris Webber preferred to get his teammates involved rather than take over (Bill Walton would call out Webber time after time saying “Chris Webber needs to take over this game”). Webber made great passes, they were just to people who didn’t want the ball in crunch time.

Experience

The Lakers had been there. Let’s face it. Experience is a motherfucker. Think about the first time you fell in love. Shit was overwhelming wasn’t it? All these hormones and feelings that you had never felt before. Some people got it right the first time, and said and did the right things. Often times this is not the case. More often that not, the flubs and mistakes from that first serious relationship are the reasons why you make things work the next time around. The Kings had never made it this far, and the Lakers were two time defending champs. Being down 3-2 did not scare them in the least bit. I remember in one interview Kobe said that “was looking forward to the challenge.” That was when I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy (though I still thought the Kings would win). The Lakers never blinked while the Kings traded haymakers with them. Any other team would have folded like lawn chairs in an overtime game 7 on the road. Not the Lakers. They stayed focus, climbed on the back of the Big Diesel and pounded their way into the NBA Finals against the putrid New Jersey Nets.

So did the Kings choke? Was there a conspiracy in game 6 to give the game to Lakers? Was Rick Adelman just a basketball version of Buck Showalter (the classic good enough coach to get you there but not good enough to win)? Or were the Lakers just the better team? Maybe it was all of these things, maybe it was none, or maybe the results speak for themselves. The Lakers were good and the rest of the NBA was really bad. It’s hard to call a team that won 61 regular season games and the only team that gave Los Angeles any type of run, a loser.

Maybe they were losers,but they were a fun team to watch, and if they were losers, then what does that say about the rest of the NBA at that time? San Antonio was winning championships back then, but no one outside of south Texas would pay to watch them play. I lived in Texas back then (in Austin) and their style of play put me to sleep. I’d have rather watched those Kings play and lose, than tune in to the Malik Rose, Speedy Claxton, slow it down Spurs of 2002. It just wasn’t entertaining. Maybe we all lost when the Kings were knocked out of the playoffs back in 2002. You’ll never convince me otherwise.

Run That Shit Back

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The Spurs wanted this.

The Heat say they wanted this.

But most importantly, I wanted this to happen. Out of all the possible Finals match ups, this was the one I wanted to see the most.

The Spurs should have beaten the Heat last year–despite having an injured Tony Parker. This year, the Spurs’ bench is better, Kawhi Leonard is better, Manu Ginobili is not a shell of himself. The Heat meanwhile have gotten worse. Everyone outside of Lebron and Bosh is old as fuck. Erik Spoelstra is a good coach though, and if anyone can match wits with Greg Popovich, it is him (although let’s face it–pretty easy to trot out Lebron, Wade, and Bosh and get 50 wins in the putrid East). If the Spurs can play their game and pass like they did in the third quarter of game 6 against the Thunder, they won’t need 7 games to dispatch the Heat. But I’ll give Lebron the benefit of the doubt and say it takes 7 games for the Heat to be defeated.

Spurs in 7 or less

Congratulations to the Thunder for having another phenomenal year (and Russell Westbrook for coming back from three knee surgeries in one year–what a post season that guy had–ferocious!!) .As long as they Westbrook and Durant, they will always be able to compete, and get butts in the seats of that arena. Sure Clay Bennett could pony up the money to sign key free agents to fortify the bench and give Russ and KD some help (Besides Reggie jackson, there is no one other than Durant and Westbrook who can create their own shot), but that would mean taking money out of his oil funds to do so. I’m not saying they need to fire Scott Brooks, but he does need an offensive assistant to help create plays other than “Isolation with Westbrook, Isolation with Durant.”

There is a lot of things going on outside of the basketball court that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m not comfortable with the arena wide pre-game prayer. I’m not comfortable with the way the team was acquired, and I’m not comfortable with what is currently going on with the ownership group in general.

There is a lot of economy in Oklahoma City based on this group. Brick town was based around the basketball arena, and the company itself built a giant glass high rise (umm tornadoes??) right in the middle of downtown. Things change so quickly (just ask Donald Sterling), who is to say, the Chesapeake Energy group doesn’t get multiple lawsuits, multiple fines, found guilty of fraud and they end up selling the team to an investor who moves the franchise yet again? What if the company goes belly up? What would happen to all those buildings and establishments then with no team in town and no oil money to fund city projects? What happens to the city then? Just some things to think about. Nothing lasts forever, especially not title runs.

Which leads to this thought, if the Spurs do somehow manage to beat the Heat, this will be one of the best title runs of all time. The Spurs have gone through an underrated Dallas squad that took them to 7 games. They beat a pretty good Blazers team. handled this Thunder team with 2 of the NBA’s top five players on their team.Now they have to go through Lebron. Four more wins will cement the Spurs legacy and shut Phil Jackson up.

As many reasons as there are to root against the Heat, there are twice as many reasons to root for the Spurs to take this series. Game on. Thursday can’t get here fast enough.