My friend Jon Jackson, the detective fiction writer, asked me if I thought the Golden State Warriors were a singular phenomena. We've email back and forth over this question. So far I don't think my comments have helped. I'm going to give it another try.
It's important to remember that all great NBA championship teams are singular in some way and unique in a number of other ways. But, in all cases, their originality begins with players. Going down the list chronologically, the Celtics can not be duplicated without Russell and Bob Cousy & Havlicek clones; the 76ers, ditto, without cloning Wilt Chamberlain. You'd have to duplicate Wilt and West to reproduce the Lakers of 1972. The Knicks championship teams needed their anchor, Willis Reed, and floor general Walt Frazier. Certainly there could never be a NBA Championship Lakers teams of 85,87, & 88 without a Magic and a Jabbar. Detroit in 89 & 90 would never have won without Isiah. The Warriors without Rick Barry, no championship for them.The Celts championship without Bird and McHale, not likely. Without question no Michael Jordan, no Bulls championships. No Olajuwon, no Rocket's championships. No Walton, no Blazer rings. No joy in LA without Kobe and Shaq. Pop, as good a coach as he is, would not have won much without his threesome of Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker, and, finally the Heat do not sizzle without LeBron.
Whee, gotta catch my breath. All of this seems obvious. So, how does this help to answer Jon's question? Evaluating the players I've mentioned, I've come to the conclusion that there are not many of them, as fabulous as they are, who are unique in the sense that they can't be duplicated, ever. The unique ones are: Cousy, Bill Russell, Wilt, Bird, Magic; Kareem, Walton (one year phenom), Olajuwon, MJ, Kobe and LeBron. Perhaps, you can see where I'm going, whether you agree with me or not. And I suspect a lot will not.
Here's the wrap-up,Ta, Da! The Golden State Warriors 2017 Championship squad have three players who are unique and impossible to reproduce.playing together: Stephan Curry, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green. I could add Klay Thompson; he's certainly deserving, but then I'd have to add Kevin McHale to the Celt's team, or Scotty Pippin to the Bulls' team, and D Wade to the Heat team.
At no time in the history of the NBA have the Warrior 3 happened. The closest, in my mind, is the Celts: Russell, Havlick, Heinsohn group, Willis, Frazier and Bradley; the Bird, McHale, and Parish trio, the Magic, Jabbar, and Worthy Lakers and the Spurs' Duncan, Ginobelli, and Parker triumvirate.
But, "closest" is the best I can do. Not equal to. I have a hard time imagining a team in the future that will have three absolutely unique player (think broken molds, crushed, and deposited in the Pacific Ocean) playing together on one NBA team.
Does this mean that the Dubs would defeat all of the great teams I've mentioned? With the 3 point line, I don't think so. Back in the day rules, maybe not, but maybe.When talking about winning teams, there are all sorts of other considerations to take into account before a team can be defined as a singular phenomena. Coaching, for one, would be, as players say today, "huge." It's a little early yet, but Steve Kerr is well on his way to being compared to the great coaches, like Aurebach, Hannum, Daley, Riley, Jackson and Popovich. Then, there's the difficult subject of team chemistry, of team bench strength, of ownership and management support..All valid consideerations. However, when you get down to answering my friend, Jon's question of "singular phenomena," it's always the players - in the NBA, always the players.
The US Open ended yesterday with first time winner Brooks Koepka holding the trophy. Here's a fun old fashioned poem about golf, a parody of Longfellow's The Arrow & the Song.
The Ball and the Club by Forbes Lindsay
I shot a golf ball into the air;
It fell toward earth, I knew not where;
For who hath eye so strong and keen,
As to follow the flight of my ball to the green.
I lost a club I could not spare,
And searched for it most everywhere;
For who hath sight so keen and quick
As to trace the course of a missing stick.
