Jumat, 21 Juni 2013

Perspective

"Good job Heat.  Not the outcome that I wanted, but easily one of the most competitive NBA Finals that I've ever seen...  #spursfan  #proudofit" -@coachatx-



2013 NBA Finals

My Prediction/Actual Result

Spurs over the Heat in 7 games/Heat in 7 games



Good afternoon everyone.  I'm about to do my second full-scale hoops post in the past 3 days, but before I address the surely somber mood of a South Texas fanbase that nearly watched its basketball team win its fifth NBA Championship in the last 15 years, let me remind everyone to keep things in perspective.     Although I'm about to give a lot of attention to basketball here, I do know what's really important, and what actually matters...  For example, six months ago I was just a couple of hours away from giving someone arguably the most important Christmas card that I have ever written, and the opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to that person for playing a pivotal role in lifting my spirits after my Vegas debacle of last August.  I never had that chance due to a turn of events that was nothing short of stunning, and I'm sure that anyone who is reading this has also been through several trying times of their own.  My point is, don't lose sight of the fact that this is BASKETBALL that we're talking about...

Okay..., having said that, the series between the Heat and the Spurs was everything that I expected.  Last year Miami eliminated the Thunder in five games, and that was an Oklahoma City team that still had James Harden.  Regarding Harden going to the Rockets, I am never going to understand the logic behind that...  Anyway, I anticipated a great series (which I why I wasn't surprised, and actually predicted that it would go the full seven games), and I can't think of any other combination of teams that would have given us a better Finals.  I made the comment before the series began that I wouldn't have bet on this series, because I thought that it would be that close...  I will tell you right now that I won't be watching SportsCenter for a week...  This has become the norm for me when my team comes up short in their quest for a title, and as an adult, I have been fortunate in that my favorite teams have been involved in championship games on several occasions.  The sad thing about that previous statement is that I "lived and died" with my favorite teams' successes or failures much more when I was younger (see the 'perspective' paragraph up above), and my favorites didn't fare quite as well when I was in high school and college.  In my lifetime, the Spurs are 4-1 in the NBA Finals, the Steelers are 6-2 in the Super Bowl, and the Red Sox are 2-2 in the World Series (I didn't "fact-check" those, so let me know if there's a mistake)...  I'm also a Montreal Canadiens fan, but due to the severe lack of NHL coverage that I've experienced since moving to Texas 100 years ago, it's just not the same...  Anyway, when one of my teams loses in a playoff series (and conference championship losses are pretty tough to take also), I usually survive by not watching ESPN for a couple of days.  I also walked for a couple of hours last night just to blow off steam after the game (I've told you before that I do a lot of my serious thinking when I walk), and this was pretty impressive considering that I did 300 situps throughout the course of last night's contest.  And yes, I did watch last night's game (as well as Game 6) in the privacy of my own home.  I have a lot of patience and restraint, but I would have WANTED TO punch somebody if I had to deal with some of the innocuous comments that I surely would have heard...  :)

