Am I the only one who can't believe that the Pistons lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers FOUR times?
Goodness gracious.
The Cavaliers surely put on one of the most embarrassing displays in recent NBA Finals history in getting swept by the San Antonio "Dynasty" Spurs. And when I say "recent", I mean "ever."
I'll say it again: the Pistons would NOT have taken down the Spurs, the NBA Team of the 21st Century. But sheesh -- they would have certainly done the Eastern Conference prouder than the Cavs. If the East torch has been passed, as I suggested it had been a couple weeks ago, and if the Cavaliers are the best the Eastern Conference has to offer, then that conference deserves every bit of criticism and disrespect that it gets.
Sometime in the third quarter last night, the Cavs managed a one-point lead after a mini-flurry. It was their first second half lead in the entire series. That's disgraceful, at that level of basketball.
Where was Boobie Gibson and his annoying three-pointers? Where was Donyell Marshall from the corner? Where was Zydrunas Ilgauskas's 15-foot jumper? Where was Drew Gooden? And where was LeBron James, most of all?
The only thing that carried over for the Cavs from the Pistons series was the flopper Anderson Varejao, who spends so much time on his back on the basketball floor that you might as well emblazon his chest with the Quicken Loans Arena logo. Varejao had one last flop in the tank when he drew an undeserved offensive foul on Tim Duncan in the fourth quarter, when Cleveland was still threatening to make it a game.
But Varejao's theatrics weren't nearly enough to make the Cavaliers competitive in one of the most lopsided Finals they've played since Dr. James Naismith nailed a peach basket up for his incorrigible gym students.
The more I watched these Finals -- and I couldn't stomach very much, believe me -- the angrier I got. I wasn't sure if I was mad at the Pistons, or the Cavs, or the world. All I know is, the Pistons lost four times to those shmucks, and they too should feel embarrassed.
The East could have fed the Spurs the Atlanta Hawks and I don't know if the end result would have been all that much different. Brutal.
If losing in a Finals is supposed to be a learning experience and a prep for bigger and better things in the near future, then this series was to the Cavs what molecular biology would be to a kindergartener. I saw nothing on the floor that suggested James's team was merely cutting its Finals teeth, readying itself for a successful encore next season, or the year after. Instead I saw a basketball team stuck in the headlights of a freight train. They were Bobby Brady on that episode of the "Brady Bunch" when he was struck mute during a game show appearance.
The San Antonio Spurs are NBA champs and all hail them. They are truly the class of the league. It's just a shame that the Wizards, Nets, and Pistons let such impostors as the Cavaliers overtake them to represent the East.
Shameful.
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