Long, long afterwards, in an oak,
I found the golf ball still unbroke;
And the club - with a couple of nicks and a bend,
I found again in the bag of a friend.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Some Thoughts on the Dubs NBA Championship Game Five
The sun is shining (All Gold Everywhere), the air is fresh, a gentle breeze is blowing in from the delta and the Golden State Warriors are once again Champions of the NBA.
The Finals ended in Victory last night, and I was as exhausted physically and mentally as if I'd been one of the players on the court. This is how close my identification with my old team has become since the new ownership brought a winning spirit back to the Bay Area.
Melanie, my wife, not to be outdone by my exhaustion, wore two Warrior T shirts, one over the other, for the game. We both agreed the Warriors might not have won had she worn only one T-shirt.
In my Blog yesterday, I stated that all things physical being equal, the smarter team would win. It did. I site, for example, the numbers of easy baskets the Warriors made, particularly by way of the the pick and roll, screener rolling to the baskets, and the unguarded back doors.
LeBron was a bull, but Kevin Durant was Muhammed Ali's butterfly. Steph Curry was the slight-of-hand magician. Draymond Green was the heart pumping blood to all the other parts of the Warrior body. Klay Thompson, who rounds out the newly christened Fab Four (I like the sound of that), was the shadow Kyrie tried to shake all night and finally couldn't. So much for mixing metaphors.
But lets not forget four players: ZaZa, Rocky Marciano, Pachulia, the future president of Georgia, David West, who chased his dream of a ring and earned it with clutch shots and stalwart D, Shawn Livingston, Mr. Calm, (a team must have a player with a steady hand like that) and Andre Igudala.
Igudala deserves his own paragraph. What is it about the genetic makeup of this athlete that he produces such clutch performances at exactly the right moment? It's as if he doesn't just see the opportunity, he smells it in the air, feels it, tastes victory, hears his name being called. I swear its like that. I think I remember such a brief moment in my own career in game five against the 76ers. And it's absolutely something spiritual.
Let's not forget the other Dubs. Although they may not have contributed a great deal during this last series against the Cavs, their performances during the regular season and in conference post-season were enormous. They earned their rings. And the right to be called Warriors.
I continue to be amazed by Steve Kerr. If any fans of the game ever doubted that coaching an NBA team is much more about personality and psychology than it is about X's and O's, watching Coach Kerr will dispel that notion. Intelligence, yes; preparation, yes; instinct, yes. But how you draw your players in so they identify with your spirit--that's at the heart of superior coaching. One might ask, how can you tell? Well, you do. Look in the eyes of the players, at their body language, listen to their words of praise that always fall short because they are really at a loss for words. Such it is that defines the coaches at the top of the Pantheon of NBA Coaches, starting with Red Auerbach and ending with, yes, Steve Kerr.
So, who have I left out? I'm so pumped that I can't stop praising. There is Bob Myers, who's got to be one smart GM, whose instincts have to be as razor-sharp as the players' on the court. A good GM has to feel what's right, not just gather stats and analyze. And there is Jerry West, consultant. Dare I say Consigliere to the Warriors' Godfathers: Joe Lacob and Peter Guber? I dare. Good advice well received as in: 'there's a kid playing at Washington State the Warriors should look at--advice like that is worth a franchise. And a huge shout out for the coaching staff, particularly Ron Adams and Mike Brown. Think of them as book ends, providing Coach Kerr with the input a head coach requires to make the right decisions in practices and during games.
Does the Warrior physical fitness/trainers team deserve praise? You bet. The Dubs came into this series healthy. It's not a coincidence they did. Does the entire organization: Rick Welts and his team and Raymond Ridder and his team deserve praise? Absolutely. They too are coaches, coaching the environment in which the game is played and the players live. Take for example how hard it is to live in a run-down neighborhood, (I'm guessing lots of folks can identify with that), but if that neighborhood is clean and modern and stable and organized, then that's where players want to make their homes. Ask Kevin Durant. I'm reasonably certain his decision to come to the Warriors was not entirely based on basketball.
