It's understood that the Bulls-Celtics first round playoff series has been nothing short of exhilarating.
Last night's triple-OT game with Derrick Rose's block on Rajon Rondo — two of the up-and-coming point guards that will be hall-of-famers when it's all said and done in my mind (and I won't regret making that statement either) — will be remembered for a long time for Chicago and Boston fans alike.
OK. And the steal and dunk on Joakim Noah was great too.
But I'd like to offer everyone a moment of clarity.
This is the most entertaining playoff series we've seen in a long while.
It's hardly the best.
See, I like my playoff matchups to feature smart play, great defense and breath-taking tough shots that allow viewers to stare in awe of such clutch perfomances from such great players.
We've seen only one of those features in this series. Well, sort of.
The breath-taking shots have come from Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rose, Rondo and ... Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Noah, Brad Miller, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon and Kendrick Perkins.
Hell, nearly every player that has a roster spot on both squads have managed to hit a big shot for their respective teams this series (sans Mikki Moore, Stephon Marbury and the White Panther)
With Kevin Garnett on the bench and using his chin and multiple f-bombs to annoy Bulls fans, rather than playing and annoying Bulls players with DEFENSE, this series has to be evaluated for what it is — entertaining but far from great, let alone greatest.
There's been better series with more quality defense (which wins championships, ya know?)
I'd rather go out on a limb and say the Lakers-Celtics Finals from just this past season was one of the greater NBA Finals than this (I know better, trust me).
In fact, this isn't the greatest playoff series this decade.
Lakers-Kings Western Conference Finals anyone? How about the Suns-Spurs series just two years ago?
Pick a year for the Bulls-Jazz Finals and can anyone honestly tell me Bulls-Pacers and Bulls-Knicks (again, pick a year) were worse than the Bulls-Celtics series we've watched this season?
This first round has provided spotty defense at best from both team , and it isn't because the players are always the best.
Aside from Kirk Heinrich, the Bulls backcourt can't defend. Rose was exposed this year for his defense deficiencies by ... TJ Ford this year. Ben Gordon, try as he might, also can't defend.
I thought Rondo was a better on-the-ball defender, but like seemingly every Celtic, he's a great help-defender.
And who knew Pierce would struggle in Game 6 to defend, of all people, John Salmons (who I like on my fantasy team. ONLY on my fantasy team)?
Look, four overtimes in a playoff-series is something we don't see all the time. Heck, it's never happened.
But that automatically doesn't make this series great. Just very entertaining.
If they're not championship quality, it's not great in terms of history
The Bulls have proven why they're just an above .500 team and clinched the seven-seed and Boston, time-and-time again, proves it has the worst closing NBA championship team in perhaps league history.
That's why this series has gone on for seemingly months. It's a fantastic matchup, but none of these teams are championship material (unless KG can play again for Boston), so the relevancy of this series is also diminished (notice the trend with the series mentioned above?)
LeBron James, featuring the Cleveland Cavaliers, look stronger everyday while looking at this series and it appears quite clear they'll be playing in the NBA Finals.
The Cavs categorically defend better than the Bulls and the Garnett-less Celtics and in the West, there's the Lakers.
Pay attention to them in the finals if you want to see great basketball and a great series.
Want entertainment? Watch TNT for Game 7, Celtics-Bulls.
Friday, May 1, 2009
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