Gentleman's three-peat.

The Dubs swept the Cavs and were even better than I had expected. They wrapped up their parade today and are all set for the off-season. I expected a gentleman's sweep in 5 like last year. Instead we got a quick sweep for a gentleman's three-peat for the Dubs. After that game 1 debacle, Cavs were mentally done. The Dubs now have 3 of 4 championships for what I call a gentleman's three-peat. They technically have only a back-to-back championship, but then the year before that in 2016, they won a record 73 games and lost the ring by a single shot in game 7 of the NBA finals. They are definitely a dynasty. They have earned the right to be considered for the best ever team along with the giants of the game like the Lakers, Bulls, and the Celtics. Not many teams have had a top-4 talent like this team and they have done exactly what they wanted to do when they got Kervin Durant 2 years back.

I don't know how KD personally feels about all this, but this has to be 2 of his best years in the league. He has now won 2 championships and 2 finals' MVP. He has had 2 signature, dagger three-pointers on the road in the finals to clinch pivotal game 3's both years, which will forever play in a loop in his career highlights. He is a better basketball player and the game is also so much more easier for him in Oakland compared to what it was in Oklahoma City because of all the talent around him here. The Bay loves Curry, but KD still gets his due and the team needs him when all else fails. He is a tremendous offensive weapon and while he was up and down at times during these playoffs with his defensive effort and iso-ball tendencies, you still can't deny his talent and performance nor his Finals MVP. While Curry was the sentimental favorite and even a legitimate candidate for that award, nobody can complain about KD winning it for the second time in a row.

The NBA off-season is now officially in play. LeBron's free agency is the headliner. For the Dubs, it will be about re-stocking the bench with younger talent and coming in with some drive and focus to contend for their 4th championship in 5 years. They do have to sign KD to an extension and see if Klay and/or Draymond will talk contract and take less money now ahead of their eventual free agency. I do expect the challenge for them next season to be external unlike the internal challenges like complacency they seemed to have fought this year. I expect Houston with it's strong core and Lakers with their salary cap space to try and create a super-team that can take down the Dubs. Boston and Philly in the East will organically develop into strong contenders as well, though those teams maybe a year away. I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics take down the Dubs in 2020 finals and they will still be a contender in 2019. The story as always come back to LeBron. I expect him to be in the middle of some super-team formation this July. Paul George, Chris Paul, and Kawhi Leonard are the other big whales in free agency and trade rumors. Lets see how all of this shakes out and who convinces who to play where alongside them.

I will miss this NBA season, especially these playoffs. It's been one fun ride, but bring on Deandre Ayton and the draft for the Phoenix Suns!

NBA is living large

The Finals kicked off yesterday in style. What was supposed to be a boring, one-sided matchup turned into one of the craziest overtime thriller in recent memory. Warriors won, matching most people's expectations including mine, but the game went nothing like I had expected. My pick was and still is Dubs in 5, maybe 6 if they sleep walk through the series, but the way LeBron showed up and hooped yesterday, you almost have to expect a 6 or 7 game series. He dropped a super efficient 51 and made one of the best defenses in the league look absolutely helpless and clueless. Andre Iguodala was not playing, but the defense can't be this soft without him. Like somebody tweeted yesterday, if he makes so much of a difference to this loaded team, we are either over-estimating the big-4 or underestimating Iggy. Good point! I think we are under-estimating Iggy. Plus, LeBron was on fire yesterday. Even Iggy might not have made much of a difference.

Durant spent a lot of time defending LeBron and was largely ineffective. The Dubs seemed to want to fight through screens and stick with the primary defender on LeBron when he tried to switch Curry on to him. This is different from the Houston series and Harden where you just can't give anybody any daylight because of the conscience-free three point shooting. You can afford to switch back on LeBron and give some opening to the other Cavs. I felt like they did that a lot more in the first half, but Durant didn't fight through the screens and gave up easy in the second. Durant is so talented that he ended up with decent numbers at the end, but he played a mediocre game at best. Aside from the zero-impact defense on LeBron, he was also the guy who was pushed aside by J.R.Smth of all people on that rebound on the missed free throw at the end. Durant can't let that happen. He was abused on the boards in game 7 against the Rockets as well. Anyways, Curry was a lot better and Dubs won with a B+ to A- performance. They were not horrible, but they can be better.

The story of the game was really LeBron. He was just amazing and his legend is growing with every game in these playoffs. At age 33, he is doing more to embellish his hall of fame resume than he did at age 28 or 29 when his legs were a lot younger and his resume a lot lighter. He has carried these under-staffed Cavs to the Finals and in game 1, almost got them a 1-0 series lead. At the end of the day he couldn't and the story became the reversed foul call, missed George Hill free throw, and JR's stupidity. These plays have been rehashed non-stop for the last 24 hours and I will spare you the details, but my take in a nutshell is as follows. They got the call reversal right. You can question the motive for the review, but the result of the review was correct as confirmed by the league today as well. The missed FT happens. Durant actually missed 3 of his first 4 FTs in game 7 of WCF. Pressure and stress spares no one and Hill became the latest victim. J.R.Smith is just as much a strength as a liability and I am not surprised he lost track of the score. Also, who knows if JR's put-back or even a hypothetical LeBron James shot goes in if thats how things played out.

At the end of the day, JR Smith became the goat and saved both Hill ad Durant from some embarrassing questions. The Dubs won in OT, but they need to do something about the LeBron James problem, I can't wait for game 2 to see what both sides do - Dubs from a defensive strategy perspective and Cavs from just the mental perspective of recovering from that rough ending in game 1. It's been an interesting playoffs for the Golden State Warriors. They were never threatened in the playoffs last year, but they just came out of a 7-game fist-fight against the Rockets who gave them all they can handle and then some. Chris Paul stole both game 4 and 5 to put the Dubs in a major hole. He then got hurt and many people are convinced that this changed the series and was a lucky break for the Warriors. It probably was and maybe CP3's presence in game 7 would have made sure the Rockets didn't completely implode in the second half. CP3 gave that team a lot of toughness and "clutchenss" in games 4 and 5.

The Dubs were missing Iggy since game 3, but people don't give as much importance to him as CP3 because the Dubs have 4 stars larger than Iggy while CP3 is the second best player for the Rockets and probably their best player in the clutch given Harden's troubles as a closer. So, it is fair to say that if both played, advantage goes to the Rockets in game 7. But, thats only correct for game 7. If both played throughout the series, I totally agree with Kerr that the Warriors win game 4 and/or 5. Both were close games with CP3 playing decent for the Rockets and Iggy would have made enough of a difference in the 4th quarter to win it for the Dubs. The series would probably have wrapped up in 5 or 6 rendering game 7 irrelevant. I would like to sympathize with CP3 and Rockets for that injury, but you almost could see it coming from a mile.

I don't want to blame CP3 for being injury prone, but he just is. I do blame Harden and Mike D'Antoni for sure. Harden did no favors to CP3 by disappearing in most of the 4th quarters. CP3 had to carry a lot of the load in the second half of that game 5 when he pulled up lame and got injured. Of course, D'Dantoni still doesn't play his bench, thus killing both his superstars. So, not sure how much tears we can shed for the Rockets and this injury. We can all however shed collective tears for all of us NBA fans since these injuries reduced the series to a bunch of "what ifs." It was great fun, but the injuries made it a different series for sure. It was a cruel joke by the Basketball gods on both us and CP3. Rockets and CP3 made life difficult for the Dubs while it lasted, but the Dubs looked like they were always going to win the series anyways.

Dubs struggled in two consecutive games - 4 & 5, in crunch time to get baskets. The Rockets' defensive strategy had a lot to do with that. The Dubs defense was good too, but the offense betrayed them at times. It was not humming the entire series, but they especially looked confused in the closing minutes. As great as the Dubs' big 4 are, I started trusting the Rockets' Big 2 and even Eric Gordon more than the Warriors studs if you absolutely had to get a basket or two in the last minute of a game. Their is a simplicity, clarity, and focus to the Rockets' offense. Isolate Harden or Chris Paul or Eric Gordon, let them go to work, and live with their decision - shoot a 3, drive, or kick it out to one of the other shooters. It may be ugly and boring, but is not complex or confusing. And it worked just enough in that series to help them get to 7 games.

I don't like cliches, but the Dubs offense on the other hand did seem to lack an identity, at least in that series against that D. They almost have a problem of excess. They have 4 of the top 15 players in the league and are often torn between 3 ways to run their offense. They can rely on their basic ball movement and player movement offense, or iso Durant and let him go 1-on-1, or have Curry shoot or dribble-drive. There is no one thing they can hang their hat on and that sometimes causes some identity issues at the end of games. Rockets seemed to make them pick the least preferable of these options all series long. They defended the 3-point line and let Durant ISO to his heart's content. The Dubs had an issue with that as it took others out of the offense. Finally, Kerr had to coach and was able to unleash the Splash brothers just enough in games 6 and 7 to to earn a hard-fought victory. The conference finals were both great and now, lets see if the Finals can measure up to it when it comes to quality and competition.

Four-feiture!

Are we ready for a four-peat of the Cavs and Warriors? More importantly, are those teams even ready? Do we even want it?  The third finals between the two was much anticipated last year. I am not sure if we want a 4th edition. But then again, how can you say "no" to LeBron in the Finals? Can he make it to his 8th straight Finals? Can the Warriors turn on the switch? Is there even a switch to turn on, especially with Curry out right now? Are the Rockets really better than the Warriors? Can teams like the Thunder and the Jazz trip up either of these top teams even before the Western Conference Finals? We will find the answers to these and other questions starting tomorrow in the NBA playoffs. It will take us a good 2 months, but we will get there. The NBA playoffs start with a lot of excitement, but then it almost meanders along for a bit as it takes its sweet time to get to the later rounds. It is what it is and we will be watching. Many matchups on deck for round 1 and here are my thoughts.

