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This NBA season will conclude with the exact same two teams competing for a title that took seven games last year. For me, it's what promises to be a riveting conclusion to a third meeting between two all-time great players, LeBron James and Tim Duncan. It's also what I predicted last round and anticipated pretty much all throughout the playoffs (although I admittedly had the Clippers getting here at the beginning of the year).
In the Spurs, we have a franchise that's been a model of consistency, four titles in five Finals appearances over the last decade and half. The Heat, meanwhile, are looking to threepeat and secure what would be that team's fourth overall title. One club is going to tremendously solidify its dynasty credentials.
Of course, the matchup is also bound turn off a few people who either find San Antonio "boring" or simply hate Miami (or in my wife's case, both). I can partially understand those who might have preferred to see one of the younger West teams like the Thunder or Clippers to get to the Finals, but there really wasn't much question as to whether the Heat is the best team in the Eastern Conference this year. The only question remaining is whether the Spurs are the one team that can beat them.
After an opening round that offered more stunningly competitive contests than we had been accustomed to in recent year, the conference semifinals weren't nearly the must-see TV I had been anticipating. With the exception of the Thunder-Clippers series, most of the remaining games were fairly one-sided affairs. The final four teams are invariably the same ones people had been pretty much anticipating all year long. While I think there's bound to be a few close games and terrific moments, I don't really think there's too much doubt that you're probably going to have to hold out hope that the Heat's threepeat bid fails in the Finals, not this round.
While basketball has been perhaps my least favorite of the four major sports for quite some time now, I cannot deny that 2014 has thus far provided probably the most competitive and watchable games of any year I can remember. In addition to a surprisingly entertaining NCAA Tournament in March, this first round of the NBA Playoffs—typically little more than a four teams sleepwalking into the next round—offered up no less than six must-see series of nail-biting, buzzer-beating action. While I went a respectable 6-2 on my picks for the last round, I wasn't even close on the number of games any of the series would last (oh, sorry ... except for Bulls-Wizards, where I was on the money but had the winner wrong).
With the exception of Miami's polite routing of Charlotte, I could have very easily gone 1-7 instead. As it turned out, five underdogs fell just short after forcing a Game 7. I remain glued to the Stanley Cup Playoffs every passing night, but I cannot deny that I have been keeping a far more watchful eye on the NBA than I have in years past. This has been a remarkable start to the playoffs, and I can only assume that it is about to take another step up to offer even more compelling and astonishing finishes over the next two weeks.
***SIGH***
Stop me if you've heard this story before: A Bulls team lacking superstars overachieves in the regular season before coming up short in the playoffs. I won't need to spend too much time harping on this past year for basketball in Chicago, because I basically shared my exact same thoughts following last season. Here we are again, and maybe the only difference now is that we can look forward to Carlos Boozer finally hitting the road.
As is always the case, there's a lot of discussion about a possible big-name free agent (Carmelo Anthony) to team with Derrick Rose when he returns for what is hopefully his first full season in two years. I refuse to get my hopes up about Anthony, instead holding out hope for the far more realistic possibility that the Bulls can get Real Madrid power forward Nikola Mirotić to come across the pond and more than make up for what Boozer lacked. There has also been some concern raised about reports that the Los Angeles Lakers are attempting to woo Tom Thibodeau into coming to California, but I simply don't see what that franchise could offer Chicago that would be attractive enough for them to relinquish control of the coach.
However, there's some very real issues to be taken with Thibs' style now. The man is committed to winning every single possession of every single game, no matter how meaningless. This attitude has largely gone over well among the U.C. faithful, where a regular season victory is still treated as being some sort of indicator of future success. Of course, this is not the case. And one needs look no further than San Antonio (where aging stars are routinely given the night off) or Miami (where the "Big Three" also receive breaks to stay healthy for a playoff run) to realize that if the Bulls are truly to compete in the near future, the team is going to have to be willing to sacrifice a game or two in the regular season.
