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Monday, May 14, 2007
Torn about the playoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Admit it, you’re conflicted right now while watching these NBA playoff unfold. The old school in you is rooting for teams like the Pistons, Jazz and Spurs to find their way to the conference finals where fundamental basketball will get its proper showcase.
But there’s that other side, the feel-good side of you, that is pining for the Warriors and Suns to validate what we all think is the present takeover of the game by teams that play the basketball equivalent of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (or whatever name that stuff goes by these days).
Unfortunately, for those of us that love the wild and crazy up-tempo style, tradition appears to be on the path to glory. The Spurs are doing their usual to the Suns (punishing them inside and out showing that experience trumps explosiveness every time). And for every flashy Baron Davis dunk (I know you saw the way he posterized AK47 the other night), the Jazz have a Deron Williams-Carlos Boozer pick-and-roll play to mute that excitement.
If you love the game unconditionally, you’re probably not dealing with this type of internal conflict. But if you’re particular about how you like your basketball played, this postseason has been a great referendum on the state of the (NBA) game. And so far it’s a landslide for Dr. Naismith’s crew, the purists. Because the great takeover that everyone (me included) predicted a couple years ago when the Suns piled up all those wins playing fast and furious (and were anointed as the next generation), has been put on hold.
The great (championship) teams continue to show us that they can adapt to whatever style is being played and come out on top.
If the Suns are eliminated in a couple days, we’ll have all the proof we need. That style, as beautiful as it is to watch night after night, simply does not translate into winning big when it matters most (the Warriors gave us a great diversion from the norm and did us all a favor by slaying the Mavericks in Round 1, but they’re not on the same level as any of the other three teams in the West’s Final Four).
But there’s no doubt they are the most entertaining team of this or any recent playoffs I can remember. From the breathtaking pace they play at to the late-game meltdowns that seem to accompany every loss (somebody’s getting fined for those licks BD and Jason Richardson dished out Sunday night on Derek Fisher and Memo Okur, respectively). It’s like a reality show gone terribly wrong, the kind you just can’t stop watching.
And for the record, BD doesn’t have to do anything else in his career to go down as one of my favorite guys to have watched during his prime. He’s done more in this playoffs to earn a place in my basketball file cabinet than he could ever do in the future. How many players can absolutely dazzle and infuriate you during the same play? Seriously. He’s made me smile and shake my head more times in the past few weeks than I did all season watching your beloved Hawks (who by the way have only a week longer to wait before learning their fate in the May 22 draft lottery). Watching him has been like watching some college guy have one of those magical March Madness runs that causes you to bring him up every time there’s a conversation about the history of great tournament runs.
Speaking of great postseason runs, I’ve read with interest all of the continuing scapegoating for the postseason failures of both Dirk Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady and I just don’t get it. Haven’t we always reserved our ultimate praise for the great players until they come through on the biggest stage? The argument has been made, particularly in Dirk’s case, that no star can do it by alone (duh!). And I’ve even read explanations, from several friends in the business that I respect but don’t always agree with, that Jordan and Magic never won without their elite counterparts (Scottie Pippen in Jordan’s case and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy in Magic’s case) by their side. That defense is easily the most preposterous theory anyone could cook up for the fact that Dirk and T-Mac, in particular, just aren’t clutch players in the playoffs.
Hey, it happens. And check the history of the game. There were other great players, guys who will go down as transcendent talents, who simply never got it done at a championship level. It happens. No one has to make excuses for guys like Charles Barkley or Karl Malone. So I wish people would stop making them for Dirk and T-Mac (who don’t rank anywhere near where Barkley and Malone do on the list of the game’s all-time greats).
