A Date With Destiny

It's as if LeBron James & Co. are sort of coasting through these playoffs. Granted they have lost the first game of each round to upstarts that were touted on giving the Los Angeles Lakers the best run for their money only to have their respective dreams go pop💥 inside the #bubble. 

And now The Finals are in sight. The Lakers should be able to douse the flames 🔥 of the latest hottest upstart. Yet what possibly awaits for them on the Eastern side of things may be the fight that they are looking for.

The Miami Heat, barring a reversal of that which has transpired thus far (at this writing they were up 2-1 in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals), will be the foil that eagerly awaits LBJ & Co. Eagerly it would seem because, as the great Michael Wilbon points out, their feerless leader is the only player in the league with a .500 winning percentage vs the King🤴🏾. 

Jimmy Butler would be that feerless leader. Jimmy Butler is the only NBA player without a losing record in their career vs LeBron James. A mark of 17-17 to be exact. (Thanks again for those numbers Mr. Wilbon). 

We won't get into everything about his background. All you need to know is that it made Butler tough.* It also makes sense that Butler would find a team with the same DNA which resides in him, in the form of the Miami Heat. Pat Riley and Erik Spolestra are about as tough as it gets this side of Gregg Popovich and Bill Belichick. 

What seems like ages ago, both Riles and Coach Spo had the King 🤴🏾 in their employ. You know the history of that relationship and its time in South Beach: mutual respect on both sides. Mutual respect which may have fell by the wayside when the King 🤴🏾 informed these men that he would be taking his talents back to his hometown of Akron for the benefit of the city of Cleveland. Riley would be crestfallen about the departure; opposite of the elation he most certainly expressed upon the King's 🤴🏾arrival. 

Riley doesn't seem to be the vindictive type. He also doesn't seem to be the type to let memories of "little things" like the departure of "a king and his court" fade away into the far recesses of his mind.

It would seem then that the basketball 🏀 gods have divined a path of jurisprudence that will result in a meeting at the mount between the two factions, as facilitated by their teams. Riley, not that he could ever be accused of being vindictive (as mentioned), will finally have the opportunity to prove to LeBron why he should never have left the Sunshine State.

A victory in The Finals, would not only add to his trove of rings as a player, coach, and front office executive, but even decidedly more important, would keep the 4th NBA Championship (which LeBron so obviously craves and desires in his quest to be entered into the pantheon of NBA players who have won four, five, or more titles) out of his reach. At least for now. At least for this, the longest season in NBA history. 

Riley has his foil in the form of one Jimmy Butler. Will the opportunity to finally show LeBron why he should have finished his career in South Beach be within his grasp? Will Butler be given the opportunity to show that he is just as tough as one LeBron James? 

We already know Butler's personal W-L record speaks to that toughness anytime he and James have occupied the same 94 feet. What we don't know is if there will be a date with destiny that involves the Heat and the Lakers deciding the fates of their respective franchises and, almost more importantly, their respective leaders: James and Butler. 

Time will tell. 

Maybe this thought process will not ever even matter if and when the Lakers and Celtics bump heads in The Finals. Again. For a record-setting twelfth time. If that happens we will have afforded ourselves, once more, the best that the NBA has to offer. 

Just don't tell that to Riley, Spo, & Co.

*Note  When Butler left the Philadelphia 76ers to join the Miami Heat last summer I questioned the move. I felt that Butler appeared to present himself seemingly as a selfish individual who wanted the spotlight all to himself. That notion couldn't be further from the truth than the Sun is to Pluto. He has found the team that he was meant to be with. He has found the executive and coach that believes in him. He has found like-minded teammates that believe in him as he does them. Most of all, he believes in himself

It Was Written...

