Unwatched Greatness
This year's NBA Finals could be the best since 1998.
Millions of television sets across America are turning off or changing channels. Mild basketball fans are not watching the NBA anymore. Instead, they would rather watch garbage -- Hell’s Kitchen, Nanny 911, The Real Gilligan’s Island, The Fake Gilligan’s Island -- anything other than the NBA Finals.
The flashy teams are gone. The stars have faded into their respective off-seasons. No Shaquille O’Neal. No Dwayne Wade. No Steve Nash. No Kobe Bryant. No Allen Iverson. No LeBron James. No reason to watch. Or so it seems.
Boredom is the official excuse of these fraudulent basketball fans. Both the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs are considered boring -- the two squads are accustom to scoring in the 80s. This NBA Finals could have one of the lowest television ratings in history.
Yet, it could be one of the best.
What these so-called basketball enthusiasts fail to acknowledge -- or realize -- is that a Pistons-Spurs match-up is the best championship that could have occurred. They are the two teams that play the right way. They don’t neglect defense like the Phoenix Suns. They don’t take three-pointers continuously like the Seattle Supersonics. They don’t stand around, watching one player dribble the ball for an eternity like the Philadelphia 76ers. They don’t rely on two superstars, who receive small contributions from guys named Jones, and players drafted after Shaq in the 1992 NBA Draft like the Miami Heat.
The Pistons and Spurs have mastered the lost art of playing as a team. Duke basketball coach Mike Kryzkewski even said so in his new American Express commercial that has nothing to do with American Express.
“When I look at the Detroit Pistons, I just don’t see players, I see a team,” said Krzyzewski, clearly not promoting American Express.
The Pistons are one of the few real teams in the NBA. Like the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, no individual on the Pistons is greater than the team itself. Detroit does not have any superstars -- they have eight stellar players, each who have a very specific role that they understand and play to near perfection.
Although the Spurs have superstar Tim Duncan, the rest of the team has a specific role. Manu Ginobili, the slasher and scorer; Tony Parker, the point guard; Robert Horry and Brent Barry, the three-point marksmen; Bruce Bowen, the defender; Nazr Mohammed, the other big man. San Antonio is a team, just like the Pistons.
It’s as if the Patriots were playing the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Two real teams colliding for what will be the most enticing NBA Finals since Michael Jordan retired with the Chicago Bulls. This will not be a thrashing, like Spurs over Nets, Lakers over Nets, or Pistons over Lakers. This championship is going the distance -- six or seven games.
So, go ahead. Miss the best NBA Finals since 1998. I’ll be watching.
NBA Column Links:
2006: 2006 NBA Draft Thoughts
2005: 2005 NBA Draft Thoughts
What Is He Thinking?
NBA Finals 2005: Unwatched Greatness
Mo Money, Still Problems?
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