It appears to be the theme (apart from 1st Round knee destructions) in these year’s Playoffs. Early in the series, one team goes into the cusp of winning a game, lets it slip away & has people think “There’s no way they’re winning the series after blowing that game.”

Dallas had it happen twice in Games 1&2. First this…

I was too lazy couldn’t find the sequence that had Dirk being the reigning NBA Finals MVP & coaxing the young Thunder into a foul before that play to put the Mavs up by one that would’ve been game. But as it turns out, Marion plays good defense, not allowing KD to go where he originally wanted to, forces him to make that spin and take a tough jumper/floater over his and 7’0 Ian Mahinmi’s outstretched arms. With about 14 feet of arms challenging the shot, it kindly bounces in. That was big, since it would’ve been an entirely different series had the Mavs stolen Game 1 (Plus the stat that have almost 80% of the teams winning Game 1 going on to win the series). But the Mavs were right there again in Game 2 in a back & forth during the final minutes of the game. Down one with less than 30 seconds left, Dirk had his go to one-legged fade tease the rim before bouncing off. So if losing Game 1 wasn’t the series yet, this one did the job. Instead of going back home up 2-0, they’re in a hole teams hardly ever get out off. And really, they never came as close as they did in the first two games again. And that was that, a 1st Round playoff exit for a defending champ. Dunno when that happened last, but it sure feels like a long ass time.

In case you wanna see how close that Dirk fade was to bouncing in, skip to 2:22..

Memphis had home court and came out looking like a really bad matchup for Lob City. Everything was clicking, and they were stifling everything from the other L.A. team. You know what happened next---a college student bets $25 on the Clippers when they were down by 27 (he would’ve won $15,000 right then if the Clips were to come back), the Clippers hit a three to ‘trim’ it down to 24, his friend bets $50 more, and they go on to win $41,000 after an improbable Clipper comeback to steal Game 1. And while the series would go on the full route, in a series that goes the full seven games, you always look back to the one were you let a 27-point lead slip away.

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?     

Pop. Season over. The three-team Eastern Conference race just lost a contender.

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.

Heart broken. Dreams shattered. But whatever, we had a veteran team & a series don’t start ‘til a team wins on the round. I was doing everything I can to keep believing. You know like a true fan & not some yearly (or worse, ‘roundly’) bandwagoner would.

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.

As I was watching this live, I was like “Fuck yea, we’re about to tie the series & have this Oklahoma team coming back home feeling vulnerable even though the series is only tied but we should’ve been up 3-1.” But for the second time in three games, heart broken, dreams shattered. I found myself shaking my head for a full 15 minutes before actually saying a word. That was our season & “another year wasted in Kobe’s life.”

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! 

To help distract from the pain, I’m gonna’ have to take off my purple & gold cloak and try to objective for the first part of this. Look, that was exactly the kind of game (at least for the first 46 minutes) that the Lakers needed and hoped for coming into the series & more so coming off the unleashed floodgates of Game 1. The pace, the defensive rotations, the team pick & roll defense, World Peace imposing his defensive will on the game, Westbrook being virtually non-existent. There were a lot of things that went the Lakers way in Game 2 for 46 minutes, and yet the Thunder still found a way to win. When OKC had things going for them in the series opener, it was a 29-point smack down. That should tell you all you need to know about this matchup.

The media’s narrative coming into Game 2 was how the Lakers appeared to be tuned in by the way everyone was communicating constantly after the Game 1 catastrophe—Bynum & Gasol having an extended talk on the bench long after the buzzer sounded, carrying on to everyone who had a significant role brainstorming right up to the Game 2 tip-off. And it seemed to have done wonders too. Bynum knew exactly when Westbrook was getting ready to pull-up after his penetrations and bothered him enough leading to a 5-17 shooting night; a far cry from his 10-15 performance the other night. World Peace played Durant about as well as I’ve seen anyone play him—making him for work for every catch, bodying him up the entire time. And in almost every extra pass attempt the Thunder made, the Lakers slid into position perfectly to either deflect the pass or outright steal them. While the Lakers didn’t shoot well themselves (they shot worse actually—38.5 % to OKC’s 42 %), it was their defense, as it has all season, that had them in perfect position to steal a game in OKC, and home court advantage.

 But as it stands now, they choked in the last two minutes—allowed an extremely easy drive by Harden off a timeout, had a careless TO by Kobe that led to a Durant dunk, committed another careless TO between Blake & Kobe, allowed another Harden layup, took bad shots when they didn’t turn the ball over (Kobe—although much props for the way Perkins overplayed and bodied Bynum out of the paint during that stretch, which was huge since it seemed like the Lakers wanted to play off Bynum in the final two minutes. Their inability to do so led to the Kobe missed jumpers with the shot clock going down.), and was victimized by Durant’s brilliant floater that turned out to be the game winner. Those were eight points allowed in a two-minute stretch when during the entire game, up until that point, a three point lead felt like it was a three possession game.

