NBA Finals History: Why King James Will Win His Crown

 There are only a few things that are certain in life. The sun rises, we fall in and out of love, people die, Yankees/NYGiants fans are ignorant, and history always repeats itself. 

The NBA is no different. You can’t run away from history.  Teams always have a “Ceiling” that they need to get through, be it another team or a mental block. There has always been a “hierarchy” in the league. Perceived or not, I feel it is real. The "sports gods" always follow certain patterns, or sports physics. “The Law of Averages” is a great indicator, but not always true.

        There are anomalies everywhere. As PapaShaw used to say when a guy comes up for the sox and he is about OH for his last 16 with runners in scoring position: “He’s Due” he would say. It used to be so annoying but more often than not, he was right, Jody Reed would hit a base clearing double. I said More often than not. Sports averages are just that; averages. You flip a quarter 100x and you THINK you’ll get 50/50 but you wont always. But you perceive it to be. In reality at any given 100 there is 50/50, not the First 100.

But there is always History to teach us; to show us probability, but probability using fact. What better way form to build an argument for Lebron than using history?  I remember watching Lebron on ESPN in High school. He was the first most HYPED player whose High School career intersected with the boom of 24 hours sports piranhas. Lebron is a physical anomaly. King James, a 6-8 250 power guard with skills of a ninja, the speed of Pheidippides, and the power of Hercules. He loves defense and is dominant on both ends like all of his elite predecessors. Able to defend any position at any time, as well as able to pick the pocket of the best pgs or block KG, he is the perfect weapon on defense.

Since the 80’s, there has always been teams trying to push through another teams to get through. Contenders always have a “mental hurdle” to get through. Larry Bird had to get through eventual Champ 76ers just to make it to the finals. Phily 76’ers and Celtics took turns from 80/81 - 83/84 to represent the east vs Lakers. After 76ers went off of the upper echelon of the east, the Pistons emerged as top contenders to the Celtics Eastern Dominance. The mid 80’s Pistons could not get through theCeltics losing in the playoffs twice in 3 years against the Celtics, including87 ECF. When the 88 Pistons finally defeated a worn down old Celtics team, inthe ECF, they went on to Lose in the Finals to LA Lakers. Next Season 88-89Pistons return to the finals to defeat The same Lakers squad. 89-90 PistonsRepeat as champions, this time against Portland who, coincidentally, had Lostto the Lakers in the previous Playoffs, got lucky and avoided The Lakers on theirway to the finals. 90-91 proved that Portland was not ready as the Lost to LAin WCF. During the Same span 88-91 There was a new team on the rise:MichaelJordan’s Bulls. Once The 88 Pistons had moved on from the Celtics and werecompeting for titles, they were also being challenged by the Bulls. Defeatingthe Bulls in 88,89 and 90. (89 and 90 ECF) When the Bulls finally got throughthe Pistons in 91 (the Infamous “Detroit walkout game”), they were “BattleTested” and ready as they beat Magic’s Last Contending Team in 1991. (Laker haddefeated Portland in the ECF on the way to Finals).  92 Trailblazers defeat 8^th Seed LALakers to get over that mental hurdle, only to have the unfortunately luck ofrunning into Jordan in the Finals.

As you see, there is a pattern toteams trying to get through a “block” or “hurdle”. Once they make it through,their chances greatly improve. The Basketball Gods look greatly upon teams thatmake it through a challenge that was once insurmountable. When you go throughtrials and tribulations, you are usually rewarded for your personal success andvictories.

It is no different for teams in thefinals. If you look back in the HISTORY of the league, Almost every timea team Returns to the finals the year after losing, they win. Starting waaaaaayback in 1954 The Syracuse Nationals Returned to the finals and were victoriousthe year after losing to the Minneapolis Lakers in the finals. The 72 Knicksbeat The Lakers in a rematch of the previous championship were LA had won. The79 Sonics Defeated the Bullets in a Rematch of the 78 final. The 82-83 76ersalso won in a rematch after losing to LA. Then La did the same feat beatingCeltics in 85 a year after losing to Boston 84-85. I did say almost. The LALakers lost 8 Finals appearances spread out over 10yrs!(61-62 to 69-70). TheJazz also lost 2 yrs in a row to The Bulls in 97-98.