Am I through? Not yet. There are the fans. They've been there for the Dubs since the Dubs were the Dubs, every seat in Oracle taken, a sea of gold and Warrior blue. Tickets are not cheap these days in the NBA, but Bay Area fans keep opening their check books because the organization from top to bottom has made attending games worth it. Is there better value for your dollar? In the big scheme of life, sure. But in the fun things of life, it's money well spent for a season of pleasure and a chance to identify with greatness. And the best damn hotdogs in any arena.
Here's a poem I wrote a long time ago for Jerry West that is in my first collection of poetry called Nothing You Lose Can Be Replaced. It seems fitting, given Jerry's contribution to the Warriors Championships.
Jerry West
That nearly full court buzzer-beater
that kept the Laker's playoff hopes alive
was never in doubt. I knew its certainty
from fingertip to rim. Jerry, as sweet
as that shot was, I want to tell you
about another shot far sweeter:
Night was falling and the cross-winds
of San Francisco were full court pressing
All City Ray Paxton, postman
with the soft touch we depended on
in the clutch. He "called it" (something
you forgot to do) seconds before the rain
would have ended the game with nothing
resolved, summer over, the lucky players
off to college where they'd play to big crowds
indoors, safe and dry while Ray,
bag over his shoulders, walks his rounds.
The Finals ended in Victory last night, and I was as exhausted physically and mentally as if I'd been one of the players on the court. This is how close my identification with my old team has become since the new ownership brought a winning spirit back to the Bay Area.
Melanie, my wife, not to be outdone by my exhaustion, wore two Warrior T shirts, one over the other, for the game. We both agreed the Warriors might not have won had she worn only one T-shirt.
In my Blog yesterday, I stated that all things physical being equal, the smarter team would win. It did. I site, for example, the numbers of easy baskets the Warriors made, particularly by way of the the pick and roll, screener rolling to the baskets, and the unguarded back doors.
LeBron was a bull, but Kevin Durant was Muhammed Ali's butterfly. Steph Curry was the slight-of-hand magician. Draymond Green was the heart pumping blood to all the other parts of the Warrior body. Klay Thompson, who rounds out the newly christened Fab Four (I like the sound of that), was the shadow Kyrie tried to shake all night and finally couldn't. So much for mixing metaphors.
But lets not forget four players: ZaZa, Rocky Marciano, Pachulia, the future president of Georgia, David West, who chased his dream of a ring and earned it with clutch shots and stalwart D, Shawn Livingston, Mr. Calm, (a team must have a player with a steady hand like that) and Andre Igudala.
Igudala deserves his own paragraph. What is it about the genetic makeup of this athlete that he produces such clutch performances at exactly the right moment? It's as if he doesn't just see the opportunity, he smells it in the air, feels it, tastes victory, hears his name being called. I swear its like that. I think I remember such a brief moment in my own career in game five against the 76ers. And it's absolutely something spiritual.
Let's not forget the other Dubs. Although they may not have contributed a great deal during this last series against the Cavs, their performances during the regular season and in conference post-season were enormous. They earned their rings. And the right to be called Warriors.
I continue to be amazed by Steve Kerr. If any fans of the game ever doubted that coaching an NBA team is much more about personality and psychology than it is about X's and O's, watching Coach Kerr will dispel that notion. Intelligence, yes; preparation, yes; instinct, yes. But how you draw your players in so they identify with your spirit--that's at the heart of superior coaching. One might ask, how can you tell? Well, you do. Look in the eyes of the players, at their body language, listen to their words of praise that always fall short because they are really at a loss for words. Such it is that defines the coaches at the top of the Pantheon of NBA Coaches, starting with Red Auerbach and ending with, yes, Steve Kerr.
