NBA Final Four is about being Mr. Next
By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 05/28/2009
So far, the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Finals matching the four best teams in the NBA — Los Angeles vs. Denver and Cleveland vs. Orlando — has been as good as advertised. And that’s fantastic!
The first four games have been riveting with drama: four well-coached teams built to win championships going at each other, and so far nobody has blinked. With both series even at 1-1 as we go to press, this holiday weekend the NBA game is being played the way it’s supposed to be played, with tough, hard-nosed, unrelenting belief that each team’s superstar is going to help lead his team to the 2009 NBA Championship.
Game one Western Finals: Lakers 105, Nuggets 103. Kobe Bryant scores 40 including six critical free throws down the stretch. Carmelo Anthony scores 39 and refuses to back down.
Game one Eastern Finals: Cleveland 8-0 in the playoffs, 39-2 at home in the regular season, virtually unbeatable (4-0) at home in the playoffs? The Orlando Magic, fresh from winning a rare game seven in Boston to dethrone the Champs, win 107-106 at Cleveland. LeBron James scores 49! Dwight Howard (Superman) scores 30 with 13 rebounds, and the Magic rain three’s — 9 of 20 for 27 points — on the NBA’s number-one defensive team.
Game two NBA Eastern Finals, Magic leads 95-93 with just one second left. James drains a three-point shot in that one second left to deny the Magic a 2-0 series lead. That shot may be the biggest shot in Cleveland basketball history.
We all remember the shot Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls hit on Cleveland back in the day. Yes, that shot — the one with Craig Ehlo hanging all over him. And before, mind you, the Chicago Bulls went on to win six NBA titles. James’ shot, considering the situation, may one day be bigger because Cleveland has never won an NBA Championship.
James is the NBA’s 2009 MVP, and from what I’ve witnessed — yes I said it — he is Mr. Next. To rise up and hit a shot like that when your team is staring at being down 0-2 is remarkable.
All four of these guys are brilliant talents, winning the Olympic gold medal. Bryant, James, Howard and Anthony were teammates last summer, remember? Three of them — James, Bryant and Howard — made All-NBA First team. The Redeem team: the one the NBA and USA Basketball took two years and spent $10 million to restore the world order in international basketball supremacy — all four players teamed up and paid the price to win gold.
One of these four players — Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard — and one of their teams — Los Angeles, Cleveland, Denver or Orlando — is going to win the 2009 NBA Championship. One of these four players is going to achieve and join only Michael Jordan as the star who led his team and won both the Olympic gold medal and then led his NBA team that season to the NBA Championship.
The one that gets it done will be crowned Mr. Next.
Fitz Notes & Quotes
Former Timberwolves star Chauncey Billups, after six years in Detroit and now with the Denver Nuggets, joined the select group of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Kurt Rambis and Michael Cooper, all of whom played with the Los Angeles Lakers as the only players in history to reach the Conference Finals seven years in a row. Jerry West is the only player in history to be MVP in the NBA Finals twice on the losing team.
West said recently on FOX Sports Radio that playing in the Olympics for your country was much different 25 years ago. West said, “When we played USA vs. Russia, I was selected to the team I played at West Virginia as a true amateur. Our players believed that had we lost to Russia back then, we were losing to Communism.”
Over the last 10 years, the USA sends only NBA players.
Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress said talking with Brett Favre “was worth a conversation” and insists Favre remains retired as far as he knows.
Jerry Sichting, Minnesota Timberwolves’ assistant coach, has been selected along with athletic trainer Gregg Farnam to the USA Basketball Men’s Basketball Team Program.
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:20 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com , or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com .