This all ties me to Lebron. He wentthrough the biggest sports media scrutiny that I can remember in this, thetwitter era. “The decision” may not have been the best business decision, aswas the numerous games he supposedly had “choked”. We attacked Lebron for notattacking, took shots at him for not taking shots. He has only won 3 straightMVPs. Last year vs Dallas was not only a shock to LBJ but was also a wakeupcall. I think he gets it now. His personal victory over Boston did more thanjust move them into the Finals. Yeah, Heat beat Boston last year in the semisbut we had the whole “Rondo injury” excuse. Besides that, “Wade won it”Lebrondid play well against the C’s last yr. We just didn’t notice. He couldn’t doanything right and DWade couldn’t do anything wrong. Even after he too downRondo like Dan Severn, we still focused on Lebron. We were all “right” duringthe Dallas series. But he hadn’t learnedyet. This victory vs Boston (his chief personal rival) as he dominated the seriesproved, most importantly to himself, that he has what it takes. This kind ofpsychological advantage for a player is huge. This is bigger than PatrickEwing’s legendary-you-know-what. This enables the player to be able to makethat leap and become what we thought he was (Dennis Green Voice). The Celticswere desperate for one more shot. 3 Hall of famers and Rondo could not holdback destiny as The Basketball Gods invites Father time over to watch game 7.

 I have always looked at Lebron as a mixbetween Larry Bird, Magic, and Larry Johnson. Grandmama was the first powerplayer of our generation to show Guard skills while wrecking the rim and beingstreaky at the 3 point line. A little bit of Magic for his ability to createfor everyone around him as well as score when he needed to, and Larry for hisVision and anticipation. How often does Lebron make a pass that sets up anassist? He sees the floor almost in a 4^th dimensional way the waythat Larry Bird and Magic did. He is not the go to scorer like Jordan, but heshows flashes of that.

The Heat will win based on the Lawsof Averages and the Basketball Gods granting eternal greatness to those whodeserve it. On the court, LBJ is the Best player on BOTH ends of the court.Durant is just the best scorer and he will be covered by Lebron a lot. Lebronshould also be able to take advantage that KD is not a GREAT defender. IF Lebrongoes to the post more (like he should) it may be too much for Durant, Then youmust but Ibaka on Lebron and hope he doesn’t eat him up. So then who coversBosh? Perkins? Mismatch, Heat advantage there. This will set off a lot ofdominos that I am not sure that the Thunder are ready for. Wade has yet to playgreat since Pacers series and he should get out of his shell here with a sizeadvantage on Westbrook. Look for Sefalosha to Guard Wade when on court. Problemis, he is not a part of the Thunder’s best lineup. Bosh is better than Ibakaand his outside shooting SHOULD disable Ibakasshotblocking to a point. ThunderBench a little stronger but I take Heat top 6-7 players over Thunder top 6-7.Spoelstra gets the coaching advantage not only heads up with Scott Brooks, buthaving “been there before”. That is theme of this blog and “having been therebefore” has proven to be very advantageous throughout the history of this greatSport. History is on the Heat’s side.

- Jason Shaw       

 @coachshaw989

Fresh Meat

A Quick Look at the Patriots 2012 Draft Picks

So much has been said about Bill Belichick's drafting tendencies being well- cheap. Whether it was the salary implications, being obsessive about value or just plain old lacking in the talent evaluation department, the war room has traditionally chosen safe picks that lack that swagger, that sexiness... Until now. This draft made a lot of us out there pinch ourselves and wonder if this really is the year the world comes to an end because BB just did something totally uncharacteristic of the way he has conducted his draft philosophy in the past. He drafted players that can help this team win now.

