Friday, April 06, 2007
"Junior Varsity" or "Just Victorious"?
“We have not been given credit all season,” he said. “We won 61 games in the regular season and people kind of blew it off and said we were playing in like a JV league.”
- Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana Pacers center, May 29, 2004
I'm sick and tired of it.
By "it", I'm referring to the inglorious regard in which the popular sports media holds the NBA's Eastern Conference. This season (in all truth, since well before this season), sports pundits everywhere have been referring to the East as the "J.V."; the pee-wee league; the backward, buck-tooth cousin conference to the mighty, imperious West. "The Mavericks can't lose!" these Westites say; "Phoenix has too much firepower!" My personal favorite: "The Western Conference has better teams than the East from top to bottom." Really? In other news, pigeons explode if you feed them rice, and I saw Elvis and Tupac at a diner with Ashley Flores. Sure, the team with the best record is on that side, but so is the team with the worst. Stats and regular season standings aside, the fact is that a team from the East has won the NBA championship two of the last three years, and Western team that won during that stretch (the Eastern-style San Antonio Spurs) did so in the last quarter of Game 7 in their own arena. In the playoffs, Eastern style basketball wins.
Really, it's all Pheonix's fault. That adorable little circus has convinced the public at large of two Great Fallacies: 1.) Steve Nash may be the greatest point guard of all time, and 2) they have a chance of winning anything. Ever. Now, don't get me wrong; I dig Nash's game. He's fun to watch, much like his Eastern Conference Bizarro version, Gilbert "Injuries: 1, Agent: Zero" Arenas (poor guy). But, if the guy ever averages more than 1.1 steals in a season (or the playoffs, for that matter), I'll chew on my fedora. Seriously, you can be a three-time MVP point guard now and not play better defense than Luke Ridnour? I'm not buying it, but that's not the point. The point is that Nash is a really good offensive player, has a huge impact on his team with his spectacular passing ability, and has court vision that's off the charts ... but Nash's Suns are a gimmick. A cheap party gag, just like his Dallas Mavericks before them. They are categorically unable to win because they can't stop anyone. Not only in the "score on them at will" sense, but they also allow whatever team they play against to dictate the tempo of the ballgame. With a half-man, half-amazing, Isaiah "Magic" Stockton at the one, you'd think that wouldn't happen. But it does - regularly.
As for teams like Utah and Houston, truly respectable squads that have all the makings of great teams one day, they just aren't there yet. Both teams rely on players that just don't have enough experience yet and will have to grow together. Along with T-Mac's back and AK-47's ... whateveriswrongwithhim, they're firmly in the better luck next year category.
The Laker's are the Cavs, meaning they don't have enough.
The Clippers, Nuggets (unbelievably - they should really get better), New Orleans, and Golden State cannot win. Neither can any team below them. The culture of those teams is their biggest communal downfall.
And then there's Dallas, the nouveau riche elite. I think Avery has done a terriffic job with them, and I admit that their new-found committment to defense gives them a shot, much as San Antonio has a shot. But these are the only two legitimate teams in this conference. One could say the same of the East almost, as Detroit, Miami, and Chicago are really the only teams on that side (as cute as Toronto is) that have a legitimate chance. But the overall gist is that the East is equal, not superior.
Pistons: 4, Dallas: 1 ;~)
- Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana Pacers center, May 29, 2004
I'm sick and tired of it.
By "it", I'm referring to the inglorious regard in which the popular sports media holds the NBA's Eastern Conference. This season (in all truth, since well before this season), sports pundits everywhere have been referring to the East as the "J.V."; the pee-wee league; the backward, buck-tooth cousin conference to the mighty, imperious West. "The Mavericks can't lose!" these Westites say; "Phoenix has too much firepower!" My personal favorite: "The Western Conference has better teams than the East from top to bottom." Really? In other news, pigeons explode if you feed them rice, and I saw Elvis and Tupac at a diner with Ashley Flores. Sure, the team with the best record is on that side, but so is the team with the worst. Stats and regular season standings aside, the fact is that a team from the East has won the NBA championship two of the last three years, and Western team that won during that stretch (the Eastern-style San Antonio Spurs) did so in the last quarter of Game 7 in their own arena. In the playoffs, Eastern style basketball wins.
Really, it's all Pheonix's fault. That adorable little circus has convinced the public at large of two Great Fallacies: 1.) Steve Nash may be the greatest point guard of all time, and 2) they have a chance of winning anything. Ever. Now, don't get me wrong; I dig Nash's game. He's fun to watch, much like his Eastern Conference Bizarro version, Gilbert "Injuries: 1, Agent: Zero" Arenas (poor guy). But, if the guy ever averages more than 1.1 steals in a season (or the playoffs, for that matter), I'll chew on my fedora. Seriously, you can be a three-time MVP point guard now and not play better defense than Luke Ridnour? I'm not buying it, but that's not the point. The point is that Nash is a really good offensive player, has a huge impact on his team with his spectacular passing ability, and has court vision that's off the charts ... but Nash's Suns are a gimmick. A cheap party gag, just like his Dallas Mavericks before them. They are categorically unable to win because they can't stop anyone. Not only in the "score on them at will" sense, but they also allow whatever team they play against to dictate the tempo of the ballgame. With a half-man, half-amazing, Isaiah "Magic" Stockton at the one, you'd think that wouldn't happen. But it does - regularly.
As for teams like Utah and Houston, truly respectable squads that have all the makings of great teams one day, they just aren't there yet. Both teams rely on players that just don't have enough experience yet and will have to grow together. Along with T-Mac's back and AK-47's ... whateveriswrongwithhim, they're firmly in the better luck next year category.
The Laker's are the Cavs, meaning they don't have enough.
The Clippers, Nuggets (unbelievably - they should really get better), New Orleans, and Golden State cannot win. Neither can any team below them. The culture of those teams is their biggest communal downfall.
And then there's Dallas, the nouveau riche elite. I think Avery has done a terriffic job with them, and I admit that their new-found committment to defense gives them a shot, much as San Antonio has a shot. But these are the only two legitimate teams in this conference. One could say the same of the East almost, as Detroit, Miami, and Chicago are really the only teams on that side (as cute as Toronto is) that have a legitimate chance. But the overall gist is that the East is equal, not superior.
Pistons: 4, Dallas: 1 ;~)
