NBA Finals

It’s interesting to me how almost everyone in the sports media is so excited about this year’s National Basketball Association finals, featuring the Boston Celtics (with Kevin Garnett) and the Los Angeles Lakers (and league MVP Kobe Bryant). Interesting because they are the LAST two teams I wanted to see playing for the title! Originally, I was pulling for the Phoenix Suns with their stars Andre Stoudemaire, Shaquille O’Neal, and two-time MVP Steve Nash. But they were quickly knocked out of the playoffs in round one by their nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs, even losing their coach after elimination to the New York Knicks. In the East, I pulled for Cleveland, Atlanta, and Detroit. But although they all had impressive games against the Celtics, none of them could get it together enough to pull out victories in the series’ final games. In the West, after Los Angeles beat a scrappy Utah jazz team and the Spurs came back from two games down to lead the Chris Paul-led New Orleans Hornets, I actually rooted for my old “enemy” San Antonio against the Lakers (something that I never thought I would do). But they disappointed me, blowing huge leads in two of their games in losing that series. And Detroit should have beaten Boston, but also fell short of their potential. Which leads me to a question: Phoenix loses in the first round and their coach, Mike D'Antoni, gets “promoted” by being given a higher paying job in New York. Detroit’s coach, Flip Saunders, takes his team to the conference finals for three straight years and gets fired. So, where’s the justice here?

Anyway, I don’t know why everyone is so caught up with a Celtics-Lakers matchup. Sure, in decades past, a big rivalry had developed between these two franchises. But recently, it has been the Pistons and the Spurs who tended to dominate in the playoffs. I would have been more excited to see them head-to-head than what I have now.