Four Left in Fight for Title

Thought it’s not agreed upon by everybody, the general consensus in the American sports public is that the NCAA tournament is the best postseason of all the major leagues or associations, followed by the NFL playoffs. Why is this? Is it that we like to watch schools like Bradley and George Mason make us feel like idiots when they beat our Final Four pick in round one? Is it because we like seeing 45 minute half-time shows with rockers who last had a hit when George W. Bush was still struggling to get C’s at Yale? Is it that we just can’t get enough of Greg Gumbel?

No, it’s because both of these events have a win and go home format. In baseball and pro hoops, it’s a best of seven series, so even if you struggle early, you can recover. In golf’s majors, there’s four rounds, so as long as you make the cut, you have a chance to make a run on Sunday. And in college football…well, lets just say I wish that college football had any sort of format instead of the random nonsense they pull on us every December.

There’s one Frank Thomas sized but in this theory though: If an NBA or MLB playoff series goes to game seven, it almost automatically jumps to the front of the line in terms of greatness. Yankees/Red Sox in ’03 and ’04. Pistons/Spurs last June. A good play in a game seven instantly becomes legendary. (See Luis Gonzales in 2001) Clutch players become heroes. (See Willis Reed in 1970) A win in game seven is sweeter then Pixie Sticks and a loss leaves a nastier taste in your mouth then un-cooked fish.

Well after last nights action, along with the game on Sunday, fans in Mo-Town, Big D and the Valley of the Sun are licking there lips while supporters in Cleveland, San Antonio and L.A. (If you lose, you don’t deserve a nickname) are all in more pain then Barbaro’s back leg. Dirk Nowitzki will never again be voted in the All-Star game by a Spurs fan, and I doubt that Rasheed Wallace is scheduling any trips to the Rock and Roll hall of fame after how the Cavs fans treated him. But in the end, four teams are still playing, while the Nets, Clippers, Spurs and Cavs join the 22 other eliminated squads.

The conference finals are set (Heat/Pistons starts tonight, Suns/Mavs tomorrow), and I think both will be tremendous series’. Both of my Finals picks advanced, so that pretty much takes the suspense out of my picks. Because of this, I’m going to give you three reasons to watch each match up.

2)Phoenix Suns versus 4)Dallas Mavericks
1-Some people love to watch basketball where it seems like there is a lid over the hoop, where each team holds the ball until there only a few seconds left on the shot clock. If you love this stuff, then this series will make you throw up. These teams run up and down the court, shoot three’s if there open, and try to get to the free throw line (where they are the two best shooting teams in the league). The Cavaliers only scored 61 points in their game seven on Sunday. Yesterday in their respective games, Phoenix had 65 and Dallas had 64...at halftime. Expect the scoreboard operator to need some ice for his arms after this series is done

2- If the small white guy with long hair on Phoenix looks like he is real friendly with his opponents, there’s a reason for it. Steve Nash played for Dallas from 1999-2004 before leaving for the desert and winning back-to-back MVP’s. His match up with Dallas guards Jason ‘Brokeback Maverick’ Terry and Devin Harris will be the key to the series. Nash has got to be worn down after going to game seven two series’ in a row, and in this round, the games are every other day, so there won’t be much time to rest.

3-This may seem like a ridiculous reason to watch a game, but as a keen observer of basketball, as well as the media, I think this is very important. This series will be on TNT, meaning that the tandem of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr will be behind the microphone. No one announces a big game like Marv (If you didn’t hear his voice when you read the bit about Willis Reed earlier then you don’t understand why Reed is considered a hero), and Kerr is almost as good of a color-man as he was a three-point shooter. Plus, with the game on TNT, there’s no reason to change channels at halftime, because the trio of Ernie Johnson, Kenney the jet Smith and Charles Barkley is the best in the business.

My Pick:
Dallas in 6

2)Miami Heat versus 1)Detroit Pistons
1-Shaquille O'Neal is the best big man of this generation. Ben Wallace is the best defender in the NBA. So who will win this battle in the post? It may depend on the referees, and how often they blow the whistle. Both players love physical contact, and if Shaq’s getting to the bucket easily, Detroit will be forced to double team and leave one of Miami’s shooters wide open. But if Big Ben has his way with the Heat center, it will be up to Miami’s perimeter players to run the offense.

2-As I mentioned in my first point, both of these teams have outstanding big men. And outstanding big men usually leads to physical play. Now we know from his Converse commercial that Dewayne Wade can take hits, but does that hold true for all of his teammates? Will the Pistons have enough left in the tank after dealing with LeBron for seven games to chase Wade around the court? I expect (not to sound mean, but here goes) a key player in this series to miss some games due to the physical play.

3-In the first round, the Pistons got down to business and took care of the Bucks in five games while the Heat’s focus seemed to shake more then a car driving down an unpaved alley. But in round two, Miami woke up after a game one butt-whooping and got rid of the Nets while the two-time defending Eastern Conference champs almost blew a 2-0 series lead by letting Cleveland win three strait. Maybe it was because each team was looking forward to this series, but it will be interesting to see who comes out ready to play and whose focus is elsewhere.

My Pick:
Pistons in 7