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.

Warriors in trouble?

Nothing is guaranteed in life or sports. Warriors are figuring that out. Durant's knee injury is a scary situation for sure. It's amazing how in a second things can change completely in life and sports. Of course, it's not that serious for the dubs yet. Durant is supposed to come back for the playoffs, actually much earlier than that. But the Spurs as usual are on their tail and the fear for the Warriors is losing home court in the playoffs. Winning the regular season looked like a foregone conclusion for the first 4 months, but now looks shaky since they lost back-to-back games for the first time in forever since Durant's injury. That was one of the coolest records in their run and they have now lost to the Wizards and Bulls back-to-back on the road. Of course this was a tough road-trip anyways and they still have to adjust to life without Durant. Still, the amber-light is on, if not the red-light and that is totally understandable when you lose a top-3 talent in the league like Durant. Even a deep, talented Warriors team cannot move on without any impact.

But the Warriors will be fine as long as Durant comes back relatively healthy in time for the playoffs. After the initial bump, they should be able to compete and win in the regular season like last year without KD. It will be interesting to see if the Spurs get past them, but what does that even mean in the long run? The Spurs had the second spot last year in the West and had home court against the Thunder and didn't even get past that second round series. So if both the Warriors and the Spurs do make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, I am not sure how big the home court is going to be. But just the prestige and optics of being the best in the West and the league is important and losing that is not good for the Warriors. You have to be aggressive and go for the crown at every point in sports. Things change constantly and I always say, the window doesn't close but others just surpass you before you realize it. As great as the Warriors have been this season and as young as their core is, they can't take anything for granted for this season or the future and they have to get the best out of every game.

Speaking of windows and challengers, the NBA trade deadline had a great start and a quiet end. Boogie Cousins addition to the Pelicans has a potential to be landscape changing. It has not worked out for them in it's first week, but there is too much size and talent there to write them off. In fact, given the Pelicans are chasing the 8th spot in the playoffs and the Warriors weaknesses against interior size, people were immediately trying to project how a Warriors-Pelicans first round matchup will play out. Would the Warriors be in trouble? I don't think so, but may be if the Pelicans can add a piece or two to those big guys next year, it can have a big impact in the West. And then the Durant injury happens. You realize how fickle and intensely competitive and challenging success in sports can be in sports. Everybody is coming for the crown. Can Curry and Durant hold the fort for the Warriors for a few years like LeBron or Kobe/Shaq or MJ? Time will tell. Even the Suns with the emergence of Booker and with yet another top pick coming up next year will be a threat in a couple of years. Nothing wrong with that!

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.

One more to go!

There will probably be just one more game this NBA season. Of course, Warrior fans are not complaining. They finally get an opportunity to win and celebrate at home. Despite the innumerable number of teams and championships in the Bay Area, the last team to clinch a championship at home was the A's in 1974. The A's did win one World Series against the SF Giants in 1989 who are also from the area, but the clinching game was technically on the road at the Stick in San Francisco. Super Bowls are always at neutral venues though the Niners won one in 1985 at Stanford Stadium, which is just a short drive from the Stick. Aside from those, the Giants and the Warriors have never clinched at home. The dubs should get it done Monday night, with or without Draymond, to wrap up this record-breaking season. It has been a magical season for the dubs fans and when a record-breaking season like this rolls around, the entire NBA fan base has something to follow and cheer for or against every day. It's been a fun season that way and we will all miss it starting Tuesday.

The Cavs are not really in the same league as the Warriors. Game 3 was an aberration as this Warriors team does have a tendency to not show up sometimes. And of course they lost by 30 as the Cavs came with a do or die mentality. The dubs looked more like themselves in game 4 at both ends of the floor and the result was predictably a win. Every time they lose, coach Kerr always blames it on the lack of ball movement and all the dubs players regurgitate the same theory in front of the media. Some talking heads have made fun of that theory by pointing out that a whole number of the dubs' successful possessions and game winners involve Curry dribbling and shooting - Curry's own version of hero ball.  But then a stretch like the 4th quarter in game 4 shows you how much the dubs move the ball and how fluid the offense is in contrast to the "stand around and watch Kyrie and LeBron  dribble" offense that the Cavs ran. The same was true with the Thunder in game 6 and 7 as their superstars resorted to hero ball when push came to shove.