Chandler Jones caught the eye of a lot of teams because he is a very exciting player to watch. Competing at a high level is in his genes as both of his brothers are also professional athletes. Some say his playing style is similar to Jason Pierre-Paul. He is very coachable, and can pick up concepts quickly and sop up new information like a "sponge" (as he referred to himself in an interview with 98.5 the Sports Hub's Gresh and Zo). He can adapt well in an 3/4 or 4/3 hybrid defense which is undoubtedly what Belichick will employ. He might have played in the big east and not had the competition that most of the other first round picks have, but then again what if he had played in a better conference? His performance could have been the same right? Lets hope so...

Dont’a Hightower is a concensus All-American, a first team All-SEC and a BCS National Champion. He has great short area explosion and closing speed and is also very versatile like Jones and can play well in multiple defensive schemes. He can shed blocks quickly and has great vision. His accolades speak for themselves.

Tavon Wilson was kind of a surprise pick. After trading up, they picked the safety in the second round and shocked everyone. The pick left Mel Kiper speachless. I am hoping for something out of this kid, I just don't know all that much about him, but then again, no one really does. I can say that I'm confident overall in the patriots picks for the secondary as they pick some pretty OK second level guys in Chung, Merriweather, Wilson and McCourty. So we'll see.

Jake Bequette is just a Patriot. Hard worker, team oriented, leaves it all on the field. He is versatile as well and can work into many defensive schemes. His story is touching, and you can tell this kid has a lot to play for.

Alfonzo Dennard might end up being the steal of the draft. He might also be the first ever patriot that has was drafted after punching a cop in the face. I wonder if he got the call while in jail. "Hey Alfonso, you get one phone call. Your mom is looking for you and Bill Belichick wants you to give him a call back." I wonder what his choice for his one and only phone call would have been?