Okay, so where do we "start?..."  We had a 7 point game last night - that's another made Spurs 3 and 1 missed Heat 3 from being a 1 point game...  Just like in Game 6, there were several opportunities for the Spurs to capitalize on.  As I alluded to briefly in my post on Wednesday, but will touch on in greater detail now, any missed opportunity during the course of the game is just as important as what transpires in the final seconds.  The media (and the public at large) tend to focus so much on what happens at the end of a game, while disregarding what took place throughout the course of the contest.  Let me give you an example of this from when I was coaching:  sometimes kids would be so devastated because they made the final out of the game at the plate, or missed the game-tying/game-winning shot, etc...  I would always point out to them that it wasn't their fault that we lost, and that the whole team missed out on opportunities throughout the course of the game.  "Did you make the only out of the game?"  "Did you miss the only shot of the game?"  This brings me to a couple of points...  First, one person doesn't win or lose a game, and the people who are "LeBron's legacy this or that" today (it's online too - you can't get away from it) - PLEASE...  If you talk about last night's game without mentioning Wade..., or Battier..., or Chalmers..., you're just disrespecting those players.  My second point is that the Spurs missed so many shots last night (I don't even want to look up the number), and had plenty of turnovers, etc..., that if you want to try to pin the game just on Duncan's missed tip-in attempt, or Parker's shooting, or Ginobili's turnovers, or Green's shooting, etc..., it's not just one person.  I saw a few people last night who were blaming the whole Finals on Ginobili, and these were "Spurs fans."  I'm assuming that they just want to disregard Game 5, or send back the last 3 trophies that we won, or even the 3 that cut the lead from 6 to 3 last night...  Don't get me started...  ;)  While on Ginobili, I will continue to enjoy the train of thought that his being fouled in the lane in a ONE POINT GAME late in Game 6 was totally irrelevant and that the non call didn't play a role in the game's outcome...  #yeah  Back to last night, where Green disappeared during the last 2 games (and let's be quick to forget how he CARRIED THE TEAM at times during the first 5 games), Kahwi Leonard played extraordinarily well, especially for a 21-year-old...  I would say without hesitation that the Spurs were pretty much completely gassed last night, and I think that played a part in the decision to give Miami's outside shooters so much room.  It takes a lot of effort to play defense, and the Spurs key players got the majority of the minutes in Game 6.  On the flipside, although Bosh wasn't scoring last night, he did play a key role for the Heat, because you can't just unleash Duncan.  That being said, it was important for somebody else to step up for Miami in addition to James and Wade, which is why the offense from Chalmers (highly disregarded) and Battier was crucial for the Heat.  Anyway, for some of the reasons that I avoid SportsCenter for a week (HE won the series, HE lost the series, etc...), my facebook is also annoying me, and I don't get that from people who are supposed to be fans of a team.  It reminds me of the people who go "shouting from the rooftops" after a divorce or a bad break-up (i.e., let's focus on and broadcast every negative thing that we can think of, but not give any credence to the good...).  Of course, if people avoided this, there might not be any divorces or bad break-ups, right???  ;)  Anyway, without notes, these are just some thoughts off the top of my head.  As for the Spurs, I think that it's extremely likely that this is their last title run (with this core group).  Duncan and Ginobili are approaching the end of their careers, and when they're gone, Parker is going to get A LOT of attention, so that will be something to figure out.  This group was also fortunate to enter and proceed through the playoffs without anyone having to miss games due to injury.  Like I said above in my tweet, good series Heat.  Both teams had numerous opportunities throughout the course of the series to just put their tails between their legs and walk away, but instead we were treated to a heck of a Finals...

Now for some quick "odds and ends" (and I'm sure that Alison will appreciate being called an "odd and end")...  :)  During the course of my two-hour journey last night, I made several laps around the Square, and in addition to the NUMEROUS people asking me, "why aren't you working tonight," I also ran into the "famous" Alison (take THAT Alyssa!)...  :P  This is the same Alison that was the Vice President of the Student Body here at Texas State before graduating in May, and today she embarks to Tucson, Arizona on the first leg of her journey into the "real world."  Something that I realized about Alison last night (it finally "clicked" with me) is that if you see her before or when she sees you, you'll exchange your normal pleasantries, etc...  However, if Alison sees you first, you'll be greeted by a "HEEEEEYYYYY!!!" the second that she spots you...  :)  I want to wish Alison the best of luck as she goes out to the desert to hang out with the Wildcats for a week and a half.  Also, let me wish Belinda good luck as she competes in the Adela Classic tomorrow in Austin (see, I got the ATX in here also, in addition to bodybuilding - this blog covers everything)...  ;)  I would be remiss here if I didn't also mention my friend Leanne, who won't be able to compete tomorrow due to injury, but who has also been working extremely hard to get her first shot on that stage...  #veryproud  :)

Have a great weekend and I'll see you again on Monday!


                    

                        




1 komentar:

  1. This post was also stolen from my blog at http://bikinihill.blogspot.com/ and I will continue to report you until you remove all of my posts...

    BalasHapus