The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The Conference Finals

Recap

Down goes Celtics!  Down goes Lakers!

Howard Cosell has one of the most famous lines in all of sports. "Down goes Fraiszuh! Down goes Fraiszuh! Down goes Fraiszuh!" Such a great call. This, of course, is his famous call during the Heavyweight championship fight between the aging Joe Frazier and the lethal, young George Foreman. Foreman should not have been allowed to fight. He was absolutely murderous. Many in sports now pay homage to this even by saying "down goes" fill in the blank. In terms of the NBA, it applies to both the Lakers and Celtics when they were both ousted by superior teams. I totally whiffed on the Lakers-Mavs series. The Boston-Miami series might have lasted longer if not for the gruesome Rondo injury. Memphis had an absolutely outstanding run. They took maybe the best team in the league to seven games when they had no business even challenging the Spurs. I'm glad the Hawks are over with! Other than the Lakers-Mavs series, no serious surprises. 

Boston was admirable in defeat. They were severely hurt by Rondo's injury, which probably just would have prolonged the series rather than the Celtics actually winning. Nonetheless, they went down fighting to the end. The Lakers when down in flames as I thought they would as the series progressed. Both teams earned the benefit of the doubt. We were all led to believe that each team would figure it out eventually and either win or make the series more competitive. With the Lakers, I waited until the initial stages of game 3. I knew if they didn't blitz Dallas early in the game to prove a point, they would do down in flames. After losing game 3, people were still giving the Lakers a change. I, meanwhile, was sleep during game 4 on Mother's Day and really did not bother to check the score or highlights when I woke up as I knew they would get creamed. See, Los Angelinos do not demand that the Lakers be grinders like Boston. The city of Boston  is more gritty. Teams tend to take on the personality of their city. Here in L.A., once things start to get hard and complicated, forget it. Why stress? We have mountains, beaches, scores of beautiful people, and so many things to do. Naturally, the Lakers were not going to go down swinging in game 4. They were content in letting Phil Jackson go out like that. 

Boston will need to figure out some things, such as how to get some more youth and production to go along with Rondo to compliment Pierce, Allan, and Garnett. But people are going crazy about the Lakers. I'm not into the all the rumors that are going around and calling Gasol soft and all of that. But I'm over that. That's not why they lost. Dirk was the best player in this series, and the Lakers could not guard him while at times there wasn't a single defender within 15 feet of him. How does that happen? This does not mean the Laker organization should just blow the whole team up. I'm hearing from overly emotional people that they should trade everyone except Kobe. Hilarious. They were on their 4th straight finals run. In this 4 year run, the Lakers played 328 regular season games plus an additional 77 playoff games. And remember playoff games are more intense and draining than regular season games. There is a reason why Jordan retired both times after winning 3 straight titles, it is so physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing. The Lakers just ran out of gas. They will be fine. They obviously need more athleticism, especially at point guard, a knockdown shooter, preferably that is not a huge defensive liability. 3 finals appearances and 2 titles in 4 years is a hell of a run. The Lakers always get big time players through free agency or trades, so they will be fine for years to come.

And now...

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Dallas vs. Oklahoma City

Wow. Dirk vs. K.D./Durantula (did we give Durant and official nickname yet?). When you look at Dallas, you say to yourself, "how in the hell are they doing it?" I know the NBA really pushes individuals to be stars and it's a star-driven league, but basketball at it's fundamental level is such a team sport. The Mavs are so in sync with each other that it covers up their deficiencies and lack of talent. We all though Peja was dead. J.J. Barea? No Caron Butler? Didn't Jason Kidd play with Jerry West? Is DeShawn Stevenson in the Grizzly Adams fan club with Baron Davis and James Harden? They are doing it with outstanding, efficient team basketball and an outstanding, underrated coach in Rick Carlisle, who would have taken Indiana far if not for the Malice at the Palace (this is even more shocking when you watch it now). After all the suspensions and Detroit equipped with Rasheed Wallace, Indiana lost it's place as the Eastern Conference power (note that they dominated the Pistons before the brawl) and have yet to really recover even to this day. Oklahoma City should be fine. It seems like Westbrook is making major strides in his game and understanding his role as the general of the team. He should have a field day against Dallas as long as he doesn't take bad shots and turn the ball over, which he has been prone to doing. I'm interested in the match ups against Dirk. I'm wondering if Durant will rise and say "I'm guarding Dirk." I'm sure Coach Brooks will have mostly Serge Ibaka on him with Durant and Collison taking turns. Should be a good one, though I'm sure it's not going to get high television ratings. I'm scared of Dallas' savy and experience against OKC's youth and a lack of home court advantage. Nonetheless, I like Thunder in 6. 

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Chicago vs. Miami

Per Bill Simmons, the Heat supporting cast = Jabronis

I worry about this series and it's potential lopsidedness. Miami is capable of playing the same level of defense as the Chicago. The only problem is that Chicago has one guy they can rely on who gets his points primarily by one way, which is having the ball in his hands. That will make it easier for Miami to defend. Chicago will be able to have Kyle Korver out there more unlike the Atlanta series. Korver had nowhere to hide defensively against Crawford, Johnson, and Smith. In this series, he'll be able to hang around Mike Miller's corpse (though I shouldn't be too hard on him because he has a serious thumb injury he's had to deal with), James Jones, or maybe even Bibby or Chalmers who aren't the best of penetrators. Chicago also needs Boozer to make his game 6 performance against Atlanta a more common occurrence, which isn't very likely. To steal a line from Bill Simmons that made me laugh out loud, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are playing with a bunch of Jabronis. Nonetheless, they have just enough to take this whole thing if it all comes together. Miami in 6.