The Last Super Bowl Preview That You Read

The Most important game in Patriots Universe is upon us…..
But this is not just one game. Or even “just a Superbowl” to me, this is almost cosmic!
Let’s look at this Memento style:
Feb 3rd 2008….This was supposed to be the greatest Team Ever. 19 And OH. My Boys, My Pats. But Tyree, Eli, Took that away. Now some kids in a 3rd world country have shirts that say “New England Patriots World Champions; 19-0” … This is a slap in the face. If I was rich, I would seriously go to whichever country had the “19-0” shirts, pay them extra in whatever money value system they use. Throw in some interest, a new T-shirt (Colts 2010 Champion shirts?? “2001 NY Giants Superbowl” shirts? Or ‘ 94 Steelers) and a big ”Thank you Mr. 3rd World Chief. Peace” . We need to preserve these shirts, people! For the future… Or Doc Brown and his flux capacitor will die in the old west.
Take it back to when I was a kid, and how we HAD to watch NY Giants because of the NFL blackout rules. Well, The “Patsies” sucked. I will always remember The 90 season with a record 1and 15 as the yr I loved our Losers, because they were OUR losers.
Then:
-Kraft, Parcells, and Bledsoe changed everything we knew about Hometown football.
-Belichick and Brady Changed it ALL, they Made our hometown team into a Dynasty.
-Brady /Belichick > Parcells Bledsoe
…. I think I can sum up the Drew Bledsoe era: I, WE Loved Drew for his gun slinging, his lack of short yardage accuracy, for his teenage-chill-attitude, as flawed as he was, we loved him. From his 1st game with the dolphins, to his last TD in Pittsburg in ‘01AFC Title Game, all of his TDs were powerful. After working to get through the Steelers, The 97 Packers Game was the first Wound.
“Bradichick” made us a Dynasty. Belichick and Pioli Built the team around unselfish Stars who have high Football IQ and a will to win. They brought in a new way to evaluate players. They put the word “value” in “evaluate”!. Our ‘Boys won in 2001-02, and then won 2 more in 3 years. I used to think NO victory was EVER going to be sweeter than the Victory vs STL Rams in NOLA. But I am wrong…
THIS Game will be the sweetest REVENGE! This is some story book shit! Another Victory vs a New York team! First in we broke the Yankee curse… But THIS is FOOTBALL, and The Pats are the ones who Stand above all. The mission: To write the Wrong written by Eli and David Tyree. And to beat that Bad ass pass Rush.
Belichick is the football Super Coach. He is able to harness all egos for a common goal like Phil Jackson, Leadership and focus from Krzyzewski, Credibility of Joe Torre; always ahead of the Curve like Red Auerbach. Mastermind like Professor X. He is The Braniac of NFL. The Picard of The Patriots. (Yes, 2 Patrick Stewart References); Attention to detail like John Wooden/Dean Smith; The Defensive Wizardry of Sun Zu; The Killer instinct like Suge Knight (too soon?), ok, Stone Cold Killer like Kobe.
Tom Brady. What can I say? He is Literally a Legend Leading the Offense through a Labyrinth of Defenses like he has a License to Kill. He is The Anniken Skywalker if He didn’t go Dark, The Drake of young money. Joe Montana 2.0. (Superbowl Completions: Tom 103 vs Joe 83. 4 games each.sportspool.com) read that again. Montana had Rice (2nd best player EVER),John Taylor, Brent Jones, Roger Craig (1st player to get 1k yards rushing AND receiving), The new (at the time)“West Coast Offense”, Brady has only PLAYED w one ELITE WR in his PRIME. (Moss). Brady HATES to lose. Its his one and only character flaw. He is so hypercompetitive. How do you get that way? All of his life he has been breaking through barriers. From Michigan, the 6th round pick, the “Peyton Manning is better” myths. All of this HAS to eat at him? Right? Even Jordan thinks Brady dwells on past slights! Why do you think he is a Legendary Gym Rat? Because he is complacent? Am I the only one taking note?
This win is Big, in the Big Picture. This is the 4th Superbowl in 7 appearances. Only teams w 4 Superbowl Victories: Steelers (6), Cowboys (5) and Packers (4). The Winner of this Superbowl will have 4 total. (NYJyantz 3-1). (Pats 3-3). So to further stress how important this game is in “big picture view”; if Pats lose, Giants move ahead of them in total Superbowl wins, they would have lost to the NY Jyantz 2x, and the Pats would have an overall record of 3-4 in the Superbowl (teams with 4 losses: Denver Broncos 2-4, Buffalo Bills 0-4 and Minnesota Vikings 0-4) .
Mike Ditka says:
“This Football game is going to be played by two tough Football Teams, With Tough Football Players and 2 Great Football Coaches. What this Football Game is going to come down to is this: Which Football Team makes the most Football Plays. This is the NFL, and this is a man’s game, a man’s Football Game. “
Anyways, I will never forget that day in Feb 2008. But this win could do some great Scar removal surgery. This win could ALMOST make up for #19. This game is #18.5. HOW bad would this be if NY Jiantz win? Those NY’ers with their crappy, uninventive sports-shit talk. They get confused when they can not say “1918” “26 rings” or “2008”. Sox took 2 of those away already…
