The Last Caul
by MARK CAUL
Finally.
After a longer than necessary 82-game season spread out over six months, the National Basketball Association’s regular season is about to come to end, and the playoffs are only a week away.
OK. I’ll admit it - compared to college basketball, the NBA season is a complete yawn-fest. Sure, the greatest players in the world play in the NBA, but for a large part of the season, they do not play up to their full potential.
And why should they? Their season lasts for half the year, and more often than not, the better team is going to win. There just aren’t that many upsets in the NBA.
Even as a Lakers fan, the most I will watch of an NBA regular season game is usually the two-minute highlight on the nightly Sports Center. Even back in the day when Jordan, Magic and Bird played, the regular season seemed to be a means of earning a paycheck for playing a game to them.
But now the wait is over, and the playoffs are here. This means that finally guys like LeBron, Kobe and D-Wade will be playing basketball like they did when they were little kids.
Now that Tim Duncan is back, the San Antonio Spurs have their groove back after stumbling down the home stretch by nearly coughing up an eight-game lead in the race for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
I’m curious to see how the “under-the-radar” Spurs will handle the pressure of being the top seed in the loaded Western Conference. They will need to be rested and ready for a road to the Finals that may feature match-ups with Memphis, Dallas and of course, the Lakers before the Western Conference Finals are said and done.
Speaking of which - the mercurial Lakers, who were 16-1 since the All-Star break only a few weeks ago, have embarked on a very strange five-game losing streak. Each time the Lakers have gone into one of their little mini-slumps, I have defended them by saying that once the playoffs start, Kobe and the boys will be ready to pump up the volume.
But if they aren’t able to get consistent inside play from a talented front line of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom - then their chances for repeating as World Champions for a third time will be severely jeopardized.
As it is they are tied for the second best record (55-25) with the very dangerous Dallas Mavericks, who are my dark horse to win the West. And the Oklahoma City Thunder are only a game back of the two teams.
Should be an interesting finish in the NBA’s best conference.
As much ballyhooed as the Heat and Celtics have been all season – the number one seed in the Eastern Conference will be – the Chicago Bulls?
Not since the Jordan years have the Bulls been such strong contenders for the NBA title thanks to an MVP caliber season from point guard Derrick Rose (who led my fantasy team to a strong showing in the playoffs, by the way).
Am I sold on the Rose and company? Probably not. But you can’t dismiss their chances based on how well they’ve performed against the Heat and the Celtics. In fact, the Bulls laid a 25-point whipping on Boston just a week ago.
The defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics pulled the trigger on one of the most head scratching deals in recent memory in dealing Kendrick Perkins for former Thunder guard Jeff Green.
Green has been a non-factor in Beantown while Perkins is getting healthier after missing much of the campaign recovering from the same knee surgery that kept him out of the NBA Finals last season. And the Thunder have benefited greatly from his size, leadership and experience.
Whether or not the Celtics brass felt as though they couldn’t re-sign Perkins or maybe they thought they would get more out of decrepit old Shaquille O’Neal is yet to be seen, but I think it may have cost them a realistic shot at the NBA title.
Another strong team in the East is the Orlando Magic. With Dwight Howard patrolling the paint, the Magic are looking to make a run at a championship as well and will be my darkhorse in the Eastern Conference.
Even though the Miami Heat have a couple of flaws, I think they match-up better with the Bulls than the Celtics and will be the team to beat in the East after securing the number two seed. They have two of the best players in the world, and are starting to look comfortable on the floor together. D-Wade needs to take the ball at the end of the game and show his buddy LeBron how to close out games. And I believe he will.
So, if everything goes to my plan, the Lakers will play the Heat in the Finals. Along the way there will be some great games, but the Finals should be reminiscent of when Magic played Bird or when the Bulls won their final championship with Jordan.
And if that happens - hold on basketball fans, because one of the greatest NBA Finals in history is on its way.
