By: Paul Imig
Two weeks into the NBA Playoffs and it’s safe to say that we have probably already seen the best series of this year’s post-season that is going to happen. Even a potential Lakers/Cavaliers Finals matchup (and therefore Kobe against LeBron) would have a difficult time living up to what the Bulls/Celtics series has been.
For starters, it has the underdog story. Last year’s NBA Champions against a team who was battling with the Milwaukee Bucks for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference for much of February and March.
Second, it has young NBA players becoming stars right before our eyes in the midst of an intense and grueling series. Rajon Rondo has averaged a triple-double in the first six games of this series with 21.5 points, 11.7 assists, and 10.0 rebounds, not to mention 2.7 steals. We’re talking about a 6-foot-1 point guard who most consider to not even be one of his team’s top-three players when everyone is healthy (Garnett, Pierce, Allen). And he’s averaging a triple-double!
Third, this series has had NHL-type action and aggressiveness. Near the conclusion of game five, Brad Miller drove to the basket with only seconds remaining, jumped for what could have been a game-tying dunk or lay-up, and was smacked in the mouth by Rondo. Miller lost a tooth, and was bleeding on the sidelines for several minutes. Rondo was only issued a personal foul on the play. No flagrant. No technical.
In game six, Rondo was once again involved in an incident, this time with Kirk Hinrich. With both players scrapping for a loose ball rebound, Rondo irish-whipped Hinrich into the scorers’ table. Hinrich bounced off and was ready to set a date for a Pay-Per-View boxing and/or steel cage match with Rondo. This time around, Rondo did receive a flagrant foul, but also baited Hinrich into picking up a technical.
Finally, five of the games in this series have been decided by less than three points, and four of the games have gone into at least one overtime. With the exception of game 3 when the Celtics defeated the Bulls by 21, every game has been down to the wire. It’s been simply incredible.
And while no other first-round series nearly lived up to what Boston and Chicago did, it’s worth noting how quick and how far both the Detroit Pistons and New Orleans Hornets have fallen in one year. While there is no doubt that the Cleveland Cavaliers were by far a superior team in their series against Detroit, to lose 0-4 and not even have one game be decided by single-digits is inexcusable.
But even that fails in comparison to what the Hornets did when they lost by 58 points at home in game four to the Denver Nuggets. The final score was 121-63. And no, that is not a typo. The fact that this loss came from a team led by a player who most consider the best point guard in the league (Chris Paul) makes it that much more surprising and disappointing. Losing a playoff game at home by that margin almost certainly puts their head coach Byron Scott on the hot seat, which is amazing considering that he was voted as coach of the year just one season ago. But you can’t lose a game like that and not expect repercussions.
In all likelihood, we are headed for a Cavs/Lakers match-up in one month. But let’s see if that potential series could even come close to the excitement that Boston and Chicago have brought us over the past two weeks.
