It's that time again. NBA Playoffs, and David $tern'$ fantasy about creating the perfect showcase for his "heroes".
And then one of them has to open his bigoted fucking mouth at a referee. Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 (and should've been banned for the playoffs) for using a homophobic slur at a referee.
Brian Tuohy does a very good job of looking at the NBA contenders, with respect to how he views the NBA will probably fix the 2011 playoffs.
Some quick hits to think about over the next two months:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1) I never thought Miami would win the title this year. Come back to me, if there is an NBA, in 12-14 months, and panic if they are still not coming together. I did feel, as many did, that they would be in the Finals, though.
I do so no longer.
2) Forget Indiana, Philadelphia, or Atlanta. I still don't understand, in the first two's case, how teams with that low of a record get in! But none of these are relevant.
3) New York??? Can't see it now, and I do think the power is going to shift east, but also south. New York might well play a supporting role (as it has done before!) in the post-negotiations NBA, but I can't see them getting the nod for some time.
4) Orlando has had that role for the last number of years. With Miami AND Chicago in the mix, that's probably done.
5) Boston is on the way out, but they do have their ring for putting together their threesome of "heroes".
Which leaves my choice for $tern'$ pick to win the East. Barry Hussein Soetero.
Yes, that means the Bulls are the pick -- and I only really believed this in the last couple of days. I (like others I've talked to) have believed for the entire season we were headed for Lakers-Heat. But then Kobe (as Kobe has done before) screws things up with his conduct.
Kobe's rape case probably has cost him at least two more championships, if not more. The Detroit title in 2004 (and probably the Boston title four years later) were because the league, for a five-year period, could not trust Bryant with the title.
So now you have to pick a team which feasibly could win the title you had basically assigned to the Three-Three-Peat for Phil Jackson before he retires (almost certainly after this season).
And that's where the Basketball Fan in Chief comes in -- Soetero only cares about his sports teams, probably manipulating a Stanley Cup and an NFC runner-up to Chicago, with what would be the crown jewel of getting the first post-Jordan Bulls title.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
The Western Conference begins and ends with the Lakers -- so much so that I still recall a sports radio host from FOX Sports (not in the current slots -- this was an overnight host and NOT JT the Brick) saying the league should rig The Finals to get the Lakers in every year for ratings purposes.
That's all fine and good, but you now have a large-scale complication: Kobe and his slur.
We know that with David $tern, the referees are sacrosanct, even as co-participants in the farce.
Ratings might get them there, but can $tern trust Kobe with one more title before he turns the league over to the Miami Heat?
My guess is that he cannot. I do believe the Bulls win the title now, for Mr. Soetero.
ADDITION ON EDIT: Tuohy does raise one very good question. Especially with the fact that Mark Cuban has openly accused the league of rigging games, and the penchant and reputation of the NBA for doing so...
Why has the league not expelled Cuban from being the owner of the Dallas Mavericks?
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