Sure, Curry and even Klay have a green light to dribble and shoot anytime, but they do also generate a lot of those shots via ball and people movement. Kerr also makes this point that all that activity puts the team in the right rhythm even if it ends with Curry jacking up a 30-footer. Some people seem to miss that point. The dubs offense is more that just Curry dribbling and shooting and it's most evident when the bench is playing and scoring with relative ease. Kerr and staff deserve a lot of credit for implementing a system that showcases the splash brothers, but also works well for the others. Speaking of the Splash brothers, they actually were pretty mediocre in the finals until game 4 and the dubs still won the two home games thanks to their bench. They finally showed up in game 4. Curry seemed to me like he was still only at 85 to 90 % of his usual dominant self, but that was good enough to drop 38 points on the Cavs and impress. The game was close, but the dubs took control like they usually do in the second half and strangled the Cavs offense into submission. At least it was not a blowout like the previous 3 games in the series.

Blowouts have been one of the recurring themes of these playoffs since there have been too many of them. Teams routinely win by 30 at home and lose the next game on the road by 30 for a 60 point swing in 3 days! The only thing funnier than that is how the entire national media and so-called experts have been swinging back and forth wildly in their assessment of the series and teams with each of these games. Even the Warriors were looked at as being slightly suspect after game 3 despite them having proved them all wrong by coming back from 1-3 deficit against the Thunder. That series, which captured our collective imagination, was full of drama and twists and turns, but was also devoid of close games. There have been 10 games decided by 30 or more this playoffs equaling the total number from the last 3 seasons combined. My theory is, these blowouts are partly random happenstance and partly because of how today's game is played. Offenses are pretty explosive these days and powered by solid 3-point shooting. So if they get on a roll at home and the visiting team falls asleep for a bit, the game gets out of hand quick. A 15 point lead today is probably nothing more than a 7 point lead back in the 90's.

Speaking of the 90's, I was watching the 30-for-30 feature on Reggie Miller's heroics against the Knicks and I couldn't help but notice that almost every single game was decided by 2 or 3 points and every game seemed to be decided in the last minute. This years' playoffs show us that the game has indeed changed since then.

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.

Dame Dolla on Fire

Stephen Curry was not available for the Warriors this weekend for game 3 in Portland. But there was somebody who looked awfully similar to him on the court who was scoring at will. Unfortunately for the dubs, it was the Blazer's Damian Lillard. I am a big Dame Dolla fan. The kid from Oakland who wears 0 for the O always plays well against his home town team. He is not the shooter that Curry is - nobody is, but when his three is falling like it was in game 3, he is not that different. He has the handles, quickness, and even plays a more traditional point than Curry. And he showed us in this game that he can also take and make long-range, off-the-dribble threes like the MVP. Even Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN was very impressed by his off-the-dribble shooting and was loudly wondering if Lillard and Curry could be traded for each other without either team missing a beat. Thats high praise for Dame. Klay is a good defender and he tried his best to contain Dame, but he had no shot on this day. This is how folks must have felt defending Curry all season. 

Aside from the Oakland angle, Damian also has the "all-star snub" chip on his shoulder, especially against Curry and Klay who were both western all-stars ahead of him.  That explains the Blazers faithful yelling "over-rated" at Klay during the game. Dame and CJ are also in the running for the best back-court in the league crown that firmly belongs to Curry and Klay today. Mix in the narrative of Klay being a 2-way star and shutting Dame down in game 2, you had a potent cocktail that probably drove Dame sky high in game 3. He showed up, stepped up, and locked up a win. Now the Curry injury saga is back again on the front-burner. It's amazing how good the Warriors are that they can stage manage their best player's return even in the second round of the western conference playoffs. With each win, people assume Curry will be rested one more game and with each loss, people wonder if Curry will be inserted into the next game. Lets see if we finally see the MP3 in game 4. 

