National Basketball Freelancers

As fans, we are naïve; sometimes plain dumb. We paint our chest, buying hundred dollar tickets to sick on wet seats in -10 degree weather and we truly believe that NBA players want to win a championship.

It’s not that they don’t want to win; most of them would do anything to win one. Brian ‘The Custodian” Cardinal (Ever wonder how he got that nickname?) can viably attest to that fact.

This day-in-age they are programmed, like the new NBA Jam, to know that the only true measure of success is how many wins you can get.  But we are only now becoming aware that this is only the case IF there is an NBA season.

Unlike football, David Stern cannot keep them off the court. There are no Coach Carter chains on the doors, and definitely no soliloquies that pronounce the players and owners greed and the calling for a agreement to be made. The players are content to go play in select venues with their buddies.

It’s Bagger Vance meets Space Jam.

And why would they want to stop doing it? The players get to go out and play in games they want to play in. They get paid as much money as people are willing to pay to see them (which is turning out to be lumps of money). There is no pressure on the players to take over an exhibition game. They don’t have to go to towns like Milwaukee and Oklahoma City. Some fans, outside competitors may get the opportunity to get some playing time against their favorite pro. And they get the freedom that most of them probably haven’t felt since they were in elementary school.

Players play to win the game; but that NBA game is becoming more and more overrated. 

Lockout the Heat

Didn’t you just feel the love when the Heat lost in Game 6 of the NBA Finals?

Like a warm plate of old sardines Lebron was getting the royal ‘We told you so’ treatment from the people that are supposed to be objective. That wasn’t even close to what people were saying everywhere else. Church confessionals should look more like a Frozen Yorgurt queue after what people said.

The Mavs played the best series of their lives. They were playing the best NBA (see how I contextualized that) basketball since the Bulls in late 1990’s. They were the YMCA lowering the rims to 8 ½ feet good. And they still should have lost.

So when all the NBA fans come down from that Mark Cuban high they’ll realize that there is no stopping the Miami Heat . Or is there?

Superman has one kyrtonite, Matt has one nemesis; peas. The only way to stop them from reign supreme in the NBA is to lock the doors. Don’t even let them in the building. In essence, pro-long the lock-out.

People would rather not watch than boo their Lebron-hate (very specific rage for #6) invested hearts out.

So lock the doors. Keep the lights out. That’s the only way to keep the Heat down.

[But don’t you sleep on David Stern. He knows how much HATE is worth. He knows he could buy a new island if he makes this bargaining agreement work. He knows that Lebron can pay for his kids to go to college, and then some.

Let the battle of attrition begin.  ]

Lebron is NO MJ. Is Dirk though?

Expecting players to actually live up to some hype are few and far between. And expecting players to live up to Michael Jordan hype, or even be in the same area code, are an even rarer sight. 

And no, not Lebron James. It’s Dirk Nowitzki.

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals Nowitzki tore a tendon on his left middle finger in a close loss. Luckily for the Dallas faithful, it was on his non-shooting hand. 

The next game Nowitzki hit the game-winning shot in with 3.6 seconds left remaining to secure a big victory for the Dallas Mavericks on the road. Not only did he do this, but he also scored the last nine points of the game for his team, the game-winner was going left, using his left hand to kiss it softly off the glass. 

Very Jordan-esque.

Game 4 stirred up the constant ‘Flu Game’ stories of Jordan during the 1997 NBA Finals. Nowitzki had a sinus infection and a fever. His temperature reached over 100 degrees, and he had coughing fits throughout the game. 

Both being ultra-competitors, even with illness weighing on them heavily, found a way to will their respective team to victory. Jordan scored 38, Nowitzki 21, but it was the mental fortitude and pushing themselves beyond their physical limits to carry their team.

Sunday Dirk Nowitzki and the rest of his Mav teammates try to close out their first ever title run. And you probably won’t see the acrobatic plays that made His Airness famous from Nowitzki, but that’s where the comparisons can begin. As you watch the Game 6 the more #41 might look like #23.

Sub-Plot City

Hello, and welcome to Sub-Plot City.

This is the life of an NBA beat writer. You blow a minuscule quote, happening, thought way out of proportion to get people to pay attention. Happens all the times. (And I would probably do it too after having to watch NBA basketball all the time.)

Like the other night I tweeted, and I quote, “A 11-8 team is playing a 7-10 team tonight... who cares...” Over-hyped, over-amped, over-blown, over-whatever game that really meant nothing except that Lebron was returning to Cleveland to play the new look Cavs.

Or the Melo-theory. In a summer where 2 of the most-popular athletes of our day are under fire about their personal decisions we feel it necessary to lump Carmelo in with them. Has he ever specifically said he wants out? That playing for the Knicks has always been a lifelong dream? That the best chance he has to win, and win now is in NYC? I think not!

The NBA is a story driven league. If there were not these ‘storylines’ for people to follow, what would we able be talk about…. Basketball? HA