Clearing up NBA misconceptions
Jun 21, 2013, 8:53 PM | Updated: 9:17 pm
The NBA Finals went the full seven games, but this wasn’t the best Finals we’ve ever seen — far from it. Four of the games ended in blowouts, and it wasn’t until Game 6 that the series truly hit its stride.
There was also a large amount of misstatements, misconceptions and misperceptions that were tossed about during the series. And now that it’s all over, I think we need to snuff these “mis”ses out so that they’re not allowed to linger, or worse yet, get repeated within earshot of me ever again.
#1: THE NBA IS A THUG LEAGUE – Ugh. Makes my skin crawl to hear it. Who exactly was the thug on the floor in the Finals? Tim Duncan? Chris Bosh? Granted, the crime rate in the NBA is higher than it is in the NFL or MLB, but not by much. The NFL has had 573 players arrested since 2000, and you don’t see the American sports fan refusing to watch the Super Bowl because of his or her high moral standard. Furthermore, NFL players only travel ten times per year, and the league isn’t forced to contend with having 19 and 20-year-olds on rosters, where NBA rules allow a player to join the league one year out of college. Don’t think for a second that the “cat’s away” theory along with the stupidity of youth with new money don’t play roles.
#2: DWYANE WADE IS STILL A SUPERSTAR – I know Wade was hurting this series, but he wasn’t incapable. Games four and seven proved that. However, not only was Wade not an asset for the Heat, he was a hindrance for most of the series. Not that plus-minus is a good indicator of production, but Wade’s was the worst of any player in the series. And forget the headband, LeBron James stormed his team back in Game 6 because he lost Wade to the bench.
#3: DWYANE WADE IS NOT THE MOST UNSELFISH PERSON IN THE WORLD – Magic Johnson was a great basketball player and he’s a great businessman and ambassador for the sport of basketball. But he is dreadfully awful at every other thing he’s done in life, including the role of television analyst. “You are the most unselfish human being on Earth,” Johnson told Wade. Let me get this straight, there are people all over the globe who sacrifice their lives for the less fortunate, receiving little to no pay for their efforts, and they beat themselves up for losing one person for every hundred they provide a better life for, and Dwyane Wade is the most unselfish person on Earth because he decided to play second-fiddle to the best basketball player in the world en route to winning two championships and making millions of dollars in the process? No. He’s not even in the top one billion of most unselfish people in the world.
#4: LEBRON JAMES IS A CHOKER – I’m a fan of LeBron James and I fully admit that he played mysteriously scared during the 2011 NBA Finals against Dallas. And if he hadn’t, the team would have been celebrating a third straight title Thursday night. But James’ numbers in Games 6 and 7 of playoff series are the best in NBA history. James has taken the last criticism his haters have of him and he’s blown it to shrapnel.
#5: THIS HAS BEEN A TERRIBLE NBA SEASON – That’s what I heard from a little old lady at the gym who saw that I was watching SportsCenter rather than cranking out squat-thrusts. “This has been a terrible NBA season,” she said. I could have agreed and let it slide. I didn’t. “You must be a Suns fan,” I said. “Not anymore,” she yelped before Danny DeVito threw her off a moving train. Look, you can’t toss a blanket over an entire product just because your last personal experience with it was a bad one. In other words, just because you had a hair in your soup at Spago, that doesn’t mean Wolfgang Puck is a sucky chef.
#6: THEY DON’T PLAY DEFENSE – When’s the last time you watched an NBA game? 1984? The defense in the league is incredible. The speed of the game, the length of the players, it’s why a college star like Adam Morrison can’t play in the NBA. It’s not that one morning he woke up and he miraculously couldn’t shoot the basketball anymore. It’s because he can’t get off a shot!
#7: POPOVICH CHOKED IN GAME SIX – He didn’t choke. Now, you can criticize his decision to bench Tony Parker during a critical juncture of a critical game. That’s what being a sports fan is all about. But I assure you that the best basketball coach on the planet didn’t forget that Parker wasn’t on the floor.
#8: THE HEAT BOUGHT THEIR CHAMPIONSHIPS – Nope. Remember, there’s a salary cap in the NBA. The Heat just decided to use the large majority of their cap on three players and it was the right thing to do. And yes, the NBA’s cap is a soft cap. And yes, the Heat are over that cap and forced to pay luxury tax. But they have legally built the roster within the NBA’s cap rules, and every other team is afforded the same opportunity.
#9: DAVID STERN SUCKED AS A COMMISSIONER – David Stern is an arrogant gentleman. He has made many decisions that I’ve disagreed with over his 30 years as a commissioner, the latter years being his worst. And I, as much as anyone, believe he screwed the Suns out of an NBA championship after the Robert Horry-Steve Nash hip check. However, the NBA was about to fold when Stern took it over. The Magic-Larry Era saved the league. The Jordan Era took it to unbelievable heights. And the current product is as good as the league has ever showcased. Looking at his 30 years as a whole, Stern was actually a very good commissioner.
#10: THE BIG 3 – That’s all we heard going into the Finals. The Big 3 of San Antonio versus The Big 3 of Miami. Didn’t turn out that way. The role players were HUGE in this series. The Spurs were carried by the hot shooting of Danny Green, Gary Neal and Kawhi Leonard. The Heat were better when Wade and Bosh were on the bench. Then, when it came to deciding the series, the Big One (LeBron James) took over.