Curry-Klay versus Dame-CJ is going to be a fascinating rivalry for years to come. But then again, such projections about future greatness are always a hit or miss. Reminds me of a game in 2003 between the dubs and Suns featuring a young Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardon, and Antawn Jamison on one-side and a young Amare Stoudemire,  Stephon Marbury, and Shawn Marion on the other. Everybody was talking about how this might be the two young, fast, fun teams of the future. The dubs couldn't retain Arenas and that was the end of that short-lived era. The Suns let go for Marbury too, but they did improve with Nash. But a rivalry, it was not.  I was salivating about a LeBron-Wade rivalry before LeBron killed it and became Wade's Scottie Pippen for 4 prime years. Ironically, they might renew their rivalry in the senior citizen mode in the next round if Miami wins against Toronto - a big IF. The Cavs have looked really impressive after 2 straight sweeps. Their 3-point shooting has become more of a news in the playoffs than even the Warriors, who are without Curry's threes so far. 

It's going to be an interesting matchup if the Cavs and dubs meet in the finals again. The Cavs are a very different team from last year and both teams are going to be shooting threes all night. You would think nobody can beat the dubs in that game, though the Cavs are becoming a trendy pick for the championship. They have definitely looked good and the big-3 are finally playing with some confidence and chemistry. Ironically, LeBron is shooting bricks, but the rest of the team is shooting lights out. Plus LeBron does so many other things, he still is the king. The Spurs-Thunder series seems headed to 7 games with the Thunder winning tonight behind Durant's 41. I still don't trust the Thunder to win the series, but they have enough talent to stretch the Spurs. It pains me to say I don't trust Westbrook. How can an incredible athlete who plays that hard inspire so little confidence? Two words - decision making. Westbrook is hard-headed and a bad decision maker. Him and Durant have not really learned to play together after all these years, not to mention all the other talent on the roster. It's a weird style the Thunder play built around those 2 super-stars and I don't see it surviving past his round.

Body Blows in the NBA

One of my buddies calls basketball a deceptively dangerous sport that's more brutal on our bodies than most other sports. He is somebody who played both tackle football and basketball and I have to respect his opinion. The last couple of days in the NBA playoffs are indeed proving him right. Freak injuries to various parts of the body have taken out 3 out of the top 10 talents in the league. First, Curry slipped on a sweat spot on the floor and twisted and banged his right knee on the floor. This was in game 4 when he had just came back from an ankle issue after a 2 game break. He is now out for at least 2 weeks with a grade 1 MCL sprain. For a 12 hour period on Monday after this news came out, the Clippers suddenly looked like a legitimate contender and the biggest beneficiary of the dubs' misfortune. Warrior fans spent all day debating if the dubs can beat the Clips without Curry. The Warriors probably can't handle the Spurs or the Cavs without Curry, but they definitely had a shot against the Clippers especially with home court. Part of me was excited to see them duke it out with the Clips without Curry. Clippers can win it, but I think these dubs would drag them to 7 games. The  fans wanted the Clippers-Blazers series to go 7 games because that would give Curry more time to recover. He is probably looking at a return for game 4 or 5 in the next round if the recovery goes per plan.

But late Monday night, the Clippers' world turned upside down. They lost their leader Chris Paul to a freak injury and a broken hand when it got stuck in the opponent's jersey. Blake Griffin then followed him out with a quad injury. Bye bye season for the Clippers. Now the Dubs fans are rooting for a Clippers to win another game so the Blazers get extended to 7. It's probably going to be Warriors-Blazers in the next round. That won't be easy, but it's not the same as facing a fully-loaded Clippers team. So it looks like even when they lose Curry for a couple of weeks, the Warriors get a lucky break in the form of a suddenly depleted Clippers team. Their path to San Antonio looks much better now especially given the way they dispatched the Rockets tonight by 33 points to take that series in 5. The Blazers back-court will be a load to handle, but the dubs have to be favored in that series even without Curry. In fact, it probably gives the Warriors more time to rest Curry. Vegas agrees as the Warriors dropped behind the Spurs as a favorite right after Curry's injury. But they were bumped ahead of the Spurs again when CP3 and Blake got hurt. The expectation is, Curry will be back for the Spurs series anyways and the upcoming round got a lot easier for the dubs with the unfortunate Clipper injuries.

