PREMIERE PREVIEW
MIAMI - The NBA Finals are almost always a referendum on the season's dominant team. It is the nature of the pro game. If one team -- and, in some rare cases, one player -- is clearly superior to its (his) brethren, that team tends to win. When Michael Jordan was on the floor, and at the height of his powers, and had the kind of battle-hardened help he had in the 1990s, no one was going to beat the Bulls four times in seven games. Same with the Pistons and Isiah Thomas, and the Celtics and Larry Bird, and the Lakers and Magic Johnson, and the Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon and the Spurs with Tim Duncan and the Lakers with Shaq and Kobe.
Which brings us to now.
LeBron James is the best player in the league. The Finals will be a referendum on him, and the Miami Heat.
Derrick Rose was the deserving MVP in the regular season, the way he carried the Bulls and led them to 62 victories. His team had a better record than Miami. But in the playoffs, how can you argue that anyone other than James has been the best? Yes, James has Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and Rose doesn't. But that was true in the regular season, too, and no, Rose didn't have to face Miami's defense every night. But he played great against almost all of the great defenses he faced. He did not in the Eastern finals. James' defense on him was a big reason why. We -- the collective "we" -- hate this.
We can say these Finals are about a chance at redemption for Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks, and they are to a certain degree. But this championship series is all about The Decision. You know it. I know it. LeBron, Dwyane and Riles know it. Almost everyone outside the 305 wants Miami to go down, and the more humiliating, the better. This is the last chance. Darth Vader is just about to overrun Tattoine. Dick Dastardly and Muttley are about to win the Wacky Races.
You want the Heat to lose, because you will never forgive LeBron. You want to hate him, because he jilted Cleveland, and destroyed the dreams of a city that hasn't won a pro sports championship in 47 years, and that offends our group script. He was supposed to stay until he won, and preferably on a half-court shot as the music swelled up, so he could be carried off the court in a freeze-frame we could watch over and over again.
Except that probably would never have happened. And then he shivved Cleveland in front of the world to cash in a lottery ticket in a fight about as fair as Bambi versus Godzilla. Who could root for a story in which IBM crushes the plucky upstart company?Who cheered when Clubber Lang mugged for the cameras after knocking out Rocky in two rounds?
If the Heat win, it will justify the means by which they came together. What can you say to the guy when he got the money and the ring? And it will certainly not discourage other stars playing alone from trying to force their way to a better situation, with fellow stars. (Who do you think the Knicks are rooting for? It ain't Dallas.) And it could open the floodgates to a roll for the Heat, which will surely get better at center and point guard this summer.
But, putting all that psychodrama aside, there is the matter of a potentially great series, between a Mavs team that started the season on fire (24-5) and is ending it just as hot and a Miami team that smacked the East's two best teams around. It's a classic -- young legs vs. old ones, two teams that don't mind playing up-tempo but can grind out wins with defense, shotmakers vs. drivers, man-to-man vs. zone, and on and on. You gotta pick one. Here goes.
