NBA Final Fiasco

Imagine my dismay as I returned home from a friend’s house a little later than originally planned May 31st (catching up on the Sopranos), turned on my laptop and loaded ESPN.com...only to find out that it actually had happened. King James had arrived. And I missed it. Guess you could say it completely slipped the old mind. Even though I'd never been a fervent LBJ fan, it's obviously not an option to overlook his raw talent and potential for greatness. We were all just waiting to be a "witness". And I was late for the bus. Of course I saw the highlights, then watched a replay of the game, then watched the highlight reel again. Amazing. And although people say he slept walked through the season and never seemed to put it into 5th gear, he had, for all intents and purposes, a great year (maybe not the year the casual fan was hoping for) and had positioned his team for a run to the Finals.

Take a look at his season stats (top) vs. his postseason stats (bottom) and see where he really stepped it up and where maybe he could in the future.

78 78 40.9 .476 .319 .698 1.10 5.70 6.70 6.0 1.60 .71 3.21 2.20 27.3
G GS MPG FG% 3p% FT% OFF DEF TOT APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
16 16 45.1 .434 .309 .766 1.40 6.90 8.30 8.3 1.88 .50 2.69 2.00 25.8

The strange thing about this is he didn't step it up where you would imagine a scorer would. Both his FG% and 3p% are down, albeit slightly, it still reflects in his scoring per game. However, there are a couple things more important than how many points King James can put on the board. Clearly he can catch fire, as seen in Game 5 when he dropped 29 of the last 30 points for the Cavs and the final 25, so doing that will never be a serious issue for him. First, his free throw percentage actually was raised 7% in the postseason as compared to the regular season, in a time of a year where free throw shooting becomes like a power running game in the NFL Playoffs, which is to say in a word, necessary. His rebounds per game went up by nearly 2 a game; his steals were raised marginally while his personal fouls decreased which would seem to highlight a stronger defensive intensity and smarter overall play. Finally, his assists per game climbed about 1.5 per game while his turnovers went down by .5 a game. It's his playmaking abilities are what will keep them with a snowball's chance in Phoenix of beating San Antonio in the finals.

We need this to happen. Well, at least I do. It’s mostly because, really, anything else at this point might be considered a failure after his breakout game. Any casual fan who actually tunes in to watch this series is going to expect Lebron to outplay a Spurs team that has its methods down to a science. A championship caliber team year in and year out, they’re anchored by Tim Duncan’s steady hand, Bowen’s dirty play, Manu Ginobili’s wild and reckless abandon, and Tony Parker’s penetration and playmaking. They have veterans that can hit shots in Michael Finley and Robert Horry (who could be useful in a game of hockey as well) and they’re run by one of the smartest coaches in the league year in and year out. So what does that spell against the lowly Cavs, who some claim is the worst team to ever represent a conference in the finals? Well, disaster, really.

The Cavaliers only chance is to keep every game close until well into the fourth and hope that LBJ can finish the Spurs off. They will have to out-hustle, out-rebound, out-defend the well oiled war machine. They’ll have to avoid stupid turnovers, stupid fouls, and stupid coaching. They will have to stop everybody but Duncan. And if they can manage to turn the last 5 minutes of every game into a legitimately close game, someone other than Lebron might have to step up and make a real shot. Because as much as we want the King to single-handedly beat the Spurs in a 7 game series, the Spurs want to stop him that much more, and he will have to display a killer instinct in 5th gear, that maybe we just haven’t seen yet.

Now having said all that (and then some), the Spurs are going to win this series and it’s been a sad, but evident truth ever since they eliminated my beloved Suns in six. I don’t care if Cleveland won both games in the regular season against them. It won’t matter. My guess, and keep in mind I’m no NBA prognosticator, is that the Cavs have a chance to come out and surprise the Spurs in game one, a la Allen Iverson and the 76ers the Lakers in 2001 and jump out to a quick series lead. (If you think about it, there are even a few similarities between the series. First of all, one team’s a dynasty with great players and the other is a crappy team with one great player. Secondly, Eric Snow will have played on both lesser teams, which has got to be depressing for him. Also, both of his coaches on the largest stage for him have the last name Brown! The first one was Larry, this one, Mike, not as good, which must also make him sad.) But even if LBJ and Co. can do that, they shouldn’t be able to take more than 2 against the Spurs over the course of this series. I hope I’m wrong (and no, not in the aspect where the Cavs win one, or get swept) but that I’m wrong about this the way everyone was wrong about the Heat last year. And what will it take for that to happen? Lebron will have to go to a level we haven’t seen in some time. He’ll have to evoke the spirits of MJ, Magic, and Bird to do this. He’ll need to win it in the post, on the break, on the boards, from beyond the arc, and at the line. He’ll need to boost his teammate’s confidence to a level where they believe they’re never out of the game so long as he’s out on the floor. He needs to will them to victory by picking up all the slack, putting the entire city of Cleveland on his back. And we will all have bared witness.