If you include Avery Bradley, round 1 of these playoffs has taken down 4 key players in brutal and weird injuries. This round is beginning to wind down in a hurry though. The elite teams are already resting as we speak. Cavs and Spurs swept their way out of round 1 and the dubs and Thunder wrapped it up in 5 games. With today's surprising road win for Charlotte and the sadly predictable road win for Portland, those 2 series should be wrapped up in 6 as well. That leaves the Celtics-Hawks and Pacers-Raptors series as the possible 7-game thrillers. The East has 4 playoff teams with an identical 48-34 record and not surprisingly, the Eastern match-ups have been more competitive in round 1. The Hawks and Celtics continue their series tomorrow in Boston. The Celts should win this one to force game 7, but we all know the real winner tomorrow will be the NFL. The draft is here and let's get ready to welcome the next set of millionaire celebrities into our televisions. It's going to be interesting with all the late movement at the top of the draft. We will have 2 QBs go back-to-back at the top like Winston and Mariota last year. These 2 kids will join a few infamous QB pairs like Bledsoe-Mirer, Manning-Leaf, Couch-McNabb, and Luck-RG-III. Of course the jury is still out on Winston-Mariota and hope they and the kids coming in tomorrow don't stick to this one good, one bust trend with these pairs.

There are a couple of interesting reads in the NBA that I would like to recommend. If you have some time to kill, I strongly recommend Sam Hinkie's leaked 13-page resignation letter to the Philadelphia 76'ers (http://espn.go.com/pdf/2016/0406/nba_hinkie_redact.pdf). The other article of interest is about the evolving role of point guards in the NBA (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2016/04/15/its-a-point-guards-game/). This article is especially sweet for us Suns fans as Jerry Colangelo was instrumental in some of those successful rule changes when he was the Suns owner. And coincidentally, Steve Nash and the Suns were also the first team to show the world how to play a fun, winning brand of basketball by exploiting those rules and start a trend that has changed the game forever and for the better.

Talent gap in the first round.

NBA playoffs are always fun. While a couple of 1-8 or 2-7 match-ups every year ends up being predictable, individual games typically tend to be close even in those series. Not so much this year. Through 24 games over a week of these playoffs, there have been only 7 games been decided by less than 10 points and only 4 games by 5 points or less. Ironically, both the first seeds have been involved in 1-point games, but these playoffs have been one big blowout-fest otherwise. This is pretty unusual and it seems to be because of the larger divide between the good teams and the lower seeds. The top 4 seeds in the West is way better than the lower seeds. The East is better than it has been in the past top to bottom, but even there, the top seeds seem to be much more improved than the lower seeds. The popular playoff cliche is, a playoff series has not really begun until the road team wins. Cleveland and San Antonio won game 3 on the road on Friday and are all set for the sweep. Outside of that, only the Raptors-Pacers and Mavericks-Thunder series have seen road wins so far. Even reigning champs Warriors are still looking for a road win.

Speaking of the Warriors, the biggest news in the sports world the last week has been Stephen Curry's bum ankle. He now says he is playing in game 4 on Sunday. There was added concern when he left game 1 because of his history with ankle issues. It's hard to say whether he was really unable to play or if they were being extra cautious with him and coincidentally, may be also deservedly extra disrespectful of the Rockets who didn't look good at all in the 2 games in Oakland. Athletes always say "I could have played if it were a playoff game" and here is a situation where it looks like the Warriors are resting Curry even through round 1 of the playoffs. Nobody seems to be concerned for the Warriors in this series even with the Rockets winning a close one in game 3. Some folks are still saying Curry should be rested in game 4. A resting Curry in the playoffs is a fascinating concept, but a hurting Curry is not. It did look like he tried to play game 2 and couldn't. So may be he is really hurt bad. We don't know yet, but game 4 should tell us a lot. The dubs played a mistake-prone and sub-par game Thursday and lost the game, but since they still almost won anyways, the Warriors are still heavily favored, with or without Curry in this series. But its in their best interest to wrap this series up soon. It's not smart for the dubs to give the Rockets any life, hope, or energy. Rockets' bench didn't even celebrate Harden's game winner in game 3 and the dubs probably don't want to make them feel any tighter or better.