(Laker Nation cloak back on) The remaining thread of hope for the Lakers? The Thunder did what they had to do, which was hold serve at home. It’ll be the Lakers turn in a couple of days, and they go into it knowing that they don’t really need to play a perfect game (as the Thunder did in Game 1) to win, they only need to play perfect defensively to have a chance. I thought that thread would be longer, apparently, that was just wishful thinking.

What else don’t they have going for them? History. Y’all have heard about the percentage of teams winning the series after winning Game 1 (Too depressed to Google, but it can’t be lower than 70%). Sessions. Remember how announce teams constantly reminded fans that Session’s ability to have someone create through penetrations from the point guard spot was a significant addition to the Lakers (something they have never had since Nick Van Exel)? Well, I don’t think I’ve really seen it the whole playoffs, much less against OKC. For some strange reason, the NBA also decided to have the Lakers play back-to-back games at home for games 3 & 4. If you’ve ever played competitive basketball, you understand how much tougher it is to play good defense with tired legs than it is to play offense.

Before this series, Laker fans haven’t truly been an underdog since being eliminated in five games by the Suns back in ’07 (In the ’08 Finals, they came in breezing through the West before being shell-shocked by Boston. Against Dallas, true Laker fans believed that they could come back from being 3-games down. Or maybe at least I really thought it was possible until the Mavs went ape shit from three in the second quarter of Game 4). This is unfamiliar territory, albeit something Laker fans knew was coming when they eventually faced OKC. There’s a very slight glint of hope that remains, however this series turns out, there’s sure to be a lot of drinking involved—win or lose.

Looking at the dimmest of bright sides, since 2008, the Lakers have been eliminated by the eventual champs (Boston in ’08 & Dallas last year). So if logic holds for the rest of the series & the Laker eliminator trend carries on, at least LeBron’s fingers will remain free of hardware for yet another year. That counts for something in Laker nation, right?    

Midweek into the 2012 NBA Playoffs and this blog has been spot on so far in its predictions (hopes, & dreams). I wrote it would take a ton of shite to not see the Bulls, Heat and Celts in the East’s final four, and Rose going down and out with a torn ACL is about a big a shit going down as this dude. Boston’s teetering with Atlanta mainly because of Ray Allen’s glass ankles, and Rondo’s chest bump. Had The Truth not gone HAM in Game 2, they could’ve been facing an 0-2 deficit. But, with Rondo back for Game 3, my crystal bong’s predictions should hold (unless LeBron tears his scrotal ligament, which should happen between late May & June). Are you all ready to see the Pacers in the ECF?? Yea, I don’t give a shit either. Unless The Truth can keep Tebowing until late May, there’s little doubt the Heat will see the Finals for the second straight year.

West. Let’s see…spot on as well. Spurs in a cakewalk, Clips-Grizz fun as hell. Lakers too much for Nuggs, and Dallas only intriguing because they’re the defending champs. Because Durant did KD like things at the end of Game 1, and Dirk’s one legged fade rattled out in Game 2, the Mavs are now on the verge of being in the elite club of defending champions being swept out of the 1st round (I’m too lazy to Google the numbers, but feel free to chime in at the comments section).

So what do we know after close to a week of action? We know a LAL-OKC second round is inevitable (and horrifying to Laker fans). We know that the Spurs and whoever wins in the “Grit & Grind Crew” vs. “Lob City” series will really challenge, if not beat the Spurs (I’m thinking the Grizz beat them, while the Clips challenge them).

What don’t we know? We don’t know how the rest of the Grizz-Clips series will go. I mean, if you open the series with a 27-point comeback win that allows an incoming college freshman to bet $75 and win $41,000 as a result, you’re in for a whole lot of craziness. We don’t know how many games the Nuggets can win at home. As a Laker fan, I hope they win two games so that World Peace’s atomic elbow will only miss one game in the second round. Although realistically, I see them going out in five.

The East has become incredibly boring with the absence of two Adidas stars due to injuries, and the hopes and dreams of everyone hoping for a fun and competitive NYK-Heat series going up in flames, absolutely no pun intended Amare.    

The West is still as crazy as the 11-team playoff race it was leading up to the playoffs. So what does this blog want? Easy: Purple Reign, and LeBron being LeBron. Not only will those things be incredibly fun on Facebook, it will make this blog entertaining.

Good luck to us all.    

It’s that time of the year again when Facebook & Twitter’s limits (as well as non-NBA fans’ patience regarding these updates) will be tested by the most exciting phase in the professional basketball season; when every misstep by the Miami Heat will be overblown by both the media and fans, when storylines will be fabricated and recanted in 140 characters or less, and fan trash talking will influence even the most pedestrian of fans to chime in. Yes, here come the playoffs (finally). But enough of this intro for what basketball fans (which you are if you’re reading this) already know, let’s get to what this aspiring sports scribe feels, thinks, and hopes is going to happen.

