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NBA Finals Are Set
Monday, June 01, 2009
The best advice I ever got regarding errors:
When you make a mistake, acknowledge it and take full responsibility. Then be sure to learn from it so as not to repeat it.
In regards to the NBA playoffs we were a sorry 0 for 4. Not only were we hitless, the Eastern Finals had to go down as a pair of strike outs on three pitches.
Looking.
Out West, well all we could manage was a pair of meek pop ups to shallow center field.
Eastern Conference
We, like so many others, anointed the Cavaliers - picked them not only to win the East, but to dominate it, and then go on to win their first-ever NBA title. Against the Magic, we gave Cleveland the series in five games, figuring the Cavs would hold serve on their home floor and split a pair, at worst, in Orlando.
Instead the Magic shocked the Cavs in game one, held serve in Florida then closed out the Cavs when they returned home for game six. Throughout the series, the Magic made the Cavaliers look extremely average.
Superman Dwight Howard, held somewhat in check by Kendrick Perkins of the Celtics, demonstrated the importance of a dominating big man in the NBA. It was only fitting that he would throw down 40 in the final clincher.LeBron also demonstrated yet another NBA fact. You don't win at the professional level simply because you have the best player.
There is this thing called chemistry. There is another aspect called teamwork. And a third called coaching.
Those three elements are critical to overcome what is often referred to as playoff adversity. After dominating the first two rounds, the Cavs faced their first playoff adversity when Orlando took games one and three.
They responded miserably.
The Magic, don't forget, were down 3-2 to the C's and had to play game seven in the Garden. Talk about handling playoff adversity.
Western Conference
We picked the Lakers in six provided a certain scenario transpired. The Lakers had to hold serve at home in games one and two.
If they didn't, it was our assessment that such a result meant that the Lakers had not learned from their prior adversity: the loss in the finals a year ago and the near failure in round two against Houston.
We stipulated that the key for Denver was to grab one of the first two games in LA - that would be a sign the Lakers didn't get it and that Denver could take the series.
We had it going seven if Denver did earn one early with the Nuggets prevailing. Only if the Lakers swept the first two would it be the Lakers in six.
Sadly for Nuggets fans the upstart Western finalists could have easily won the first two in LA, probably should have for that matter. And had they done so, well things would have been vastly different.
But a failure to execute in the fourth quarter, at crunch time, separates the men from the boys in the NBA. And the Lakers were the team to execute.
And when the Nuggets faced real serious playoff adversity for the first time, game six, it was a complete and abysmal failure. The Nuggets looked almost disinterested when it mattered most.
So, though we offered a scenario for the Lakers in six, we go this one wrong also.
Admit, Move On, Don't Repeat
So there! We have admitted our mea culpa's, openly.
We underestimated the talent of the Magic and overestimated that of both the Cavaliers and the Nuggets. And the Lakers proved they did get it, even if it did take them a loss on their home floor to take that step.
Those are our mistakes.
I assure you we will not repeat them.
So for the finals we will not make the mistake of underestimating the Magic. We will also not make the mistake of underestimating the Lakers.
Leaving us, regretfully, to acknowledge we would be best to keep any of our current thoughts to ourselves.
Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison.
4:21 PM
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