Living a Dream

I have about an hour to write out my thoughts about the NBA Finals since I didn't want to at 1 a.m. and I have to be at work soon (and I'll be there for a longer-than-normal day). So here goes. 1) Everyone wants to talk about Steph Curry, and everyone should  be talking about Steph Curry. I don't get it. He's the best shooter in NBA history - although Klay Thompson is hot on his heels - and yet there's something amiss at surprising times. I don't believe in "clutch" the way a lot of people do, because if Steph doesn't hit a million threes all the time, the Warriors are never in position for him to take a game-winner in the Finals (they also don't make the Finals). All of them are worth three points, so they need the first one as much as they need the last one. But something kind of happens, doesn't it? And doesn't it affect his legacy a tiny bit? Steph shot 34.3% on three-pointers this series. Toronto was all over  him defensivel...

The era of Cleveland Cavaliers basketball between LeBron's stints was, at best, tumultuous. There was off-court drama, coaching nightmares (Byron Scott, baby!), and a rotating cast of oddball role players. Most of all, of course, there was LeBron's shadow. How fitting, then, that in the season after he left, the Cavaliers went on an NBA record 26 game losing streak. They were bad. Really bad. For a good time, take a look at their season-recap Basketball-Reference page . Of the 19 players who filled out the roster, one is still playing in the NBA, a mere seven years later (Ramon Sessions). A long afternoon could be spent finding gems within this page. Believe me, I have browsed it at length. And from that browsing I noticed some things. Before the streak even started, the Cavs had a pretty wild trio of losses. Starting November 30th, they lost three straight games by a combined 80 points: a 19 point loss, then a 27 point loss, then a 34 point loss. That's terrible. And y...

Everyone wants to be like the Spurs, right? They've been the model of everything for the past 20 years, and only recently has anyone come up with a style of play that San Antonio has had to adjust for, and theoretically, the Warriors can't sustain this for several years. One of the best things San Antonio does is rotate players. Greg Popovich is a master of getting guys minutes, balancing rotations, and creating/finding matchups that work. The Spurs have 35 lineups that average 4 minutes together per game, and frankly it feels like a lot more than that. They rotate their guys early and often, keeping people fresh and keeping starters on the floor at almost all times. What Pop does so well is pull a starter about 5 minutes in and reinsert that starter earlier than his opponents. Imagine if Cleveland tried this. The way they're currently going, LeBron and JR Smith play the whole first quarter, with Kyrie, Love, and whoever's at center often playing about 9 minutes in ...

There's something to be said for a reputation. I know that, and I understand that. Michael Jordan is widely considered to be the best basketball player of all time - a claim which I won't dispute. He is a living god to the city of Chicago, and if you badmouth him in any way, locals will take it worse than if you'd said unkind things about their wives/mothers, etc. In Europe, when someone asks where we're from, Jenna answers Chicago, and if I answer, I say Cleveland via Chicago (or something like that). Invariably, everyone's response will mention one of two names: Barack Obama or Michael Jordan. But Jordan *much* more often than Obama. For the most part, I get it. He was the most dominant player for the better part of a decade. He was the face of the NBA. He starred alongside Bugs Bunny in one of cinema's greatest accomplishments. That's all true and inarguable. But there's a big part that I don't really get. For instance, I have a student of...