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

Warriors! Come Out to Play!

If you are a Golden State Warriors fan, tonight you sit upon the precipice of greatness; all with baited breath, mind you. This season, for all intents and purposes, has been a referendum on the almost incomparable greatness of the Warriors; namely their roster, their chemistry, their spirit, and most importantly their philosophy. A season  in which they have raced themselves at a torrid pace, some would say in an effort to dispel innuendo, speculation, and conjecture regarding the legitimacy of the championship they so now are fervently defending, has led to this penultimate moment: the chance to surpass the '95-'96 Chicago Bulls all-time single regular season total for victories of 72, with the 73 of their own.

Also at stake for the Warriors fan is their opportunity to defend two titles. One being Steph Curry's personal mantelpiece hardware, the MVP award for a season which made him look as if he wasn't even giving it his all last season (another way of saying a player of his caliber being able to find yet another ceiling to reach for). And the second but most important of all, the one which really matters and will make all the dynamic things that Warriors have done, singularly and collectively, pale in comparison, would be to win the Larry O'Brien trophy. Again.

Will all three baskets get filled for the Warriors fan? Without a doubt the MVP will be handed to Curry, quite possibly unanimously. So that's a given. And that same fan would most certainly place their money on the Warriors in tonight's potentially record-breaking contest vs the Memphis Grizzlies, a team who by the way to date had employed 28 different starting lineups (the most in the NBA this season) because well, they have employed 28 different starting lineups.

Once again, the kicker, for said fan, would be the ability if all three things come to fruition to enjoy the type of season that the '95-'96 Bulls fan enjoyed. Your best player (in this case Michael Jordan) winning MVP, your team setting the all-time record for victories  (72), and your team winning it all to punctuate the whole deal.

If this is to be the outcome and the Warriors cement their legacy it goes without mentioning that their fans will be euphoric to no end. It is now we will see if it is all meant to be. And it starts tonight.