Timebewolves @ Rockets: I expect Jimmy Butler to give Harden and the Rockets some tense moments in round 1. I pick the Rockets to win 4-2. There will be tougher matchups for the Rockets in these playoffs later, but this one won't be a walk in the park either due to Butler.

Spurs @ Warriors: This is probably the softest starting point for the Dubs. There is typically nothing soft about a Pop coached team, but this team just may not have the talent to compete with even a Curry-less Warriors. Nobody knows whats going on with Kwahi. Without him, this should be a 4-1 series in favor of the Warriors. Dubs have to play with effort, seriousness, and smarts. All of that has been missing for long stretches of this season and they better find that switch they have been waiting to turn on. If they show up, this should be an easy series.

Pelicans @ TrailBlazers: Blazers should win this one 4-2. Anthony Davis can only do so much and one-star teams are easier to manage in a 7-game series than in a regular season game in February. Pelicans do have some supporting talent starting with Jrue Holiday, but Blazers should be able to handle them.

Jazz @ OKC: Not only is this the best first round series in the West, the winner, regardless of who it is, will also make life extremely uncomfortable for the Rockets in the next round. To do that, they have to get out of this round in tact and healthy. I think the Jazz do that with a 4-2 win here. They are the lower seed, but 4-V-5 is never a big upset. Definitely not this year in the west where seeds 3 through 8 are separated by just 2 games.

Wizards @ Raptors: I am one of like 800 millions people who don't entirely trust the Raptors in the playoffs. They will make this interesting, difficult, and finally win it 4-3. Great back-court matchup and will be fun to watch.

Bucks @ Celtics: I have no idea what's going to happen here. An under-manned higher seed going against a under-achieving lower seed. The Bucks will have the best player in the series and the Celtics will have the better coach. I have to say Bucks win 4-3, but I can totally see the president and his system coming through at home in game 7.

Heat @ 76'ers: Another well-coached team here in the Heat, but the Sixers are flying high. Prince Ben Simmons is no joke and he may be offended if he knows I pick them to win this one 4-2. That's how confident him and his team are as they are rolling in to these playoffs with great momentum.

Pacers @ Cavs: Last but not the least, LeBron and the Cavs will have an interesting 4-V-5 series on their hands. Oladipo is no joke and the Cavs defense will give the Pacers a lot of opportunities, but how can I pick against the King? He has been sensational the last couple of months and it's scary to think he will find an even higher gear in these playoffs. He wins this one 4-3.

Call me boring, but if I have to put my money on it, I will still pick the Warriors and Cavs to play in the NBA finals. The East is still weak and may not be able to stop LeBron. Sixers are too young, the Celts are too injured, and the Raptors are well, too Raptors. In the West, there are some serious challengers to the Dubs and they won't go 12-0 through these teams this year. However, I think it is fair for us to tell the Rockets "show me" before making them the favorites over teams like the Warriors and LeBron. Rockets have 3 key assets that have not had big-time playoff success.

Harden and Paul have not had great playoff success and as much as I am pained to say this, Coach D'Antoni has his playoff demons too. So, no need to coronate these Rockets. They have to earn it. Harden has to erase the memory of that horrible final game of last season against the Spurs. CP3 has to let the game come to him in the final minutes of pressure-cooker playoff games and not force bad decisions. Make D'Antoni has to show he can trust and use a bench to take some load of his stars. Oh yeah, even with all that, the Dubs have more talent. So, good luck beating them. Looking forward to seeing how all of this shakes out. Buckle up!

NBA's super problem

NBA free agency is winding down after a nice run. There were some big moves as expected and it was an exciting couple of weeks. Even before the free agency kicked off, the Chris Paul trade to the Clippers and the Phil Jackson firing by the Knicks set the stage for a fun off-season stretch. Even as CP3 left, Blake Griffin decided to stay in LA and canceled a previously scheduled meeting with the Phoenix Suns. I was excited a bit for that meeting, but all things considered, I have to say the Suns dodged a bullet. Blake is too much of a injury risk to invest that kind of money. The unexpected Paul George trade to the Thunder was a nice wrinkle as even the 24X7 NBA twitter machine had no clue about that one. At the end of all of this, the best story of the off-season might have been Kevin Durant taking almost 10 mill less than market this year.

The Warriors were constantly on the off-season news though they didn't have to make any big changes. Just keeping their team together as expected was a big and expensive activity. They super-maxed Curry and brought back Livingston and David West. The guy who proved challenging was Andre Iguodala. He negotiated his way to what I would say is a very generous contract at his age. This meant KD ended up taking a lot less than market to help the team out. The Warriors could have paid 5 mill a year more than what they paid KD and gotten Paul Millsap who can do about half the things on the court that Durant can! While other guys like Millsap were getting overpaid, KD gave money back. Real nice of Durant and the Warrior machine showed once again that it's firing on all cylinders. They didn't stop there as they signed Nick Young and Omri Caspi and also brought back Zaza Pachulia.

Dubs have reloaded and only JaVale McGee is not in the fold yet among the players they realistically want back. They apparently went way over budget and may even be better than last year. Don't forget the 3.5 mill they paid to get the second round pick Jordan Bell in the draft though they didn't have a pick this year. It reminded me of the Suns during the Nash golden era when they were trading away all their draft picks to save a mill here or there. That right there might be the difference between true championship teams and the wannabes. Back then, I didn't realize how stupid the Suns were because we were all entranced by the Nash-Amare-Marion brilliance and thought we don't need no damn rookies! But rookies are cheap and the Warriors know how to use them right. The Dubs are definitely not holding back their wallet and if you are a Dubs fan, you should be very happy about how they run their team.

Gordon Hayward was one of the most prized possession this off-season and his move to Boston was not a major surprise. He did the free agency dance, but ended up where he has been rumored to be going for 2 years now. A big blow to the small market Utah team. LeBron James maybe the only true super star left in a small market team now and if the rumors are true about him wanting to leave Cleveland next year and goto the Lakers with Paul George and others, the league in general and Cleveland in particular will have a tough challenge in their hands. LeBron not actively recruiting free agents this year to the Cavs only strengthens the rumors. Cleveland has spent a lot of money and mortgaged a lot of their future to keep the King's court going. If he bails, they maybe in a worse situation now than in 2010 when he first left town, though the championship he won last year softens the blow for the fans.

NBA has a decent economic system. I rank their system way above the MLB's when it comes to competitive balance between big and small market teams. Of course, NFL is the best system in that regard with their hard salary cap etc., but you could argue NFL is a modern-day slavery involving millionaire athletes. NBA strikes the right balance between player prosperity, flexibility for the teams, and competitive balance. But, despite their best efforts, the teams are having issues retaining their stars. The NBA system always enabled teams to overpay for their own players via Bird rights etc. They expanded this even more in the last collective bargaining agreement, but the players are still leaving their teams to go wherever they want.

The players do seem to be leaving for the right reasons, but the small-market teams are hurting in the process. They seem to be leaving mostly to win and to play with other stars they like. LeBron started this trend, but everybody is trying to create their own super teams now. So, Harden recruits Chris Paul and CP3 joins him forfeiting a more lucrative contract with the Clips. Though the rumor is, Clips didn't want to pay CP3 that much and he decided that in that case, he will just go to Houston. Hayward gave up extra years and money too when he decided to move to Boston. I think 2 things are happening here. One, the off-court earnings for superstars like Durant are so high that they don't mind giving up some shekels for a ring and to play with friendly superstars. You would think this may actually be good news for small market teams.

While the big market teams definitely have more money, cachet, and sex appeal to bring multiple superstars together, the fact the stars are chasing winning and friends more than money should mean the market size matters less. If the small market team and their incumbent superstar play their cards well, they should be able to attract other stars to town to build a winning roster. They may have to go over the luxury tax threshold and thats a challenge for smaller markets, but it's doable. If this doesn't ever work in their favor and if smaller market teams are perennially hurting, I am sure the NBA will bring an even bigger hammer to the next collective bargaining negotiation and make sure the luxury tax penalties are even more severe and the players have to give up even more to leave their home markets to go to greener pastures. I trust the NBA process and they will figure this out.

Secondly, there may be a temporary phenomenon at work currently with the players. The sudden 35% jump in salary cap last year has thrown the salaries out of whack. This generation of stars were hoping to score a max contract in the range of 18 to 20 million a year until last season. Suddenly, their choices now are either 32 mill or 38 mill a year depending on where they want to play and I think even the players themselves are confused and overwhelmed by it. They think it's great to make 32 mill and win with a star teammate of their choice rather than mortgaging everything for a 38 mill contract. It's all huge money anyways. So, who cares if it's 5 or 6 million less! This might change with the new crop of stars starting with the Lonzo Ball era as these kids may expect to make those kinds of money and they may be less willing to give that up. Their reference point may be different. Thats just my theory. Lets see if I am right in a couple of years.

In short, the players seem to have all the leverage, especially the stars. They pick the city, the teammates, the contract, and the options on when to become a free agent again. In some ways, the teams have themselves to blame. They wanted shorter contracts and more flexibility. But this also means the players have more flexibility as well. It feels like every star is a free agent every other year. It's fun for the larger NBA fan base in the off-season, but stressful for the GMs and the home town fans who are worried about their stars. On top of that, this season, it's very clear that the Warriors have sent every team into a frenzy. Every team is looking to build a super team to challenge them and the stars are obliging.

It almost feels like fantasy basketball as teams like Houston go get CP3 and are still in the market for Carmelo. And they have committed almost 220 mill to Harden. Wonder how much more he can make if he plays defense too! Cavs want another piece, Boston wanted a couple of pieces, John Wall was trying to get Paul George to Washington, and there are already rumors of how LeBron will join Paul George with the Lakers and get John Wall to join him too next year. John Wall coincidentally is represented by LeBron's buddies at Klucth sports and Wall is refusing to sign the big money extension with the Wizards. The league is gone crazy in a good way and the Warriors are pushing them over the edge. LeBron started the super-team trend in 2010 and it's getting worse now.

