Published: May 1, 2009
I didn’t want to write anything about last night, hence the reason why this is being posted so late.
I opened up a word document on about a dozen different occasions between late last night and this morning. I even sat there, my lunch at my desk and the little cursor just blinking on my computer screen.
Anything I write or talk about doesn’t do justice to what happened last night in Chicago. Nothing I will say or anyone has said in articles posted all over the Internet or in newspapers, yes they still exist, can truly describe Thursday night.
No television report or talking head can truly explain how amazing this series has become.
Unless you watched the game in its entirety, then you have no idea how truly amazing that game was. The NBA should really just show commercials from this series through the rest of the playoffs, possibly forever, with their slogan, ‘Where Amazing Happens’. That is how good this series has just become.
Trading messages with a Bulls fan last night I complained that I was tired and I just wanted to go to bed. Work in the morning sometimes casts a huge shadow over my head.
And yet, once the game ended, I found it hard to fall asleep.
I waited up and had to watch the highlights and the reactions of both teams.
I can launch into the highlights and the things that made me sit there and just smile. Like when Brad Miller got the ball on consecutive inbounds plays because the Celtics had a foul to give. The second time he was fouled he went to the line with the game in limbo.
It didn’t matter.
You can’t take two better freebies than Miller did. Add in the clutch three-pointers and eerily similar layup he cashed in late in regulation and Miller found some redemption. If I was sitting there smiling, then I have no idea what was going through his mind.
Then there was Ray Allen. Jesus Shuttlesworth doesn’t disappoint, but I bet he wore sneakers that are about one size smaller after his toenail was on the line for that three over Joakim Noah.
And how can we forget about Noah. For as many times as he’s been dotted, he continues to come back for more. I don’t think any play he has made was bigger than that mad dash to the basket for the dunk and the foul.
There’s a ton of plays and players you can go through – Big Baby making himself millions of dollars with each 15-footer he drops in, John Salmons becoming a household name, Rajon Rondo becoming the most hated guy in the NBA, Derrick Rose showing why he’s still a rookie and then why he was the Rookie of the Year and Kirk Hinrich showing he won’t back down.
Sometimes I have to explain to my friends and family why I follow the NBA. They tell me that college basketball means more to the players and it’s more exciting. This series is as good of an example as any that I can give to my friends and family to explain why I watch and follow the NBA.
Tell Salmons and Paul Pierce that the NBA doesn’t matter. Those two were elbowing each other before the third overtime even tipped off. They weren’t about to give each other an inch and it took the referees to stop them from digging their arms into each other.
Tell that Noah that the NBA doesn’t matter after he just ran around the arena and high-fived what seemed like everyone in the first row. Tell the people who were on their feet last night at the United Center and then tomorrow at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston that the NBA doesn’t matter.
Sure, these guys make millions of dollars to simply play a game and college players, seemingly, play it for free and for a chance at a championship. But these guys are playing for a championship, too. They’re playing for pride and playing for the chance to move into the second round of the playoffs because they might not know when they’ll be back.
Not everyone gets a chance to play for a title. Ask Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen why they went to Boston. Go ask Gary Payton or Antoine Walker why they went to Miami in 2006. These guys wanted a title or at least a chance to play for one.
Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Reggie Miller, Pete Maravich, Dominique Wilkins, George Gervin and Elgin Baylor. What do you think they all have in common? No titles.
Basketball matters to these guys and a chance to move one round closer to a title is worth everything they can give. The Celtics have theirs and the Bulls are trying to take the necessary steps to get one of their own. In no way am I saying the Bulls will go on to win a title this year, but a win in Game 7 will give them a better chance than the Celtics.
The NBA – Where everything amazing happens. At least for its fans and players.
