NBA finals preview
I sure did jinx the Spurs with that blog didn’t I?! The one time I begin pulling for the Spurs and sure enough they lose 4 straight. Oh well, easy come easy go. The Thunder is a pretty damn sweet consolation prize! And as I said in the Spurs blog the same applies here, the Thunder will be viewed as the ultimate good guys and the Heat will still be the ultimate villian and it will make for a phenomenal finals!
The big one to watch of course is James vs Durant. 1-2 in MVP voting this season. Probably the 2 best players in the game today. Both play the same position, both are total freaks athletically, and both are looking for their very first title.
But it’s not just that. Of course both teams have their big 3 players (James, Wade, Bosh vs Durant, Westbrook and Harden), and it will be an athletic showcase. It will be exciting basketball and you can expect the highlight reels to be full every night.
Now back to good v evil. OKC is the small market team that built it the “right way”. No big free agent signings, their big 3 were all drafted, one big trade (the Kendrick Perkins deal) and for the most part this team went from the bottom to the top together, even coach Scott Brooks.
Meanwhile everyone knows the Heat’s story by now. The worst part wasn’t “the Decision”. For me, the worst part was the obnoxious party they had the day after in Miami. Lebron saying “not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5…”, the commentator referring to them as the “3 kings”, the way they entered like the Undertaker would for a big match….it was just absurd. They all thought they were going to gravy train each other to titles every single season.
James needs this one bad. If he loses, he will be 0-2 in Miami, 0-3 in the finals overall. He came up HUGE at the end of the Boston series but this will be a different animal. The Thunder won’t get gassed, the Thunder will wear them out defensively, and the Thunder of course have the homecourt. A tough task for “the 3 kings”.
That’s why I’m calling the Thunder to take it in 7. Again, I believe this will be a terrific series. It has the ingredients to be one of the greatest NBA finals of all time. Again I will say it, if you don’t like the NBA you need to check out these finals. If they don’t get you into basketball nothing will!