NFL has always been the envy of every other league. They have the most fans with the most attention span throughout the year and other leagues were trying to mimic them and steal their ideas. But when it comes to free agency, NBA has got it figured out. Even NFL has to be jealous of all the hype and attention the NBA free agency generates. The calendar is not even well thought out because it was not that big a deal in the past. Most big signings happen during the July 4th long weekend, which is not ideal for the media hype cycle, but the whole free agency period still generates intense buzz for 2+ weeks. As stupid as "The Decision" show was in 2010, we have to thank that for what has now become the modern free agency. Nobody will do that kind of a show anymore, but the activities of player movement and super team creation in July have become a yearly trend now.

This is all good as the NBA keeps us busy and occupied during the dog days of summer. NBA is experiencing a definite renaissance and you could attribute it to many things including a new set of talented stars and a fan-friendly style played around the league. And don't forget the health and concussion problems hurting the NFL either. But it recently struck me when I was listening to Bill Simmons talk about this that we have had couple of historic NBA records and events happen just within the last 2 years. I personally thought I will never see a team win more than 72 games a season or anybody average a triple-double in a season. The Warriors last year and Russell Westbrook this year achieved those 2 amazing feats. Those things are real fun to watch and track and no wonder NBA is on a magical run. The attention it draws during free agency and it's summer league may be the best proof of it yet. Hope the good times keep rolling for the association!

Dubs Dynasty

The Warriors wrapped it up in 5 like I had predicted at the start of the finals. Me and 2 billion others called it the same way of course. It was really a no-contest at the end, but a riveting finals nonetheless. The reasons for the excitement were a few different things. The fact that there was history between these two teams meeting in the finals for the third straight year was a huge factor. Also, the monumental collapse of the Warriors last year gave folks false hope and anxiety depending on which side you were and made this contest look a lot closer than it really was. I have never seen a more nervous fanbase of a team that was up 3-0 and then 3-1 in a series returning home for a game 5 than this version of the Dubs fans. They were a lot more confident for game 7 last year than they were for game 5 this year! Last but not the least, the star power in the series and the great play by all of those stars made it worth the watch. Finals MVP Durant was unstoppable the entire series and so was MVK (Most Valuable King) James. Curry was great too, except for game 4, and so was Kyrie except for the first 2 games. We got to see basketball at a very high level. Hope we all appreciate that we saw LeBron become the first player to average a triple-double in the finals with a 33.6 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists series. 

There was a lot of talk about how the quality of play and the level of talent on display in these finals were off the charts. It sure was in my eyes too. We know that just the Dubs roster features 4 of the top 15 talents in the NBA today, possibly 4 hall-of-famers. And then you add one of the best players in the history of the game in LeBron James and another 2 All-Stars on the Cavs roster, you got some serious heat on the floor. One of the major reasons why the games looked so impressive was the style of play in vogue in the NBA today. Both these teams like to go up and down the floor shooting 3's and they did shoot real well in this series. All of that made the talent in this series look way more impressive than the matchups I had seen in the last 15 years or so. However, there is also a definite recency bias in all our assessment as this is not the first rodeo for the NBA Finals, which always features top teams by design. For instance, how much more talent did we really see here compared to the Bird-Magic finals or the MJ-Magic or even the MJ-Malone/Stockton finals? Hard to quantify, but this one was fun. The other reason we focused more on the talent in this one was because of the recent emergence of the "super team" concept. The older "super teams" were mostly built organically and we didn't obsess about the collection of talent on the floor all that much.

It sure was a riveting trilogy and the TV ratings bear that out. But the domination of these 2 teams through the playoffs meant lot fewer games and lower eyeballs on the TV overall for the NBA and the TV channels. I totally expect a 4th installment of this rivalry next year. LeBron is going to push for some upgrade of his roster and we may have an even better matchup next year. Boston with all it's assets is the only serious threat to dethroning the King in the LEast, but even they may be a year away from things coming together nicely. Dubs-Cavs it is for 2018. The question is, how and what does the King force the Cavs to do this off-season? They don't have a lot of flexibility, but may be able to trade Kevin Love. It would be a mistake to trade him for somebody like Carmelo, but will be an upgrade if they can score Paul George. I bring up Melo only because LeBron is friends with him. So is CP3. But I won't trade Kyrie for CP3. Kyrie is not a prototypical PG and doesn't play great D, but it is still going to be hard to get a better side-kick for LeBron than Ka. He is an amazing offensive force as he showed all finals. Plus CP3 is older and injury prone.

There is also a Boogie Cousins rumor for Love. Out of all the rumors, the one that should scare the Dubs most is Paul George ending up with LeBron. They would get somebody who can guard Durant and is also a well-rounded and tall offensive player. But can they still play well together and challenge the Dubs, who play great team ball to expertly mesh all the talent they have? The Cavs will have 3 great 1-on-1 players if PG joins them and they can take turns scoring. That should help when LeBron goes to the bench. The Cavs outscored the Dubs in many of the stretches when LeBron was on the floor and still lost the series 4-1. Thats an amazing +/- for the King and having PG on the floor during those times will be a huge upgrade. The problem is, Ty Lue and the Cavs culture may still play 1-on-1 ball with all 3 and it will be up to the King to involve everybody and bring this together. It's also easy to under-estimate Love's rebounding. PG can't rebound the same way. At least PG plays D. With Melo, you lose both the rebounds and don't upgrade the D either. There was a stretch in game 3, which Steve Kerr specifically called out in the presser, when Love got 3 offensive rebounds and completely dominated the Dubs and almost stopped their momentum. Cavs must tread cautiously with Love. However, LeBron will make the calls and he has to live or die with it.

The season is over, the finals are over, and even the parade is now done. The Dubs did it. Their entire roster now feels like headed for free agency. So it will be a fun off-season for the Dub nation to see who they re-sign and surround the big 4 with. Curry will finally break the bank. It was nice to see KD publicly offer to take just a little less to enable the team to make a competitive offer to Iggy and Livingston. Both may get great offers from other teams too. Let's see how this plays out. You can never fault the players for maximizing their earning potential. Both those guys are probably looking at the last major contract of their careers. Livingston especially deserves every dime after almost losing his leg in that horrific injury earlier in his career. Overall, the Dubs are in a good spot. The team will look different, but the front office has been immensely successful the last 5 years and it will be interesting as a basketball fan to see how they cobble up another team around the big 4. Special shout-out to David West for taking much less money to go through a championship experience. He got it done and was a key contributor as well.

I am really surprised and impressed with folks like West giving up their role and money to win a championship. I can see super-stars wanting the ring as winning a Finals MVP is a huge boost to KD's legacy for instance. But West winning this as a bench player is not a life changing event, but they still appreciate and chase that ring. I respect that! Not sure how many of us will give up serious money for a championship ring. West declined a 12 mill option with the Pacers last year to join the Spurs for 1.5 million. He then signed a similar contract with the Dubs this year. And his quote about how "you can't take the treasure with you as Egyptians learned" was a classic. Probably the best post-finals moment, way better than all the real or fake twitter wars between Draymond and LeBron. Speaking of, LeBron's take that he has never been a part of a super-team was ridiculous! He and his Heatles buddies were the creator the whole concept. Thats why what he did was so much worse than Durant. Without LeBron's precedent, the whole idea of Durant joining the Warriors might have not even crossed the minds of Draymond or Durant or anybody. LeBron is the pioneer of the concept and he has to forever share some of the blame for these other super-teams in this era.

I can't believe I am saying this, but I agree with Stephen A in that, from Duran't personal perspective, his move was weaker or a easier way out than what LeBron did. Joining a 73-win team is an easy way out. But thats not the point and I am not too worried about Durant as an individal. He can take care of himself and his own legacy and I don't care about that all that much. But in terms of what it means to the NBA as a league and it's competitive balance, LeBron's move was much worse because he set a precedent that folks like Durant can follow. What LeBron did was repeatable and stars are trying to hook-up every off-season these days. Sometimes they are successful, sometimes they are not, but they all seem to try. On the other hand, Durant joining the Warriors was a unique situation created by a confluence of a few lucky breaks for the Dubs that may never happen again. The salary cap doesn't jump 35% every year. The 2-time MVP of the league (Curry) rarely enters that same season as the 82nd highest player in the league, thus enabling the team to chase another superstar with all that extra cap money. Without these two major aberrations, I don't think KD joins the Dubs. This obviously impacts the competitive balance in the short-term, but I am not worried about the long-term impact of this KD move. LeBron's move to Miami and even back to Cleveland with Kevin Love was different, more repeatable, and lethal development for the league. With all that said, super teams are here to stay in 2018 and we can only hope somebody steps up to challenge the Dubs. My smart money is still on the King and the Cavs.

Ka is Key

I heard in a podcast that the nickname for Kyrie Irving in his inside circle is Ka. Whatever his name is, he is the key to the rest of the NBA finals. He is the one who won them last year's finals too. I am not saying this just because he hit that game winner in game 7. But what he did throughout that game 7 and earlier in game 5 when both LeBron and him scored 41 each to will the Cavs to a victory was sensational. That was the turning point in the series. They could not have come back from 3-1 and won that series without Kyrie and the 41 he dropped in that game 5. LeBron is great and is the heart and soul, but as great as LeBron is, he can't do it alone. Not last year against that talented Dubs team and definitely not this year against the even more loaded Dubs roster. So LeBron absolutely needs Kyrie. The guy is unstoppable even against a great defender like Klay. And when he is in that mode, Dubs are in trouble. Kyrie has been that good in game 3 and 4 in Cleveland this year much like games 5 and 7 last year. Also, in game 4 against Boston in the previous round this season. He was not that great in games 1 and 2 of this finals and the Dubs won both easily. So, the Dubs better have an answer to Ka if they want a parade in Oakland this year.

