The NBA's Final Four has provided us with all sorts of attention-grabbing tales and compelling characters, each one as riveting as the last.
We have the long-overdue appreciation of the anonymous San Antonio Spurs and quiet simplicity of the great Tim Duncan in the Western Conference finals. There's also the joyful noise of Kevin Durant's emergence as pro basketball's newest unstoppable weapon in Oklahoma City. In the East, there's the fascinating tale of the Boston Celtics' Big Three desperately fighting to hold off Father Time, and young Rajon Rondo growing into his role as The Big One.
But they are burning embers in comparison to the story of The Heat. Miami's championship quest is the one that dominates most NBA conversations because more than anything else, David Stern's little tournament is about LeBron James and whether he can shake that monkey off his back.
Which monkey?
Oh, just pick one from the bulging Heat Haters handbook.
He's a choker. He can't win the big one. He's overrated. He's afraid to win games. He doesn't know how to win games. He's not even the best player on his team. He's the most hated man in sports, and he has most of America rooting against him for deciding to take his talents to South Beach where he was supposed to conquer the basketball world immediately.
Yes, that's what his critics have said and they have been unmerciful in dishing their heat. While the Spurs are pro basketball's new Dream Team (more on that in a moment), James is the captain of the Redeem Team, trying to prove that he can lead the Heat to the first of a promised string of championships.
More than anything and anyone else, these playoffs are all about LeBron and his quest to prove that he is as good as advertised. Nothing less than multiple championships will do, but first he needs to win one, and LeBron is looking quite seriously like this year he's finally up to the task.
Don't worry about the stats. Just watch the games. Watch the way he dominates under every circumstance. If he's not shooting well, he's passing and rebounding or bulling his way to the basket and making free throws. This postseason, he's had games of 14 and 20 free-throw attempts. Watch the way he plays defense, shutting down All-Star point guards (Rondo), scoring forwards (New York's Carmelo Anthony) or future Hall of Fame big men (he spent much of Game 2 in the paint fronting Kevin Garnett).
This is the best he's looked, the most complete his team has looked in his two seasons in Miami, and it's pretty much certain that the Heat will beat the Celtics in short order and reach the Finals again. Until now, though, he has never looked ready for the daunting task.
Remember those dreadful, inexplicable fading acts in Cleveland?
Remember last year's painful Finals meltdown?
Traditionally, though, part of the championship process in the NBA is lined with painful failures. Some of the greatest champions have suffered repeated setbacks on the way to hanging multiple banners in the rafters (see: Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Julius Erving).
So James has felt enough failure in Cleveland and felt enough criticism in Miami (deservedly so by the way) to prep him for the rise to the top. It's time to see how much he's learned, because he's going to need every bit of that experience once he gets to the Finals, because the Spurs â€" the most complete team in basketball â€" will most surely be waiting for him.
Watching the Western Conference finals is the sort of rare pleasure that hoop junkies enjoy because there is nothing like the sight of beautiful team ball. But the Spurs, who were on a 20-game winning streak heading into Game 3 Thursday night against the Thunder, are so much more than that. They are basketball's new Dream Team, the perfect blend of everything that symbolizes how the NBA has become the ultimate global game. Their roster is a concoction of players from eight different countries, four continents and any number of cultural differences that has somehow blended into the kind of athletic harmony that should give all those people who gripe about why they hate the NBA no leg to stand on.
The Spurs are the ideal hoop melting pot: young and old, white and black, European and South American, city kids and country kids. They listen to their coach, pass the ball, play selfless defense and can beat you in a track meet or a grinding half-court dance. The way the Spurs share the ball is like watching a textbook come alive. They do all the things that coaches love, that high-IQ players envy and any true lover of the game appreciates.
And here's the crazy thing: I think Duncan and the Spurs actually need the exposure.
Even though Duncan is the best power forward to ever play the game, even though he has four NBA titles already, even though he has won MVPs, Olympic gold medals and has been considered one of the great players in the game since the day he arrived in the league 14 years ago, Duncan is one of the most unappreciated superstars that the NBA has ever seen.
But the ratings for the playoffs have been decent, and the deeper Duncan travels into the postseason, the more eyes will have an extended look at him. They'll hear the commentators marvel about his gifts, they'll see the fundamental skills with the drop steps, bank shots, up and under moves, blocked shots and deft touch passes. They'll see the economy in everything he does that doesn't make highlight reels but keeps producing championship bling.
I kind of like the idea of Spurs versus Heat and The Big Fundamental versus LeBron.
What better obstacle for LeBron to climb than a perfect team and a superstar who rarely speaks but collects all the best championship hardware available?
Posted in Bryan-burwell on Friday, June 1, 2012 12:05 am Updated: 11:35 pm. | Tags:
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