So, who have I left out? I'm so pumped that I can't stop praising. There is Bob Myers, who's got to be one smart GM, whose instincts have to be as razor-sharp as the players' on the court. A good GM has to feel what's right, not just gather stats and analyze. And there is Jerry West, consultant. Dare I say Consigliere to the Warriors' Godfathers: Joe Lacob and Peter Guber? I dare. Good advice well received as in: 'there's a kid playing at Washington State the Warriors should look at--advice like that is worth a franchise. And a huge shout out for the coaching staff, particularly Ron Adams and Mike Brown. Think of them as book ends, providing Coach Kerr with the input a head coach requires to make the right decisions in practices and during games.
Does the Warrior physical fitness/trainers team deserve praise? You bet. The Dubs came into this series healthy. It's not a coincidence they did. Does the entire organization: Rick Welts and his team and Raymond Ridder and his team deserve praise? Absolutely. They too are coaches, coaching the environment in which the game is played and the players live. Take for example how hard it is to live in a run-down neighborhood, (I'm guessing lots of folks can identify with that), but if that neighborhood is clean and modern and stable and organized, then that's where players want to make their homes. Ask Kevin Durant. I'm reasonably certain his decision to come to the Warriors was not entirely based on basketball.
Am I through? Not yet. There are the fans. They've been there for the Dubs since the Dubs were the Dubs, every seat in Oracle taken, a sea of gold and Warrior blue. Tickets are not cheap these days in the NBA, but Bay Area fans keep opening their check books because the organization from top to bottom has made attending games worth it. Is there better value for your dollar? In the big scheme of life, sure. But in the fun things of life, it's money well spent for a season of pleasure and a chance to identify with greatness. And the best damn hotdogs in any arena.
Here's a poem I wrote a long time ago for Jerry West that is in my first collection of poetry called Nothing You Lose Can Be Replaced. It seems fitting, given Jerry's contribution to the Warriors Championships.
Jerry West
That nearly full court buzzer-beater
that kept the Laker's playoff hopes alive
was never in doubt. I knew its certainty
from fingertip to rim. Jerry, as sweet
as that shot was, I want to tell you
about another shot far sweeter:
Night was falling and the cross-winds
of San Francisco were full court pressing
All City Ray Paxton, postman
with the soft touch we depended on
in the clutch. He "called it" (something
you forgot to do) seconds before the rain
would have ended the game with nothing
resolved, summer over, the lucky players
off to college where they'd play to big crowds
indoors, safe and dry while Ray,
bag over his shoulders, walks his rounds.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Phsicality
During a recent interview on TV, Cavs' Coach Tyronn Lue must have used the word physicality at least twenty times. He was no doubt very impressed and happy with his team's "Physicality" in game 4 of the NBA Championship series in the Q.
As an old English teacher, I rushed immediately to my Merrian Webster Dictionary and looked up the word: PHYSICALITY. I was skeptical that it was a word in the English language. My dictionary proved me wrong. Physicality is indeed a word, and it dates back to the 16th century.
However, it seems to me that the Golden State Warriors, as they head into Game 5 of the series, should take into account the full meaning of the word according to Merrian Webster:
PHYSICALITY: predominance of the physical at the expense of the mental, spiritual, and social.
If the Cavs continue to play within the scope of the definition that Coach Lue is so proud of, it is something the Golden State Warriors could take advantage of. No doubt, our Dubs need to be more physical in tonight's game. They can not allow the Cavs to attack first, and if the Cavs do, they must attack back instantly and with the same intensity.
That said and all things physical being even, the outcome of the game will be due to which team plays smarter. MENTAL TOUGHNESS will win this game, not PHYSICALITY
I am confident that the Warriors understand this.
How about some LOVE for Bob Myers, the very astute GM of the Golden State Warriors. Lot's of kudos heading the players' way, Steve Kerr and the coaching staffs' way, and in the direction of Jerry West and Ownership, but not enough in the direction of Bob Myers. He seems to be a pretty low key kind of guy who abjures the spotlight. I don't read the Chronicle every day, so I may be wrong about this. There may be tons of stories praising him. Whatever the case may be, I want to make sure my Blog pays him the praise he deserves in putting together this fabulous basketball team. Go Bob, more power to you and for years to come. And, lets hope Draymond remembers what you said to him when you two were sitting together last season watching Game 5 on TV, Draymond having been suspended from the game for swatting the King in his Jewels:. "Let's not let this happen next year." Wonderfully understated.