Kyrie is not LeBron, but is a difference maker. Thats because LeBron's 30-10-10 is already accounted for. We might as well put that in the game 5 box score right now. He has been ridiculous throughout these playoffs and the finals and we all take his performance for granted. The guy is averaging almost a 32-12-10 in these finals and we don't even talk about him that much. And even with that, the Dubs dominated the series over the first 3 games. But once Kyrie got in on the act, Dubs have had their hands full. Through the nineties and early aughts, NBA was all about individual superstars playing isolation and 1-on-1 ball. It was fun watching MJ do it, but it got boring at some point and the league became a drag. The game opened up, thanks in part to some rule changes and thanks in part to teams like the CWebb-Kings and the Nash-Suns. They revolutionized the game, especially the mid-aughts Suns. Now, the Dubs have taken that Suns' style to a 'hole 'nother level with superstar talent up and down the roster, robust team defense, passing, and deadly 3-point shooting. Even with all that in place, even in this day and age, sensational 1-on-1 talents like LeBron and Kyrie can cause so much havoc.

No wonder stars always had the reputation of having all the power and basically running the NBA because individual talent impacts this game so much even against a well-oiled offensive and defensive juggernaut like the Warriors. Kyrie can again be a thorn on the Dubs side the rest of the way starting with game 5 tonight. Dub-nation has to be slightly nervous after what happened last year. It's again 3-1. Sure, it was 3-0 and then 3-1 unlike last year, but there are some similarities. The smart money for game 5 is still very much on the Dubs. It's basically the same matchup, except the Dubs have added  to that game 5 roster Durant and Draymond, who was suspended for last year. Thats a huge upgrade and even without them two, it took a sensational 41 point night from both LeBron and Kyrie for the Cavs to win last year. The chances are, those 2 are going to bring it again, but just like in game 3, the Dubs may still have enough to wrap this up. If not, oh boy! They will be in a lot of hurt! The pressure will be intense and they will probably lose game 6 on the road to force another game 7 at home under immense pressure with the Cavs knowing and feeling like they can win a game 7 at Oakland just like they did last year. The Dubs don't want it.

So, they better wrap this up today. This is why KD came to town and if he can't finish this, this whole season will be a bigger bust than last year when the Dubs won 73 regular season game and blew the finals. Few things in the world live up to the hype. There are 2 things in this series that have exceeded the highest of expectations. One, the entire career of LeBron James. No one was more hyped as a teenager and very few have delivered more as an adult than LJ. The other hyped up event that has played according to the script is KD joining the Dubs to make this a super-team. Some super-teams don't work out, but this one has worked out to perfection. They made it to the finals and were 3-0 and are now 3-1. They better finish that to make this a storybook ending. The longer this series goes, the more pressure on the Dubs. They have to contain LJ and Ka to wrap this one. One of the under-rated aspects of this 3-point driven league today is, how it's harder to double team stars. They are just going to kick it out to the shooters and you may give up 3 instead of 2. So, you have to single-cover the LeBrons and the Kyries of the world and hope a great defender like Klay can slow them down. Thats what the Dubs will do, but they need more than hope to drive this to the ground in game 5. They just might get it done.

Almost a sweep

The third installment of Cavs versus Warriors in the NBA finals starts tomorrow. Pretty much the entire World penciled this matchup in back in November. Of course, it took us 7 months and God knows how many games to actually get to this finals. Usually, at least the playoff games along the way are interesting. Not so much this year. The Dubs are 12-0 and the Cavs are 12-1 after 3 round of playoffs. I predicted a competitive conference finals, but that was not to be. Kwahi and Isaiah's injuries took away whatever little intrigue and challenge was left in the conference finals. This leaves us with these finals as the only hope for an intriguing playoff contest this season. This is the first time the same teams have met in 3 straight NBA finals and that tells you how rare and good these 2 teams are.

We needed this matchup for a fair and equal contest if not for anything else. The first year they met, LeBron carried the Cavs without Kyrie and Love and almost shocked the Warriors. Then, last year, the Warriors dealt with the Draymond suspension and a banged up Curry in addition to Iggy and Bogut's injuries mid-series. So, though this is the third time they are meeting in the finals, this is really the first time both rosters as constructed are engaging in a healthy contest. Hope it stays that way through the series. My heart almost stopped when Kyrie twisted his ankle and went to the ground against Boston. Luckily, he not only got up, but dominated that quarter and the subsequent quarters in that series. He looks ready to roll and so does LeBron who has had an amazing playoffs this year.

The Warriors are clearly the better team, but the Cavs are the closest and the most serious competition. Curry had a very mediocre finals last year and the Warriors still were dominating until game 5 when Draymond got suspended. Thats how good the Warriors team is and they have added Durant to the mix. So it's almost stupid to pick against them in these finals. But this is sports and last year's finals showed us that anything can happen. If anybody has a shot against these Aarriors, it's this Cavs team. The Cavs are a super-team themselves and are the closest to the Warriors in terms of talent. Kyrie steps up against the Warriors and Curry to make it even more equal. Last but not the least, the Cavs have the best player on the court in the form of LeBron whenever they suit-up against whoever including these Warriors and the best player makes more of an impact in basketball than any other sport.

Given all that, this has a chance to become another epic finals like last year. But it also can end up being a sweep because these Warriors are so good. I think the biggest challenge for the Warriors is going to be mental if these games get tight. They have not been challenged a lot all season and a close game this late in the season might stress them out in new ways that they may not be entirely comfortable with. More importantly, it may bring some bad memories from last year and even the Christmas day matchup. A close game with the ball in Kyrie's hands will be the dubs worst nightmare. That may be the Cavs' best hope in this series - force a few close games and see if the Dubs crack under the pressure as LeBron and Kyrie execute flawlessly. Easier said than done against these Dubs. So I call this for the Warriors 4-1.

The Dubs are going to go for a sweep. I believe thats the new challenge they will be chasing now after all that happened last year. They won't talk about it, but thats the mindset they are going in with. It's going to be hard for the Dubs to sweep just because of everything this matchup brings including LeBron. It's his 7th finals and thats an amazing feat. Given the one week gap leading into game 1, all of the angles for this matchup has been a bit over-analyzed much like the Super Bowl. One common topic was whether LeBron will be ranked higher than Jordan if he wins this one. Interesting question, but let him get there first before we start breaking that down. The other topic that has been over-thought and analyzed is whether the best starting 5 from both teams combined will actually have 3 Cavs factoring in the positions? I don't think so. It still has to be Curry, Klay, LeBron, Draymond, and Tristan. Some folks are giving the PG spot to Kyrie over Curry and manufacturing some excitement by making a case for the Cavs starting lineup being better. Real cute and nice try! You can slice and dice it anyways, but 4-1 for the Warriors it is.

RIP Sager!

Last week was a sad one in the NBA. America's beloved sideline reporter Craig Sager lost his battle against cancer and the NBA universe paid a great tribute to him. He made sideline reporting fun. He got a lot of attention for his outlandish suits and the reactions to it from the coaches and the stars. Thats probably what made him a star, but he was much more than just his clothes. I liked his demeanor and his casual style of questioning, which he actually leveraged effectively to ask tough questions. We also heard great stories after his passing that we had no idea about. For instance, Dennis Rodman shared with the world how Sager saved his life by talking him out of a potential suicide attempt back in 1993 when he was done in Detroit. No wonder there is genuine affection for him from across the league. I was pleasantly surprised and also happy to see the league going the extra mile to pay tribute to a sideline reporter as if he was a star ex-athlete or a owner. From various eulogies on TNT to Steve Kerr's speech at the Oracle arena to the funky jerseys that several teams sported on the bench, Sager deserved it all. RIP Sager! We will all miss you and your colorful personality.

The other big news from the NBA last week thats on my mind is the Cavs stars staying back home for the road game in Memphis. They were all rested as the Cavs are real good and don't need all the weapons all the time. Plus they can afford to lose a game or two and might actually be better off giving their stars some rest since they know they are going to have a long and fruitful playoff run extending the already marathon NBA season well into June. This is really a tough one for me since there are valid arguments to be made on either side. First off, resting players randomly mid-season is a trend popularized by Greg Popovich and right there you know there is a legitimate reason to do it. Pop is no fool! This, among other kinds of rests that he forced on Tim Duncan is probably what extended the hall of famer's career by another 2 or 3 years. Coincidentally, the Spurs retired Duncan's jersey today. There are not many stars in today's sports more synonymous with their team as Duncan is with the Spurs. Congrats to Timmy and the Spurs. But coming back to the topic of rest and why Pop and others do it, teams benefit from it and they are free to do whatever they want. The coach is paid to win a championship for their team. If he decides resting LeBron in mid-December helps that cause, he should totally be able to do it.

But NBA is also entertainment and fans are the customers. There was a guy in Memphis holding a sign that read "I paid $800 and drove 4 hours to see this game." Therein lies the problem. NBA owes it's fans a great entertainment product. This is especially true now since the greedy sports world has moved to "dynamic pricing" the last few years where the already crazy prices are even higher for the Cavs game or the Yankees game or the Patriots game. At least, this was not the case back in the day when sticker prices stayed the same for all the regular season games of a team and only the scalpers charged you more for the sexier matchup. Now that the league itself is doing legalized scalping, they have to make sure the stars show up to justify those prices. I don't know if the Grizzlies charged a premium for LeBron, but I would guess they did. It's in the league's best interest to ensure LeBron plays if he can except when he is injured. Stars like Jordan and Kobe always played and honestly, you are a professional athlete paid millions to play basketball. Is it too much to ask that you show up and play? I understand the season is long and rest does the body some good come playoff time, but the league must start enforcing some rules and make some changes to make sure this random resting doesn't happen.