Is this season just a prelude? Is this, the 2016 NBA season, the 71st installment of such, which has now spilled into 2017 calendar year, a prologue of a story which many believe is already written? The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, the former the defending champions and the latter the recently reloaded, are the two teams most expect to be the finalists by the time The Finals roll around in June. And with good reason. The two have split the title of NBA Champion between themselves over the last two seasons and have shown no signs of letting up. Most believe the Warriors to currently hold the edge over the Cavaliers as they added a former MVP by the name of Kevin Durant to a team which boasts a two-time MVP of its own in Stephen Curry. The Cavaliers themselves are a well-oiled machine, pulled by the locomotive that is LeBron James, and need to make no argument for why they will be there in the end as well. And although for most, that this season is already a forgone conclusion, barring major injury or act of God, there does not seem to be a palpable pulse beating in either the direction of apathy or intrigue. And it is not as if there should be a definitive feeling either way.

The 1990s saw the Chicago Bulls win six championships during the decade. The Bulls won back-to-back-to-back titles twice, as those reigns were broken up by some mere mortal's quest to be decent at baseball, ultimately winning their six championships over the span of eight years. The notion that the Bulls would have won eight in a row, while adding Hakeem Olujawon, to the list of Hall of Famers such as Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Gary Payton to succumb at the hands of the aforementioned mortal, stands as plausible. Imagine if the 90s did provide eight consecutive titles crafted by Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson. It would be akin to the Boston Celtics era of dominance in the 1960s provided by the efforts of the incomparable Bill Russell and Red Auerbach. These two dynasties during the height of their powers gave NBA fans at the time the same result over and over, whether they wanted it or not. Whether good or bad for the league, it is what it was. The same way in which it continues to be it is what it is today.

To say that the state of the NBA as it pertains to winning a championship or two is monopoly-driven endeavor, would be to acknowledge the history of how championships are one and spread out amongst not the entire league on a whole, but to a special select few franchises. Namely those that have been able to field teams which combine great teamwork and coaching with superstar talent and the killer-instincts that accompany said talent. The teams who fall under this distinction are those whom we name readily when it comes time to talk about just who has hoisted a championship banner in their respective arena's rafters. The aforementioned Celtics of the 60s fit the bill. The Los Angeles Lakers and (once again) Celtics teams of the 80s do as well. The previously referred to Bulls of the 90s are revered to the point of worship. The Lakers of the first three years of the new millennium take a backseat to no one. And the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat teams of recent memory give of fresh reminders of just how this thing works. In short, everyone gets invited to the party, but not everyone gets to dance.

As this season reaches the All-Star break, the fact that this campaign is more than halfway complete is a notion that is not lost amongst both players and fans alike, although both entities may process the thought in entirely different manners. For the player, to know where his team currently stands, and to understand what lies ahead within reason and within expectation; the opportunity to substantiate or create anew the narrative that this season is becoming, his is the perspective of faith and hope. The fans do the same as well, although their approach is one of hope and prayer. For some a hope that we get the championship round we all expect, and for others a prayer that this is not the beginning of a back-to-back-to-back-to back (well you get the idea) and forth between the Cavaliers and Warriors that completely excludes their own teams. You know, the ones that never get invited to dance that last dance.

The season is a prelude. Although it differs greatly from a book already printed for publishing, words, letters, and characters deeply embedded and unchangeable, an NBA season is quite similar in its structure and presentation. The difference between the two is subtle, yet sublime. The difference? The ink has already dried on the pages of the literary work of art. The ink is still drying on the pages of the annals of NBA history. Already written. Awaiting the drying breaths of air to be drawn and blown from the lips of players on teams that were already written.

THINGS WE LEARNED FROM SUPER BOWL 50: Peyton's Place

Leading up to Super Bowl 50, there was an innocuous stat which related something to the fact that the team wearing the white version of their uniform had won an alarming percentage of the games versus the team wearing colored uniforms in the last dozen or so Super Bowls. There also was the awareness that if Peyton Manning won this championship battle against the mighty Carolina Panthers he would then have the right to claim the sole spot at the top of the heap as the quarterback with the most wins of all time. An even 200 on the left side of the ledger. The ultimate referendum for his case as arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. Oh, and by the way, he would also be the first quarterback, ever, to win a Super Bowl for two different teams. It's not that those things mattered. It's just that they were some things to consider, heading into the big game.

