I once played in a late afternoon black top classic. It was about 102 degrees in the shade at 3:30pm. It was a day when you could almost dehydrate from watching the heat lift from the pavement! We didn't care then, we were young, resilient, and having too much fun to care. Play for twenty, break for five, then run them back! My group had been playing game after game that evening. We ran about ten straight, then the sun started to drop, and along came another group. My group was feeling good, and ready to run with whomever. We had size, and a ton of talent, we felt invincible. We had (thought we had) a huge advantage. We had some leapers, we had height and most of us had been playing since we were able to hold a ball. We played against other guys just like us all day, and walked the dog with them! Then at the dropping of the sun round about 90 degrees, minus the heat index on the black top, the tide turned and the dog walked us! We played against a very cohesive unit, and they murdered us! Five guys (not one of them over 5'4"), lightning quick, and verbal! They were Vietnamese kids that did everything together. They ate together, did chores together, studied together, everything! They played unselfish, they played with a passion, and they took advantage of every mistake we made.
On this particular day we made plenty of mistakes. Our biggest mistakes were being over confident and casting blame on everyone but self. We didn't work at all, one pass (if that) and shoot. Then when you are lazy in transition that equals a slaughter! We may have looked to cast blame individually, but as with all team sports, we went down in flames as a "team!"
Word in Cleveland was that Bron blamed poor coaching for Cleveland's not winning a title! So, will that be the case in Miami as well? Well my boss, said something (as a Laker hatin' Celts fan) that shocked me. What he said shocked me, but gave me even more reason to be excited for the 2011-2012 season. He said something to the affect of how cool would it be for Coach Brown to go to LA and win a title with Kobe, and leave LeBron once again shaking his head in -or in near- tears thinking inside his head like Nancy Kerrigan said out loud... "Why, why, why!" Well greed, and self righteousness could be LeBron's Tanya Harding, and until he sheds them, he will be saying, why, why, why... for a long time! I don't know how long Kobe and Coach Brown will stay friendly, but I like Browns way of thinking. He said he would abandon the triangle offense, and run something similar to what they ran while he was an assistant under Pop (Greg Popovich) in San Antonio when Duncan and Robinson were their and they won titles. Well it would be sweet for Lakers fans everywhere and for Cleveland fans as well, not to mention all the LeBron haters if the Lakers or Cavs could win the coveted NBA Championship in the 2011-2012 season.
Photo via Cleveland.com
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