The other thing that gives me pause aside from the "team should do whats good for them" argument is that, we have traditionally accepted stars and starters resting the last game or 2 of the season in preparation for the playoffs. In fact, this is so common that most fantasy football leagues wrap the season up in week 16 week and don't even play week 17. This end of season resting happens in all sports. So how and why is resting in the middle of the season different or worse? I don't have a great or a legally enforceable answer to that, but it is worse because fans do expect some uncertainty at the end of the season. If Cavs were playing the Grizzlies on the last day of the season, fans probably might expect LeBron and even some of the Memphis stars to be possibly rested. So they may not plunk down 800 bucks for those tickets. It is a lot harder to predict mid-season which game or when these stars can or will be rested. NBA can't run it's business like this. Though I have to agree I don't know how they can legislate against this either. They can't tell the coaches how to do their job. They can't say resting is allowed in game 81 and 82, but not games 15 or 36. They also can't differentiate between coaches not playing a bench warmer versus not playing LeBron James. Even if they make these rules, what happens if the team cooks up some fake injuries to rest the stars or start LeBron and bench him after 3 mins?

The league can't do much, but it can remove back-to-back games and make the season a little less stressful for the players. That will also improve the quality of the regular-season games as the league today loses a lot of good matchups to the dreaded tired legs from back-to-backs. Aside from that, I don't know how the league can control this, but I do know they have to. NBA is a business and all the owners have a collective responsibility to make it work. May be they just get them all in a room and ask them to cut it out. May be outlaw resting through an agreed convention rather than bargained regulations. I love coach Pop, but this is one ugly contribution of his to the game. Customer is king and NBA better internalize this notion. Stars drive this league and their game is the product. People pick up the schedule as soon as it's released and check when LeBron is coming to town. When the Warriors are playing the Spurs etc. If the league can't deliver on that schedule, we have a problem. Commish Adam Silver has been good with a lot of things including the Sager celebrations. Hope he steps in and gets this fixed too. If you need rest against a bad team, play hard for 20 mins, blow them out, and rest the second half. This is exactly what Jordan did when he came to my town back in the day. He played, he dominated, and he rested, all in one night.  I paid a premium, saw him play, and went home happy. Everybody won. It's not that complicated. Just play!

King James shocks the world.

Game 7s of the NBA finals or the World Series are indeed special. We don't get many of those and it's the closest thing to a Super Bowl in those leagues. The stakes are of course sky-high and it's for all the marbles. The entire season, which is ridiculously long, is going to be decided by one game with no tomorrow. The game 7 yesterday decided the champion of a NBA season that featured more than 1300 total games, not to mention 2 long months of playoff basketball. The winner is the champion and the loser goes home with all kinds of regrets. While all of that is true for any game 7, yesterday's version involved even more story-lines and higher stakes. There were 4 reasons for that aside from the championship that was on the line.

These finals and game 7 pitted the top 2 talents in the league, LeBron and Curry, against each other. This regular season seemed to have displaced LeBron from the top and established Curry at the very apex of the league. It was widely accepted that Curry was a more potent NBA weapon than LeBron at this point. Of course, LeBron probably hated it and silently wanted his throne back. The 2 superstars had to duke it out in a game 7 to win it all and re-frame the NBA pecking order. LeBron won this round hands-down with a series of jaw dropping performances and grabbed the top spot from Curry, who was off most of the series. It's not that often the top 2 talents meet in the finals. Christmas night match-ups are cute and all, but Kobe and LeBron never met in the finals. LeBron and Durant have met just once so far despite their powerful teams. LeBron did meet Duncan thrice, but LeBron was too young the first time and Duncan was too old the last 2. So this LeBron-Curry matchup with both of them in their prime and facing off in a game 7 was indeed unique.

Also, this was not just 2 teams and cities competing for a championship, it was Cleveland. This city is supposed to be cursed and has been starving for a championship for 52 long years. LeBron bravely and may be even stupidly signed up to carry the weight of the city and that entire region on his shoulders when he came back last year. This also made this game 7 special, at least for Cleveland. Plus, the Warriors' record breaking season was hanging in a balance. Not everyday do we get a 73-win team fighting for it's legacy in a winner take all game. Last but not the least, the Warriors were ahead 3-1 in this series and no team has ever won a NBA finals after being down 1-3. Cleveland was going for a record-setting upset and the dubs were trying to avoid a historic choke job.

All of this culminated in a great game 7. It was nip and tuck all the way and the game was tied in the last 2 minutes. LeBron controlled the game on both ends of the floor and would not let the game get away from the Cavs. The splash brothers were off and couldn't pull away all night though Draymond gave all he had and willed the dubs into a first half lead. LeBron didn't shoot well, but he is a complete player who can do much more than just score. The most amazing stat of these finals might be that he was the first guy ever to lead both teams in a finals in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals. Thats just ridiculous! At the end of the night, there were 4 key plays in the last few minutes that stood out for me that decided the game. Curry's behind the back pass and turnover, Festus Ezeli fouling LeBron on a 3-pointer, LeBron's incredible block on Iguodala, and of course Kyrie's clutch, go-ahead 3. As impressive as Kyrie's shot was, that LeBron block will be in the NBA highlight reel for decades to come.

LeBron promised a championship for Cleveland and delivered it in style after being down 1-3 in this series. He is now 3-4 in finals all-time and thats way better than 2-5, though losing this finals would not have dented his reputation that much given how great he was individually in games 5 through 7. Last year, he was impressive, but was not efficient since he had to shoot a lot. He had Kyrie by his side this year and finished the Warriors off. Not only did LeBron outplay Curry, Kyrie did too. Kyrie was unbelievable in that game 5 along with LeBron and he looked more like Curry with his outside shot than Curry ever did in this series. He averaged an impressive 27 points this series, not to mention the game winner in game 7.  If not for LeBron's brilliance, Kyrie would have been a legitimate finals MVP candidate. LeBron won his 3rd Finals MVP and this ring cements his legacy and puts him in a very special place. He won it for Cleveland and is his 3rd ring spread across 2 cities with completely different supporting casts. To me, this puts him above Kobe though Kobe has 5 rings. LeBron is a better player on the court than Kobe, and is now catching up to him on rings.

I wanted the Warriors to win this series just to legitimize their impressive 73 win season. It's no joke to win 73 games in a a season and they made it a fun season to follow. They were truly must-see TV ever since they started the season 24-0. I also like the personalities with the Warriors like coach Kerr, Curry, and Klay. They all seem genuinely humble and nice unlike LeBron's fake humility and contrived respect for his teammates. With all that said, I don't mind the championship for Cleveland at all. I was upset when LeBron left town and happy the day he returned. Granted, his megalomaniac acts since his return like the firing of the coach, playing GM, Tristan Thompson contract etc. pissed me off a little bit, but I still wanted him to win one for the land. Too bad, he is going to have even more control now that he is a champion and the unanimous finals MVP. But kudos to him for promising a championship to a down-trodden franchise and actually delivering it in 2 years.

What does all this mean for the historic Warriors? They are now in the conversation with the 2001 Seattle Mariners and the 2007 New England Patriots - teams that set the record for the best regular season in their respective sports, but failed to win the championship. Therein lies the problem. We remember those teams for all the wrong reasons and we will never forget these Warriors either. The lack of a championship diminishes the regular season record for sure. In some people's eyes, it might also put an asterisk on their championship last year since LeBron has now beaten them with his supporting cast that was injured last year during the finals. I am not into asterisks and frankly, we could slap a few on the Cavs win this year too. Draymond's suspension in game 5 was a huge momentum shifter. Then Bogut got hurt and Iguodala had a bad back that troubled him in game 6 and I don't think he was back to normal in game 7 either.

So the dubs seemed to have choked away a 3-1 lead by losing 3 straight games including 2 at their famed home. At least the thunder lost 2 out of the last 3 on the road when they lost to the dubs after being up 3-1. With that said, if you dig a little deeper, I think we can all agree that the circumstances conspired against the dubs. Thats not even taking any suspected Curry injury into account. They were still in it till the last minute of game 7 and I am not sure how much of a failure that is. Being a young team, they can win a ring again and it will be interesting to see how we look at this season if they win next year for instance like the Spurs who came back and won in 2014. Also, I am curious to see what the narrative will be in a couple of months with respect to Draymond's suspension and how that affected this series. There will be no sympathies for the Warriors of course, especially after the Joe Lacob article earlier this season where he claimed the Warriors were light years ahead of the rest of league (bad karma??). They sure can't shake away this unexpected, shocking, and monumental collapse. The first 3-game losing streak under coach Kerr came at the worst possible time. This will stick with the franchise forever.

But the Warriors still have a lot to look forward to and Vegas has already installed them as the favorite for next year. Curry hopefully improves his ball handling this off-season and cuts down on his crazy turnovers which could be a big blessing in disguise. Dub-nation is understandably disappointed, but this was a magical season and their team was in it till the last minute of the last possible day of the NBA playoffs. The players will have a challenging summer and have to come back poised and stronger. The reality is, though they were the reigning champs, they are not very experienced. They jumped literally overnight from being the 6th seed in 2014 to winning the ring in 2015. During the previous round, there was talk about how Durant and Westbrook had so many more playoff rounds under their belt than these Warriors. The Splash brothers are still young and were over-confident and confused at some points in these finals. They can grow from this and come back stronger. I know it's hard to keep going back to the finals, especially in the wild West, but I want a round 3 next year between these 2 heavyweights. The Cavs were hurt last year and the Dubs dealt with suspension and injuries this year. Lets get a totally healthy, suspension-free rubber match next year.

RIP, the GOAT

Muhammad Ali's death yesterday shook the sports world. He is widely considered the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) and his impact goes way beyond the boxing ring. He had a very interesting and impactful life and is highly respected in the black community. Men of a certain age of all races revere him, but black men who had the opportunity to grow up in that era especially appreciate a lot of his activist struggles and what it meant to their lives as well as the society at large. When Sports Illustrated ranked the best athletes of the 20th century, Ali was 3rd behind MJ and Babe Ruth. It's amazing MJ was higher than even Ali, but you can't go wrong with anybody in that top 3. I am usually not the one who wishes I had lived in certain eras to have experienced certain things. I have seen MJ play, but I am perfectly happy learning about Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, or Wilt Chamberlain from books or movies or journalists who have seen them play. But I do wish I lived through the Mohammad Ali era for all the political and social impact he created, though I don't even watch boxing. As a sports fan, I feel like I would have followed him closely and learned a lot about myself as well as the social construct and cultural context of that time. Ali's refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam war resulted in him losing the right to box in any state for over three years. Jeremy Schaap made an interesting point on ESPN. Losing 3 years of your prime in your mid 20s is a really high cost to pay and while that makes Ali's stand a very principled and courageous one, he deserves even more credit in reality because he didn't know the punishment going in and it could have been much worse than those 3 years. Ali was a unique athletic and social phenomenon and he will be sorely missed. RIP!