Kobe Bryant had a throwback game for the ages the other night, scoring a game high 38, at the feeble age of 38, to lead his Los Angeles Lakers to a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He, like Manning, is approaching almost two decades playing the respective sport in which they have  dominated. He, like Manning, is on the precipice of calling it a career, with Manning yet to officially sign-off on the notion the he is all but washed up. It brought to mind a certain sentiment entering Super Bowl 50. Could Manning, at the geriatric age of 39, win one for his own personal Gipper? Could he dig in deep to that bag of tools and find the right piece for the job one more time for one more game? Could we see a rendition of a renaissance similar to the one Bryant had drawn only days earlier? The odds seemed unlikely, and judging by the sub-200 yards of total offense that the Denver Broncos generated (the lowest ever for a Super Bowl winning team mind you) for the entire game, that moment most certainly never came to pass. 

It didn't need to. And most importantly it didn't have to. Manning has spent the better part of his career being the focal point of his team's attack. Even in Indianapolis, during the heyday of the Colt's version of the Dallas Cowboys Triplets, it was he who took the brunt of the blame when a team he had once again positioned to get into the playoffs faltered, whether by his efforts or lack thereof. Throughout his career he was the quarterback every scout, coach, and fan knew he could and would be coming out of the University of  Tennessee: the ultimate franchise quarterback. The guy who could win three or four games in a season on his own, for the same team he was guiding perennially to ten-plus wins in a season every year, when it was just part of the expectations that were placed upon him. His naysayers would always mention that he could not even compare to his brother Eli, because he had won two Super Bowls with the Giants. Now that Peyton has won two Super Bowls, for two different teams and won 200 games, the first quarterback ever to hold this distinction (he can now cross those two things off of his NFL bucket list), there is no way (as of right now) that you can compare baby brother to big bro. This was never Eli's cross to bear, rather it was Peyton's really. It became his reality. Every season. And, most often, he would fulfill those expectations. Not that this is a referendum on the middlingness of one Eli Manning, although he has won two Super Bowls he has also anchored teams that have missed the playoffs entirely in multiple seasons. A disparaging remark which could never be made about Peyton (at least when he was healthy). Much is made about the futile efforts of Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills in their four forays into the "big game." However, not enough credit and appreciation is given for the sustained success of taking care of business in the regular season, and giving one's team a shot at contending for a title almost every year of one's career. This, as of now, is the definition of the difference between Peyton Manning and Eli Manning's respective careers. But this is not that time, nor that place...

So then, it was not necessary for Peyton to have a stellar game. The type of game that he's produced before. He has had those types of games before and still his teams would let him down. This victory in Super Bowl 50, which may have brought an end to this particular part of his career arc, would prove, just as the pitcher who pitches great and loses, or better yet, pitches poorly and wins, that which we all knew. That he has justly deserved a 2nd Super Bowl win for some time now. So it was that he relied on the strength of this 2015 version of the Denver Broncos. A team who, just two Super Bowls ago, fell prey to the type of defense they employed against the Panthers on Sunday night. The type of defense that makes you feel their hits. Years, even eras, later.

