I’m not a huge fan of the NBA, so I’m a little surprised that my first post for GuysNation is about hoops, but I couldn’t resist.
There’s something refreshing about this year’s NBA playoffs. The Lakers fell apart in gruesomely entertaining fashion, the boring old Celtics finally got the boot, Mark Cuban is still around and the four most exciting players in the league are still playing. Even I can watch that.
Full disclosure, I’m a Miami Heat fan. Yes, I know. The Decision made everyone hate LeBron and thus the Heat, but I’ve been on the bandwagon since the Timmy Hardaway days, so I make no apologies. Plus, I like winning.
Anyway, I’ve been saying since December that Miami would win it all (proof on Twitter @reillymoore) and I see no reason to change that now. The Heat have two of the best four players left in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and after winning a low-scoring Game 2 in Chicago, they’ve essentially eliminated the Bulls’ home court advantage. The Heat have shown their weaknesses, but they aren’t going to lose. That is, unless Derrick Rose is even better than I already think he is.
In the West, things are a little trickier, but look out for the Thunder. Oklahoma City won on Thursday while playing the fourth quarter on the road with four bench players. Four bench players. On the road. In the Western Conference Finals.
Kevin Durant is the best pure scorer left in the playoffs, but the fact that he could lead four no-names to victory while 2nd-team All-NBA point guard Russell Westbrook just sat and watched shows how scary this team is. Westbrook will be back, and better, in Game 3, and as long as the Thunder keep Dirk Nowitzki off the free throw line, they should be headed for the Finals after only three years in Oklahoma City.
Assuming my Crystal Ball is correct, that sets up the most intriguing Finals matchup in a while. Sure, Lakers-Celtics is classic NBA, but Heat-Thunder is the NBA today. Plus, without Kobe Bryant, everyone can just feel better about themselves.
Of course, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played before the Durant-LeBron wet dream match-up comes together, but even if you don’t normally like the NBA, this is the time to watch. If you hate LeBron, you might be able to watch him lose. Again. If you love LeBron, you might finally be able to see him get a ring. And if you couldn’t care less about LeBron, then you probably should have stopped reading about 400 words ago.
Picture from NewsOK.com
