You just don’t bet against LBJ
When it comes to sports, we sports fans love seeing the Cinderella stories. We adore the last-to-first switch from one season to the next, and I’ve never heard of anyone hating the underdog. The major sports are supposed to be set up so this can happen. Last year baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays brought fans to the edge of their seats by making a run all the way to the finals. Hockey has shown us over the years that underdogs can go the distance as long as their goalie gets hot. Football brought us the Giants, who had to win 3 straight road games to get to beat the “invincible” Patriots in the Super Bowl. Basketball gave us…..well, basketball hasn’t really given us anything surprising. History in basketball isn’t very kind to underdogs or Cinderellas. The sport has given us many repeat championships and dynasties over recent years– The Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs etc.– but not even as close to as many “holy crap” playoff runs. Basketball is set up for the best team to win every year.
This year is proving no different. Three months ago, people were predicting a Lebron-Kobe final. With only two rounds left to play, the two best players in the world are on a direct collision course. It would be unfair to say that this year hasn’t provided any drama, because it has actually been quite the opposite. Six out of the twelve already-played series have gone at least 6 games. The Bulls-Celtics series was probably one of the best first-round series of all time. The Yao-less Rockets took the Lakers to game 7, but at the end of the day, the Rockets couldn’t beat the Lake Show, nor could the Bulls topple the Celtics. The Magic beating the Celtics is hardly an upset because of the fact KG was hurt and that it seemed the Celtics were just running on fumes since the end of the season.
There’s nothing wrong with favorites winning all the time; in fact, it’s what’s supposed to happen. This year’s final four features the 1 and 3 seeds from the East, and the 1 and 2 seeds from the West. The only advantage of keeping the NBA playoffs this long is for the league to make money, otherwise, why do it? But that’s enough complaining for now. As for my predictions the rest of the way: Although I think Denver is a great team and as much as I know that Chauncy Billips is perfectly capable of winning this series based on his presence, I’m saying Lakers in six. Kobe is too strong this year as is the Lakers’ frontcourt. In the East, I’m taking the Cavs in five. Lebron and ‘Crew’ are going to be too overpowering for the Magic this series and I don’t think anyone besides Dwight Howard is going to be able to step up against the Cavs defense. I’m taking the two favorites because that’s where trends point to, and because I’ve learnt not to bet against LBJ or Kobe. But we’ll see for sure when we all tune into The NBA Playoffs…Where Predictable Happens.
