LoVeNSpuRs
06-06-2007, 11:22 AM
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I'm not going to say that the Cavaliers are incapable of upsetting the Spurs -- not after watching them put down the supposedly unbeatable Pistons. If LeBron James turns out to be the best player on the floor, and if his teammates knock down shots like the Warriors did to Dallas, then the biggest Finals upset in 30 years (going back to the Trail Blazers' 1977 win over Philadelphia) is possible.
But let's be realistic. So long as they emerge with their health intact, the Cavs will only benefit from this experience. Even if they're swept.
Not only have they leapfrogged their own timetable to reach the Finals -- there are players on the upcoming draft board who are older than 22-year-old LeBron -- but they're about to receive the most honest evaluation of how far they stand from winning a championship and what they need to get there.
People like to complain that the Spurs are boring. I say we should all be grateful. If it weren't for a franchise like the Spurs maintaining the high standard for team basketball as handed down from Bill Russell's Celtics, then the NBA really would lose its way as a traditional sports league. Without teams like San Antonio this whole enterprise might devolve into a reality show based on marketing and celebrity and preening for the cameras.
The easiest thing now would be to anoint James as the new King of the World before he's really earned it. Someday he'll surely reach that highest ground, but first the Spurs are going to put him through a most rigorous boot camp. They're going to show the utmost respect for him by bodying him out of his comfy positions and bruising him and reminding him that, if he really wants to be the best, he has to regard the court as a prize-fight ring rather than a TV studio.
James already knows what they're about to teach him. But it's a rite of passage that he's going to have to absorb the hard way.
Even if this becomes an ugly series and the Cavs can't win a game -- which would surprise me -- the result will be promising because it will be the truth. It will provide real feedback that the Cavs can apply to improve their team. In that sense Cleveland can't lose. Nobody expected the Cavs to be here, and it's hard to say how much the Pistons' passive play helped them along. But now they're about to run headlong into the NBA's version of the 1967 Green Bay Packers. Over the coming fortnight San Antonio will ruthlessly expose Cleveland's weaknesses and strengths in a most objective way.
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** Just ONE of the reasons I love the Spurs so much. They represent themselves and our city so well. It is truly something to be proud of. **
The rest of the Article if you're interested
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/06/05/notes/index.html
I'm not going to say that the Cavaliers are incapable of upsetting the Spurs -- not after watching them put down the supposedly unbeatable Pistons. If LeBron James turns out to be the best player on the floor, and if his teammates knock down shots like the Warriors did to Dallas, then the biggest Finals upset in 30 years (going back to the Trail Blazers' 1977 win over Philadelphia) is possible.
But let's be realistic. So long as they emerge with their health intact, the Cavs will only benefit from this experience. Even if they're swept.
Not only have they leapfrogged their own timetable to reach the Finals -- there are players on the upcoming draft board who are older than 22-year-old LeBron -- but they're about to receive the most honest evaluation of how far they stand from winning a championship and what they need to get there.
People like to complain that the Spurs are boring. I say we should all be grateful. If it weren't for a franchise like the Spurs maintaining the high standard for team basketball as handed down from Bill Russell's Celtics, then the NBA really would lose its way as a traditional sports league. Without teams like San Antonio this whole enterprise might devolve into a reality show based on marketing and celebrity and preening for the cameras.
The easiest thing now would be to anoint James as the new King of the World before he's really earned it. Someday he'll surely reach that highest ground, but first the Spurs are going to put him through a most rigorous boot camp. They're going to show the utmost respect for him by bodying him out of his comfy positions and bruising him and reminding him that, if he really wants to be the best, he has to regard the court as a prize-fight ring rather than a TV studio.
James already knows what they're about to teach him. But it's a rite of passage that he's going to have to absorb the hard way.
Even if this becomes an ugly series and the Cavs can't win a game -- which would surprise me -- the result will be promising because it will be the truth. It will provide real feedback that the Cavs can apply to improve their team. In that sense Cleveland can't lose. Nobody expected the Cavs to be here, and it's hard to say how much the Pistons' passive play helped them along. But now they're about to run headlong into the NBA's version of the 1967 Green Bay Packers. Over the coming fortnight San Antonio will ruthlessly expose Cleveland's weaknesses and strengths in a most objective way.
----
** Just ONE of the reasons I love the Spurs so much. They represent themselves and our city so well. It is truly something to be proud of. **
The rest of the Article if you're interested
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/06/05/notes/index.html