I fear this would strike Thibs as nonsense, but unless the team adds some genuinely striking offensive talent this off-season, I have little reason to get my hopes up about anything being all that different when the 2015 Playoffs tip off. The Heat are not getting any younger, but the Spurs have continued to be perennial contenders despite years and years of being dismissed as "too old." Chicago continues to be among the best defensive teams in the league year in and year out, but until they can be as strong offensively while still having gas in the tank and a healthy roster come April, it just seems that the ceiling for the Bulls will continue to be as bridesmaids of the Eastern Conference.
It was another hard-fought season of Chicago Bulls basketball, with the team holding its own despite losing its marquee player and trading away a longtime contributor as well. Tom Thibodeau once again worked his magic with this seemingly doomed roster, and the Bulls somehow end up having home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Perhaps most astonishingly, it very much seemed that other teams in the Eastern Conference were doing their best to avoid having to play Chicago in the first or second round.
That speaks volumes of the type of opponent that the Bulls can be. Even though the offense is lackluster (to put it kindly), the defense remains the selling point and now win against this team comes without being earned through 48 minutes of grueling work. So does that translate to a championship threat? Of course not.
And there's sort of the rub with being a Bulls fan. We're becoming more and more used to this annual collection of scrappy underdogs overachieving without ever really being realistically in the title conversation. The signings and moves at the end of the year is fueling speculation that GarPax may be maneuvering to acquire Carmelo Anthony during the off-season, which certainly sounds good on paper. The problem it that we've been down this fantasy free agent road before, and the results rarely work out in Chicago's favor.
For now, I'll try to enjoy the prospect of the Bulls giving an Indiana or even a Miami fits, but it remains just about impossible for me to truly build up any real hopes about a Larry O'Brien Trophy being presented to this basketball team in June. They try hard and leave it all on the floor, sure, but it's only fair to admit that there remains a very real ceiling for the squad.
It appears I downloaded a virus or seven in my attempt to watch the NHL Playoffs on my computer, so the usual images, commentary, and whatnot will be added later.
To three-peat or not to three-peat? The Miami Heat's regular season has been very reminiscent of the two three-peats I saw the Chicago Bulls accomplish in the 1990s, as the defending champions spared themselves of pushing too hard in the regular season in order to make sure everyone would be healthy for what would be a fourth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals. While the Eastern Conference was something of a joke for much of the year, the way the pairings ended up no longer means the Heat will just coast to another title. Chances are good Miami will have two fairly difficult series before they even get to deal with whomever comes out of the West.
If nothing else, we've at least got some reason to pay a little more attention before June now.
As has been the case pretty much all year long, the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers remain far and away the only two elite teams in the Eastern Conference. And while the Bulls were essentially written off as soon as Derrick Rose went down only a few games in to the season, and while shipping Luol Deng off to Cleveland at about the midway point seemed to further cement the reality that this wasn't going to be Chicago's year, the Bulls just continue to grind away and keep winning games. If the playoffs were to start today, the Bulls would have home court advantage in the first round. But again, this is all simply delaying the inevitable. Do you want to be eliminated by Miami or Indiana?
For as much of a lost cause as this year is for Chicago, the team still has maintained a lot more interest among fans than I would have suspected. A big part of it has to do with the remarkable play of Joakim Noah, who became the first center to record three triple-doubles involving assists (as opposed to the blocks that are typically the third double digit for big men) in a single season since David Robinson in 1993-94. He was also the first center to record 14 assists since 1986.
As eye-popping as those statistical notes are, a lot of the talk naturally drifts to what the team will be able to do in the off-season. And the biggest headlines Noah has made in recent weeks has had to do with him reportedly urging Carmelo Anthony during All-Star Weekend to come to Chicago next year. This, as always, is a very entertaining concept to imagine, but probably has no realistic chance of actually happening. That won't stop many of the die-hards who still believe the crack in the championship window can be yanked wide open with one move.