In other news, the NFL draft is almost here. NFL will again dominate the proverbial sports pages next week. Both Rams and the Eagles traded their way up to the first and second spot with an intent to draft a QB. Curious decision by 2 teams in a year with decent, but no slam-dunk QBs at the top.  I can't think of 2 teams trading their way to the top of the draft in the recent past. Looks like QBs will indeed go 1 and 2 and that could be a big problem for the San Francisco 49'ers who might also have some interest in a QB at 7. There are rumors that the Kaepernick trade with Denver is all but done pending the Niners scoring a good QB in the draft. Let's see if thats the deal or Kap's salary negotiation with the Broncos is still the hangup. I like Jared Goff, but not too convinced about the other QBs in this draft. Good for them all anyways to be this sought after. In a shocker of a NFL move, the Carolina Panthers let go off their top corner, Josh Norman. He was franchise tagged and for some reason, they untagged him and cut him loose. We are now deep into free agency and it's not like they needed the money to pay a bunch of top notch free agents still around. They actually have cap room and they can always cut him loose next year even if they can't agree on a new contract. Strange decision indeed and will hurt the Panthers' already questionable shot at another Super Bowl run. Washington has jumped in and signed Norman for a tonne of money. Again, Niners lost out on him. Thats becoming a theme these days.

Big night in the NBA

The last night of the NBA regular season is usually a drag for most fans. There may be a 8th seed or 2 at stake that a couple of mediocre teams would be fighting for. There could be some jostling for seedings up and down the playoff standings. For the most part, the playoff teams that have nothing to play for are waiting for the playoffs to get here and are happily resting their stars. And then there are the lottery teams and their fans who are typically checked out already and are looking forward to the NFL draft! But the 2015-16 NBA season finale today was unique and special. It was a truly historic night with two landmark events happening in Oakland and LA. The Warriors were going for 73 wins to break an amazing and improbable  record for the all-time regular season wins in Oakland while Kobe Bryant was playing his last game in LA to wrap up a legendary 20-year career.

The Bulls record of 72-10 stood for 20 year, but I really thought it was one of those rare records that will stand forever. After all, it was a Michael Jordan record and probably one of his most impressive at that. It's hard to surpass MJ in anything and for the Warriors to do it this year after a championship season is an amazing story. Their coach Steve Kerr is one lucky dude. He won 72 games with the Bulls as a player and is now a 73-game winner as a coach. The Warriors put the Memphis Grizzlies away in style to end the season 73-9. They played 82 games and did not even lose double digit number of games. First team ever to not lose double digit games through an entire NBA season. I am not a big Warriors fan, but even I can list all their losses off the top of my head - @Milwaukee, @Dallas, @Denver, @Detroit, @Portland, @LA Lakers, @San Antonio, Boston, and Minnesota. Thats because they have lost so few games.

These Warriors are a very likable bunch playing a fun style of ball. Curry is the biggest star in the sport today and is must-see TV. They have had a rock-star like following all season long and when you score a 73-9 season, there are many secondary records and numbers that are equally impressive. They never lost back-to-back games all season long. They never lost to the same team twice. They went 34-7 on the road, which is not too shabby and they started the season 24-0. The only thing more impressive was the other landmark that was reached tonight. Curry ended the season with 400+ made threes. Thats almost 5 made threes a game! That almost sounds normal for Curry, but it's hard to do. Curry had nearly as many threes this season as entire teams like the Milwaukee Bucks! A historic night indeed for the dubs. Now they have to seal the deal in the playoffs to truly enter the "best team ever" discussion. One interesting conversation going around the airwaves this week is, who wins the series if the 72-win Bulls team hook up with the 73-win Warriors? Bulls will probably win since they will matchup real well with this dubs team and are superior defensively.

