End Times or Times Ending?

May may not have been the end of the world, but it will be the end of the NBA Conference Finals. We are on a crash course for the second ugliest Final in NBA history! Yes, time is ending for the 2010-2011 NBA season. 1986 produced the ugliest NBA Conference Finals, and Championship Finals ever for me. The Western Finals saw my beat up Lakers take on the Twin Towers of Houston. I am glad now that Jerry West was the GM for the Lakers instead of all of the naysayers that suggested Ralph Sampson over James Worthy. The Rockets, and Ralph Sampson unfortunately downed my Lakers in the Western Conference Finals that year. It was sad times for me and the Laker Nation in 1986. The Finals of 1986 saw the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics get pretty nasty! That NBA Finals ranks numero uno for me in the ugly department. I have a very bad feeling that the ratings, and the Finals this year have the potential to be the second worst Finals match up in NBA History! Hold tight, will Dirk, and LeBron have a moment of their own? Will will see, but as I have predicted to this point, the young guns still just do not have enough star power, to push them to the finals...

There is a prettier picture however, if history really repeats itself, then next year the Lakers will be World Champions again, and  have back to back Championships! It will also mean that we will lose Abdul-Jabbar again. No, I am not predicting the end of Kareem's life, just his good standing with the Lakers. Magic again will have to pull through for the big fella, and get him a statue to go along with his five rings. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar is still ticked off about the whole non-existence of a statue in his likeness in front of the Staples Center thing.

Tommy Heinsohn, a former Celtic, is calling the game in the video above, and gives blow by blow details on the "fist-a-cuff" that breaks loose when Ralph Sampson takes the initial swing that would clear both benches! What is it with the Rockets and fighting! Rudy T (an innocent by stander) was cold cocked by Kermit Washington (is it just me, or do you laugh while reading that name as well?) Then there was a not so innocent Vernon Maxwell. Vernon was coached by the above named Rudy Tomjanovich in the franchises only championship years (1994 - 1995)and unlike Coach Tomjanovich he was not so innocent, and had his fair share of skirmishes. When someone mentions belligerence and ugly basketball in the same sentence, Houston is the city that comes to my mind first. New York, and Indiana run a tight second. Not because the number of brawls, but what led to the brawls. NOTHING!

No, to you Bulls fans, The Worm (Dennis Rodman) kicking a totally innocent camera man in the crotch, or head butting a referee do not count. Rodman was a not a brawler he was a mentalist/mental case, a very fit mentalist/mental case, that should have taken one to the noodle himself!

Charles Barkley didn't win a championship, but played in one. He wasn't a brawler per se, just a tough basketball player with a dirty boxers mentality.  Plus Charles didn't play or get involved in a game or brawl as ugly as the Rockets - Celts series. Charles as a member of the Suns was a tough team leader. Charles as a Sixer was a bully. NOthing in the paint was the motto of a young Charles Barkley. He intimidated players and is partly responsible for the flagrant foul rule that is now a part of the league rule book. As commentator Charles is somewhat a bully with Ernie Johnson. But Ernie tolerates Charles, doesn't run from him but doesn't speak as freely as I am sure that he would like to and does as well as anyone when it comes to putting up with Sir Charles. Only Kenny Smith has more fun with Charles, and can talk trash back to him, and do so without being the least bit timid. Charles is a riot in the booth, and is finally learning to control his outburst, and not talk over other commentators. I should say controlled to a degree which to this point has allowed him to remain on National Broadcasts. I think he has more control and is a better team player in the booth than he manifested on the court. Not to take anything away from him, because love him or hate him, he was a beast on the court. Mr. Barkley, has a humor and passion for the game, and most of it's players that have grown on me. His battle with ethnicity, and attitude are to be desired, however. I think his book, "Whose Afraid of the Big Black Man," has had ten more readers than my blog. My money may not speak as loudly as Mr. Barkley's, but my spirit does! Money I may not be able to take w/ me when I die, nor can Sir Charles, but my spirit, yeah I can take that with me. ;) And where we take it next is either a very level playing field with a Righteous Judge, or a hot one that has no balance at all. I love ya Charles, and pray that you, and your brother now both have a lasting relationship with "The Righteous Judge." Brother Cahill (former Auburn University teammate of Charles Barkley, Author, and Evangelist), can you give Charles another call?

On that note, May 21st was not the end time, the false prophets were wrong, but it is very near to the end of another NBA season, and that is a definite! May it end well, and in Stanley Cup fashion!