Spain's Rafael Nadal wins his 10th championship at Roland Garros.The King of Clay deserves a tennis poem:
The Tennis Player by Ronen Sigan
On a lucky day I found a genie in a bottle.
Out he came thankful and free granting me three wishes.
My first wish is to have a decent backhand -
that is really all I need.
Too many times I missed such easy shots.
It's about time I got a backhand.
The genie was stunned - what about fame,
fortune and the pleasure of the flesh?
I am a tennis player and this is my first wish.
My second wish is to have a killer server.
layer will fear it as it flies and swerves.
A killer serve it is! The genie sighed
An let me guess your third wish
is the strongest forehand in the world.
Far from it, give a decent backhand
and a killer serve to my opponents.
For what is a game without a challenge.
As an old English teacher, I rushed immediately to my Merrian Webster Dictionary and looked up the word: PHYSICALITY. I was skeptical that it was a word in the English language. My dictionary proved me wrong. Physicality is indeed a word, and it dates back to the 16th century.
However, it seems to me that the Golden State Warriors, as they head into Game 5 of the series, should take into account the full meaning of the word according to Merrian Webster:
PHYSICALITY: predominance of the physical at the expense of the mental, spiritual, and social.
If the Cavs continue to play within the scope of the definition that Coach Lue is so proud of, it is something the Golden State Warriors could take advantage of. No doubt, our Dubs need to be more physical in tonight's game. They can not allow the Cavs to attack first, and if the Cavs do, they must attack back instantly and with the same intensity.
That said and all things physical being even, the outcome of the game will be due to which team plays smarter. MENTAL TOUGHNESS will win this game, not PHYSICALITY
I am confident that the Warriors understand this.
How about some LOVE for Bob Myers, the very astute GM of the Golden State Warriors. Lot's of kudos heading the players' way, Steve Kerr and the coaching staffs' way, and in the direction of Jerry West and Ownership, but not enough in the direction of Bob Myers. He seems to be a pretty low key kind of guy who abjures the spotlight. I don't read the Chronicle every day, so I may be wrong about this. There may be tons of stories praising him. Whatever the case may be, I want to make sure my Blog pays him the praise he deserves in putting together this fabulous basketball team. Go Bob, more power to you and for years to come. And, lets hope Draymond remembers what you said to him when you two were sitting together last season watching Game 5 on TV, Draymond having been suspended from the game for swatting the King in his Jewels:. "Let's not let this happen next year." Wonderfully understated.
Spain's Rafael Nadal wins his 10th championship at Roland Garros.The King of Clay deserves a tennis poem:
The Tennis Player by Ronen Sigan
On a lucky day I found a genie in a bottle.
Out he came thankful and free granting me three wishes.
My first wish is to have a decent backhand -
that is really all I need.
Too many times I missed such easy shots.
It's about time I got a backhand.
The genie was stunned - what about fame,
fortune and the pleasure of the flesh?
I am a tennis player and this is my first wish.
My second wish is to have a killer server.
layer will fear it as it flies and swerves.
A killer serve it is! The genie sighed
An let me guess your third wish
is the strongest forehand in the world.
Far from it, give a decent backhand
and a killer serve to my opponents.
For what is a game without a challenge.
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Counter-Punching, a Bad Idea
My wife and I were attending my grand daughter's high school graduation, so we did not witness first hand the ass kicking the Cavaliers gave the Warriors last night at the Q, an arena next to the flame throwing Cayahoga River - Flow on big river. An arena named for Quicken Loans, which will be the first mortgage company associated with the mortgage and banking scandal of 2019. (Remember, you heard it from me first.)
