A LeBron Hangover

Posted on June 22, 2012 by wcornblatt

Ah, the morning after. Rolling over and seeing that face. That face that looked so good last night, and so horrifying this morning. When I first woke up and flipped over, I almost forgot what I was going to be looking at, but when I heard a voice, I knew what I was going to see. I turned over and faced LeBron James, still celebrating from last night’s Sportscenter.

The morning after fears struck me. I hope this doesn’t happen again. How am I going to get out of here? I found the remote, turned on “The Other Guys,” and built up the courage to face my first day in a post-LeBron championship world.

The devastating part isn’t that the haters have nothing to harp on now, which is every groupie’s new favorite criticism. The truly terrifying part is the unlimited potential the Heat have for more championships. James is 27, Chris Bosh is 28, and Dwyane Wade is 30. That gives them a solid three years playing together, barring injury problems, without age completely changing Wade’s game.

The Thunder will only grow, but they’re so damn young. James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant are all 22 or 23 years old. By the time they enter their primes, the Heat’s run will be coming to an end or something close to that. Decisions will have to be made after next year when Harden and Serge Ibaka are free agents.

Ofcourse, free agency offers such unpredictability. Deron Williams and Dwight Howard can turn a team into a championship franchise, but for all the random sentences I list with options for future contenders, there will always be LeBron looming. If he can continue to exhibit the consistency of these NBA playoffs, all the clichés about “getting a taste” mean nothing. LeBron is the best basketball player in the world, on the best team in the league. There’s no reason to think last night’s depressing turn wont happen again.

The End of the Celtics

Posted on May 31, 2012 by wcornblatt

It’s a tough day, not because of tomorrows test looming over me, or the early hour I was forced to wake up today. No, today is tough because a harsh reality has set in, the Celtics run is over, and in the unlikeliest of ways.

I knew I’d write this article at some point. It was only a matter of time until I was forced to face the realization that my days of basketball glory were over, but not like this. The Celtics are playing as well as I’ve seen them play in years, but after a heart-breaking loss they find themselves down 2-0. Teams up 2-0 win 95% of their series!

Numerous blogs have tried to describe the series as one team just being better than the other, but that’s not true. Sure, the Heat are more athletic, younger and a better team than the Celtics, but that’s too easy of a cop-out. The Celtics played a Heat team that was at their best, on their home floor and were one step away from beating them. Actually, one call away from beating them. Rajon Rondo’s unbelievable, historic and enigmatic performance will be remembered as one of the greatest playoff performances in history, and that’s not hyperbole.

However what will be so memorable about the game was Rondo’s drive in overtime, with the clock under two minutes. It was a play that’s happened to Rondo a million times. His quickness and over-aggressiveness pays off, and even though he misses a layup he has no shot of making, he gets fouled by a flailing arm trying to stop a speed that’s impossible to keep up with. Normally, he goes to the line, hits one, maybe two free throws, but not this time. This time, the refs blew it, and not an excuse type of blowing it, they blew the game! He was clearly hit in the face, and in a game where LeBron James shot five less free throws than the entire Celtics’ team, the refs have no excuse for “letting them play.”

The refs called a completely different game for LeBron than for Paul Pierce or any other Celtic, it’s just a fact. Fouls don’t accumulate on one side and not on the other like that, especially in a game this even. Stars have gotten calls in the NBA for years now, and I’m sure Michael Jordan is in a casino somewhere laughing about how he got the same love-taps-turned-free-throws LeBron did. However for all of those terrible gimme calls, all of the Game One technicals against the Celtics, the refs had a chance to erase every whisper of NBA conspiracies. All they had to do was call an obvious and unquestionable foul, but instead Rondo got smacked in the face and went down looking for a call. By the time he turned to the ref, Udonis Haslem was on the other end of the floor dunking the ball…it was a four-point swing.