On the court, the Warriors seem to be cruising to their second championship. Game 1 did not go well for the Cavs as Curry and Klay stunk up the joint, but the dubs still won the game convincingly behind Shaun Livingston and his bench brothers. The media at large is saying that dubs should win the series now and game 1 was probably the best opportunity for the Cavs to have stolen one on the road given the splash brothers were MIA. But I had the same opinion even before game 1. Warriors are a way better team than the Cavs and I thought if they came into game 1 lackadaisical, the Cavs can upset them. Now that game 1 is done, game 2 is probably the best shot for the Cavs to win a road game rest of the way. They will come in with a lot of energy anyways and it's possible the dubs get bored or careless for a stretch or two. It's inconceivable that I am even saying this about the NBA finals, but the dubs are that good and I can see them losing a game or two just because they don't show up with all seriousness and get distracted. There may be a few more "break the clip board" moments for coach Kerr, but they will figure it out and wrap this series up in 5 or 6. The Thunder series was the real test for the dubs and it should be smooth sailing rest of the way. The only intrigue might be the finals MVP award and the media is already beating up on Curry for not winning the finals MVP last year. This Curry hating is getting ridiculous and he might go chasing the MVP just because he could. Even in game 1, he forced a couple of bricks when LeBron was switched on him. You could tell that matchup meant something to him and his ego. Lets see if he goes full-on "hero ball" to win the MVP. The bottom-line is , the Cavs don't defend well and thats their problem in this series. They are good offensively, but anything Cavs can do on offense the dubs can do better. Except LeBron. He is the only thing in the Cavs that worry the dubs and he might have to go 2015 finals mode to salvage this series. He started game 1 on fire, but he has to try and stay on fire through the rest of this series, especially on the road. That may be the Cavs only hope.

Not 1, not 2, not 3 ….

If you can't win game 6 at home after leading by 13 at one point, how are you going to win game 7 on the road? So the Thunder were not going to win game 7 at roaracle, but they do deserve a lot of credit for showing up and making it another fantastic game! Granted, game 6 will be remembered as the game that legitimized the "Klay gonna Klay" phrase. We are used to "Steph gonna Steph," but Klay deserves his own catch phrase and glad the entire NBA world saw how good a player he is after that game 6 explosion. But still, the Thunder did collapse at their offensive end in that game against some stout D and game 7 at Oakland was not going to be easy, with or without Klay going Klay. According to Michael Wilbon, Spurs guard Tony Parker apparently believes the Warriors get an extra lift from the Oracle crowd, more than the home court edge teams enjoy at other loud home gyms across the league.

With all that said, we knew Durant and Westbrook would bring it to game 7 and so would the tough kiwi Adams, but the entire team brought it as well until the late third quarter. Westbrook's shooting was off as always, but he was also relentless as always. This was a team that legitimately looked better than the 73-win Warriors team for large stretches of the series and that continued through the first half of game 7. They deserve a lot of credit for that. Not to digress, but thats one of the reasons I think Durant stays in OKC. He has a good team in his hands. But the dubs have something the Thunder, and quite frankly ever other team in the history of the league, do not have. That is, they don't have the best and the second best shooter in the history of the league - not right now, not in this era, but in the history of the game. Klay and Curry won this series and Curry's performance in game 7 was spectacularly MVP-like. Thunder couldn't handle these guys and no shame in that - most teams have tried and failed all season long.

Now we have the finals we all wanted. It's funny that after all this drama and a gazillion regular season and bazillion playoff games, we get the finals we all predicted last fall! This is one of the reasons some fans think NBA is boring and predictable, an opinion I violently disagree with. But the 7-game series does mostly push through the better team and that's only fair after a 6-month long regular season. Sure, it does make it a little more predictable, but it's better and more interesting in the long run. We get the Cavs and the dubs in the finals again and this should be a dandy given that both teams are better now than last year. We have a healthy big-3 on the Cavs, but unfortunately for them, the dubs are improved too and let me kill all the suspense right now. The dubs will win this one in 5 or 6 games tops. They will have an easier time against the Cavs than they did against the Thunder. Cavs are a better shooting team than the Thunder, but they don't have the length and defensive chops to disrupt the dubs. 

I do want to give props to LeBron James though. He is going to his sixth straight finals with 2 different teams and thats just insane! When LeBron "took his talents to South Beach," they threw an welcome party where LeBron was talking about multiple championships. He said "not 1, not 2, not 3.." and just kept on going. It became a butt of many jokes as he lost his first finals with the Miami Heat. He doesn't have six or seven championships and is probably not getting one this year either, but making it to 6 straight finals is pretty darn impressive! Reminds me of the Bills going to 4 straight Super Bowls and losing all of them. It's hard to make it to 4 straight SBs and there is no loser gene in that. Same here with LeBron. It's a tribute to his greatness, that he has consistently taken his teams to the NBA finals, albeit in a slightly inferior LEastern conference.  We all know the LeBron story. He was enemy number 1 when he bolted Cleveland to Miami. He won a lot of respect back when he won the two championships in Miami, but he was still not well-liked. 

LeBron didn't do anything wrong when he chose where he wanted to play in a free market, but like I have said many time before, neither did the fans. They have every right to like him in Cleveland and hate him in Miami. Fans are the paying customer and they reserve the right to root for or hate any player, jersey, team, story, and narrative of their choice. LeBron messed with the fan's preferred narrative when he announced his "decision" to move to "South Beach," but he won a significant number of fans back including yours truly when he came back to Cleveland last year with a carefully orchestrated "I am coming home" letter. Now, he is ironically becoming almost a sympathetic figure as he is staring at a 5th finals loss against only 2 rings. Even some talking heads are openly rooting for him and of course his advancing age and Cleveland's checkered sporting history littered with many heart-breaks adds to that sympathy. But sympathy does not make a champion. LeBron has to bring the best version of his basketball self to this finals if he wants to close the deal. Whether he wins this time around or not, he deserves mad props for making it to his 6th straight finals. He is an unique player and lets enjoy his talents while we still have him in the league.

Unanimous!

Stephen Curry has impeccable timing and a flair for the dramatic. He had one week for the ages. He came back from his injury on Monday and after looking rusty through the game, just took over and dominated the overtime to the tune of 17 points in 5 minutes. That flurry clinched game 4 for the Warriors and hence the series. They sure could not have won that game without Curry. Van Gundy was wondering during the previous game if Curry and Dame were just about the same and I guess he got his answer. Seventeen points in 5 mins became the biggest news in sports right in time for his MVP coronation the next day. The voting ends with the regular season - it's the regular season MVP after all, and nothing would have changed, but we might have heard some murmurs about Curry's MVP'ness if he was still injured and the dubs were doing well without him when the announcement came out. How valuable can he be for the league if his own team barely misses him? It's not a fair question because this is one of the deepest and versatile teams in the league and it's a credit to that team that they can manage without him. But some talking heads are stupid enough to misconstrue this playoff run as proof that Curry is not all that he is made out to be. Curry put an end to all that talk even before it started by showing up, setting a historic OT record, and totally showing the world what he can do even when rusty.

Even Charles Barkley on TNT was left speechless. He bumped this Curry performance over LeBron's 29 out of the last 30 points against the Pistons in the 2007 playoffs. I saw both live on TV and I have to say, despite me being a bigger fan of Curry than LeBron at this point and any possible recency bias, I have to give a slight edge to the 22-year old LeBron's performance in 2007. May be I am spoiled by the 15 to 20 point scoring binges Curry and even Klay routinely go on with this dubs team. Regardless of how we rank these, we are lucky to be watching these exemplary performances. I do have to say it's easier to enjoy this type of greatness when we support the team and the player or at least are neutral and have no dog in the fight. I can't even imagine how the Portland fans felt when Curry went that crazy! I guess owner Paul Allen's expression said it all. Blazers did fight all the way to the bitter end as it took another awesome dagger 3 by Curry at the end to wrap up game 5 at home. He did it on the night he was presented with the MVP in front of the home fans. It was an unanimous MVP award and deservingly so.

There were a few murmurs about the unanimity of his selection. Tracy McGrady somehow took that as a sign that the league's talent is watered down. League's talent level fluctuates. Of course when Michael Jordan was playing, the peak was at it's highest and then when he retired, the peak dropped. But then again the depth of top talent might be a different story to analyze.  I don't know if I have all this calibrated except to say MJ was the best ever, and neither has Tracy McGrady. There is a little bit of a dip in the talent right now as LeBron, Wade, and Carmelo are beginning to slow down and Kobe and Tim Duncan are completely done. The younger ones like Dame Lillard, Wiggins, KAT, and Anthony Davis are barely developing. There is still ample talent in it's prime and Durant and Westbrook come to mind along with LeBron. But Curry is the best of the best right now and there can be no argument against his unanimous selection. It's not his problem that some nut-job reporter or 2 in the past years screwed up unanimous selections of Shaq and others. All we can say now is, Curry's unanimous selection is well deserved. He led the league in scoring, which is the primary MVP stat, and also steals per game. The team won a record-setting 73 games.

