The Square Life

The Finals start tonight. Do you know where you stand? In my eyes, it's basically a good versus evil thing. On one hand you have a team that plays basketball the right way-the team way-in the Celtics, and you have another team that depends on individual greatness in the Lakers.

I know, I know, the Lakers pass the ball around a lot, and seem to know how to run the triangle. That's not what I'm saying. Team ball is when you really don't care how you do, as long as you do what you can to help your team win. Now look at the Lakers. Do you really think they play team ball? Okay, compare Kobe and Garnett. Let's throw out a scenario and see how each would respond.

Let's say Kobe shoots miserably all series. He struggles getting in a rhythm-any rhythm, and is forced to watch Pau Gasol step up and win the series for his team. As Gasol is being handed the Finals MVP award, do you think Kobe is happy for him? The answer is absolutely positively NO! There's a reason Kobe decided to hate Shaq even after Shaq led his team to three straight championships. I've Kobe-bashed enough of late, so I'll let you decide why Kobe hated Shaq and why he'd resent Pau if he is the best player in the Finals.

Okay, now let's apply the exact same scenario to Garnett. Let's say Paul Pierce is the Finals MVP and Garnett has a relatively poor series. Doesn't the question about his happiness for his teammate seem plain silly? Well, it should. He'd be ecstatic for Paul! No doubt about it.

Anyway, I am almost giddy for this series. I watched the entire game 4 of the '84 Finals the other day on YouTube. This matchup is filled with beautiful history. Bird vs. Magic. Oooh, I get chills thinking about the gold and green doing battle again.

I don't have time to say much more, and since I'm not paid for these blog posts, I will save my thoughts for after the series starts to take shape.