Even with the foul, the Celtics had a great chance and played a great game. I don’t give much merit to the stat of the largest comeback in Heat playoff history, since everybody realizes that erasing a 15-point lead before halftime in the playoffs is about as impressive as T.O.’s arena league play. In fact, it was the Celtics who were resilient. Ray Allen’s late three sent the game into OT, even after trailing late with Dwyane Wade on the line ready to seal the deal.

Sure, if the Celtics come down with the rebound after LeBron’s missed layup in the waning seconds of the fourth, they have the ball with a chance to win the game in regulation, but it wasn’t like they blew the game. They went into overtime with their best clutch player on the bench because of fouls. Both teams had leads, and both teams lost them, it was an even game.

So here I am, with a 5% chance at coming back and winning the series, and possibly elongating a run with a lineup that will change completely by next year. I always pictured this moment as pathetic and hard it is to watch. I imagined the Celtics losing in the first round to the Pacers or Magic, and the world laughing at my old and staggering lineup, but the Celtics are in the Eastern Conference Finals, with a lineup that has no business of being there, competing with an Avengers-like team. They lost in overtime, in part, because of a blown call that any ref could easily make. It’s a perfect parallel for them, a team that won its championship with defense, intensity and effort willed themselves to battle last night. They lost that one. They won a couple in 2008. And that’s sports. The sooner I come to terms with that, the easier the end of these Celtics will be.

The Heat and Our Overreactions

Posted on May 25, 2012 by wcornblatt

It’s amazing how quickly things change. After game three, the world was in an uproar over Dwyane Wade, he wasn’t carrying his weight, wouldn’t mesh with LeBron James, and needed to be traded, right? Analysts and fans immediately jumped on Wade after a five-point performance in which he was disillusioned, angry and frustrated with his coach. Amongst this immediate reaction media we live in and encourage, we just had to draw grandeur conclusions.

I remember the first blog entry I saw on the bottom of ESPN’s homepage the day after game three was about the big three model and whether or not it was dead. The Heat have been together since the beginning of last year, in their only full season together they made it to the finals. Sure, they lost to a team that they were more talented than, but they made the finals! That isn’t a failure by any measure, and here they are rolling through the Eastern Conference relatively smooth, with the only small bumps in the road being blown out of proportion and publicized until we believe the coverage. We believed that the Heat weren’t working together well, we believed that the Indiana Pacers would beat Miami, we believed Dwayne Wade wasn’t going to work in his current situation. As usual, our assumptions were off base.

The Heat’s tumultuous arguments and flaring tempers seem like light years ago, and any problems with the Pacers are now a laughing matter. It will feel like an easy series in a week. Dwayne Wade proved why he’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever seen since his one off game. Last night, he scored 40 and got 11 rebounds. It was a truly great playoff performance, but that’s what we should’ve expected. After all these years of predicting lengthy futures after a sliver of a sampling, the only reliable analysis is that our current system of over-criticism and suffocating coverage isn’t working.

The Pacers Point Guards

Posted on May 17, 2012 by wcornblatt

The Pacers have a problem at point guard. Not because they don’t have a starter, but because it’s tough to decide who to start. The options are George Hill and Darren Collison. Collison started the season as the number one point guard. His averages this year have dropped slightly, but he still averages ten points and five assists a game. Hill is an x-factor, he averages nine points and three assists, but that’s not where his value is. He’s managed to identify himself as a clutch three-point shooter, just as he was in San Antonio. He struggled early on in the year, but it appears the momentum is swinging his way.

They split time Game 1 vs the Heat, but in Game 2 Hill played 35 minutes opposed to Collison’s 17 minutes. Hill was forced to sit minutes in Game 1 because of foul trouble, a problem that plagued the Pacers in that first game.

It’s a truly tough decision for Frank Vogel that could result in both of them starting. Collison is more of a pure point guard, he has the ability to create of the dribble and run in transition. Hill can play the traditional point but thrives when the drives of Paul George and Danny Granger create open shooting opportunities for him. Either way, both are going to have to get major minutes if they want to beat the Heat.

