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As spring rolls around and soon turns over into summer, the sports world becomes a little more intriguing to a sports junkie like myself. The first round of the NBA Playoffs are underway and needless to say the action has been filled with the ever present motto that TNT tries to pound into your head during every commercial break: "Drama." It is ironic that the station is jam-packed with shows that keep you on the edge of your seat, because the Playoffs exemplifies drama in a way that is not matched by any other sport.
Growing up as a young boy I watched countless games and soon began to be enthralled with the different amounts of intensity and focus that is shown by teams when the closing month of basketball comes to a close, compared to a normal regular season game. This year especially has turned out to have many of the most enthralling and interesting match ups in years. The Playoffs truly puts every play, every pass and every shot under a scrutinized watch that causes some players to crumble under the immense pressure and some rise above it and prevail. The true ballers come out and excel with a flare for the dramatic and a sense of uncanny determination in manic basketball situations.
This year we came into the early rounds knowing a few things: the veteran Pistons and Spurs are going to be a as tough as junkyard dogs to knock off in a lengthy seven game slugfest. But the thing that really stood out to me this year was the number of teams that haven't proven much, to have earned the title of "favorite" in any one of the series. You have players like Mr. Nowitzki, Number 8, Lebron "wanna be king" James, and Steve "I'm a short white guy from Canada" Nash, trying to prove the doubters wrong, that think that they can't take each of their unique situations and carry their squad all the way to the championship.
In the East, its basically the Pistons just holding serve until the Finals and the other seven teams trying to battle it out. Each team showing off what they can do until they run into the "band saw" that is the Pistons, who are truly art in motion when they are on top of their game. Whether it was the young, "tough as the neighborhood bully" Chicago Bulls, or the capable, and steady plethora of scorers that the Washington Wizards posses, or even the Nets led by the "Three Amigos". All hoping to steal a series and somehow make a claim for respect in the Eastern conference. It's like watching Good Charlotte trying to explain to people that they are kings of the punk world. It is flat out ridiculous! The Pistons, on the other hand, are writing up the script for a dynasty and no one seems to take notice. Good riddance to teams like Miami who think they can pull off the idea of bringing in high priced free agents that have never gelled before and expect them to take the ship in the East. Although the Cavaliers and Wizards series was truly a heart-stopping series that showcased a shoot out of two young stars in Bron James and Gilbert Arenas. I also believed that most viewers enjoyed the series of the "fresh out of college" Bulls forcing the veteran led Heat coached by the "old as a dinosaur" coach in Pat Riley.
Switching gears to the Western conference, brings about a totally different outlook for the playoffs. We know at least one thing, as a fan admiring the beauty of the beginning of the race for the O'Brien trophy; the Spurs will be there and will need to be exposed in a few areas that haven't been breached, for them to be taken down. You have your couple of teams that believe their cohesion of players could shoot down the walking giant that is San Antonio. Dallas led by their German thoroughbred, Dirk Nowitski, that brings back shades of Bird every time he begins to take a game over in the fourth quarter. But not to be ignored is the "other" L. A. teams. One, that embarrassed Denver in a way that was flat out violating to watch and hard not to cringe at! Some would say with the sneaky lead of the mop top point guard of Nash, the title contenders might have some issues on their hands. In my opinion the most compelling team in the playoffs is the Lakers. The situation between Mr. Ego himself (Bryant), and Phil "I have more rings than a pawn shop" Jackson, is like watching a vegetarian trying to eat a strip steak, it's an ugly scene. To my surprise and sports minds around, the Laker show has found a way to push the Suns to a seventh game in a series that has had everything asked for, in a first round match up. Am I the only person who wants to shake Raja Bell's hand for laying out number 8?...I don't think so! Needless to say the stage is set for a second round and on that will bring writers, fans, and junkies around the world to think back to this year's playoffs as one that could go down in the history books as one of the most entertaining and well played playoffs. If what was mentioned in the above article did not drip drama, then apparently I have to go on a ride on the obvious train.
This is the polish kid signing off.