While the Warriors were beating world records in Oakland, Kobe was wrapping up his career in LA with a vintage Kobe performance! He dropped 60 points on 50 shots with a really dominant 4th quarter. Lakers have been dreadful this year and Kobe has not been much better. But with the whole word watching, Kobe elevated his game to the legendary level one last time. He walks away with a 60-point game. Only Kobe can do that and the oldest ever to score 60. I am not too fond of Kobe and the Phoenix Suns have had many interesting contests against him not to mention some daggers he stuck in us back in the day. But I do feel a special connection to his career because NBA is my favorite league and he was part of my sports experience for 20 long years!  It is indeed an end of an era and when Tim Duncan retires, this era is officially dead and it will be another stark reminder that I am getting old. Love him or hate him, Kobe's talent was undeniable and is a true basketball legend. His final game garnered a lot of attention, especially in LA. Nosebleeds were selling for $700, even more than the $350 in Oakland tonight. Court-side seats at staples were going for 25K. As Kobe got close to 50 points, that game started pulling even more eye balls away from the dubs record-setting game, which was a blowout by then. Folks at Staples center thoroughly enjoyed his 60 point performance and went home poor, but happy.

All in all, two great stories in the NBA tonight. The only nit I would like to pick is, Kobe and LA stole some of the spotlight from the record-setting night in Oakland and vice-versa. It was hard to keep up with both games at times. But it was truly a magical night in the NBA.

Cruisin' and Cookin'

Warriors are 52-5 and are 4-1 in this road trip, a trip that was supposed to be the toughest challenge remaining for them this regular season. The trip started ominously as they were blown out at Portland by Damian Lillard and his wrath at his all-star snub. But the dubs straightened the ship the very next day at the Clippers, a game that was expected by some to be the first loss of this road trip. They are back to cruising now and Curry is hot and steaming. He had a back-to-back 42 and 51 point games at Miami and Orlando with the Miami game also featuring a couple of clutch shots at the end. Media is running out of superlatives to describe Curry and this Warriors team. He won the MVP last year and it wouldn't be hyperbole to say he deserves to win both the MVP and the most improved player awards this season. The guy is 27 and is already widely recognized as the best shooter in the history of the game and rightfully so. There was a sequence in the game tonight when he pulled up in the middle of the shot clock to take a 3 pointer 3 feet behind the arc. A horrible shot for anybody else, but Warriors announcer on TV Bob Fitzgerald was actually shocked he missed an "open look!" Thats all you need to know about the shooting prowess of Curry. There are no bad shots, period.

All this leads to the prime time game this weekend to wrap up the roadie. Dubs are playing the Thunder this Saturday night. Since the dubs are 4-1 in this trip already, this game may or may not impact their historic chase of 72 wins, but this will be a fun game nonetheless. Thunder has been in a bit of a funk with home losses to the Pacers, Cavs, and a loss tonight at the Pelicans. But what better way to right the ship than to beat the the league leading defending champs?  Plus Durant always has monster games against the dubs. Speaking of Durant, the Bay Area sports radio and media doesn't have a lot of burning issues these days when it comes to Warrior talk. So the major topic of discussion is whether or not to sign Kevin Durant in the off-season when he becomes a free agent. Supposedly, Durant is interested in the Warriors and the question is, whether the Warriors should want him or not. Life should be real good if you are seriously considering saying "no" to a top-5 NBA player in his prime! Life is good if he even wants to come to your team because, these days, super-stars like Durant only go to good teams they hand-pick. But how many teams can even consider saying "no" to him? The Warriors are winning 70+ games without Durant, so there is a legitimate reason to wonder if they should stay away from him and focus on chemistry and continuity instead. Nice to have such "first world problems." 