The East

To be honest, it would take a lot of shit going down for the Celtics, the Bulls, and the mighty Heat to not make it to the Eastern Conference’s final four. The Bulls might lose one game to the Sixers, if that. Orlando knocking off Indy? Forget about it. Not after all the Dwight drama (that was both absurd and ultimately boring anyway) dragged on the whole season, and certainly not after the main proponent of all that brouhaha decided to have back surgery just before the playoffs. The Boston-ATL tiff might get interesting, but unless Rondo breaks another elbow and has to play one-armed again this post-season, the Hawks will remain the most consistent Eastern Conference title pretender this millennium.

Miami-NYK might just be the most intriguing matchup in the East’s 1st round, if nothing but for the MSG crowd that will go absolutely apeshit with anything the Knicks do on the positive. But truthfully, there’s a ton of things that need to go right for the Knicks to make this competitive. (1) Melo NEEDS to keep on this tear he’s been at for the past month or so. There’s just no way they can even threaten the Heat if they count on Novak, J.R. Smith, and Shumpert ballin’ out of their minds. Which brings me to --- (2) The Knicks need these three players (and Fields, and Baron Davis, and whoever the hell else they play) to ball out of their minds along with the Melo beasting. Amare could be Amare (there, but not really, although at least physically there), but Melo and the New York bombers need to connect every single game before the Heat wins four. (3) The LeBron yearly. Yep, you know what it is. If they’re actually going to pull this off, LeBron has to go full on LBJ classic postseason form. Laughable second halves, chronic case of the hot potato, and his assassin-like penchant for the game winning pass. There’s no way the Knicks win if LBJ plays like he has all year. None.

So with my crystal bong, I see a Bulls-Celtics, Heat-Pacers second round. Here’s where it gets tough…or not. These two series could be ultra-competitive, but just as easily could wind up as ho-hum five-gamers for the higher seeds. Bill Simmons (an ardent Celtic fan, and the sportswriter I wish to morph into somehow) has written real feasible pieces on why and how the Celtics could realistically come out of the East. From the renaissance of both Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Celts showing that familiar ’08 swagger late in the season to the emergence of a great perimeter defender who can knock down shots in Avery Bradley (a must if you’re going to take down either Miami or Chicago), there are valid points to the Boston argument. He also mentioned that even during another impressive regular season run, the Miami Heat still haven’t really distinguished a proper team identity yet. Yes, they can create TO’s with their swarming defense, and nobody (‘cept maybe for the Thunder) run the break better, but Simmons points out that through the course of the game, the Heat’s game plan still appears to be Wade and LeBron just taking turns. They’re that talented that they can get away with it all the way to a title, but that’s just not how championships are generally designed. But I’m talking about the Celtics chances about the Bulls, so I digress…for now.

I haven’t seen enough of Chicago to really know how much they’ve improved from last season. I do know Rose is hurt. I don’t know if he has a gigantic heart to replicate his magnificence last season this postseason. I know the Bulls have developed more of arsenal with JLIII, C.J. Miles, Taj Gibson, Rip (if he manages not to decay in the 1st round) and Deng’s great season so far. I don’t know if any of those guys can create shots when the going gets really tough in the playoffs, and when either Wade or LeBron is stuck to their chests (The way I keep talking about the Heat when I’m trying to talk about two other teams should just stop me right now).

Pacers are good and they’ve improved and matured from last year, blah-blah-blah..Heat. So here’s what I know, either the Celtics or the Bulls are facing the Heat in the ECF. Here’s probably the last thing I know about the ECF: If LeBron does not do LeBron like things in the playoffs, they see the Finals for the second year in the row. Wow. It took me 874 words before I got to that. What the fuck am I doing?

Let me try that approach for the West…

Spurs-Jazz…Spurs in 5 at the most…..Oh shit. I don’t think it can work like that in the West. Six teams can realistically come out of the West (SAS, OKC, LAL, DAL, MEM, LAC). Good luck trying to analyze those permutations. Lemme just run through it real quick:

The Thunder and the Mavs series, to me, is only intriguing because of one thing: championship experience. At no point of the regular season have the Mavs looked like they did during last year’s title run. Although this is me being a Laker fan who desperately wants (hopes & prays for) someone else to beat the Thunder for them,…well, that’s it, really. I truthfully don’t think the Mavs have what it takes to knock off OKC, but I really, really hope they do…or at least concuss a few players while trying to (I keeed).

Lakers-Nuggets should be fun, because the Nuggets are fun to watch. Do I think they can push the Lakers to seven games? Probably not. Six? Maybe. As a purple blooded Laker fan, do I have any worries coming in to this series. Fuck.No. You know the drill, Lakers with too much size, experience, Kobe…so that’s that. Great season Nuggs, but yea.

Ok. This is the series I do not know shit about. Grizz-Clips? Who knows what craziness can happen. I think I just came up with a couple of things: (1) This will be fun. (2) Twitter will explode because of a death by massive facial. Grab a beer (if you don’t have a day job & can watch the playoffs from home), sit back, and enjoy this crazy series.

So what happens then? My crystal bong cannot overcome my love for the Lakers, so while my basketball instincts tell me OKC is a tough, tough out in the West, my fandom makes me write that a few other teams have a chance. You gotta’ understand that, right?

Boston-LA for all the marbles. Ha!