Am I nervous?? HELL YEAH. They beat the Packers, they are a more balanced team, they are the favorite. The Giants Have a Great Coach in his own right, They have the “swag, and they have what kills every good-great QB, a Pass Rush. Their front 4 is enough to get pressure on Brady, so they allow themselves more guys to cover our Passing Game. We need to run effectively and run early. If you watched the Baltimore game, you would notice that our running game, while it wasn’t great, was enough to keep the Raven’s defense honest. Extra men up in the box allowed Brady to make the throws he needed to make. He would say he “sucked” but I say we won the game!! The 2 teams Tom Brady has the most problems with are the Ravens and the Giyants. Another thing: If the NY Jyantz win this week, they will be the first team to win with a 9-7 reg. season record AND got outscored in the regular season! CANNOT let this happen!
The X Factor(s):
-Our Tight Ends. NOT just Gronkowski, but Hernandez too. In 08 we did not have the TE’s that we have now. I’m willing to bet that these two guys strike much more fear in the Defense then Ben Watson and Kyle Brady. I’ll also take Benjarvis Green-Ellis, Stevan Ridley, and Woodhead over Laurence Maroney, K Faulk, and Sammy Morris!
Ok, I don’t care about your stupid commercials and all that. You can have your Doritos and Bud light laughs. This is a game for no distractions. If there is ever ONE game that you should live and die by each play it is this. I seriously want to win 55-10 (just as a little shout out to ‘Chitown Bears. I was only six but one of my very first sports memories was the Bears demolishing the hometown boys. (My other “first sports memory” is Magic hiiting some halfcourt shot vs Celtics in 84 or 85??) I seriously want to embarrass the Giants so bad. I have never said that about a superbowl, ever. I always ask for a competitive game. NOT THIS YEAR. Even IF we win by 100, I still will feel the pain. It’s like if you survive a fire but get burns on your face, the burns will always be there, even if you get rich from the insurance.
Pats Fan’s biggest fears:
Eli comes out accurate, Jacobs/Bradshaw run straight through our inconsistent Defense. The pass rush of the front four of the Jiyants gets to Brady, disallowing any kind of passing game. The Jiyants (mostly) weak secondary keeps the passing game underneath, taking away all big plays, making solid tackles with the first man to make contact on Welker and Co. The Patriots “bend but don’t break” defense (reg season 31st ranked (yards) Defense but 15th in points allowed per game = great “red zone” defense; Jiyants conversely, have the #27 ranked defense in the league, while allowing the 25th most amount of points) what that means is, our offense is gonna score, can the NY offense keep up? Which Patriots Defense is going to show up?? Which D do we get? The Pats dominant D that stifled the Ravens/Broncos or the team that looked horrendous against the ‘Skins, Colts and Dolphins this yr? I’m betting that the Dominant D. We have the Best coach in the league, a defensive Guru. He had 2 weeks to prepare for this game!
Why The Patriots WILL win:
Besides the fact that Tom Brady will have his BEST GAME EVER?? Ya, I said it, this will be the game that defines his greatness! His Coup de Gras, if you will. Im sure he has thought about Feb 2008 as much as he has had sex with a supermodel ( a lot, I would bet). That game is the type of stuff to make a man go crazy. A reason to go to the gym a little longer. Remember, the first game AFTER that super disappointment was the one against the Chiefs when he got injured for the year and (enter:Cassell) hads to sit out that whole season, thinking about his bad performance vs the New York, football Jiaynts.
Let’s be real though. The fact we have the best Tight End combo (Hernandez/Gronk) will eliminate the vaunted Jiyants pass rush. The 2 tight end set will spread their defensive ends out further to allow Brady more time and negate the pass-rush. Hernandez was the main guy last year, so don’t be shocked if he is MVP. I see Ocho FINALLY getting his due in this game, Maybe a TD, maybe a key first down catch, maybe even some huge block that frees Edelman or something. But doesn’t that make sense? Doesn’t Ocho-Cinco get rewarded for swallowing his Pride and being such a good soldier this year? What about Deion Branch? He has been relatively quiet. Bradichick will see this, and exploit whatever weakness that the Jiyants have. Just when you fall asleep on those quick hitting short passes to Welker and Hernandez…then BAM! Deep to Branch or Ocho. I mean, they went deep to Slater vs the Ravens! I predict an epic 4th Quarter collapse by NY Jiyantz. The Pats will be down 21 at the half, we will all feel like it’s over, then the BEST coach/QB combo EVER will make adjustments, and we will be celebrating like its 2002!
In the end, this will prove to be a Legendary Game ….The stakes have never been higher, I cannot think of another Superbowl (or even Pro Sports championship game) where there was so much was on the line; maybe the 98Bulls/Jazz series where you kind of had the feeling that The Bulls where not coming back the next season due to Jordan’s Free Agency/end of Phil Jackson’s contract vs last chance for Stockton/Malone. There has never been so many legacies on the line (Bradichick getting a 4th ring and redemption vs Coughlin/Eli getting #2 and vaulting up the all time lists). Never have I been so nervous before a game. I have never watched such a cosmically “must win” game. If The Patriots lose, we will have to listen to those “GD” obnoxious NY fans for an eternity. And you thought “1918 clap-clap, clap-clap-clap” was annoying. “Let’s call this 18.5 for #4” Call it what you want, but just understand the magnitude of this game. (I mean, Im already stressed out, I might break my 31 year streak of not smoking tobacco!)Don’t just do it for you, do it for the third world children who don’t need another Patriots Shirt!