My message to the Warrior fans is that they shouldn't even sweat this Durant thing. The dubs ownership and front office know exactly what they are doing and will make the right call. Whether it is firing coach Jackson, or hiring coach Kerr, or refusing to trade Klay for KLove, they are batting .1000 for a couple of years straight. My early gut feel on this, I think they are going to get Durant. This ownership group is super-aggressive and they won't stop short. Secondly, Harrison Barnes is demanding a lot of money anyways and you might as well invest just a little more and get a Durant if you can. Durant's game and personality is not a bad fit for this team or for any team for that matter. There is only one ball to share, but these guys can figure it out. It will be an amazing roster, though it's hard to even imagine how much better a 72-10 (or better) team can get! This reminds me of the Lakers team with Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton at the end of Malone and Payton's careers, except Steph, Klay, Draymond, and Durant will be way better because all 4 will be barely entering their primes this summer. One strong reason to do this if you are dubs front office - we always talk about team's windows closing. Actually, more times than not, other teams pass you before your window closes. Not that the dubs are in danger of their window closing anytime soon, but signing Durant extends it indefinitely. More importantly, it keeps him away from their competition, whether it is OKC or the Clippers or some other team, and prevents those teams from passing the Warriors.

Pivotal Game

NBA playoffs go on for a long time. So you better get used to a lot of cliches during this time. The one I like is, "a series does not started until a road team wins a game." The other over-used concept is that of a "pivotal game." Once you get past game 1, the experts start calling every game pivotal. It's hard to say if game five is more pivotal than game six, but one thing we can all agree on is, no game is more pivotal than game seven. But putting the two concepts together, I have come to the conclusion that game three is the pivotal one if and only if the teams split the first two games - which is exactly what has happened in the conference semis this year. All four series saw the road team steal a game from among the first two. After Westbrook's injury, Memphis has become the fancy pick to win the west. So it was not surprising to see them steal game two in Oklahoma City. In the East, the Pacers are pretty good and the Knicks are over-rated. So Pacers' win in NY was not a surprise to me either. But Chicago shocked Miami in game one raising hopes for an enormous upset. You had to wonder if that will last given the talent differential between the two rosters, but one can only hope the Heat gets tamed at some point this season. The real surprise was the Warriors not only winning game two in San Antonio, but dominating game one as well before losing it in spectacular fashion.

The Warriors are fun to watch with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson shooting lights out. Coach Mark Jackson recently said they are the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game. That shocked many people and sounded like total hyperbole, but nobody has been able to come up with an alternate back-court to match these two in terms of pure shooting accuracy. Of course, we have heard the "best back-court ever" tag many times, but Jackson was talking about just shooting skills and he is probably right. The only thing that I don't like about it is, these guys are too young for us to start bestowing such accolades on them. I would like some level of consistency before calling them the "best ever" anything. It's not worth talking about if they end up being the best shooting back-court just over a two week or two month period. But they sure have been that. Curry is very special and unique himself. I can't think of anybody who shoots and can also drive like Curry. And Klay has an even better stroke than Curry and between the two of them, I can see where Jackson is making this claim. He is not too far off. The Warriors are fun to watch and they dominated seven out of the eight quarters in San Antonio, but only won one game. They blew a sixteen point lead in four minutes in game one to lose in double overtime. They could have come back home up 2-0, which would have been shockingly amazing. The Warriors made the Spurs look old and lucky. 

Thats why game three was critical. Had the warriors won it, they would have retained and expanded on the momentum coming out of those two games in Texas. And it was the one and final shot for the Spurs to grab momentum and home court back and get the series on an even footing. Thats exactly what they did. They made sure they didn't fall into a big hole at the beginning of the game. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan took care of the rest. They were both unstoppable and they showed us the difference between true superstars and just good shooters like Klay and Curry, who could not get anything going in game three. The home crowd was crushed as the Spurs won the game to set the series back on course. The warriors can still win the series, but the spurs are the favorites now. They have two more home games and they are not going to lose at home anymore. Disappointing pivotal game three for the warriors and their fans. They are a fun team to watch, but the spurs are in the driver seat now and the fun might be over in seven. In the East, Miami did the same thing San Antonio did as they went into Chicago and wrested control right away. The Bulls had no shot with all the injuries, but they are a tough team and they had high hopes after stealing game one. LeBron killed those hopes and the heat can now win game four to really derail the bulls or they can take it easy and win game 5 and 7 at home to wrap things up. I say they win one more road game and wrap this series up in 6.

