It’s haves vs. have-nots in NBA Final Four

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 05/24/2007

The so-called heavy hitters are now long gone from the 2007 NBA playoff scene. Defending champion Miami was swept away by Chicago; Dallas, winner of 67 games, folded against the Golden State; and Phoenix, winner of 61 games, lost a compelling series to the Spurs.

The NBA Final Four survivors are the San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. All four teams are extremely well coached. Greg Popovich has guided the Spurs to three NBA titles. Jerry Sloan of Utah is the longest-tenured coach in the league. Detroit’s Flip Saunders is also among the league’s best coaches, and under-rated Mike Brown of Cleveland has done a remarkable job.

All four of these teams play good solid defense — they know how to put the clamps on an opponent. The Spurs and Pistons are the clear favorites to reach the NBA Finals. They have both been there before and have won it.

They are veteran teams that have star players with great leadership qualities. When you have great players like Tim Duncan of San Antonio and Chauncey Billups of Detroit, it makes it a lot easier on coaches to get the team to buy into the concept of sharing the basketball.

The Spurs have won three titles since 1999 and trail only the Chicago Bulls 6-0 for the best mark in NBA history, having never loss in the finals. The Pistons are printing money at the Palace of Auburn Hills; seven times they have reached the finals, and like the Spurs, three times they have won it. This is the fifth straight year that the Pistons have reached the Eastern Conference Finals, a remarkable achievement of consistent accomplishment.

Utah and Cleveland are the NBA’s version of the new kids on the block. Both teams won over 50 games during the regular season and captured their respective divisions. Utah is deep and physical with one of the league’s great young point guards, Deron Williams, while Cleveland has gotten here on the back of LeBron James, the brilliant young forward who, like Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade, has been compared to Michael Jordan.

As you know, Bryant and Wade have won championships, both with a little help from Shaquille O’Neal. Can James take the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals?

The Jazz have been to the finals twice in their history under Sloan; however, he had Karl Malone and John Stockton back then. The Jazz have never won an NBA championship, and Cleveland has never gotten it done either.

That’s why the 2007 NBA Final Four teams are the haves vs. the have-nots. But it’s hard to determine who has the most will-power — that usually comes from the star players, and all four of these teams have great stars.

San Antonio has Tim Duncan, Minu Ginolli, Tony Parker; Detroit has Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace; Utah has Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams; while Cleveland has LeBron James and a bunch of role players.

Anybody can win it — that’s what makes the Final Four great. Over seven games, the best team usually wins. I’ll take the haves, San Antonio and Detroit, to reach the finals.