It's now been almost a week since the NBA went dark, and the rest of the world has slowly followed. To say it's been an intimidating week, or a stressful week, or an anxiety-riddled week - any of those would be understating things. But on the other hand, I feel good, my family is (so far) healthy, and I own games 3, 5, 6, and 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals from the Google Play store.
Truth is, I do miss basketball, but I miss it on my own terms. I switched on NBATV (online - I don't have cable but do have League Pass) and watched a few minutes of the 2014 Finals' last game. LeBron was doing everything he could to keep the Heat's heads above water and the rest of the squad just couldn't do anything right. If you don't remember, Miami jumped out to a 22-6 lead early (LeBron had 12 points in the game's first 6 minutes) and then the wheels just slowly fell off.
James had a dynamite game - 31/10/5/2 blocks, made his FTs, 10-21 from the floor while being guarded by Kawhi Leonard - but the rest of the Heat were a disaster. Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen were 5-20 from the field with 7 turnovers. San Antonio took the lead on a Kawhi 3-pointer around the 5:00 mark in the 2nd quarter and never looked back. Miami didn't get within 10 points for the final 20:00.
The point of all this is to say that I didn't stick around and watch much of the game. It was exciting for the Spurs fans - who were really in full throat, it must be said - and it was fun to watch young Kawhi balancing out old Tim Duncan, but there was no sense of urgency or reality for me.
What I learned is that it's hard for me to watch old games when I know how they're going to turn out unless there's a specific connection to the game. Did LeBron go for 40/12/12? Does Klay Thompson hit 13 threes? Is Shaq going to block 11 shots? I'll watch those games. I'll watch the four Cavs wins from the 2016 Finals, of course, and I'll watch almost any game en route to that title. But unless I'm going to see a great player have an incredible game, I'm not that likely to stick around and watch the game. I mean, this was a clinching Finals game featuring Tim Duncan, the crowning of Kawhi, and LeBron dragging a team behind him, and it didn't do it for me.
But I'll also watch Wizards/Blazers on a random Tuesday night if the game is live. So, you know, figure that one out.
I want the NBA to be back but I want my favorite parts of the NBA to be back. I miss the uncertainty. The possibility. The wait-what-just-happened? The oh my god moments. I miss the connectedness to the teams. I miss the story arcs. I miss the ball movement, the broken plays, the bailouts. I miss the blocked shots that would be more effective if they just caught the ball instead of knocking it back to the shooting team. I miss the coaches getting blamed for player problems. I even miss "the this game sucks so I'm gonna see how the other game is going."
I'm ready for basketball to come back.
It hasn't even been a week.
Truth is, I do miss basketball, but I miss it on my own terms. I switched on NBATV (online - I don't have cable but do have League Pass) and watched a few minutes of the 2014 Finals' last game. LeBron was doing everything he could to keep the Heat's heads above water and the rest of the squad just couldn't do anything right. If you don't remember, Miami jumped out to a 22-6 lead early (LeBron had 12 points in the game's first 6 minutes) and then the wheels just slowly fell off.
James had a dynamite game - 31/10/5/2 blocks, made his FTs, 10-21 from the floor while being guarded by Kawhi Leonard - but the rest of the Heat were a disaster. Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen were 5-20 from the field with 7 turnovers. San Antonio took the lead on a Kawhi 3-pointer around the 5:00 mark in the 2nd quarter and never looked back. Miami didn't get within 10 points for the final 20:00.
The point of all this is to say that I didn't stick around and watch much of the game. It was exciting for the Spurs fans - who were really in full throat, it must be said - and it was fun to watch young Kawhi balancing out old Tim Duncan, but there was no sense of urgency or reality for me.
What I learned is that it's hard for me to watch old games when I know how they're going to turn out unless there's a specific connection to the game. Did LeBron go for 40/12/12? Does Klay Thompson hit 13 threes? Is Shaq going to block 11 shots? I'll watch those games. I'll watch the four Cavs wins from the 2016 Finals, of course, and I'll watch almost any game en route to that title. But unless I'm going to see a great player have an incredible game, I'm not that likely to stick around and watch the game. I mean, this was a clinching Finals game featuring Tim Duncan, the crowning of Kawhi, and LeBron dragging a team behind him, and it didn't do it for me.
But I'll also watch Wizards/Blazers on a random Tuesday night if the game is live. So, you know, figure that one out.
I want the NBA to be back but I want my favorite parts of the NBA to be back. I miss the uncertainty. The possibility. The wait-what-just-happened? The oh my god moments. I miss the connectedness to the teams. I miss the story arcs. I miss the ball movement, the broken plays, the bailouts. I miss the blocked shots that would be more effective if they just caught the ball instead of knocking it back to the shooting team. I miss the coaches getting blamed for player problems. I even miss "the this game sucks so I'm gonna see how the other game is going."
I'm ready for basketball to come back.
It hasn't even been a week.
Comments
Post a Comment