The story was different with Memphis and Indiana. These teams are legitimately better than their opponents and they didn't just "steal" one road game. They came back home and won game three to establish their superiority. So get ready for a Spurs-Memphis and Miami-Indiana slug-fests in the conference finals. Warriors will be a lot more fun, thunder will have more star power in the form of Durant, and the Knicks will be great for TV ratings in the big city. But neither us nor the NBA offices can always get what we want. Commissioner Stern has to deal with a playoffs soon without the Lakers, Durant, or the Knicks. It will still be fun to watch, but the question for the league and TV "suits" is about how many will watch. At least the NBA office has better things to worry about than the major League Baseball offices right now, The latest issue with MLB is the officiating. The umpires missed a home-run call even after watching the replay one day and they didn't know the rules on another call the next day. No league gets our attention for all the wrong reasons quite like MLB. It's still early days in the baseball season and we should cut MLB some slack. We will start focussing on the action on the field sooner than later as the season heats up, but not yet. 

NBA's heat-map

The long NBA regular season is now over and the playoffs are starting tomorrow. I just realized I had blogged just five times about the NBA this entire season. Thats what happens when you are busy and your favorite team is 25-57. So I will blame my lack of focus on the NBA on the Phoenix Suns and their horrible season. But the playoffs are always fun and deserve our collective attention. As much as I hate the Lakers and Kobe, we will miss him in the playoffs. You don't want to see anybody get hurt, let alone a superstar like Kobe just before the playoffs. The Lakers are not even the same team to hate without him. They finally made it in as the 7-Th seed surprising everybody. They get the Spurs instead of the Thunder, which is supposed to be a friendlier matchup. I don't think it matters anyways. They will be bounced early. But do we really even care with no Kobe to love or hate? Thats the power of a NBA superstar. Kobe is Kobe, plus he had a phenomenal season. It was hard to see him go out so close to the playoffs.

The other problem with an injury so close to the playoffs is that it also means you are relatively close to the beginning of next NBA season, as crazy as that may sound. Derrick Rose is still not back from the injury late last season, but thats a topic for another day. So Kobe may not be back until mid-way into next season. He has vowed to come back and I believe him 100%, but it might be 2014/2015 before he is completely back and he might be too old by then. Thats why there are legitimate concerns about his career being over. I think it might be over for all practical purposes, but not officially yet. He will be back. The Lakers are still a story, but Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol don't move the needle and Steve Nash has not been effective this year either. I remember talking to a scalper back when Charles Barkley was a superstar in Phoenix. He said the toughest part of his job was when Barkley was out injured. He just could not move any tickets. Lakers tickets lost a whole bunch of value with Kobe's injury.

On the schedule this weekend are a couple of interesting match-ups. Boston-NY is always interesting regardless of the sport. Golden State at Denver is another fun series. Stephen Curry is the next big star on the horizon and the Warriors look like a genius for locking him up at the beginning of the season at what will now be considered a bargain basement price for Curry. James Harden leading the upstart Rockets into Oklahoma city is intriguing too, but they don't have a realistic shot at doing anything significant. At the end of the day, the entire playoffs looks like a distraction while the Heat map out their way through the playoff maze to lock up their second championship. LeBron had such a phenomenal season that even thinking about alternate names for the NBA MVP honors sounds ridiculous. The biggest lock of this season might be the two awards - LeBron for MVP and Damian Lillard for rookie of the year. And of course Heat for the championship, though I am still holding hope that the Pacers or Spurs or Thunder will bother them just a little bit.