Dallas had it happen twice in Games 1&2. First this…
In case you wanna see how close that Dirk fade was to bouncing in, skip to 2:22..
With the Bulls up 12 with just over a minute left, Tom Thibodeau felt like he wanted to let reigning MVP Derrick Rose get valuable end game feel after coming off an injury riddled season. So what happens next?
This would’ve been more painful had I realized earlier that the Spurs were a basketball cyborg sent back through time to make fans realize how the game should be played. So knowing what I know now, the loss of my beloved Lakers in Games 2 & 4 in their series against Oklahoma no longer elicits tears.
You know what happened. After getting ass-rammed by the Thunder with a gigantic black dildo in Game 1, the Lakers came into Game 2 looking old & overmatched. So what do they do, they get World Peace in retro defensive form, they control the pace with the play of their two bigs, and they force the flying Thunder into a dog fight. In a game where you seemingly needed three possessions to overcome a three-point lead, the Lakers had a 7-point lead with just over two minutes left. My insides were smiling. After the Game 1 embarrassment, we were going back home with the series tied and with home court advantage. Wrong.
So the Lakers come into Game 3 learning a few things that worked on defense & knowing what they had to do to have a chance to beat this superior team. Eventually they take Game 3 & had fans thinking, shit---we should’ve been up 2-1. The sentiment went from “Shit, this Thunder team might be too good” to “Shit, we actually stand a chance and should be up in the series right now.” I suppose the Lakers knew as well that they had to drag this team to a dogfight every single time to win. And that’s exactly what they did in Game 4’ controlling the pace, and eventually building a double digit lead halfway into the fourth.
So yea---that’s the “Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda” theme of this year’s Playoffs. As in—The Lakers could’ve had Chris Paul & Dwight Howard playing alongside Kobe. The Black Mamba would’ve had seven rings by now (on the verge of an eighth if the first coulda was real) if Malone wasn’t injured in 2002, and Gasol wasn’t such a gigantic flapping vagina in 2008. The Lakers should’ve beaten the Thunder in the second round for the right to have their asses handed to them by the Spurs in a surgeon’s plate. But no—Duncan & LeBron will meet again in the Finals after 5 years. The Heat will lose back to back Finals. And Duncan will win his 5th ring after winning his first 13 years ago. Damn you, Mayans!