Sorry that it has been a little while since I wrote a post, it has been a crazy time, with graduation day only two days away. Between finals, saying goodbye to friends and professors, and writing for a few other sites these last couple of weeks have been busier than Pacman Jones at a strip club.
I’m sitting here watching Orlando and Boston in game 5, and I can’t help but think that this series will be another this playoffs to go seven games. This years playoffs has been wildy entertaining, with a myriad of stories that have peaked my intrest even when I’ve had a million other things on my mind. Here are a few reasons why the 2009 playoffs have been so amazing thus far:
1) They were supposed to be predictable.
- Lakers and Cavs were suppossed to coast through the playoffs, and face off in an epic Kobe and Lebron final that gives David Stern a boner with a dollar sign. The marketability of Kobe Lebron series is absurd, and it is understandable why the NBA wants it to happen so badly.
- As the playoffs have continued, while the Lakers and Cavs still look like the too best teams in the NBA– they are not in another league. The Rockets are giving the Lakers an espeically hard time, and it is unclear how the Lakers would match up against the Nuggets (read a great article about this here). In any case, while we still will probably get a Lakers Cavs finals– it wouldn’t exactly shock anybody if somehow the Cavs or Lakers did not end up in the finals.
2) The Bulls Celtics Series:
- The Bulls Celtics series was one of those epic contests that will be talked about for years to come. The reason it was so great, beyond the injuries to Powe and Garnett, was the lack of defense. It was a disgusting series defensively–but who really watches the NBA for defense anyway? Not this fan.
3) Chauncy Billups, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao, Ron Artest
- The AI for Billups trade was scoffed at by some, but it has turned out well for the Nuggets as they await the winner of the Rockets Lakers series in the conference finals. Denver is an interesting team to watch. Carmelo is one of my least favorite players in the NBA, he just seems very non-challant about his basketball business. I just wonder what would happen if he played with the same passion as his fiance (one time MTV VJ “La La”) who was asked to leave her courtside seat after getting into it with some Maverick fans.
- Dirk Nowitzki’s engagement to a con-artist is actually pretty sad. He just seems so awkward and German. Basketball player or not, it can’t be easy for a 6′11″ guy who isn’t exactly a looker to find love. The right lady will come around Dirk, I promise.
- The Rockets are unreal. Aaron Brooks (Mr. Quick) has shown that he is unguardable. Shane Battier has rebounded up a storm, and proved that Duke players can be tough. Yao has been most impressive however, playing on a stress fracture. Insert your playing through pain sports cliche here. We’ll see if the Rockets can take the Lakers.
- The Rockets may also be the new “bad boys” of the NBA, led by Ron Artest. Ron has been in a basketball game where a guy got stabbed to death with a table leg, do you think he’s scared of Kobe Bryant?
In any case, enjoy the rest of the Playoffs. If they continue at this pace, it seems like it will be especially hard not to. I love that many fans are rooting against David Stern’s idealized finals– and want to see an unexpected team uproot a giant. It seems that we like to see our giants fall, just as much as we like to see our giants succeed. We build players and teams up to a point where it is nearly impossible for them to succeed and then relish in their downfall. It is kind of sadistic in some ways, but it is also the American way.
We are partial to both the story of the underdog, and a fall from glory. Which storyline will come true this playoffs?