Playing for the best team - check. Best player in the best team - check. Best player in the league right now - check. Most exciting player in the league - check. A ridiculous, record-setting 405 3-pointers in a season - check. Thats an unanimous MVP to me. Not sure what more TMac wants. LeBron then came out and said a few things about the differences between the best player in the league and the MVP of the team, etc. I was a little confused and I am not even sure if he was dissing Curry, but these things are always going to be misconstrued and it is being interpreted as anti-Curry, at least in the Bay. There seems to be some resentment of Curry's accolades among players and ex-players and it's hard to understand. MVP votes are cast by the writers. They are a key stake-holder and so are the players, coaches, and fans. Each group has their own perspective and we have to respect them all. But I do think the player's perspective is too skewed in favor of athleticism, one-on-one skills, and individual scoring ability. Curry is not the raw athlete that these players are used to looking up to. The players are good in judging things like the dunk contests and I am happy they are not voting for the MVP. No wonder they voted for James Harden - a player who doesn't even try to play defense, over Curry in their poll last year. The coaches' and even the writers' perspective works better for awards like the MVP and the writers unanimously picked the right one this time.

All this doubting and chatter make it doubly important for the dubs to win it all this year to legitimize Curry's awards as well as the 73-win record. That chapter continues next week with a fascinating series against the Thunder.

He got this one right.

LeBron James got this one right. His "decision" in 2010 was a narcissistic disaster and the fact that he didn't realize that until 2012 only made it worse. People jokingly referred to his free agency this season as "indecision" or "decision 2.0", but he was determined to keep this one on the down low and handle things right. He refused to open his mouth the entire time. He didn't even publicly meet any teams except the heat - he owed that much to Pat Riley and the gang out of courtesy, if not anything else. And he didn't even have a press conference to announce his signing. He wrote a letter penned by Lee Jenkins on SI and flew away to Brazil. The letter (http://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/11/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers) was beautifully penned and ends with a "I am coming home" message which was music to many ears, including mine. The letter struck all the right notes and touched on everything relevant.

LeBron in that letter came off as a humble, loyal, home-sick, forgiving,  apologetic, superstar and he also made sure he drove the fan expectations down - a far cry from the "not 6, not 7" days. He gained a lot of fans back and a championship or two in Ohio is going to make him incredibly popular and we might finally have a legitimate threat to Michael Jordan for GOAT - Greatest Of All Time. He definitely knows what he is doing here and is trying to go in a different direction to build a unique legacy. He is way past just the ring counts - he is not winning that argument anyways since he has already lost 3 finals. MJ is 6-0 and LeBron is 2-3. But winning for his small-market home town and a resume along the lines of 4 championships and 8 finals appearance or something like that in addition to all the ridiculous stats he is already putting up is going to be hard to ignore.

He gave us all a feel-good, cool story and you don't have to be a Cleveland cavs fan to appreciate this.  Some of the LeBron apologists in the media were calling us all "haters" when LeBron was in Miami. They missed a basic point. Fans don't owe their fandom to anybody! I am not beholden to like LeBron or anybody just because he jumps the highest for his dunks or drops the sweetest dimes. Fans have every right to like or hate anybody for any reason as long as they keep it civil and don't make it personal. No fan asked to put LeBron in jail for leaving Cleveland in 2010, but he or she had every right to like LeBron in 2009 and change their mind and not like him in 2011. We see this everyday when athletes change teams and fans go from cheering to booing or vice versa just based on the laundry. We accept this, but somehow some people in the media didn't get why people disliked LeBron after the "decision." The "decision" took a feel good, small market, home town story away and some fans lost all incentive to pull for LeBron once he moved to Miami.

Fans don't owe the athletes anything. After all, fans pay LeBron, it's not the other way around. Customer is God in any business and it's LeBron's job to impress the customer.  The "decision" did the exact opposite - both the modus operandi and the end result were wrong in the minds of many fans. May be because the media is so involved with the sport and LeBron was clearly the best basketball player in the world, some people in the media couldn't see why people did not like or root for LeBron. Well, I hate the term "casual fans", but casual fans like or dislike an athlete for many reasons and the summer of 2010 gave them a truckload of reasons to hate LeBron. It's on him, not the fans. The league was not happy either for a completely different reason. The league made many changes in 2011 during the lockout just to prevent the kind of superstar conglomeration that the Miami heat created in the previous off-season.

One of the less appreciated aspect of the big 3 was how rare and unusual it was for 3 of the top 5 draft picks from the same draft to come together in their prime. This absolutely threatened the competitive balance and the whole logic of the draft in the NBA. Imagine a league where the top guys from every draft ganged up after their initial contracts and ended up in cities of their choice. Though, to be fair, these 3 did re-sign with their respective teams once after their rookie contracts before joining forces in 2010. But still, if LeBron, Wade, and Bosh could gang up in their prime, it would have probably been easier for guys from the other drafts to do it - given that the big 3 were superstars from a historically top-notch draft and it will cost a lot less and involve lesser egos with top picks from your typical, average draft. This scared the league as it threatened the system and the whole notion of parity and put too much power in the hands of the players. The NBA fixed it in a hurry, to the point that the same big 3 in 2014 faced much bigger problem re-signing with the heat though they were heat's own free agents this time around and had all kinds of "Bird rights".

LeBron has changed the culture of NBA free agency with his move in 2010 and superstars now are constantly trying to team up with each other. But the system has made it extremely difficult to do it. So after a lot of talk this off-season, stars were forced to go their separate ways. LeBron seems to always pioneer new ways to build a legendary career. He left town and teamed up with two other superstars who he was competing against in 2010. Now, he is going back to his small market, home team to try to win a championship for a downtrodden franchise. Few stars get a chance to do this. Neither MJ, nor Bird, nor Magic can claim to have done that. So he is charting his own course here. More power to him. It was interesting to see him hold the entire league hostage for a week without uttering a word. Everybody, including other stars were forced to wait for his move before free agency resumed again. He is wielding unprecedented power right now and wielding it well I might add. As a suns fan, I am getting ready to root for a suns-cavs finals every year. Some of us root for good things and the davids of this world against narcissistic things and the goliaths. I have no problem supporting LeBron now proving that us fans can change our mind and keep things fair if only the athlete does the "right thing". In the words of the king, "who am I to hold a grudge?"

WWLD Summer

Time flies. I can't believe it's been four years already since the last WWLD summer. Once again, the biggest question of the summer is, "What Will LeBron James Do?" This will not be quite the emotional ride it was the last time around - unless you are a passionate Miami heat fan, which in and of itself might be an oxymoron given how flaky the heat fans usually are. Most of the NBA fans are watching this with a detached curiosity, almost daring LeBron to make this free agency the vulgar drama that it was the last time around. Unlike the last time when he was with the Cavaliers, he is the big, bad goliath now and the average fan doesn't have a dog in this fight. They are just waiting on the sidelines ready to pounce on him if he takes a mis-step. He better not make this a mess and subject us to another stupid "decision". If I was LeBron, I will keep this quick, clean, and quiet. As quiet as it possibly can be in today's twitter-fueled culture. It's already big news, but he cannot afford to mismanage it like he did last time.

As for what LeBron is actually going to do, obviously he has the world at his feet. It should be awesome to be the world's best at anything. LeBron is unquestionably the best basketball player in the world. The attention he demands and commands and the love he is going to get from teams coast-to-coast is going to be very flattering. The options are seemingly endless. There are rumors about how the clippers would be a great fit and how the rockets have all the talent in the world to surround him with. But seriously, does he really have that many options? Fans will have a field day if he goes to yet another team chasing a ring. You can call them haters all you want, but LeBron will be giving everybody even more reasons to hate if he goes to a third team in five years. It won't be illegal or even unethical by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure will be weird. It will be an unusual career path for a legendary athlete and will cheapen his legacy. Who exactly are we talking about here - the world's best basketball player or Jarrett Jack?

How many superstars, let alone legends, have played for three teams before they turn 30? I can't think of any. The closest I can think of in recent history is Shaquille O'Neal, who ended up playing for 6 teams and won his last championship in Miami in his early thirties. But even he was past 30 and had to move to Miami primarily because of the unusual drama with Kobe in LA. There have been cases of legends moving to other teams as they age and pursue that elusive ring or teams deciding to move away from aging superstars. Cases in point - Karl Malone and Charles Barkley in their old age or more recently, Peyton Manning. But Peyton had to relocate to Denver only because the colts decided to move on . Rarely does a legend move on his own from team to team in the prime of his career. LeBron will be pioneering a new trend if he does move, but it won't be the most endearing or legendary trend. If he goes to another team with a bunch of superstars, he will become the laughing stock again and rightfully so. NBA pros should be chasing LeBron for a ring, not the other way around. Given all that, I see only one of two destinations in reality for him. He either re-signs with the heat or shocks everybody and goes back to the Cleveland cavaliers.

He can sell the move to the cavs as a "home coming" and the fans will welcome him back with open arms, even the ones who burnt his jersey four years back. Cavs are considered a long-shot because they are a few years away from contending, but LeBron can take any four guys from the local YMCA to the second round of the Eastern conference playoffs. And the cavs talent ain't that bad - definitely young, but not bad. I would rather play with Kyrie Irving than Dwyane Wade at this stage of Wade's career. Granted, the cavs don't have Chris Bosh or a winning culture, but they do have the first pick in this year's draft and a bunch of young, under-achieving assets. LeBron can fix the culture just by showing up. I am not saying he would or he should go back to Cleveland but he could. Any other destination outside of Miami and Cleveland, he will lose a lot of face. The chances are, he will stay in Miami, but if Wade and Bosh pick up their expensive options, it's going to be very interesting and difficult for LeBron to stay. Miami would have no flexibility to improve in that case. Thats what makes this free agency fascinating. I still can't see him going to a new city, but then again, I have been wrong about his choices before and won't be surprised if I am wrong again.

Sweet Redemption

“We’ll do it this time," said Tim Duncan after winning the Western conference finals and earning the right to play the Miami heat in the finals. That quote made a lot of news because that pretty much qualifies as vulgar trash talking coming from the choir boys of San Antonio, especially Timmy. That was the ultimate indicator of how much the spurs were hurting from last year's disastrous defeat. We knew that last year's loss was a depressing and devastating punch to their gut, but the spurs are not the kind that wears their emotions on their sleeves or verbalizes them. But when Timmy spoke after the western conference finals, you could tell they were very driven to take back the gift they had given to the heat last year. Not only did they want to make it back to the finals and win it all this time, they wanted the heat and only the heat. And they got them. The spurs were not careful what they wished for and they didn't care.

