Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Title: Brief E-Mail Exchange on the NBA Finals
Date: June 21, 2011
Original Source: The On Deck Circle
Synopsis: My friend Trev and I exchanged emails on the NBA Finals. This was pretty informal and not originally meant as an article, but it had been a while since I posted anything, so it got the nod.

Trev and I had a quick e-mail exchange the other night talking about the NBA Finals and a few basketball-related things in general. I did a quick edit and, as an attempt at motivation to post something else sometime this year, I decided to (kind of) clean it up and post it. Enjoy.

From: Smith, Trevor D.
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 1:58 AM
To: Murphy, Blake
Subject: NBA Thoughts

Two hours ago, I was watching a hockey game along with the rest of Canada. Since then, I have been watching what looks like the G20. As I sit and watch Vancouver burn and wonder what kind of stain their rioters action might leave on the city’s public image, I thought I owed you my (twenty)-two cents on the Finals.

Here is what I sent my brother last night, who is at Oxford and as such can only watch replays of the games, so he wanted my opinions:

•    This was the best Finals series (in terms of gameplay, drama, narrative, historical context, etc.) that I can remember since Jordan’s Last Dance with the Bulls, if not all the way back to ’93 against Barkley and the Suns. Last year was great because of the history of the rivalry and the drama of Game 7, and the first Laker title was great because of Shaq’s brilliance and Kobe’s Game 4, but this was off the charts as a fan.
•    Your point about it feeling like 10 different games isn’t far off. Even in Game 6, each team had two or three separate 10-0+ runs that seemingly should have swung the game in their favor for good. This sort of spoke to each team’s identity actually – the Heat would go on their run first thanks to their superior talent and athleticism, only to have Dallas come storming back because of their resilience and mental toughness, exposing Miami as front-runners.
•    The majority would say Miami’s season was still a success. I question that. I question it because, while they beat Boston and Chicago, the kind of mental breakdowns we saw in the Finals will ultimately do a lot of damage to their collective (and seemingly fragile) psyche. They were exposed in the sense that LeBron and Wade both shot career-best percentage from long-range in the Boston and Chicago matchups., but in the Finals, they returned to their regular career percentage on shots outside the paint, and they were beaten handily.
•    It is not really correct to say Bron choked so much as he disappeared. “There is a time to play and a time to win.” My favorite phrase in sports. And there are guys that come to play in Winning Time and guys that don’t. This was a time to win. When it mattered most, he just completely deferred. Not for a half or a quarter, but honest to God for three games in a row. And he didn’t defer to Wade. It was to everyone. Anyone. Chamlers and Juwan Howard, for crying out loud.
•    In terms of expectations, from the moment the Big Three hopped aboard that hydraulic lift at the July pep rally and James declared “not one, not two …” the Heat effectively set a championship-or-bust standard for themselves. In this respect, they failed. Will they still win a title together? More than likely. Might they win 3 or 4 even? Perhaps. But Wade isn’t getting any younger (if the lockout runs into January he will be 30 the next time they play) and Bosh isn’t getting any tougher (his hands/nerves were so bad in the Finals that I wonder how they can trust him going forward).
•    ”Whether it was a lack of competitive will, discomfort with the offense, self-doubt, stage fright, exhaustion or some combination thereof, LeBron disappeared late.” He didn’t choke. He just didn’t…do…well, anything. You know as well as I do that there is a difference between making plays for a teammate by attacking and being aggressive and dishing to get them layups, and passing because you are not assertive and have no desire to have the ball. He did the latter. “I can’t get blamed for not being clutch if I don’t take the shot or make the play, right?” Whatever was going on, the result was incredibly bizarre. For the second year in a row, his stats lie and suggest something very different from what you saw watching the games (and even then, his stats are still pretty awful).
•    Against Chicago, he was as good a defensive player as I have ever seen in my life. Pippen-in-97-good. He would guard Rose in the 4th quarter of games and held him to something like 9% from the floor when he was covering him. He was a game changer and took the series away from the MVP. So how exactly did Jason M.F.ing Terry (!) turn that around on him and punk him out repeatedly? As Simmons wrote, Terry took, one of the all-time irrational confidence shots in Game 5, but he hit it. Right in LeBron’s face. Almost a week later I still do not know how that happened.
•    My hope would be that he actually learns some humility from this, but based on his attitude after Game 6 I don’t see that happening. As Wilbon wrote – “To more than a few people following the NBA playoffs, including current players and coaches, LeBron and his team look an awful lot like front-runners, guys who will throw it down on your head and look nearly invincible when things are going well, but confused and reticent when things are not.”
•    Even if the Heat remained the story, even in defeat, Dirk ‘s triumph is what I will take away from the last two weeks (hell, the last two months). From hurting his finger, to fighting through his cold, to establishing himself as an all-time clutch performer, to cementing his place in the Top 20-25 of All Time, to rushing off the court to reflect by himself immediately after winning Game 6 and the title …this was his moment. A moment I am all too sad Nash will never get. Dirk running into the locker room to cry alone was one of the better moments in what was probably the best year end-to-end the NBA has had in the last 20 years.
•    My second favorite memory of the Playoffs: the Brandon Roy Game. There are rumors that Portland has asked him to retire. If that proves true, how tragic it will be.
•    One last note on the level of hate the Super Friends still get – after all four losses I woke up to a text-message or BBM joke about LeBron or Bosh failing. I think Maurice Brooks put it this way “Watching LeBron in the Finals was like watching a superhero trying to save the world without using his superpowers.”

-Trevor Smith

From: Murphy, Blake
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 7:26 AM
To: Smith, Trevor D.
Subject: Re: NBA Thoughts

All great points man….do you mind if I edit it and throw it up on ODC?

I’m training someone more or less all week 24/7 here, so my response will be more brief than I would like, but allow me a few points….

* Dirk rushing to the lockerroom to be out of sight while he had his own personal moment was a) one of the most genuine sports moments we’ve seen, and b) a perfect microcosm of the difference between Dirk and LeBron/Wade, as even in victory he didn’t want to be the story above everyone/everything else.
* I’ve never been a major Jason Kidd fan, or a fan of many of the Mavericks really, but the “victory for team basketball” was still nice to see, and seeing a group of guys who genuinely cared about each other overcome a group of assassins working together should send a nice message to the entire viewership, from kids to AAU-aged players right through to coaches and GMs.
* I thought it was bizarre that Bosh dominated the Bulls’ interior defense and then couldn’t get anything going against the Mavs. Chandler is the type of defender who does well on Bosh, but LeBron’s passivity also made things harder for Bosh by uncharacteristically keeping Tyson out of foul trouble.
* No questions asked, this is Wade’s team until LeBron can take it back from this point forward.
* Mike Bibby gives up $6M+ to ride the pine in a deciding game, and lose. Ouch.
* The CBA will obviously dictate what they do in the offseason, but I said from the beginning they would likely need a year of veteran buy-outs, mid-level exception, 2nd round picks, etc, to fill out the roster to an acceptable degree. I don’t think Riley will panic and do anything drastic, but I will find it hilarious if he does.
* The best and maybe worst part about Miami losing – another season where the focus and the stories will be on them. If they won this year, they are the Evil Empire moving forward, and much of the story is lost, but now we get to follow/question/examine them for another year under the microscope. Could be good or bad, we’ll see.

Finally – draft next Thursday…..do you have any details on the ‘draft party’? I will definitely be coming down for it if any of you are still planning to go.

-Blake Murphy