Well, Well, Well…
It comes as no surprise to most that Kobe & the Lakers are headed back to the NBA Finals for the 6th time since 2000, their 30th overall.
I’ve been pulling for the Nuggets in this series but, as a 90’s Bulls fan it always feels good to see “Phil Doing Work”, Coach Jackson has got to be considered the greatest coach off all times. Yes, his coaching has had some serious help having guys named Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, O’Neal, & Bryant on his championship teams but, think about how many teams have great players and never win it all.
Last night the Lakers showed the world how you close out a series. I really like the Nuggets or Thuggets which ever you prefer it’s just not their time.
Many think this is the year of Kobe-LeBron, however I don’t think so. I have two different takes on the subject..Firstly, this could be the year that Kobe shows the world that he can lead the Lakers not only to the finals but to a championship without the “Big Fella” or it could be another that year we see the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and not the league MVP lead his team to the championship.
Good news for Orlando fans…
Over the past ten seasons when the Defensive Player of the Year is from the East and they make it to the NBA Finals they are 2 for 3 in winning championships. Four time winner Ben Wallace is 1 for 2 winning the finals in 2004 with the Pistons, Kevin Garnett was last year’s winner of the award and of course the Celtics won it all.
Bad news for the Cavs…
Since 2000-01 there have only been three MVP’s to make it to the finals and only one to win the championship & that was Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs back in 2002-2003.
With all the Kobe-LeBron talk nobody is even mentioning that the Eastern Conference Finals features the winners of the most prestigious awards in the league other than the championship.
If defense wins championships I expect Orlando to win the East tonight.
And much like last year, if defense wins championships, I’ll let you fill in the blank..
The other angle that I have yet to year from any of my colleagues is that Hall of Famer Patrick is on the brink of finally winning a championship ring. I understand that it may come as a coach but, let’s be honest a ring is a ring. I can name so many of the great players that never won a ring.
Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Dominique Wilkins, & Ewing headline the class to never win it all and honestly if these guys had the opportunity to get a ring, they would take it.
Ewing’s 1994 & 1999 Knicks teams made it to the finals however, he was outworked by the ’94 league MVP Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets and in 1999 the Spurs 1-2 punch of David Robinson & Tim Duncan proved to be way too much for the 7foot giant.
A 2x Olympic gold medal winner (’84,’92), ’86 NBA Rookie of the Year, and 11x All Star, the only thing that Ewing hasn’t accomplished is to be crowned NBA Champion.
Tonight as Coach Ewing and the Magic look to eliminate the Cavs, I’ll be silently cheering for Ewing.
I’m Rob Calloway & I am the Mad Sports Fan.
Email me: madsportsfan at gmail.com or follow me on twitter @theotherrc.