Spurs knew they were better than the heat last year and were confident they have improved a bit this year. More than getting better, the loss last year was motivating and driving them everyday. The heat, on the other hand, had gotten slightly worse and couldn't even land the best record in the putrid eastern conference. LeBron had gotten better as always, but Wade had taken another couple of steps back in his accelerated journey "over the hill".  Is he the oldest 32 year-old ever? He is just four months older than Tony Parker, but plays like he is four years older than Tim Duncan. He is still good, but the drop-off from his peak is surprising and just too rapid for somebody who has not really been through devastating injuries. Wade was once considered MJ to LeBron's Scottie. Now, LeBron is carrying him every trip down the floor along with the other Miami scrubs.  

The first two games of the series were close and Miami even won one. The series went back to Miami and suddenly, the offensive floodgates were open for the spurs. They carved up the vaunted Miami defense almost every trip down the floor. The adjustment from last year was to move the ball swiftly and precisely to thwart Miami's swarming defense. Miami had no counter adjustment to offer. They did have some success stealing some of the passes in the first two games, but the spurs fixed that soon. Miami was done once Kawhi Leonard woke up from his two game slumber at the start of the series. The big three of the spurs didn't have to do much more than the next three -  Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw, and Danny Green as everybody was pitching in on offense. Diaw brought me back memories of his time with the Phoenix suns. 

The suns should have been winning championships eight years back with Diaw's skills surrounded by a team of passing, cutting, and shooting wizards. Diaw was working the same concepts in this series but with the wrong team. He got it done and so did the spurs as a team. Huge win for coach Greg Popovich, who deservedly won the coach of the year this season. The offensive flow was spectacular and Pop's defense never disappoints. His flexibility in transforming a Duncan centric post-up offense to a cutting, moving, 3-point shooting masterpiece deserves a lot of credit. So does his leadership in guiding the team past a devastating loss last year. It was a collective failure last year with Ginobli missing free throws, Pop pulling Duncan out at the wrong moments of game 6, and Duncan missing easy shots in game 7. They responded with a collective, team success this year. Congrats to everybody in the Spurs organization. They have sent LeBron into another summer of confusion and should keep us fans entertained. 

All Tied Up!

LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world - cramps or no cramps. Unfortunately for the Spurs, he showed it in game two to "steal" home court advantage. I have "steal" in quotes because home court is not going to be a big factor in the first six games of this series. Both teams are veteran teams with a lot of championship experience. Home court will probably matter in game seven, but the Spurs have to get there first. They would have loved to go up 2-0 - who wouldn't, but it's not the end of the world that they lost a game at home. The bigger question for the Spurs is, if LeBron had not cramped up in game 1, would they be down 0-2 and will the series be over for all practical purposes? That game was incredibly close when LeBron tightened up and couldn't move. If he had stayed in, it would have been another nail baiter like game two and it's anybody's guess which Spurs player would have missed how many free throws to blow it. Missed free throws continue to haunt the Spurs. After blowing game six last year with many missed free throws, they missed four straight in game two during a key fourth quarter stretch to make their life harder and LeBron's easier.

The Spurs probably are the better team in this series, but the best player plays for the Heat. And LeBron James is the best player on the court by a lot! If we shave ten years off of Duncan, he might come close, but not today. Given that, the Spurs have to play well as a unit and find out a way to slow down LeBron. This is where Kawhi Leonard comes in. He bothered LeBron a lot last year, but not so much thus far in this series. He has to make a bigger impact defensively. And the problem for the Spurs is, they are a little more dependent on Kawhi overall including his offense this year than they were last year as he is improving as a player every year. So if defending LeBron is affecting the rest of his game and is not slowing down LeBron either, the Spurs are in trouble. They need Sugar K Leonard to at least come through at one end. Let's see if the change of scenery revitalizes him in Miami. The Heat are not as good as they used to be because of Wade's decline. But they are no chopped liver either. Between Bosh, Ray, Wade, and others, they are still a load to handle. This series will be tight, long, and fun. I still like the Spurs in seven.

LeBron got a lot of heat for cramping up in game one. I didn't get that at all. It's not like he can control cramps or he was looking for excuses to sit out and lose that game to go down 0-1. What is he being criticized for? With that said, I was happy in someways to note that LeBron haters are still alive and well and are just waiting to come out of the woodwork. I have still not reconciled with him moving to Miami and continue to root against him. If I flashback four years to when he signed with the Heat, LeBron was clearly on track to becoming the best player in the world, if not one already. But Wade was a better scorer and  there were some question marks about LeBron's game. He had to endure some "Scottie Pippen" chants. Things are now completely different. He has erased most of those question marks and evolved into the undisputed leader of this Miami team. Wade has aged not so gracefully, but even a healthier, younger Wade has no shot at being anything more than a distant second fiddle to this version of the king. LeBron is a transcendent talent, but the reality is, his legacy is still hanging in a balance. A defeat in this series would send him to 2-3 record in the finals with a "cramps" cherry on top. Thats not good for his resume. All of this means only one thing - LeBron's towering presence will decide this series.

Two Time Champion

LeBron James is now a two time Champion. For all the criticism and rough times he has been through, he might actually be on track to achieve all his goals given that he is only 28. He has already been in the league 10 years and has clearly established himself as the best player in the league. He has accumulated a bunch of MVP awards and he just clinched his second, finals MVP. He had a phenomenal game 7 tonight with 37 points and 12 boards. He shot the heat to a championship as spurs  continued to clog the lane and gave him open jumpers. That strategy worked for most of the series, but not tonight. I knew the spurs were in trouble once LeBron hit a couple of early 3's in the first half. When a player of that caliber gets in rhythm, its hard to derail him sometimes. Plus he had amazing support from Dwayne Wade, Shane Battier, and Mario Chalmers tonight. They kept nailing critical jumpers - many 3's in the case of Battier. Spurs tried their best to keep up and gave us a great game - thanks to Kawhi Leonard, but with Ginobli and Green hurting their cause more than helping and with LeBron guarding Tony Parker, it was trouble late in the game. It was a sad site to see Tim Duncan miss that 2-feet hook shot and tip on Shane Battier that could have tied the game. Not sure how the game would have gone even if he had hit that, but that miss could keep him up at night for a while. 

The spurs really lost the series in game 6. I am even surprised they were able to stay in the game today in game 7. The series got interesting in game 6 after a bunch of blowouts. The last 2 games were superb entertainment. It elevated this finals to the level of an instant classic. Of course, it took a huge collapse by the spurs in the last 30 seconds of game 6 to make this series what it has become now. Up 4 with just around 30 seconds to go and heading to the free throw line, Ginobli missed a free throw to go up by 5. LeBron missed a 3, only to get the ball again after an offensive rebound to hit another 3. Up 2, Kawhi Leonard then missed one more free throw and Ray Allen hit a game-tying, legacy saving 3 with just 5 seconds to go. This is exactly why they brought Ray Allen to town. A shot like that justifies millions in salary given what was at stake. That 3 was also after another LeBron James missed 3 and an offensive rebound - Tim Duncan was on the bench for both those rebounds. And Pop by the way also put Tony Parker on the bench later for the last possession of overtime and a late possession in tonight's game 7, the one where Ginobli turned the ball over like he has been doing all series. Questionable coaching by one of the best coaches in the league. The spurs lost game 6 more than the heat winning it. It doesn't matter. Five years from now, all of this will just be remembered as LeBron's second championship. Nobody can take that away from him and the heat. 

Game 6 was truly a game of historic proportions because of what a loss there could have meant to LeBron's legacy. He had a mediocre shooting series up to that point and the first 3 quarters of that game was brutal. He then had an amazing run in the 4-Th, but slowed down again at the end and spurs looked like they got that game locked up. He had a few bad plays in the clutch again and the twitter universe was ready to pounce on LeBron like it was 2011. Nobody's entire legacy is evaluated and critiqued with every play quite like LeBron's. Even Bill Walton jumped the gun a little early when the spurs were up 5 with less than 30 seconds to go and said something like never compare LeBron to MJ or Kobe. I guess how he feels tonight after game 7. That Ray Allen 3 saved LeBron a lot of pain. I am really curious to see how much more shine this second ring adds to LeBron. The first ring was obviously a huge relief and LeBron has recovered a lot of his reputation, but the haters are still out there - me included. I don't hate LeBron personally or want anything bad to happen to him, but I definitely don't like the way this Miami heat team has been assembled. The national media had to ease up on him after the first ring and they may start deifying him after 2. He is an once in a generation player and I have no doubt he is better than Jordan as a overall basketball talent - LeBron can do it all and do it well, but none of that earns him my loyalty at this point

Rings and only rings will determine where LeBron's legacy ends up in relation to Jordan's. Thats exactly why he has hooked up with Wade and Bosh and his plans seems to be coming to fruition now - 3 years, 3 finals, 2 championships. The spurs in that game 6 could have dealt a huge blow to his legacy. It would have been 2 losses in 3 straight finals and 3 losses in 4 total trips including his Cleveland days. Jordan and Montana never lost the championship games and thats part of their greatness. LeBron has already lost 2 out of 4, but 3 out of 4 would have been horrible for him. He doesn't have to worry about it now, especially if he can win 5 out of 7 or 6 out of 8 championships when it's all said and done. Of course, thats all still a long way off. He will try to three-peat next year. Miami's luxury tax situation is rough and it's anybody's guess how this team will look next year, let alone in 2 years. I expect the big-3 to be back next season, but I am not sure if they can afford good supporting talent. I also expect the Pacers and the Bulls to push them harder next year. The heat will still have the world's best basketball player whose confidence is sky high now with these championships in the bag. They are the early favorites for 2014. Let the off-season begin. Wonder where the spurs go from here. What about my Phoenix suns? May be the suns can add a piece or 2 and win 10 more games. #ModestGoals.