I DON’T know about you, but I am pretty excited about the National Basketball Association (NBA) Conference Finals. In the East, it’s Boston versus Cleveland while in the West, it’s Golden State going up against Houston.
Boston and Cleveland met in last year’s Eastern Finals with the Cavaliers prevailing in five matches, while the Rockets fell to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western semifinals preventing a clash with Golden State.
There’s lots of subplots for both. For Boston, it’s wanting to get past LeBron James and getting a chance to hang up banner #18.
For James, it’s winning another with Cleveland and showing he can win without Kyrie Irving whether he is playing or not. He knows there won’t be too many more of these opportunities and he’d like to win a few more rings to bring him closer to the discusses for GOATs alongside Michael Jordan, Earvin Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bill Russell. If he does leave Cleveland, then it would be easier as he has already fulfilled a promise to bring a championship home.
That 2016-2017 season, Boston topped the East with a 53-29 record, while Cleveland was second with a 51-31 slate. For the second year in a row, the Cavs are behind the Celtics in the standings. It was the Toronto Raptors that topped the East with Boston second and Cleveland in third.
And now it’s going to be a battle royale in the East with the young, exciting and talented Celtics going up against the veteran Cavs. There is no way you can say that Boston is an underdog in the series for all the vet savvy of the Cavs. These Celtics have bucked injuries to finish where they’re at so I’d say that they’re even faves.
Cleveland on the other hand, has struggled. At times, they remind me of the end of the Jordan dynasty in Chicago—getting by on smarts and some good players during the 1998 season. However, it was clear that they were on their last legs. LeBron James has been in the Association for what—15 years now? There’s a lot of mileage in those legs. But the man is a physical specimen. He’d like to may hay while the sun shines.
In fact, it is in incredible how at 33 years of age, you can arguably say that he is still the best in the world. This is his seventh consecutive Eastern Finals. Is Bill Russell the only other player to have played in more consecutive Eastern Finals (or in the West for that matter)? But then again, it was an altogether different format during Russell’s era.
Should Cleveland get past Boston, that could set up another clash with Golden State providing the Warriors take down the Houston Rockets. And with their respective Main Men—Stephen Curry and LeBron, that also means Under Armour versus Nike. It goes deeper!
Heading out West, Golden State would like to further cement their place as one of the NBA’s all-time best. They are clearly in a position to do it.
The Houston Rockets feel it is time. They thought it was last year but it didn’t happen. Now, they brought over Chris Paul.
It will also mean a reunion of former teammates turned foes. At one point, had James Harden and Kevin Durant were teammates with Russell Westbrook at Oklahoma City. Had the two stayed with the OKC Thunder, who knows? Maybe the championships that Golden State have would have been theirs. That’s one heckuva Big Three. Unfortunately, they never were.
Now if Harden is frustrated with his attempts to win one, can you imagine how Westbrook feels? Alas, this doesn’t concern the latter as he is out of the race once more.
It has been 22 years since Houston last raised a championship banner. Not since the time of Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Clyde Drexler and others has this team and their followers tasted basketball glory. They weren’t able to surround Yao Ming with excellent talent and it has been a while since the Rockets were this good, this frightening.
And speaking of frightening, that label should be reserved for the Golden State Warriors who are have revolutionized the game for their shooting and arraying the arc with a lot of three-point bombers.
But Westbrook versus Durant. Houston against Golden State. That’s real tantalizing.
Boston versus Cleveland? This is captivating.
Basketball fans should be so spoiled.