Another general sentiment amongst this scribe leading up to this game was the possibility that this current version of Orange Crush could be one for the ages. Would we be talking about them in the same manner that we do championship winning defenses like the 1985 Chicago Bears or the 2000 Baltimore Ravens? Judging by the expression on the up-till-that-point seemingly invincible Cam Newton's face it was definitely a defense for the ages. One of the Panthers players, okay it was Brandon Marshall, was overheard in winning locker room after the game saying something to the effect of how proud he was to play for the team that had the "best defense ever" to win a Super Bowl, with a face so serious Mike Singletary might have blinked. And for a moment the statement deserved some serious consideration. Yes, they may not be the '85 Bears, or even the '00 Ravens for the matter, but who they are are the 2016 Super Bowl champion Broncos, a team with a defense who's arguably had to deal with the most complex and explosive offenses the NFL has seen to date. And that is not even including the team that they recently defeated in the Panthers, who, although they may have been the highest scoring team in the NFL, with the greatest point differential; admittedly the benefactor of a solid defense and special teams who did much to aid the offense through scores off turnovers and favorable field position for the offense to capitalize upon, but rather the victories over the vanquished potent attacks of offenses led by the multiple-championship winning talents of Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady in their run through the playoffs just to have the opportunity to play in the big game and do all that has been described. So yes, in an era where quarterbacks and offenses are having their way week in week out during the course of an NFL season, we may just have to consider their place in the pantheon of all-time greatest defenses.

Peyton's got his place, and the 2016 Bronco's defense does too. 

It Was All Good Just A Year Ago...

When Glen Grunwald was unceremoniously relieved of his duties as general manager of the New York Knicks prior to the recently concluded 2013-2014 NBA season it signaled an end to the brief period of composure and consistency, hardly synonymous with Madison Square Garden, which had begun to permeate throughout the organization up until that point. The move came and went, largely unannounced by NBA insiders and hardly recognized by casual observers, but it would serve as a harbinger for the Knicks disastrous 2013-2014 campaign, signaling to the aforementioned observers of the Knicks, and the NBA at large, that all was still not well at Madison Square Garden. James Dolan was still in charge.

Fast-forward to the present. Derek Fisher, the former Los Angeles Laker (amongst other teams he has played for), has been recently installed as the head coach of the Knicks. The third hire of such a kind in the last three years, he has been on the job for all of less than two weeks. It has taken him less time than that to assess the situation at hand as it pertains to the current roster he has been given, as well as Carmelo Anthony's impending free agency. [As of this writing reports are that Anthony has indeed been true to his word of opting of his current Knicks deal (as is his right) a few hours early of the intended June 24th date he had given the media and Knicks front office.]

Fisher believes his team can win, and now. And why not? This is a Knicks team that won 54 games just a season before this season's 37 win debacle. Plagued by injuries to key players, player suspensions, and general dissent and apathy amongst the troops, the Knicks did their best to underwhelm the same city they had overwhelmed last year with thoughts of a title pursuit. So which team really is the Knicks team? That's hard to say depending on who you ask. If you ask Fisher he will say yes. 

Contingent and dependent upon the place where Anthony will sign in free-agency, a lion's share of what Fisher believes is tied into the fate that is the destination of that signature. A player of Anthony's stature is considered to be the building block of any organization. A team with championship aspirations would be fortunate to have him on their roster. Fisher knows this. He also knows that Amare Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Andrea Bargnani, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Raymond Felton (yes even Felton) are all better than the record they produced last year. Yes it true that you are what you record says you are. The great Bill Parcells was unwavering on that issue. The Knicks are the team that produced 37 wins last year. At the same time they know that they are also the team that won way more than that the year before; the year in which there was as much stability and veteran leadership as there was talent and athleticism. That year there was a veteran point guard who helped to spearhead a great start to that 54 win season. A veteran point guard turned coach who was able to turn around a moribund New York City-area basketball team the same way that the Knicks hope their veteran point guard coach can do for their New York City-area basketball team. 

Jason Kidd was that player and that coach and now Derek Fisher finds himself in the same position. Fisher feels that he will have the same impact on this roster that Kidd had on the Knicks a season ago and with the Nets this season, and who's to doubt him? He knows what impact good communication, a respect for authority, and a willingness to buy into the same ideals as a team will bring. He has seen it. He has been it. Regardless of whether or not Carmelo Anthony re-signs with the Knicks Fisher knows and believes that this is a roster built to win when it is clicking on all cylinders. Now that he has been handed the keys, let's just see what a little body work and under-the-hood repairs will accomplish. You don't need two weeks, let alone a year, to figure that out.