It might seem like a trivial decision in a gigantic playoff series, but against a Miami team that struggles at point guard, it will affect the rhythm of the game from minute one. Even though I believe Collison is more effective than Hill, starting Hill for Game 3 might be just what Indiana needs. His shooting can rile up the crowd quickly, and Collison has been an extremely effective energy boost off the bench. Vogel might elect to start both Collison and Hill, offering them a true point and a clutch shooter on the floor at the same time. Whatever his decision is, you can bet it will dramatically affect the outcome of the game.

NBA Marketing: LeBron, KD and Dirk

Posted on May 11, 2012 by wcornblatt

The NBA, like any major corporation, has mastered it’s marketing. And the audience, like any consumer, is falling for the image a corporation has put out to fool them. The players are perfectly positioned. It all centers on LeBron James‘ move to Miami. The NBA took those images of distraught Cleveland fans burning jerseys and essentially made it their mission statement. The foundation of the league’s image is that LeBron is the villain. He represents what people see as what’s wrong with modern sports, and even modern society. His talent is limitless, but his arrogant announcement and ringless fingers represent a sense of unearned entitlement. Of course, this image is unfair and over exaggerated. LeBron is certainly a polarizing figure and a frustratingly annoying player to watch, but he’s by far the best player in the league, and any 25 year old who says they haven’t made a cocky mistake is lying to you. However the league feeds into this conceived image of LeBron, giving him superstar calls that encourage flopping, but for every villain there are a handful heroes.

Once LeBron’s announcement took place, the affection for Kevin Durant multiplied exponentially. He seemed to be the anti-LeBron, and the NBA embraced that image with open arms. Smooth and skinny, Durant made impossible shots and graceful dunks with no celebration. I guess this qualified him to be the resident good guy around the NBA. The marketing train took advantage of the perception of Durant, placing him in commercials on the rafters of the Ford Center preaching about championships and dedication. Or at the scorer’s table scolding cell-phone users for playing doodle jump. Seriously? Man, that’s messed up. Or maybe he’s just looking for a pickup game, like he was during the lockout. The NBA has branded Durant as what’s right in sports, he’s dedicated, loyal and humble. There’s an authenticity to Durant’s game and demeanor that LeBron just doesn’t have. So the NBA found a gift in Kevin Durant, a player that loves the game enough to play when the NBA isn’t even around is the perfect promoting tool. He’s the dramatic foil to LeBron.

The problem with Durant, at least last year, is that he still hadn’t won anything. So the NBA was going to have to embrace a Miami championship and amplify the LeBron villain angle rather than the heroes fighting against him. Then came Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk, who’s game resembles Larry Bird-esc traditionalism, displayed one of the most clutch performances I’ve seen in sports. Tall, goofy and cognizant in the waning minutes of the game, Dirk discovered the adoration of a nation waiting to spit in the Heat’s face. Don’t think appearance isn’t relevant, audiences related to his oaffy exterior. In contrast, audiences rejected the strutting Heat, tatted up and high-flying, representing a city known for flashiness. He found ways to score when LeBron simply couldn’t, which lead to a full year of smothering coverage about LeBron’s lack of clutch gene. An undermanned team beat a heavy Miami favorite that audiences hated, even if they didn’t know the full story, and none of us know the full story.

What we do know is that LeBron made two mistakes. One was choosing Miami, which is something that is a personal decision and up to James. However the bigger mistake was the execution of “The Decision.” Over the top, obnoxious and self-promoting, LeBron’s announcement drew criticism from every angle of the media, including the enablers at ESPN. Sure, it was stupid, and it’s easy to root against LeBron, but he was in his mid 20’s and made a self-centered move that will follow him for the rest of his life. He didn’t hurt anybody or cheat. Modern athletes have done far worse and received far less criticism, but the machine is moving, and there’s no stopping it now. The NBA is going to milk LeBron’s image along with his foils for as long and as much money as they can.