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We know Drama

My beloved Lakers have lost and the Clippers are in the brink of squandering their series against the same team. If the Clippers go on to lose the series (i'm guessing a game 7) both the Laker and Clipper series would have been decided on two critical baskets... The Gospel of Matthew 26:52 states "Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." or in other words they live by the sword and die by the sword, the three pointer. Tim's fateful 3 pointer in Game 6 ultimately sent the Lakers to their Death in the Valley of the Suns while Raja's last second three to send the Clipper series Game 5 to double OT might as well have been the Clippers demise. Lest we forget, even if the Clippers fight fire with fire and beat the searing Suns on Game 6 at home, they're still in the middle of the fucking desert for Game 7, where, statistically the home team wins better than 75% of the time...

Once the Lakers lost their series, for a couple of days, even though i tuned in for the Games, i lost interest in the rest of the playoff series. The Laker lost was profoundly disappointing. Sure the Suns were favored but shit, the Lakes had them stunned, their backs against the wall, they just couldn't close out the series. Someday i will get over this..... But then the Cavaliers-Wizards series went overtime twice with Lebron and local LA boy Gilbert Arenas shouldering all responsibility, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. Lebron hit two game winners while Gilbert made it a hobby to send every ballgame to OT (seemingly). The Grizzlies almost won a playoff game but Dirk had other ideas making an improbable three to send the Game into OT. But i knew, my dad knew, Adrian knew and every single soul watching that game, hell even the Grizzlies knew, that after squandering the lead and that dagger of a three-pointer that Dirk hit, the Warriors were going to stumble out of the OT gates never to recover. And did you see Dirk's quasi-badboy face ripping-jersey gesture after he hit the three? Yes dorky, may i suggest a simple fist pump Dirk? Kobe has his signature pump fist or the classic blowing of the fingers when his hot or the water-splash in the face, perhaps commemorating his great 05 Season or Vince Carter's very cool chest pump with the fist, but Dirk, hey man stick with something simple... Do it like Kwame Brown, stone faced... or like Popovich, he simply walks into the locker room after a great comeback and a last second shot to beat the buzzer for a win like he just saved par in Pebble Beach, not so much a smile... How about the Bulls taking two games from Miami? NJ snatching the first game in Miami then subsequently losing an embarrassing four straight and the drama that is Clippers and Suns. I realized there was more to the NBA than just the Lakers...

So ultimately my love for the game quelled my Laker anguish and started paying attention to the games once again, even setting aside DVD's from blockbuster online. If you've really paid close attention to the NBA playoffs so far, they've been as good as advertised. Lebron so far has averaged better than 35 pts per game in his first playoff series, that's third best all time. And as the so-called experts predicted, every favored team in the first round won. They also said only the Lakers had a chance of a first round upset, and it was apparent after 4 games... (Tuesday is my treadmill night, i usually start at 10:30). When the Clippers went up 3 points in the first OT, with only 3.6 seconds left and a Suns TO, i hopped on the treadmill confident that Dunleavy had the proper defensive scheme. They had 1 foul to give and expected them to use it, after all and to use a Poker Term the Suns basically had one out, a three point shot. Raja gave the feeble Ewing a gentle shove, slightly giving Raja an open corner. Ewing was late to close in. When Raja made the shot to tie it, i just smiled, my dad smiled, my sister a fervent Clipper fan i'm sure uttered some unGodly word then my dad and i looked at each other and collectively shrugged... "WHY NOT" i told him, let's go to second OT... Statistically, even though the Clippers at one point trailed by 19 points, had played a very efficient ballgame. The Lakers biggest sin during their Phoenix series was committing too many fouls therefore sending the best free-throw shooting team to the line often. Clippers in contrast held Phoenix to zero FT's in the 4th quarter. The fine line in such close games comes down to turnovers, missed freethrows and rebounds. In the Clippers case, Sam's 8 second turnover and Elton's missed FT's late in regulation caused them the loss and perhaps the series... "We know Drama" isn't that TNT's slogan? How befitting...

How about Rasheed's guarantee? Who the hell does he think he is Broadway Joe? I don't think its fair to say that it's his fault they lost 2 in a row after his fallacy of a prophecy... but one can't help but think it.

More interesting than any series is the Texas two step between the Dallas Mavericks and defending Champs San Antonio Spurs. What's so interesting about the two Texas teams you might be wondering... Well for one thing, under Coach of the Year and long time Spur Avery Johnson, Dallas developed a defense only allowing 93.1 pts per game. The biggest crack on San Antonio this year (playoff especially) is that they lost games when they scored under 100. But my personal empirical observation is this -- these two Texas teams do not match up well--. No one can guard anyone. Nesterovich, the other 7 footer for the Spurs played a total of 1 minute in Game 4, citing liability on defense. With a steady dose of crossovers No one can touch Eva's boyfriend, Tim Duncan will take anyone to school without the double, Manu shot a most efficient 11-13... Dirk dwarfs San Antonio's best defensive man Bowen and can shoot over anyone around the perimeter. Eva's boyfriend can not stay in front of either of Dallas' guards and Gerry Stackhouse made all the clutch baskets against anyone they sent his way. It's lookin' more like the Texas chainsaw massacre the way these two teams are trading baskets...

The NBA hasn't been this exciting in many years. Defending Champions San Antonio last year (which has the same squad as last) was not challenged until Detroit. Detroit the previous year had the best record in the NBA and destroyed everyone who stood their way including the Lakers in the Finals. The Lakers three-peat on the other hand outside of the Sacramento & Blazer series was, in dominion, ala Gengis Khan. So even though my team is no longer in contention there's quite the drama that is the NBA and were not even in the 3rd round yet. My only regret is that i'm not home early enough to watch the East Coast games....

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Wednesday, May 17, 2006