My wife and I were delighted we didn't watch that game on live TV. Later, Melanie and I watched it on tape. Here was my first thought half way through the first quarter. I've said it one, and I'll say it again: "He who gets the first punch in, gets the first punch in." The Cavs punched first, and kept punching (metaphor for setting the alpha-dog-tone of the game). The Warriors needed to punch back immediately and didn't. The refs didn't help. They allowed the Cavs to be the aggressors, perhaps not intentionally. However, it has always been this way in the NBA as far back as when I played that referees become more and more inclined to see the second foul than the first. To punish the counter-puncher and not the aggressor. It has always been very difficult to counter-punch in the NBA. Historically, any chance a team has to change tempo significantly comes at the start of the third quarter. That did not happen last night. So, the series goes back to Oracle on Monday night. It is what it is.
Steve Kerr is correct to say that his team is not worried about history, but they damn well better be worried about who gets the first punch in in game five.
That's all I have to say about the upcoming game five. Except this: Recently, archaeologists in Mexico found an Aztec ball court, ancestor of the game of basketball, (the stone hoop was mounted on the wall perpendicular to the playing surface.) Nearby the court, they also found the sculls of the players on the losing team that had been sacrificed to the Gods. During game five, I will be paying attention to the shape of the Cavs' heads and wondering. Just wondering.
Here's a little quatrain about the great Laker's center, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Sky Hooks From the Stands by Tom Meschery
Jabbar's arm high in the air
His hand cradling the ball
I'm waiting for it to fall
From the sky, holding my breath.
My wife and I were delighted we didn't watch that game on live TV. Later, Melanie and I watched it on tape. Here was my first thought half way through the first quarter. I've said it one, and I'll say it again: "He who gets the first punch in, gets the first punch in." The Cavs punched first, and kept punching (metaphor for setting the alpha-dog-tone of the game). The Warriors needed to punch back immediately and didn't. The refs didn't help. They allowed the Cavs to be the aggressors, perhaps not intentionally. However, it has always been this way in the NBA as far back as when I played that referees become more and more inclined to see the second foul than the first. To punish the counter-puncher and not the aggressor. It has always been very difficult to counter-punch in the NBA. Historically, any chance a team has to change tempo significantly comes at the start of the third quarter. That did not happen last night. So, the series goes back to Oracle on Monday night. It is what it is.
Steve Kerr is correct to say that his team is not worried about history, but they damn well better be worried about who gets the first punch in in game five.
That's all I have to say about the upcoming game five. Except this: Recently, archaeologists in Mexico found an Aztec ball court, ancestor of the game of basketball, (the stone hoop was mounted on the wall perpendicular to the playing surface.) Nearby the court, they also found the sculls of the players on the losing team that had been sacrificed to the Gods. During game five, I will be paying attention to the shape of the Cavs' heads and wondering. Just wondering.
Here's a little quatrain about the great Laker's center, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Sky Hooks From the Stands by Tom Meschery
Jabbar's arm high in the air
His hand cradling the ball
I'm waiting for it to fall
From the sky, holding my breath.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
2017 NBA Finals, On Your Mark, Get Set...
At 6 p.m. this evening at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, a NBA referee will throw up the ball at center court to start this season's Finals. My wife, Melanie, her grandson and I will be there. There's going to be a photographer and a Sports Illustrated writer waiting for us. SI is doing a Where are They Now feature, and I'm part of the They. I mention this only because it dove-tails into the first part of this morning's blog: NBA Past.
