The Time is Near
The NBA calendar hung on my wall; I looked at it every day to see who the Spurs were playing. And the Suns. And the Sonics. Because I wanted the Spurs to always be in first. Then I started paying attention to Miami. Because I wanted the Spurs in the end to have the best record in the league. Despite their second-seed status, they're in the finals, as all six of you have been made excruciatingly aware of by me, and the show starts tomorrow. Marc Stein of ESPN said it best when he
wrote: They have the best player in the series and, well, maybe the two best players. They have the far deeper bench and the home-court advantage and the sort of stylistic adjustability that has their coach, in a complimentary way, calling them chameleons. They have to be the favorites in the forthcoming NBA Finals, these San Antonio Spurs. Yes, they do have to be the favorites. Despite the fact that their opponent will be playing Game 1 on only three days' rest, though, Detroit is the defending champion. They are ruthless on the defensive end. And have a lot of, let's say, visible fire. Whereas the silver and black, sleek in their output, keep much in, kind of like me. A random fist pump by Tim Duncan is not unlikely, though, especially after hitting consecutive free throws in a fourth quarter. I'm excited for this match-up, because it's going to be good basketball. I even got into a rather lengthy conversation with my IT guy today about it. We're very excited. And nervous. Would I be remiss, or just plain stupid, by predicting the Spurs in four? Yes, I know I would be, but I would like to believe that only because my heart does bad things when the Spurs drop games. The one they lost to the Suns had me in a funk for a while. So as I prepare to sleep on the eve of Game 1, I'm hoping for a Spurs' sweep, but will settle for a 4-2 series in favor of the Texans -- one of the only good things to come out of the state that
held onto its slavesthe longest.
