That’s A Wrap

What a great NBA season!!! And an even better NBA Finals! In the aftermath there has already been plenty of ink spilled over Lebron’s 4th quarter disappearing act, his post game comments, and everything else All-Lebron. Sadly, the Dallas Mavericks, you know the team that won, are almost an afterthought. Dallas Coach, Rick Carlisle said it best, “When are we going to stop talking about the reality show that is Lebron James? And when are we going to start talking about this team?” Emphasis on the word “team.”

I don’t want to talk about Lebron. Throughout the Finals it felt like the Miami Heat were Wade’s team anyway. I want to talk about the big picture. There’s a reason why everyone outside Miami wanted the Heat to lose. There’s a reason why most people are rejoicing and happy to see players like Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd win a championship. There are people giving Rick Carlisle his due for an outstanding coaching job and rightfully so.

Most of us know about The Decision 11 months ago by Lebron James, Miami’s “Welcome Party” and Lebron predicting “not 5 . . . not 6 . . . not 7” championships (maybe you should've stopped at "not 1?"), and Wade and Lebron mocking Dirk’s sickness in front of the Dallas camera crew before game 5.

Bill Simmons said it best:

Let's say you're in college and one of your buddies says, "See that girl over there? I'm taking her home tonight. And I'm doing this because I'm the funniest and best-looking guy in this room." And let's say he's COMPLETELY serious. Guess what you're doing if it doesn't happen? You're making fun of him. Relentlessly. Really, that's what 50 percent of the Miami-related vitriol was about; the other 50 percent was because LeBron tried to stack the deck by playing with his biggest rival (we didn't respect it), and because he broke Cleveland's hearts on national TV (we didn't like it). To this day, LeBron hasn't shown any real regret about last summer; that's the main reason everyone rooted against him. He couldn't handle it. He caved. And now we're here.

People hate arrogance and see humility as a virtue. It’s rare to see a superstar in Dirk, who is humble and uncomfortable with getting attention. When he left the court at the end of game 6 to be by himself, no doubt to weep uncontrollably because he was overcome with emotions, the team had to convince him to come back out. Dirk would’ve been completely content being by himself with his thoughts and the 13 years of pain as a result of coming up short for all those years. After coming out of the locker room, Dirk received his Finals MVP trophy, well deserved. The camera cut to Dirk’s shooting coach Holger Geshwindner standing there observing the cerebration while tearing up. It was the look of a proud father who has put in all the hard work in his son and realizing the blood, sweat, and painful tears was all worth that exact moment. It made me think, “How does EVERYONE not love this game?” It’s so much more than basketball but the story of human emotions and epic tales triumphs and failures.

We look at Miami and see arrogance and entitlement. We cheer Dallas because their star is humble and his supporting cast knew their role. The “Team” beat out “Pure Talent” once again. But what does this say about us as society? Doesn’t this point out to some objective reality that arrogance is bad and humility is good? Anyway.

Now with the NBA Draft over and the NBA heading towards a lockout and possibly losing an entire season it’s caused me to reflect more on why I love this game because, you know, we may not have it much longer. The virtues in basketball are often direct parallels to virtues that could be found in everyday life, which is another reason why I love the game so much.

For the record, I don’t think Lebron is a bad person just a 26-year-old who has been worshipped his entire life who lacks some self-awareness. Okay, enough about Lebron. My point is there are always good narratives throughout the NBA. It’s not just a game but stories within stories that are interesting, complying, and often times (for me) provoking. Whether it’s the Lebron James “taking his talents to South Beach” story, Derrick Rose rising to superstar statue or Dirk’s journey to redemption, the narratives aren’t scripted, which is the beauty of watching the stories unfold before your very eyes as they take shape in front of you. Lets hope these stories continue and not end because of the lockout. That would be a bad ending to any story.