At the beginning of three years of Cav vs Warriors finals, it's important to remind NBA fans that may not know (and some might very well not, considering they didn't exist during the years the Celts dominated the pro game) that basketball existed before Bird and Magic, MJ, and LeBron/Curry. There was the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Let it be said, and I'm saying it, that had the Chamberlain led Philadelphia Warriors been a Western Division team, it's highly likely that the NBA Championship would have turned into - like the upcoming Warriors/Cavs - a three-years-in-a-row-series from '59/60 on between Boston and Philly. In my rookie year, 1961/62, I was on the Philadelphia Warriors' Eastern Division championship team back then, so long ago - before the motor car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced dinosaur - that lost by one point to the Celts in the finals seconds of game seven, and I know for certain, had we been in the West that year, we'd have been in the finals, having dominated the Lakers - the West champs - all season long.
Not sure why I spent so much time writing this, except I sometimes feel the Russell/Chamberlain matchup has not been given enough historical love, which includes the entire era beginning with Bill Russell and ending with the first year of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. It saddens me that there is not a lot of film footage of our era, We were pretty damn good.
I am excited, looking forward to tonight's game. (Aren't the Dubs a pleasure to watch?) All the players on both sides are healthy and rested. It should be hugely interesting. Like chess or a 10 thousand-metre race, strategic and exhausting. With a little Tae Kwon Do thrown in the mix.
I still can't forget the seventh game of the finals last season when Kyrie took and made that fantastic three point clutch shot with Curry in his face to win for the Cavs. That shot at that moment, says a lot to me about this years series. The Warriors must limit Kyrie's game. For me, he is the KEY, not LeBron James, who will get his points, but will also dominate the ball to, in my humble opinion, the long term detriment of the Cavs. It would also be wise not to allow Kevin Love to get open threes as the Celtics did. I'm still having trouble getting over the Celt's wussy D.
In the end, as it always is, since the beginning of time and the NBA, let if be said, and never forget DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Here's a little Haiku about Draymond Green and LeBron "King" James.
.
At the beginning of three years of Cav vs Warriors finals, it's important to remind NBA fans that may not know (and some might very well not, considering they didn't exist during the years the Celts dominated the pro game) that basketball existed before Bird and Magic, MJ, and LeBron/Curry. There was the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Let it be said, and I'm saying it, that had the Chamberlain led Philadelphia Warriors been a Western Division team, it's highly likely that the NBA Championship would have turned into - like the upcoming Warriors/Cavs - a three-years-in-a-row-series from '59/60 on between Boston and Philly. In my rookie year, 1961/62, I was on the Philadelphia Warriors' Eastern Division championship team back then, so long ago - before the motor car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced dinosaur - that lost by one point to the Celts in the finals seconds of game seven, and I know for certain, had we been in the West that year, we'd have been in the finals, having dominated the Lakers - the West champs - all season long.
Not sure why I spent so much time writing this, except I sometimes feel the Russell/Chamberlain matchup has not been given enough historical love, which includes the entire era beginning with Bill Russell and ending with the first year of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. It saddens me that there is not a lot of film footage of our era, We were pretty damn good.
I am excited, looking forward to tonight's game. (Aren't the Dubs a pleasure to watch?) All the players on both sides are healthy and rested. It should be hugely interesting. Like chess or a 10 thousand-metre race, strategic and exhausting. With a little Tae Kwon Do thrown in the mix.
I still can't forget the seventh game of the finals last season when Kyrie took and made that fantastic three point clutch shot with Curry in his face to win for the Cavs. That shot at that moment, says a lot to me about this years series. The Warriors must limit Kyrie's game. For me, he is the KEY, not LeBron James, who will get his points, but will also dominate the ball to, in my humble opinion, the long term detriment of the Cavs. It would also be wise not to allow Kevin Love to get open threes as the Celtics did. I'm still having trouble getting over the Celt's wussy D.
In the end, as it always is, since the beginning of time and the NBA, let if be said, and never forget DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Here's a little Haiku about Draymond Green and LeBron "King" James.
.
E.E CUMMINGS PREDICTS
THE OUTCOME by Tom Meschery
warriors and cavs (both dray & king)
will battle each other in the spring
tweet their rumble and text their game
king goes down, while dray remains
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