Perhaps it was fitting that the first half to this season concluded in Cleveland, the new home (well, at least for this year) for Luol Deng. For the most part, the trade was only surprising in that the Bulls front office actually pulled the trigger on a deal. Too many times in recent years, it has seemed as though this organization clings to its own overvaluation of its own talent. All too often, the belief in players like Deng or Kirk Hinrich or name any other draft pick has led to many fans insisting that the team should not part with said young players because their ceilings will be just as high as a Kobe or a LeBron.
We know that Luol Deng's ceiling is not anywhere near that high, but his current floor remains pretty darn high as is. In Luol, Chicago fans were privileged to have a nightly solid effort from a team player who understood his role, played solid defense, and always kept his nose clean. In fact, Deng's numerous humanitarian efforts while a member of the Bulls cannot be understated.
I consider myself to be among many who were surprised to learn that Deng left Chicago as the fourth-leading scorer in Bulls history. Still, after being a steady contributor for nearly a decade in the Windy City, there was no denying that it was in the organization's best interest to obtain some sort of compensation while available before Luol became a free agent and earned a paycheck that Chicago could not afford to sign. We are now only halfway through a completely lost and unwatchable season, but the many draft picks that the Bulls got in exchange for Deng could give fans reason to be a little more optimistic. We have no idea what level of player former league MVP Derrick Rose is going to be when he returns to the floor, but the ability to sign new, young talent at more reasonable rates while Tom Thibodeau is still in charge (however long that lasts ... ) could help the Bulls contend again. One day.
I see no point in lying. I attempted to listen to the Bulls game last night, but only made it about two quarters in before I decided to watch TV instead. (This, for the record.) OK, I lasted less than two periods.
This is likely to be the story for the remainder of the season. Oh, sure. The Bulls could be hard-working and grindy enough to make the playoffs in an appalling Eastern Conference, but this season's hopes for any sort of deep playoff run were vanquished as soon as Derrick Rose—fresh off missing an entire season—went down a mere 10 games into this one.
The Bulls quickly announced Rose would be out for the season. No playoffs, no nothing. Year over. End of story. Commence talking about the possible draft pick even though management will have to publicly dismiss any discussion about possible benefits of tanking.
It seemed we would get through another painfully disappointing regular season, but things were considerably worsened when Rose talked about a possible return if the "situation is right" in his first public comments.
*SIGH*
Which means for the rest of the year, the media is going to be obligated to have headlines just like these ones. I'm casting my vote early: He won't be back for the playoffs and I'm not holding out any hope for the team even he does. Like many of us thought, this year appears destined to come down to Miami and Indiana in the East, with the rest of the field being a sideshow.
When I made my NBA predictions a year ago, the Miami Heat were more or less already presumed 2013 NBA Champions. They were wire-to-wire frontrunners, and despite a couple close calls in the playoffs, they inevitably emerged as repeat champions. It makes perfect sense that they would begin this year again as the intital favorite to possible threepeat.
I was initially going to subtitle this year's picks, "Who Will The Heat Beat This Year?" But truth be told, there's just so many things yet to be determined this year. Any number of rosters could look completely different by year's end. In addition to the fact that LeBron James is set to once again become a free agent once the season concludes, there will also be an NBA Draft class that is sure to make teams outside the playoff picture consider trading away assets to stockpile more picks. And while a threpeat isn't unheard of in the NBA, four consecutive Finals appearances is rather rare.
In addition to the usual plethora of new faces in new places, there's questions about whether Pau Gasol ends the year as a Laker. What about Rajon Rondo? DeMarcus Cousins? A whole number of players could be likely to be moved, and a whole number of teams thinking they're only one piece away from contending—especially in the Western Conference—means that whatever I type now, I'm incredibly likely to have a completely different feeling come April about which team hoists the Larry O'Brien in June.
I could really go balls out and predict who's going to end up where based on trades that haven't happened, but for now, this year's predictions represent my opinion based on the rosters as presently constructed. Which is to say that I'm nowhere near as confident as I might've been, say, last year.
